Shindig!

For other uses, see Shindig (disambiguation).
Shindig!
Genre Musical variety
Created by Jack Good
Written by Jimmy O'Neill
Directed by Richard Dunlap
Selwyn Touber
Dean Whitmore
Jørn Winther
Presented by Jimmy O'Neill
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
Production
Executive producer(s) Selig J. Seligman
Leon Mirell
Producer(s) Phillip Browning
Camera setup Multi-camera
Running time 24–26 minutes
(September 1964–January 1965)
48–52 minutes
(January–Fall 1965)
Production company(s) American Broadcasting Company
Selmur Productions
Release
Original network ABC
Picture format Black-and-white
Color
Audio format Monaural
Original release September 16, 1964 (1964-09-16) – January 8, 1966 (1966-01-08)

Shindig! is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964[1] to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time[2] who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz.[3] The original pilot was rejected by ABC and David Sontag, then Executive Producer of ABC, redeveloped and completely redesigned the show. A new pilot with a new cast of artists was shot starring Sam Cooke. That pilot aired as the premiere episode.

Synopsis

Shindig! was conceived as a short-notice replacement for Hootenanny, a series that had specialized in folk revival music. The folk revival had fizzled in 1964 as the result of the British Invasion, which damaged the ratings for Hootenanny and prompted that show's cancellation.

Shindig! focused on a broader variety of popular music than its predecessor and first aired for a half-hour every Wednesday evening, but was expanded to an hour in January 1965. In the fall of 1965, the show split into two half-hour telecasts, on Thursday and Saturday nights.

Shindig!'s premiere episode was actually the second pilot, and featured Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers and The Righteous Brothers. Later shows were taped in Britain with The Beatles as the guests. The series featured other "British invasion" bands and performers including The Who, The Rolling Stones and Cilla Black. Shindig continued to broadcast episodes from London throughout its run.[2]

Many popular performers of the day played on Shindig! including Tina Turner, Lesley Gore, Bo Diddley,[4] and Sonny and Cher, The Beach Boys, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, The Supremes and The Ronettes.

Shindig!'s success prompted NBC to air the similar series Hullabaloo starting in January 1965 and other producers to launch syndicated rock music shows like Shivaree and Hollywood A Go-Go.

In March 1965, Little Eva performed her hit song "The Loco-Motion" in a live but short version of the song. This is the only known video clip of her singing the song.

Towards the end of the program's run, The Mamas and the Papas appeared in an episode featuring Barry McGuire. Although serving as his backup singers, the group introduced "California Dreamin'" on the program, which launched the group's career.

Shindig! is one of the few rock music shows of the era to still have all of the episodes available to watch.

Final season

In September 1965, the show was moved out of its Wednesday-night timeslot (where it gave The Beverly Hillbillies its first serious competition in its time period among younger viewers), and split into two half-hours on new days and times (Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 P.M. Eastern time). The show faced tough competition from Daniel Boone and The Munsters on Thursdays along with Flipper and The Jackie Gleason Show on Saturdays. Additionally, the Saturday edition aired in a time period when many of its potential viewers were going out and thus, not at home to watch television. By October 1965, the show was having ratings problems (Time magazine said "early-season tide [was] running against the teen scene"),[5] and in January 1966, Shindig! was cancelled and replaced in its Thursday time slots by Batman.[2]

Series regulars

Shindig! also featured a dance troupe called the Shin-diggers, choreographed by David Winters, who accompanied the music acts of the week (he also worked on the competing NBC show Hullabaloo). One of the regular dancers was Teri Garr, who would go on to find success as an actress. The Shin-diggers' assistant choreographer was Antonia Basilotta, better known as Toni Basil, who later gained fame with her 1980s hit song "Mickey." Both Garr and Basil were dance students of Winters at the time and worked with him on most of his choreography projects.[6]

The series house band, the Shin-diggers (later renamed the Shindogs), featured a young Glen Campbell, Joey Cooper, Chuck Blackwell (drums), Billy Preston, James Burton, Delaney Bramlett, Larry Knechtel (on bass), Leon Russell (on piano) and Glen D. Hardin. Ray Pohlman was the show's musical director, and he was also a member - as was Campbell, Knechtel, and Russell -of the collection of first-call pop studio musicians that would later be also known as "The Wrecking Crew." In some instances when one of the Shindog guitarists was unable to work, Pohlman would bring in guitarist Bill Aken to fill in.

Donna Loren, Jackie DeShannon and Bobby Sherman were regular vocalists on the series.[6]

The Blossoms, an all-female vocal group featuring Darlene Love, backed up many of the performers and were occasionally featured in spotlight performances. The Wellingtons were a trio of male singers who performed on their own, and as backup singers.[7][8]

Musical guests

Celebrity guests

Musical guests

Guest hosts

VHS release

In 1991 and 1992, Rhino Entertainment and WEA released a series of Shindig! Presents VHS videos featuring highlights from the series.[15]

  • Shindig! was mentioned in The Ramones song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" in the lyric "Do you remember Hullabaloo, Upbeat, Shindig!, and Ed Sullivan too...?"
  • Shindig! made an appearance on a December 1965 episode of The Flintstones as "Shinrock!" with host "Jimmy O'Neillstone" (O'Neill provided his own voice). The episode featured musical guests The Beau Brummels, appearing as "The Beau Brummelstones", who performed their hit song "Laugh, Laugh."[16] Fred attempts to turn off the show, saying "Let me take care of Jimmy O'Neillstone," whereupon a hand reaches out from the set and turns it back on.

References

  1. ↑ Time listings: ABC completes its roster of new shows, a September 1964 article from Time
  2. 1 2 3 Shindig!, Rod Barken from tvparty.com
  3. ↑ Art Stolnitz, 79, executive from Variety
  4. ↑ Pioneer of a Beat Is Still Riffing for His Due, a February 2003 article from The New York Times
  5. ↑ "First Down". Time magazine. October 22, 1965. Retrieved 2009-01-31. Meanwhile ABC, which closed the gap on the competition in the overall prime-time race for the first time the previous season, momentarily dropped out of contention again, primarily for riding too long with fading favorites. The network was caught with seven of the bottom 13 Nielsens, including the eight-year-old Donna Reed Show and the 13-year-old Ozzie and Harriet. With the early-season tide running against the teen scene, the two segments of Shindig are being cancelled and Ben Casey's slide to 73rd seemed to indicate that the doctor series are sickening unto death.
  6. 1 2 Wharton, David (1999-12-14). "'Shindig!' Tapes Bring 1960s Rock Back to Life". Los Angeles Times. bobbysherman.com. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
  7. ↑ IMDb
  8. ↑ Rewind the Fifties
  9. ↑ "Johnny Cash: A Family Album". Time magazine. August 4, 2003. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 1964: Cash tapes an episode of the ABC musical-variety program Shindig!
  10. ↑ The Pop Life, an October 21, 1981 article from The New York Times
  11. ↑ Time listings, a May 1965 article from Time
  12. ↑ Bobby Hatfield Dies at 63; Righteous Brothers Tenor, a November 2003 article from The New York Times
  13. ↑ Doug Sahm, Musical Voice of Texas, Dies at 58, a November 1999 article from The New York Times
  14. ↑ Time listings, a June 1965 article from Time
  15. ↑ The Shindig! Series VHS Release from Amazon.com
  16. ↑ Childs, T. Mike (2004). The Rocklopedia Fakebandica. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-312-32944-0.
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