Found out why, the show was sponsored by Beechnut gum. The show was even known as "The Saturday Night Beechnut Show". So I guess they gave all the audience gum to show "how good it was" or something.
fsumpter-- When i was a kid in the 60s my friend's mom told us, "a lady never chews gum in public, looks trashy." LoL I followed her advice and it has served me well.
@@ethanyule2713 I don't think you're aware of this man's history. Frankie Lymon lived during a time of heavy racism and segregation in America. Despite achieving nominal and financial success with his music, he was still looked down upon by people because he was black, and was not allowed because of racism to have the same status in people's eyes as white performers. Even in the music industry, performers were segregated. Rock and roll was not allowed on the radio for a long time because it was seen as "black music" (which it was; black people created it just like they made jazz, gospel, and the blues). When it was allowed, white groups would be the only ones allowed to perform the songs. It would take a quiet revolution to make any sort of real breakthrough. Motown in Detroit was in part responsible for that, which I know because it's where I'm from. Lymon was needless to say unappreciated in his time, as we see in the video here with the (white) teenagers looking sullen and at times angry to see a black man on stage performing for them. Meanwhile these same teenagers would be screaming their heads off for Paul Anka or the Beatles. And he unfortunately died young at 25, so he never got to live to see a future where his work was fully valued.
Such a handsome young man and so talented. So sad how he was treated. I still find it hard to believe that their is people who judge people because of the color of their skin.
Estava comentando sobre isso no Instagram,mas achei que era falso o julgamento,mas estou percebendo que realmente eles estavam incomodados com o rapaz cantado que triste o preconceito ...uma música tão linda um rapaz lindo e a voz nem se fala
Did you ever read Rock Star (1987) by The Late Jackie Collins. There was a character named Bobby Mondella who from 12-16 was a successful Country & Western Singer and when his voice changed he couldn't sing as well. He got dropped by his label, manager and friends and walked away with $5000.00 in 1963. he gave up the rights to his songs that were still played on Radio. What was so eerie was that he died in February 1968 Five Months before The Jackson Five debuted for Motown and in his Book Moonwalker folks compared Michael to him.
I think your defensiveness is unfounded. I have no proof but 1960’s girls were famously emotive, unless the Liverpudlian foursome changed even more than we thought. What most of these comments are reacting to is surely a trick of the recording: they got the shots of bored faces before or after the actual concert, then spliced it together awkwardly.
Cameras were new back then. Watch the crowd in all the other videos of him performing back then, not everyone was racist. Don't feed into the corporate media's bullshit.
no. they were probably trying not to laugh because they are watching a drug addled, sad shadow of his former self lip-syncing to the record he release several years earlier.
You’re right they didn’t deserve him however he didn’t sing it live because it wouldn’t of sounded nearly as good. Frankie’s voice was completely changed at this point
Agreed that's just the society we still live in today, but i bet you they wont be looking like that when they here there grandchildren listening to Beyonce, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee stallion, Doja cat, Dababy, ect but real talk though the only way we could come together is that if we stop judging eachother
@Fackyou69 Fooku I know but it’s just so surreal to see how young white girls couldn’t even enjoy music coming from a Black artist. It’s like if you enjoy something you shouldn’t let your racist family from stopping you from enjoying music you enjoy.
@@sucramlove1677 Hello! Black music/singers were enjoyed, respected. MotownRecords/Detroit startd in '59 & enlightened teens (& closed minded whts)Favs-TheSupremes, GladysKnight&Pips, SmokeyR, Aretha, MarvinGaye, JohnnyWalker&Allstars, etc. Bandstand/DClark, EdSullivan- presented lots of new music. Opened ppl's minds. (unlike propaganda now) A '60s kid-Detroit, Chicago...Atlanta in'68 before MLK was shot 4/68. (noticed subtle racism in S, then)
@@andrewcart8117 I think it was both the camera and the fact that he was black. White parents didn't want their children listening to what they called race music which was the name of music made by black people that got re -branded to rock and roll. So it was like they were getting filmed doing something they weren't suppose to do.
