Hullabaloo (TV series)
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Hullabaloo was a musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965 through August 29, 1966. In contrast to American Bandstand, it ran during prime-time.
Directed by Steve Binder, who went on to direct Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special, it was originally a one-hour broadcast, airing from 8:30 - 9:30pm on Tuesday nights. In June 1965, it shifted to the 10:00pm time slot, but three months later, the network cut the show to thirty minutes and moved it to 7:30pm on Monday nights, where it remained to the end of its run, whereupon it was replaced by the sitcom The Monkees.
Hullabaloo served as a big-budget, quality showcase for the leading pop acts of the day, and was also competition for another like-minded television showcase, ABC's Shindig!. A different host presided each week—among these were Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark, Paul Anka, Jack Jones, and Frankie Avalon—singing a couple of his or her own hits and introducing acts such as Dionne Warwick, The Rolling Stones, Sonny and Cher, the Supremes, Herman's Hermits, The Animals and Marianne Faithfull. Many early episodes included segments taped in the UK and hosted by Brian Epstein.
The Hullabaloo Dancers—a team of four men and six women—appeared on a regular basis. Two of them—Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie—went on to achieve considerable fame on Broadway. Dancer Patrick Adiarte, who also attempted to launch a solo singing career on the series, went on to star as Ho-Jon in the television series M*A*S*H. Another female dancer, model/actress Lada Edmund Jr. was best known as the caged "go-go girl" dancer in the "Hullabaloo A-Go-Go" segment near the closing sequence of the show. She also had a brief recording career with her singles "I Know Something" and "The Larue." She later appeared (and co-starred with Jon Voight) in the 1969 film "Out of It" and in "Act of Vengeance" released in 1974. Dancer Suzanne Charney also had some degree of fame on Broadway as the lead frug dancer in Sweet Charity, reprising her role in the 1969 film as well.
Many of the programs in the series were videotaped at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Others were taped in New York City at NBC's Studio 8-H, and in NBC's studio in the Midwood section of Brooklyn.
Much of the series' color videotaped footage was later dubbed over to kinescope on film - as such copied in black and white.
Highlights of many of the segments have been compiled for release in VHS and DVD formats.
