The Dick Clark I Remember

Recently at St. John's Medical Center in Santa Monica, 82 year old media superstar Dick Clark died suddenly of a heart attack, sending the media world into a frenzy to cover his life story. That he was a global household name from his many television and radio shows, that he built a billion dollar business empire and that it all began with "American Bandstand" in 1956 was the focus of the media coverage of his life. But to me, he was far more special.

About 35 years before I first met Dick, it was 1957 when American Bandstand was first broadcast across America. As with nearly every show of that time it was broadcast in black & white. But unlike almost every other show of that era, the picture wasn't the only thing in black & white, so were the singers and the kids dancing to them, which shocked many people.

From the start, Dick booked black rock & roll singers and he invited black teenage dancers to dance alongside the white teenage dancers. If you think these weren't bold and highly risky moves, Dick could easily have lost his sponsors and had his show cancelled.

How do I know? In 1956 - 57, Nat "King" Cole, a very popular ballad (not rock) singer of the time briefly had a TV show but it was soon cancelled, not because it wasn't popular but for lack of advertising for no major sponsors would support the show because of his skin color. But the story gets worse. Mr. Cole and his family lived in Los Angeles and several years earlier, he and his wife and their two little daughters had their lives threatened for buying in an upscale "white" neighborhood.

At that time, the U.S. was heavily segregated, whether overt as in the South or more subtle, as in the rest of the nation. In the South, few blacks could vote and nationwide, they were not allowed in most hotels or restaurants except to clean them and they could not interview for most jobs other than those on the lowest ranks. In most areas, they couldn't even attend public schools, other than the budget starved schools provided for them. And as Nat "King" Cole found, if you were black, being a celebrity and being able to afford a home didn't necessarily allow you to live in it, although in his case, he moved into his Hancock Park home despite the threats.

But Dick Clark had the courage to stand up to such long established prejudice and offer black people the opportunity to go as far as their individual talents would take them.

Many years later, I had the pleasure of getting to know Dick. As an entrepreneur, I was interested in investing in movies and called his Burbank office seeking a meeting with him because of his success in every form of media, including movies. His assistant Kari was very friendly and when she found out what I wanted, she spoke with him and confirmed the meeting. At that time, I had no idea she was Dick's wife, and to whom he would be married for 35 years until his passing.

When I arrived at the Burbank headquarters of Dick Clark Productions for the meeting, it was not to a high rise tower but to a two story office that appeared to be an English tutor style home. And when I walked in, I was warmly welcomed into what seemed like a home by employees who worked hard but who could play with such toys as a juke box and a pool table and who dressed casually, as did Dick. There was even a loving, gentle dog walking around wanting to give any visitor a sniff and a licky kiss.

We met in Dick's conference room where he had invited others with experience in movie investing and distribution. After asking about my objectives, he convinced me not to invest in movies, as he explained how difficult movie making and distribution is even for him, despite his extensive media contacts. I gladly took his advice.

That was the first of several times I either met with Dick or spoke with him on the phone, Kari always setting up the meetings, other than when Dick answered his phone. That's right, on occasion he answered his own phone, which may be rare for someone listed among the Forbes 400 wealthiest people. When Dick and I got together, whether to talk about my radio show or for me to interview him, he was always remarkably gracious.

Dick would offer coffee, tea, soft drinks or water and then would get them for the two of us. That too was rare among corporate titans, of which he never saw himself. And whatever I wanted to discuss, he was candid, particularly when it came to some of his own shortcomings or mistakes.

Yes, he was a perfectionist and he could be impatient and lose his temper, but that would describe most of us as well. Sitting with Dick was like sitting with an old friend, one who sincerely took an interest in you, listened carefully and wanted to be helpful.

After his stroke in 2004, Kari was still as nice as ever but she became very protective of Dick and we never again got together. So when I first saw the breaking news he had died, it made me sad for Dick and Kari and his family and friends. But then my sadness turned to joy as I felt thankful that this wonderful man had been a part of my life and of the lives of so many other people.

I was also thankful as well that at the dawn of the American civil rights movement, he had had the compassion and courage to give equal opportunities to black people, something few others in America would do. By using the power of television and radio to help humanize them, he played an important role in helping them overcome vast and centuries old bigotry to at long last be able to take their rightful place in American society.

Dick
To learn more about Dick Clark's background, please see his New York Times obit
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/19/arts/television/dick-clark-tv-host-and-icon-of-new-years-eve-is-dead-at-82.html?ref=obituaries To learn more about Nat "King" Cole's short lived TV show, please see http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=natkingcole

Thank you not only to Dick Clark but to Arnie Shupak, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive who also convinced me movies were a bad investment. My radio shows ran on Southern California radio stations KABC, then KMPC and finally KOGO in the 1990's. I then wrote weekly columns for Radio & Records, which was then the industry bible and a Copley News Service syndicated column which ran in the Los Angeles area newspaper, the Daily Breeze and in other newspapers.