@@marcopolo2028 exactly. Doesn't mean they were racist. They just didn't want to get punished for embarrassing their parents who might have had issues. Times were very different then and things were changing just like they are now, hopefully for the better!
@@claredyson9936 Thats what makes the most sense to me. But what im just trying to say is thats why they were uncomfortable. Most likely they were racist. In America at that time it was almost socially unacceptable to not be. Racism was also legal and in some cases it was illegal to not be (redlining, jim crow, ect.). At that time black people lived like jews in nazi germany. I don't even think Frankie was being paid properly mostly because he was black something that happened to many black artist at that time. Pretty sure he died broke. Many racist enjoy entertainment from black artist, athletes, ect.
Black people were the most awesomeness singers back in that time I loved each and every one of them they brought joy to my family during the 50s and 60s and I enjoy that era so much. shame on those women that were shocked that he was black. His music lives on forever.❤❤❤
This audience does not reflect most of Dick Clark's audiences. And 2 years later , Italian and black brothers from New Jersey had a huge hit together , THE PEPPERMINT TWIST
The audience absolutely freaks me out... imagine standing in front of them performing gosh... Frankie was simply fantastic non the less and so handsome.
this was not a performance. it was an artist near the end of his life, suffering physical effects of drug abuse, lip-syncing to a record he released several years earlier at the height of his success. It was part of his last ditch effort to restart his career. It had to be painful to be in the audience and see this "live".
@@steveom59 regardless of his personal deficiencies this was indeed a performance. All artists lip synced to tracks on these kinds of shows.. that was indeed the dynamics of these broadcasts. Furthermore, I won't judge him on his personal demons, I made my statement based on the performance and I thought it was great given the circumstances, he was an outstanding performance regardless of his personal life.
@@rob_3417 He's 100 correct but apparently these morons who didn't live this are attributing the audiences reaction to racism. It's stupid and ignorant
The contrast from his performance to the audience, they look like they’re at a conference for cement making! What a voice, history has shown he will live beyond his death and racism.
It didn't happen only to him. I have watched other videos from other artists from that time such as Neil Sedaka and Paul Anka and many girls act at that same way, looking around without any smile.
The sad part is that you could see he had talent, stage presence and the makings of an even greater entertainer than he was. The drugs just held him back basically...
My babysitters brought this music to my house. They'd have the biggest parties when my parents were out. They didn't make us go to bed .. just let us dance and taught us all the latest ones
@Channelhmmm I mean scientist across all levels guess all the time lol and they have a pretty good pay grade. What I said was a logical statement factoring in how blacks were mistreated during that area. 1960s I can almost bet my last dollar a black man was lynched somewhere in the United States!
2024 Loving and appreciating Frankie Lymon. Hearing that Frankie Beverly transitioned, I reflected and recalled him, saying he was influenced by him he used his first name. Thank you both for your talents and gifts. MusicLegends❤
Im not saying they are all racists if not they wouldnt be there what im saying is dont be scared of the truth coming out .. you must want to stay stagnant too
@KingOfPopStars stop acting ignorant and dumb you see the video and there faces they didn’t like him cause he was black which was obvious just stop this was the 1960s so it’s not shocking but you acting like you don’t see it is what’s sad
@@KingOfPopStars in previous interviews with him and his family decades after the crowd didn’t realize he was a black man and were caught very off guard by it and many as seen in the video didn’t know how they should react as states were still very segregated In the south at the time as well
@@dove6069 you fight racism with racism. See thats why earth i trying to get rid of us because of these type of people who are more disgusting than apes and shit.
Eddie Lombera nah they noticed he was lip syncing and it looked funny and weird because it was obvious his mouth movement and audio were off and didn’t sync.
