''Jamboree'', known as ''Disc Jockey Jamboree'' in the United Kingdom, is a 1957 American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

film directed by Roy Lockwood. Its story is about a boy and girl, Pete Porter and Honey Wynn (played respectively by Paul Carr and Freda Holloway), who become overnight sensations as a romantic singing duo who run into trouble when their squabbling managers ( Kay Medford and Bob Pastene), try to turn them into solo acts. Against this backdrop in cameo performances appear some of the biggest names of rock and roll in the 1950s lip-syncing to their recordings.

Overview

''Jamboree'' is a film that was built upon the popularity of a name which at the time was becoming associated with rock and roll music and it appears to have derived its name from a show starring disc-jockey Alan Freed that began airing over Radio Luxembourg in 1956 (the year before this movie was released). Freed recorded his featured segment while working for WINS in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. A great rivalry developed during this time between Alan Freed and

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting '' American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 19 ...

who appears in this film. Freed was the pioneer of rock and roll movies (''

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...

''; '' Don't Knock the Rock''; '' Rock, Rock, Rock''), however,

Congressional Hearings A United States congressional hearing is the principal formal method by which United States congressional committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings (a procedure unique ...

into payola practices and radio broadcasting eventually ruined Freed's career, while Clark's career continued uninterrupted. ''Jamboree'' was essentially a music film in the manner of music videos that followed many years later on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

where the storyline was secondary to the musical performances, with the amateurish acting becoming less relevant than the musical performances themselves. However, this movie is of historical importance due to the cameo performances by various musical acts that are featured.

Featured stars

Included in ''Jamboree'' are

Buddy Knox Buddy Wayne Knox (July 20, 1933 – February 14, 1999) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1957 rock hit song, " Party Doll". Biography Knox was born in the tiny farming community of Happy, Texas, United States, and lear ...

, who performs " Hula Love", a no. 9 hit on the ''Billboard'' pop singles chart; Jimmy Bowen, performs "Cross Over";

acting as the host for a show within the film, which was released shortly after first who appearing as host of

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pr ...

on TV;

Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...

, who performs "Wait and See";

Charlie Gracie Charles Anthony Graci (May 14, 1936 – December 16, 2022), known professionally as Charlie Gracie, was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. His biggest hits were "Butterfly" and " Fabulous", both in 1957. Care ...

(who became an even bigger hit in the UK than he was in the United States), who performs "Cool Baby"; Jack Jackson (British bandleader who acted as the disc jockey host of the

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

records show on Radio Luxembourg;

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...

(who belts out "

Great Balls of Fire "Great Balls of Fire" is a 1957 popular song recorded by American rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis on Sun Records and featured in the 1957 movie ''Jamboree''. It was written by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer. The Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 re ...

" in a version that is different from the Sun 45 release); Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords; Jack Payne (another British band leader);

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

(who sings " Glad All Over");

Jodie Sands Jodie Sands (born Eleanor DiSipio ) is an American singer of popular music. Biography Eleanor DiSipio was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1927/1928, to Rocco (born 1886) and Angelina DiSipio (née Cattefesta, 1891–1966). Her father was ...

, who performs "Sayonara"; Frankie Avalon, who sings "Teacher's Pet"; Slim Whitman, who gathered a tremendous following in Europe, who performs "Unchain My Heart";

Aaron Schroeder Aaron Harold Schroeder (September 7, 1926 – December 2, 2009) was an American songwriter and music publisher. Early years Born in Brooklyn, Schroeder graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art ...

in a cameo role as the Songwriter;

The Four Coins The Four Coins were a popular American vocal group, consisting of Jimmy Gregorakis, George Mantalis, and brothers George and Jack Mahramas. They were all of Greek heritage and came from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. A local orchestra leader, Lee Barr ...

, who perform "A Broken Promise"; and, Count Basie and his Orchestra, featuring Joe Williams on vocals.

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

overdubbed her vocals for Freda Holloway. Brazilian singer Cauby Peixoto has a cameo appearance in the film under the name "Ron Coby". Cauby had a brief rock and roll phase is in his career, recording "Rock'n'Roll in Copacabana". Dick Clark is the host of the "second hour" of a "United Charities" Telethon to raise money to fight what is described only as "this dreaded disease". Clark is listed as a DJ for

WFIL WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned W ...

Philadelphia in the credits (at the time this was filmed, he was also hosting the original Philadelphia edition of what eventually became ''

''). Clark introduces a number of disc jockeys from across the US and Canada. These DJs then introduce the featured stars. Later in the film DJs in Europe: Jack Jackson (ATV) and Chris Payne ( BBC) in London, England; Werner Goetze ( Bayerischer Rundfunk) Munich, and Chris Howland (

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

) Cologne, Germany are shown introducing "Pete and Honey" records on the air. Finally, performances are the entertainment at a Music Operators of America convention supper, a group of jukebox owners that bought 150 records a week in the 1950s.''Hank Williams: The Biography'' by Colin Escott, Contributor William Macewen, George Merritt. 2004. Back Bay. page 137;

Cast

* Alan Freed as Disc-jockey *

as Himself *

as Himself - ''

'' * Jimmy Bowen as Himself * Jack Jackson as Himself *

as Himself *

as Himself * Joe Williams as Himself *

as Herself * Frankie Avalon as Himself * Lewis Lymon and the Teenchords as Teen Group Band * Slim Whitman as Himself *

as Himself * Jack Payne as Himself *

Andy Martin Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945), is an American perennial candidate who has never been elected to office, running as both a Democrat and a Republican. He has filed over 250 political lawsuits nationwide ...

as Himself *

as Songwriter *

as Singing Group * Cauby Peixoto as Ron Coby * Rocco and his Saints as Rock band *

as Herself * Kay Medford as Manager - Gracie Show * Robert Pastene as Manager Lew Arthur * Paul Carr as Peter Porter * Freda Holloway as Honey Wynn * David King-Wood as Warren Sykes * Jean Martin as Cindy Sykes - Asst. Mgr. *

Tony Travis Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

as Stage Manager * Leonard Schneider as Asst. Stage Mgr. * Ed Bonner as Disc-jockey - St. Louis * Joe Finan as Disc-jockey - Cleveland *

as Disc-jockey - Philadelphia -

* Milt Grant as Disc-jockey - Washington *

Jocko Henderson Douglas "Jocko" Henderson (March 8, 1918July 15, 2000) was an American radio disc jockey, businessman, and hip hop music pioneer. Early life Henderson grew up in Baltimore, where both of his parents were teachers. Radio broadcasting Henderson ...

as Disc-jockey - New York

References

External links

* {{Jerry Lee Lewis 1957 films 1957 musical films American black-and-white films American musical films American rock music films Films scored by Neal Hefti Warner Bros. films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films

Overview

Featured stars

Cast

See also

References

External links