American Bandstand 1964 - Let the Little Girl Dance, Billy Bland

Airdate: January 18, 1964
Here’s another clip from one of the final episodes taped in Philadelphia.
Billy (not Bobby, Dick Clark, lol) Bland’s “all-time hit” peaked at #7 back in 1960.
As you can see in other clips from this episode, such as when they danced to “Louie, Louie” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, there were plenty of boys present. I’m not sure why so many of them sat this song out, leaving so many girls to dance with each other. Perhaps it wasn’t masculine or cool enough for them. If you watched the show back then and/or you’ve seen the clips I’ve posted from the early 60’s, you can see that girls dancing with other girls was pretty common. As Billy said - “let the little girl dance”, he didn’t exactly say with whom.
The Bandstand regulars dancing here are: Bruce Richard & Barbara Warchol (Bruce is dancing with 2 girls at 0:51), Bobbie Baritz, Michelle Liebowitz, & Sandi Bartholomew (1:37) and Steve Lewis and Ailyene Silverman (2:02)
I’ve got some great new “stuff” coming soon that I think you’re going to like. Stay tuned!
Don’t be a little wallflower, standing by yourself - get the nerve, take a chance and get out there and dance!

[@larrycole4438]

When American Band Stand was in Philly it was the best show and the best of times !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@sheilaklugman2340]

Wish they would bring American Bandstand back to TV as re-runs

[@moemcgovern7345]

Retro

[@littlebird1065]

I would watch it!!🙋🏽‍♀️back in the 70s my friends wud be on it,raised in L.A.

[@paulhatton9305]

Yes to reruns

[@rogersweet3608]

Absolutely and many other yesterday programmes And show in UK etc as some here don't know of it

[@johnnygross4415]

Yes, how do people dance to Rap?

[@tammyrenee64]

I watched American bandstand and soul train every Saturday morning in the 70s, miss them days, but happy i got to be a teenager in that era, the 70s🫶✌️🎐📻🪩🛼

[@cathyormandy7563]

I watched American Bandstand every night after school, we had to watch just to get the new dances for our Teen Town Dances on Friday and Saturday nites. Oh so much fun I love the good old days.

[@majorieharrington9823]

Dressed so nicely!!!

[@darrylevans4401]

ABC television please bring back reruns of American Bandstand one of the greatest shows ever on Television with the late and great Dick Clark.

[@MauriceGreen-rl1ru]

Dick Clark never never aged

[@marysherfinski5787]

The best of times..thanks for the memories...

[@denisjl100]

i used to rush home from school to watch the last 15 minutes of this show. got my wish when they expanded to the full hour.

[@mariethompson6421]

I would love to see full episodes of the Philly shows on TV.

[@mistery-ed7900]

Music changed so quickly back then. This song was only 3 years old in 1964 but already sounded like something from a previous generation.

[@elvispresleycentral4626]

1964 was the year popular music was transitioning into something completely different especially with the British invasion. Music sounded different in 1964 than it did two years earlier.

[@denisjl100]

@@elvispresleycentral4626 yeah they took us out of rock and roll and back to pop. on a par with how much is that doggy in the window.

[@edl6398]

I know. By the time I was 8 in 1968, my best friend and I laughed at Do Wop music because it was soooo “square”! 🤣

[@denisjl100]

it was because by 1968 the music had changed from entertainment to political interference and protest. if i want entertainment i listen to music if i want politics i listen to the gas bags that americans pass for politicians.

[@edl6398]

@@denisjl100 And I assume that the passage of civil rights legislation and women’s rights was just a pain in the ass to you?

[@joymcdonald8240]

Yes i remember dancing to this song when i was a teenage. Loved bandstand

[@billritter4213]

Good seeing some old Philly AB clips. Much appreciated. I agree that this song, to the boys, was not quite "macho" enough go out to the floor and dance to. Looking forward to the new stuff coming soon. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday weekend

[@jthyme7940]

Can't wait to see the new "stuff", Aron! It's gonna be a GAS GAS GAS!!!😉

[@caroljohnson4170]

Wish they would bring the show back as reruns.

[@gregmoore7709]

Sure got crowded in Philly and it looked like they were ready to actually fight for position lol. Hey Aaron i know what you mean but its all good stuff and i appreciate it . Looking forward for more thank you...

[@johnmoore5455]

I always look forward and love all the bandstand videos! Keep up the great work and keep the videos coming!!!!

[@mrob75]

Thank you for this upload….Fun song originally from summer time 1960…Would love to one day see a clip of the 1960 dancers!

[@asan1050]

Thanks!

[@TheChitown5]

Teens did a great job bopping and cha cha Ing off this pop R and B cut. Unfortunately, USA radio stations were not playing these types of songs after 1964 thanks to the British Invasion. Philly kids have some nice rhythm. Clark still had some affinity toward the doo wop era and it was nice for him to include it in this program. Still do dancing like this at Chi town steppers/dusty sets on Chicago's south side with many of the originals still doing their thing. (Not everyone likes hip hop)

[@allisonditmer6063]

I envy anyone with natural rhythm and moves.