@Kordei - no it's not a circle, it's indeed a generational problem, that's why racism still exist right now, and won't disappear right now, it will slowly decrease after each generation, we can stop it, not right now, but helping the next generations
@@rodo4246 wow I love your optimism but unfortunately the reality is that , when you lack empathy and being taught racism , you lack empathy for people who experience racism and deny it exists, anyways when you lack empathy for them, there’s no way it’s going to be fixed because you cannot fix something if you genuinely do not care about it
@@CALLaBOOTY09 Excuse me wtf does me being Bethesda fan have to do with my love of those times😑 And if you mean fallout i have to say fallout is not originally from Bethesda
Todd Howard Lolol relax all those Malpractices getting to you Todd? It was a joke that’s why I put the hahaha..... in front. I felt like the one reply equated you liking that time to you liking sexism and racism. So I did the same with Bethesda. And I said Bethesda cuz Todd Howard is the director of Bethesda.......bitch
Can’t compare the two. Jackson had a lifelong career while Lyton was on his way to being a has been in this video. Once his voice changed he had no chance at a career.....Ask anyone who was a lay on fan ( would have to be in their 70-80’s). I know a Lymon fanatic who bought all his records, followed his rise AND fall! Michael was able to transcend from child star and voice to adult star and voice. Lymon could not.
@Tim...Yeah. You could've added more. Frankie's legend deserves more reference in the history of pop music than he's getting. I guess we could say the same about Jackie Wilson. Both were hot, weren't they? On the contemporary scene, Whitney Huston left us just as she was getting started. Oh, let me shut up.
@@joaquina3968 I've seen a number of these videos with people of all colors and the audience always acts like this. It was a different time and people were expected to act more reserved. Look at how nice everyone dresses. Now people act like jackasses in the audience because parenting has taken a nose dive in the last 30 years.
@@giannamokoka8212 cmon now....you have no idea if they were racist or not. They came to hear the man sing! They’re just teenagers who came to listen to music and they obviously liked frankies by that applause. Don’t turn everything into a race issue!
Did you also notice how Frankie never seems to notice them? He never looks directly at them, which he actually was not allowed to do - he wasn't allowed to sing to white girls back then (so not allowed to look at them while singing or gesture towards them) - On the opposite side of that, those girls would never let their daddies catch them swooning over a black man. Just left the atmosphere all kinds of awkward - I couldn't even imagine trying to perform to a bunch of faces like that! Really speaks volumes about how much talent Frankie had!!
@@nathanb.8114 Look you may be right, but if you want more people to turn to Jesus, make sure you are doing it through love and through him. If you project hostility and disgust you are not showing God's love. People need to know what Jesus's love looks like.
Those girls are just waiting for him to hurry the hell up and finish so the next white singer can come on so they can jump up and down and hysterically scream crying 😂
Otaku_boyxoxo 666-- These shows, American Bandstand especially, always did lip synching, too expensive in those days to do a live performance. Not just the extra techs necessary, but a live performance was probably way more expensive.
Chat With Chi Well they were being recorded, his lip syncing was funny AF, and I’m sure his race caught them off guard so a uncomfortable experience to say the least.
Vickie Adams Frankie died even younger, I think he was 26 years old when he died Nat king cole died of lung cancer and Frankie died of a drug overdose though.
You know what gets me about late 50s early 60s bandstand when these marginally talented white teen idols perform on the show the crowd goes fuckin bananas yet when a dynamic performer like frankie lymon is on the show they don't even give him the fuckin respect he deserves
Johnny Dangerous nah I think it was cause of those big ass cameras in they faces 😂😂😂 I mean no doubt some was pissed that he was black but u think most knew
Everyone that was into Rock n Roll music during this era knew Frankie Lymon was black. Frankie was at the top of his game from 1955-1957, By 1960 Frankie was a washed up has-been singing cover songs of past rock and roll hits, Nothing to be enthusiastic about.
@@Annuii.i You don't know what your talking about like most posters on here. Dick Clark did NOT pay anyone to appear on his show, They all performed pro bono and they even paid their passage, They appeared on the show to boost their record sales as appearing in the most popular teenage show in the country usually did that
This is a very interesting video. The audiences excitement during the introduction vs the confused faces during the performance. Given that this was before music videos and during the radio era, they must not have know he was black. He still killed it!
I hadn’t thought about that before, it’s a good point! I was wondering why they were excited to hear the song and then just got very unexcited. We take knowing what singers look like for granted now.
