DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) — Legendary game show
host Bob Barker is celebrating his 99th birthday today.

Richard (Dick) Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012)

Television, rock and roll and teenagers. In the late 1950s, when television and
rock and roll were new and when the biggest generation in American history
was just about to enter its teens, it took a bit of originality to see the potential power in this now-obvious combination. The man who saw that potential more clearly than any other was a 26-year-old native of upstate New York named
Dick Clark, who transformed himself and a local Philadelphia television
program into two of the most culturally significant forces of the early rock-
and-roll era. His iconic show, American Bandstand, began broadcasting
nationally on this day in 1957, beaming images of clean-cut, average
teenagers dancing to the not-so-clean-cut Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Whole Lotta
Shakin’ Goin’ On” to 67 ABC affiliates across the nation.

The show that evolved into American Bandstand began on Philadephia’s
WFIL-TV in 1952, a few years before the popular ascension of rock and
roll. Hosted by local radio personality Bob Horn (below).

Donald Loyd "Bob" Horn
(February 20, 1916 – July 31, 1966)

The television debut of “The Original Amateur Hour” came on January
18, 1948 over the DuMont Network with Ted Mack as the host. The show
was on the air for 22 years.

1957

 
Singer, dancer, and actress Jane Powell (Suzanne Lorraine Burce)

Powell was born the only child to Paul E. Burce (a Wonder Bread employee)
and Eileen Baker Burce (a housewife) in Portland, Oregon, At five, she was
on the KGW radio children’s talent program Stars of Tomorrow. She attended
Beaumont Grade School and Grant High School in Portland.

During the summer of 1943, Jane and her parents went on a vacation to
Hollywood. where she appeared on Janet Gaynor‘s radio show Hollywood
Showcase: Stars over Hollywood. It was a talent competition, and Powell
won and soon auditioned with Louis B. Mayer at MGM as well as David O.
Selznick. Without even taking a screen test, Powell was then signed to a
seven-year contract with MGM.

As of 2013, Powell lives with her fifth husband, former child star Dickie
Moore, in New York City and Connecticut, and is still active in television
and theater.

1951

Classic jazz singer Nancy Wilson released seventy albums and has won
three Grammy Awards. At the age of 15, while a High School student in
Columbus, Ohio, Nancy won a talent contest sponsored by local TV
station WTVN.