[@TakaiAkita]

Dear Aron - many thanks

[@jackeppington6488]

Thanks for posting this, Aaron. Very good video quality, this clip!

[@pathough2100]

When girls wore dresses and guys wore suits! 😊

[@virginiarodriguez4565]

Good dances good songs

[@bradsense7431]

Was wondering what all the guys were then read Aaron's explanation that perhaps was not masculine enough for them. Well maybe then these young bucks would like to try and see how they would do with " Rango"

[@nicoletanguay2132]

WoW j avais 14 ans… que de beaux souvenirs!❤

[@Jensen1959]

My great niece ( 6 yrs) and her dad went to her first father/daughter dance. Their dancing reminded me of this song. 🥰

[@thruthealcove]

Hey Aaron! Great Saturday pick-me-up. They just don't make songs like this at all anymore, where there's tempo changes all throughout the track & official endings like this one has. Songs don't even fade out anymore! Nice "sock hop" energy here, with that laid back east coast feel. Girls dancing with girls at parties are still a thing, even if you're not apart of the LGBTQ+ community. I believe that was a form of "safety" to ward off unwanted suitors, or at least that was a part of it. Still not uncommon, but always just fun. I've never been a wallflower, music is just too good to stand on the sidelines with a drink in your hands & watch! Lol I cannot WAIT for this "new" stuff you have for us, I know it's gonna be epic!!! Until then Aaron & thanks, another great one!

[@AdrianDeVore]

It was a policy on AB for girls to dance with each other but boys weren't allowed to do the same.

[@thruthealcove]

@@AdrianDeVore I'm sure, especially when you think of the times this was in...

[@AdrianDeVore]

@@thruthealcove I thought it was a very strange policy but reflected the times.

[@catherineerwin8269]

Thanks for posting this video. I’m looking forward to your new stuff. There could be a lot of reasons that there weren’t as many boys. If the full episode was available then we could see if they were sitting the song out. Or the weather, sports etc.. In some interviews with male Philly dancers of the 50’s, a few said it was almost hazardous to dance on the show at that time. Some of the guys & a few of the girls said they would have to avoid some hostile neighborhood boys on the way home. And sometimes had barely managed to escape being beaten up. Apparently, it wasn’t always cool to be a male dancer in Philly in the late 50’s. I wonder if these early 60’s dancers might have had similar problems? And if Dancer Don would chime in on the flip side of dancing in LA..

[@SkyBlue-qn8me]

Most teen boys in 1964 aren't going to dance on national TV to a song titled "Let the Little Girl Dance". Common sense.. 😄

[@michaelmitchell5098]

😂👍👍

[@denisjl100]

wanna bet. in 1964 boys danced, that's how you got to meet the girls.

[@mr.pastry779]

1964 last year for doowop. Motown, rock n roll, merseybeat, surf,girl groups,

[@TheChitown5]

Unless you're from the UK and can't dance

[@AmericanBandstandAgain]

Another quality clip from the past. I hope, if you have the Full ep, you might post it sometime Aaron

[@joeguzman3558]

They're around 80 something today WOW

[@TheChitown5]

These teenagers are in their 70's and in sets I go to some 80-year old's can still move pretty good.

[@Dr.Pepper001]

I was their age in 1964 (17) and I'm 76...not in my 80s....yet.

[@twinkie6532]

Never enough boysnto go around.

[@92nredrappini84]

Time flys.

[@rogeralsop3479]

The blokes wear ties!

[@haroldgillette7157]

Oh,yes,I remember it well , playing loudly from the community pool,up from the field where my Little League baseball team went on to win the championship 1964!

[@arizonajohn4894]

This would be great idea. Bring American bandstand as reruns. Today's youth might just learn sometime good instead of corruption and fighting.

[@marladell6091]

as have others in these comments...is it impossible to find any 1960-62 of AB?? So wish I could see the dancers from that time..Thanks Aaron!!!

[@Johnnycdrums]

Bruce Scott's cover sounded almost identical, except with a little more upfront drum track.

[@ezerlenewatkins9644]

Marie Thompson: me to. I'm black, but I learned to dance watching the bandstand in the 1950s. I would try to dance like a girl named pat. I learned to put my kwn juice to it. Boy that girl sure could dance.

[@carolynwalker339]

What?? Boys in suits and girls on dresses! What a marvelous idea!!! Now its jeans and Tshirts for both sexes girls prefer holey jeans! So sad what our styles are now 😢.

