American Bandstand

American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark. Young teens from around the area would show off their dance moves and thousands of kids from around the nation would tune in every week to see what the kids on the show were doing. Clark would often interview the teenagers about their opinions of the songs being played, most memorably through the "Rate-a-Record" segment. During the segment, two audience members each ranked two records on a scale of 35 to 98, after which the two opinions were averaged by Clark, who then asked the audience members to justify their scores. The segment gave rise, perhaps apocryphally, to the phrase "It's got a good beat and you can dance to it."

American bandstand was originally aired from Philadelphia with a man named Bob horn as the host. It was never supposed to be a dance show but when Horn decided that was the way to go. Dick Clark took over after Horn was fired after a Drinking and driving arrest. Clark on really ever hosted the show alone except for one special episode. The only person to ever co-host the show with Dick Clark was Donna Summer, who joined him to present a special episode dedicated to the release of the Casablanca film Thank God It's Friday on 27 May 1978. 

Even after the show ceased to exist and air it was used for inspiration in other movies. Grease and Hairspray are two examples. In Grease National Bandstand came and filmed their school dance and there is a resemblance between American Bandstand and The Corny Collins Show.

Denied Detained Deported

The book Denied Detained Deported by Ann Bausum tells the stories of three different immigrants. Emma Goldman is one of these three. After 30 years on American soil she was sent back to her homeland. She was deemed dangerous due to her Russian background.  The cause behind her deportation was small but not completely unjust. When World War 1 started she began encouraging young men and women to oppose the draft. For this she was arrested at a young age but was allowed the ability to continue her life until she was deported along with many others for being a force against what the government wanted. Herb Karliner was another of the three. He took the trip over on the St. Louis and was then denied entrance to the United States. He boarded the ship that was bound for Cuba in hopes of being able to reach the United States. Days before the St. Louis set sail Cuba denied the landing passes invalid. The ship reached Havanna and all but the Cubans, four Spainards and 22 visa holding Jews were sent back to Germany. On the way home word came that other European countries would take them in as refugees. Herb and his family did not have to return to Germany. The only problem still left standing was that while all of this continued to happen the U.S President did absolutely nothing to help. From these two stories her book shows that the discrimination against immigrants repeats in cycles.

This book helps to create a bridge from past experiences to present times. It gives the hardcore research to not make the same mistakes as we did. The author Ann Bausumn analyzes the lessons learned by the immigrants to better help explain modern events that are similar yo experiences held by other immigrants.

Sources: Denied Detained Deported By: Ann Bausum