Whether at an outside telecast show with the Regulars or on the dance floor, there were often those who to me were just "faces in the crowd" because like almost all of us who watched the show, I had my favorites. Yes, there was quite a long list of those I watched for each day and knew not only their faces but also their names. They became indellible on my memory card. But there were others whose faces I would remember, but never remembered their names and sometimes I wouldn't even be quite sure all these years later if I remembered even a face who had to have danced amongst all my favorites. I think this was quite typical and yet today I have come to know them through the many articles and pictures from the old magazines and more recently from contact from some of the Regulars. Regular Flossie Harvey would be one of those who was adorable, popular, and probably often present in the crowd on the dance floor or in the bleachers, but I simply didn't have her in my list I watched for. In the above skating party crowd picture you will see her toward the far left in the striped pants. Maybe there was a Regular or a number of them that were in that category for you--present but not indellible in your memory from that time. So wouldn't it be nice if we could go back and view all the shows with our knowledge today and maybe find we had new favorites to add to our list. The list of those I looked for everyday include these Regulars: Pat Molittieri, Carole Scaldeferri, Justine Carrelli, Bob Clayton, Kenny Rossi and Arlene Sullivan, Nick Gaeta, Frani Giordano, the Beltrane Sisters, the Jimenez Sisters, Barb Levick, Janet Hamill, Tex Connor, Peggy Thompson, Charlette Russo, Bill Cook, Frankie Levins, Barb Marcen, Nino Bambino, Joan Buck, Jimmy Peatross, Frank Brancaccio, Harvey Robbins, Lou Solino, Carole Higbee, Mary Ann Cuff, Carol Gibson, Angel Kelly, Peggy Leonard, Frankie Lobis, Myrna Horowitz, and Betty Romantini. You can see my list was quite long and yet there were still many who simply became lovely faces in the crowd. My list of faves was long enough to fill a classroom and those Regulars did indeed seem almost like classmates to me---as I saw them every day--right after leaving my actual classmates at school, getting on the bus, and dashing home to watch American Bandstand where I found my second set of classmates. Maybe my experience was much like yours. There was one young man who was extremely popular on the show who became a cute face in the crowd but one who I never put on my list of favorites and that was Mike Balara--though he was on the favorite list of almost everyone. Frankie Vacca was another--I always saw him and even knew his name, but I wasn't trying to find him in the crowd. We are all simply different and like different things and as my brother Stan says: "That's why they make Cadillacs and Lincolns." Then came along the early 1960s dancers and most of them I never got to know well enough to keep their names in my mind. I wasn't watching every day then and so it was just not the same for me as the years 1957 through 1959 and then some of 1960 and 1961. Would love to hear some of your early recall and favorites and if you felt the same--that the dancers were like another set of classmates or friends. That was the miracle of TV and still is.
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