I hadn't ever seen him before the video showing the racist girls reactions went around social media, but I don't remember ever nit knowing this song and had always assumed he was black.
People have to realize that during the 60"s and earlier, blacks and whites did not mix. So the audience is probably a little confused. Thanks to Robert Kennedy and the Civil Rights Movement, relations have improved.
You guys are so stupid... research a bit. This show was popular for playing black artists, those people would not have been there by accident. They were nervous about looking proper on camera which was important in culture at the time. You guys are ridiculously out of touch with reality. This is why old people complain about schools failing our children, because you guys make up history instead of actually learning it. Disgusting
I think they were just uncomfortable being on camera. None of them could make eye contact with it. It was a more innocent age unlike the attention seeking narcissists of today.
This episode is from August 1960 and is an interesting piece of music history. Those girls were told to stay in their seats by ABC execs. This is Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut show. It aired on ABC from 1958-1960. BeechNut is a chewing gum company. That's why all the "teens" are chewing gum, it's product placement. In 1959 Dick started booking black talents despite objections from ABC national offices. He started with the doo-wop group The Coasters, then Chuck Berry, then Little Anthony and The Imperials. ABC national claimed the show was causing problems with viewers. But TV ratings continued to soar in 1959. And BeechNut stood by Clark and the showed went on. More black acts followed in 1960. Enter Frankie Lyman. Frankie was on the downside of his career here due to a building heroin addiction by age 15, but he was having the biggest success of his solo career with Pretty Little Bitty Pretty One. Minutes before Frankie came on. The audience was warned by ABC executives NOT TO LEAVE their seats. Cops were present but no threats of arrest were made. So the audience defiantly CLAPPED for Frankie's performance.
I'm glad someone other than myself picked up on this! Truth be told, they were "Lusting" after him honey, just couldn't let it be known. Ain't no shame in the "White Girls" game today!
I swear I told my fiancé that!! I said daddy gonna blister that ass that’s why they were moving their head! Amazing talent though, hate racism still exists. Dumbest thing ever
@@abdielnava4776 that is an excellent point. You’re absolutely right, the fact that his voice was prerecorded to make it easier for the audience to hear (specially in a venue that was probably not fitted for a live performance) doesn’t negate that he was incredibly talented. Thank you.
Haha these Are young girls with cameras stuck in their faces. They all loved the music. Come on my Mexican family doesn't get upset when a white guy sings feliz navidad on T.V. Good music is what Franky was, he never disappointed. Everyone loved Lymon(=
@@lonchaneyslover7635 No this was a time in history where they would cover up black peoples music and put a white person face on so no one actually knew the color of the person skin until they would do a live performance. Not only that the show host Dick Clark was known to be pretty racist himself. They were looking around checkin other people to see if they were singing along or clapping just to get validation to dance to it. What a shame.
i started crying because i felt bad for him just dancing and singing perfectly in front of white racist and sour faces *edit: im now laughing so hard at all the boomers hating on me bc i expressed how i felt **edit pt 2 : totally agree i shouldnt think what i say from my feelings is always right but this is my opinion
@@eddielombera5862 are you serious? You can be racist to black people and listen to thier music, you can even have sex with them. In fact so many slaves were raped by thier so-called "masters" and others who were pro-slavery. According to you "if they were racist why'd they want to have sex/rape them?" They view them as lower than human or not even sentient but that doesn't preclude them from wanting and taking something from them. In fact racists are more likely to use and abuse POC. Then there are varying degrees of racism and you can be married and even in love with a black person and still hold racist views. I suggest studying sociology. It is complex.
That's because at that time...These girl were listening to this song "Little Bitty Pretty One" on the radio and have thought Frankie Lymon was white singing the song until they went to see him live and wasn't expecting for him to be black....Their expression says it all!
That's not the way that it looks to "MY EYES " it looks to me, judging from that "EASILY OBSERVABLE " look of pure joy/happiness on his face, that he was "unmoved/unfazed" by the misery/socially conditioned unhappiness of these "poor unfortunate children " how dare their country deny them the right to publicly display excitement/joy, I posthumously feel for these "poor little victims of American hatred/ugliness ".