[@user-zb2jb7nv3o]

🍒💃💫💞💫🕺🍒🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️🤸‍♀️

[@ronetreasure5289]

Yes

[@adriennedecamillo5608]

My daddy is on here

[@user-zb2jb7nv3o]

🎼 🎶🕺💫💃🎵 🤸‍♀️🍀🤸‍♀️🌿🤸‍♀️☘️ ✌️😎

[@brendlewoodard8098]

I wish they would put out the DVD's but I know that's never gonna happen. Just think we would have some of the people

[@molinalong3468]

Tv shows started in that year Bewitched Daniel Boone The Addams family

[@lauramcinerney1559]

Ha ha, that short couple keep trying to be camera center, but all that is happening is the short girl is getting shoved over and over. haha

[@linda-ll0404]

😂😂😂😂

[@rickytickykatz9599]

Great post! Will you be posting this full episode eventually? And the September 1963 episode, will you post that full episode too? Thanks!

[@YCDTI]

I don’t have much luck with the full episodes as they frequently get blocked, but we’ll see. 👍

[@rickytickykatz9599]

@@YCDTI sounds good! I’d love to see them! Maybe you can post them in the link that you sometimes do? Thanks

[@kennethreed2186]

😊

[@molinalong3468]

Who died in that year Sam Cooke Jim reeves Hebert Hoover Alvin York

[@marigold7250]

John F Kennedy

[@Dr.Pepper001]

Bruce Richard is dancing with 2 girls.

[@cynthiahorrigan4778]

Bring back as re runs only in philie

[@josephguagenti3730]

Final ep from Phila!! Would love to see ep from 1960 thru 1962. As always, great post. What was Famous Hook first ep??

[@bonniegarcia8399]

Ritchie Cartlidge is dancing with Ailyene Silverman ; that's new. I think I misspelled her name.

[@user-ut7qi5zk4l]

Ycdti how come the full episodes have to get censord to show here? I used to watch bandstand in the 80s , nothing dirty!

[@joeguzman3558]

Is that Eddie from the monsters ?? LoL

[@allegra0]

Not log before those skirts get very short and the boys are wearing beads.

[@elvispresleycentral4626]

Do you have any episodes from 1986?

[@YCDTI]

I don’t. Sorry

[@thruthealcove]

Hey, there's a KZbin channel called Times Past Television that has been uploading some 70s & 80s episodes, checkbthem out before the censors block them...

[@elvispresleycentral4626]

@@thruthealcove I know about their channel. I've seen most of the ones they uploaded. I was just wondering where I could find more from that era.

[@thruthealcove]

@@elvispresleycentral4626 Oh, ok. It seems like the more "recent" episodes of AB are more rare than the older ones these days.

[@JA-jm8bk]

/Lots of gals dancing with gals. Were the guys in Vietnam?

[@user-zb2jb7nv3o]

🎤 🎼💃🎵🕺🎶🦋 🫵😎

[@molinalong3468]

Tv shows ended in that year 77 sunset strip Route 66

[@shyphyre]

The Twilight Zone

[@james-pierre7634]

Where is Arlene?

[@nuttybar9]

Bosom Buddies at 1:24

[@nenaprieto8824]

M

[@prioress]

Now I see what it was about Dick Clark that didn't click with me. His eyes were totally blank while his voice retained vocal variety maintaining a deadpan expression. Seemed odd and disconnected.

[@virginiarodriguez4565]

Dustin could all dances and

[@Esc.777]

Fallout

[@1amazingj]

It's funny how the music even 3 years before sounds like it was created years before. I'm sorry, but the young ladies in the 50's & 60's look so much older with the clothes they wore & the hair does. I was a teenager in the 80's & I never teased my hair like everyone else did. I didn't care to look like Madonna 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 or the Guys from A Flock of Seagulls.

[@jaimechantre8989]

El racismo anglosajon pero ellos saben q el verdadero ritmo lo llevan los Afroamericanos

[@nuttybar9]

English Please!

[@gogoyubari366]

The girls were so much prettier than today's trash.

[@molinalong3468]

Who alive in that year Natalie Wood Dick Clark Richard chamberlain Farrah Dwight Eisenhower Michael Landon Lyndon B Johnson

[@kimzimmer2542]

Me !! I was alive then....10 years old but alive !!

[@wallacegrommet3479]

Watch Dick, he’s always looking like he’s scrolling on a laptop, time traveler maybe? Hmmmm

[@boinknook]

😂

[@juliestrom412]

That was fruit but cute! 🍍

[@arieschick1]

Chicks dancing together, one guy with TWO chicks !!! Where are the BoyZ together? Some original dancers have recently come forward to describe the back story as very gay, but squelched for mass media consumption due to hetero norms pre Stonewall riots. Side note: check out the Catholic girls straight from the classroom in their school uniforms

[@nuttybar9]

Did you not see the two girls that looked like dudes?

[@carltwidle9046]

No rainbow flags here. Girls

[@miggans21012]

I bet a year earlier there were no black dancers to be seen.

[@user-wt5cp9fu7s]

When women dressed like real women 👈🏼

[@molinalong3468]

Who born in that year Michelle Obama Marisa tomei Kamala Harris

[@shyphyre]

Moi!!!!

[@jimwatson4513]

68 , I was knee deep in the war !!! Was times both good music & questionable days !! Today's tunes are pure crap !!!

[@james-pierre7634]

This is so bad