Actually it was the other way around, it was he who was "DISGUSTED "(as anyone would be) by the sadness, misery and clear unhappiness of those "poor little victims of Racism, hatred 😢", how dare their country deny these "little victims " the basic right to be happy,.....awww, it's just that they look so "SAD", awww, POOR LITTLE THINGS 😢.
Mayme Marshall Wow that's stupid. Then why waste time having him there? Oh wait, because he's really good with talent. No one can tell me what music and singers I like. Or maybe that's just easier said now than then. What would happen if they would've shown affection?
Yea there was a reason for that. Just like there’s a reason for everything. The pressures of the music business or even just living as a colored man during that era, and having certain things expected of him to stay afloat.. yea not easy. These could’ve been some of the reasons he was using heroin, you never know what someone’s going through mentally, even when they have a big smile on their face. That’s just to mask the pain.
Most of these comment are wrong on why the audience didn’t dance… They were told NOT to dance to Frankie’s song or the show would be cancelled. They knew he was black because Frankie was well known before this.. Hope this clear some people’s heads.
@@Jaysolate "They was racist...." "They was racist...." "They was racist...." "They was racist...." "They was racist...." "They was racist...." "They was racist...." "They was racist...." It's literally the first thing the person said.
+Max Lieberman Umm! Were they not clapping, yelling and loving the performance?! You want them to scream while he was performing? Racist brainwashing! Lol!
thank you. so irritating to see all the comments calling the audience racists. They looked like they were digging it to me. clapping along, nodding their heads. If they look nervous it's probably because they had never been on tv before.
Tracy Mcgrady you should get yourself an ice cold watermelon and watch Soul Train. Then get rid of that basketball picture because I hate looking at your ugly ass.
Tracey McGrady don't forget white men invented basketball and football and baseball. They also invented the cameras, lights, and recording equipment that made Frankie Lymon's TV appearance possible. I suggest you change the racist slave name Tracey Mcgrady to something like Kumbo Magambo. Now that has a nice ring to it don't you think.
@@christophersansone2755 This guy only said that he hates looking at the audience. He mentioned nothing of race, you were the one that mentioned race and played on stereotypes. We can clearly see what type of person you are with the three comments you left behind. It wasnt necessary at all. Next time go after someone who mentions race in the comments, instead of attacking someone and making yourself look like the "rascist pig". Just using you words against you.
+Johnny Baillie The show was sponsored by Juicy Fruit Gum so yeah I think chewing was mandatory! And it was "Flavorific" when ad agencies were first trying to relate to teens and coin "cool" terms like "IFIC." Never actually heard anyone say it!
+Johnny Baillie They were Chewing Beech Nut Gum. As for The Little White Girls, they loved his Music. Did you know that Frankie was indirectly responsible for Alan Freed's Show The Big Beat getting Cancelled because the Cameras caught him dancing with a White Girl.
Boy how disgusting you can feel the discrimination in that audience! They just didn’t realized they were in the presence of great talent! Rip🙏🕊️Frankie Lymon!
I think there was a lot of discrimination, but youth are always a little bit head of the game. If you watch any performance with a teenage crowd from this era, of any type of music, being put on screen was probably terrifying. While it's important to remember the history of our society, seeing it with the lens of today is not seeing things clearly. I see kids watching something new, exciting, and probably not supported by their parents. And embarrassed to be on tv, which was fairly new at the time. Everyone clapped, whistled and screamed after the performance. The song was a major hit.
Knowing what happened to Lymon makes this video so much harder to watch. He smiled and performed like a champ but I can’t even imagine the type of pain he was feeling. Knowing that everyone hates you for reasons outside your control, even though you are very talented and objectively an amazing singer and performer. This truly is one of the saddest videos on the internet.
Agreed…struggled with heroin in his teens. This was one of his first comeback tour/solo career performances where he’s lip syncing to a track of The Teenagers (and from when he was 12/13)
