American Dreams: Episode Trivia
TRIVIA GUIDE:
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- This episode goofed on just a few songs they played during the show. First it takes place at the end of 1963 but three songs that were played didn't come out until 1964. The song Keep on Pushing by The Impressions was released in late Spring 1964. The song The Way You Do The Things To Me by The Temptations came out in February 1964 and the song Do Wa Diddy Diddy by Manfred Manns came out during the British invasion in September of 1964.
- In the previous episode, J.J.'s dance thing was on a Sunday night. In this episode he said it was on a Saturday night.
- In Episode 5, "The Fighting Irish," Dick Clark is seen in archival footage talking about how Brunswick Records is awarding a gold record for the million-selling song "Lonely Teardrops," and at that moment Jackie Wilson comes out on stage to sing his hit.
Except that "Lonely Teardrops" was released in 1958, which suggests that the song took five years to sell a million copies, if Brunswick Records was awarding the gold record in 1963. Perhaps if the there was a cutaway from the footage, where Dick Clark could redub the words "Baby Workout" for "Lonely Teardrops" (which was a huge hit in 1963), then the actor playing Jackie Wilson could sing "Baby Workout" on stage.
- In Episode 1.06, "Soldier Boy," Meg and Roxanne are excited to hear that Jay and the Americans will be on American Bandstand. The band is heard in rehearsals performing "Come A Little Bit Closer," which Meg tells lead singer Jay Black that she has heard on the radio and loves, but that she also loved his voice on "She Cried." Roxanne says that she's more into Carl, the group's drummer.
Except that "Come A Little Bit Closer" wasn't written until mid-1964, nine months after the timeline for that episode. Since Jay and the Americans were a vocal harmony group, with the exception of guitarist Marty Sanders, none of the group's members would be playing an instrument (at the time, their lineup included Jay Black, Sandy Yaguda, Kenny Vance, Howie Kane and Marty Sanders; there was no member of the group named "Carl"). Also, Jay Black would not appreciate Meg applauding his vocals on the song "She Cried," as that was sung by the original "Jay" of Jay and the Americans, Jay Traynor (Jay Black was born David Blatt, and changed his name for the group). If the group had performed their hits "Only In America" or "Come Dance With Me," it would have fit in the timeline.
- In Episode 1.06, "Soldier Boy," Meg and Roxanne are excited to hear that Jay and the Americans will be on American Bandstand. The band is heard in rehearsals performing "Come A Little Bit Closer," which Meg tells lead singer Jay Black that she has heard on the radio and loves, but that she also loved his voice on "She Cried." Roxanne says that she's more into Carl, the group's drummer.
- Meg Pryor has an argument with Luke Foley, the cashier at the Vinyl Crocodile record store. Meg is furious because Luke has substituted the Angels 45 that she originally purchased with a Bob Dylan 45. She says to Luke that Dylan's lyrics are not enjoyable, referring to his song "Mr. Tambourine Man." Luke later gives Meg the Dylan 45 of "Mr. Tambourine Man," which she listens to at home.
Except that Mr. Tambourine Man was written two years after the December 1963 timeline; it was never commercially released by Dylan on a 45 (the Byrds did have a hit with it, though), and the record on Meg's turntable had a purplish label; Dylan's Columbia 45's were red labels with black print. Granted, Bob Dylan's second album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," was released in 1963, and any track from that LP (including the eventual 45, "Blowin' In The Wind") would have made timeline sense in that episode. - The show timeline for this episode is December 1963. Except that the song Wishing and Hoping by Dusty Springfield was not released until June/July 1964; King Curtis' song Soul Serenade was released in early 1964; And Aretha's version wasn't even recorded until 1967 on her debut Atlantic LP. Willie Mitchell's hit was in April 1968.
- Meg Pryor has an argument with Luke Foley, the cashier at the Vinyl Crocodile record store. Meg is furious because Luke has substituted the Angels 45 that she originally purchased with a Bob Dylan 45. She says to Luke that Dylan's lyrics are not enjoyable, referring to his song "Mr. Tambourine Man." Luke later gives Meg the Dylan 45 of "Mr. Tambourine Man," which she listens to at home.
- Helen Pryor meets her new college classmates at the Vinyl Crocodile. They announce that they have bought some Frank Sinatra records, and that now Helen has to buy some of their music. They immediately hand Helen a small stack of 45's.
Except that among the 45's is a record on the Uni label (it's the one with the red-tan colored sleeve). As a label, Uni did not exist until the mid-to-late 1960's. Seeing this record, out of place with the rest of the 45's in the scene, broke the illusion that the show would portray a scene from 1963, by putting in records and materials that existed in a later time period. - The Four Tops first visit to American Bandstand:
The footage had to be from about 9 months later when that song was released. The Four Tops were together as a recording group many years before but the song they sang on the episode shown was their first TOP 40 hit.
- Helen Pryor meets her new college classmates at the Vinyl Crocodile. They announce that they have bought some Frank Sinatra records, and that now Helen has to buy some of their music. They immediately hand Helen a small stack of 45's.
- Mary Wells' excellent My Guy was mis-identified in the close captioning as My Girl by the Supremes! The song was not released until April 1964.
- Meg and Roxanne are listening to a Bobby Vinton 45 on Meg's phonograph. At the time, Vinton recorded for Epic Records, which had a yellow label for their 45's. The record on the turntable has a dark blue label and is inconsistent with Vinton records of the time.
- Also, the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" was part of American Bandstand's Rate-a-Record, which is surprising because not only was the song released nine months after the timeline for this episode, references were made to the "British Invasion" before the arrival of the Beatles to even cause it. Other songs that were played out of sequence with the timeline were Chad and Jeremy's "A Summer Song" and the Impressions' "People Get Ready."
- Jack Pryror watches a hockey game and refers to it as a conference game between the two top teams. The NHL in 1963 only had six teams and one conference, so the sentence is redundant. Also, there was a hockey team in Philadelphia in 1963, but it was in the Eastern Hockey League, a low minor league, and the top two teams in that conference would not have included the Philadelphia team, which was at the bottom of the standings that year.
- In this episode, J.J. and by extension, Jack's full names are revealed to viewers for the first time on J.J.'s envelope from Notre Dame. The letter is addressed to "John Joseph Pryor, Jr."
- In this episode, after you hear Ed Sullivan's introduction of the Beatles, it goes right into "I Want To Hold Your Hand". But on the real Ed Sullivan, that was the Beatles' last number. The first number was "All My Loving".
- If I remember correctly, The Beatles did not appear live at the studio, but I believe they did do a taped appearance from Florida. It showed the group having fun on the beach. Can't remember the songs they sang. Ed Sullivan snatched them up.
- A reference should be made to the fact that The Ed Sullivan Show was the first to host The Beatles. The first to show film of them was The Jack Paar Show on NBC, I believe in Jan 1964. As far as The Beatles appearing on American Bandstand, It never happened.
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- The Ford Mustang was introduced in April 1964 and the car in this show definitely was a Mustang. If the timeline was Feb/Mar 1964 then the car should not have been there.
- Dick Clark introduced Little Anthony & The Imperials' "Shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Bop" as the # 4 or 5 song in his current music countdown. Only problem was the song was a major hit in Jan 1960. Now unless he was giving a countdown of the dancers' favorites, this was a very bogus use of Bandstand footage.
- The Ford Mustang was introduced in April 1964 and the car in this show definitely was a Mustang. If the timeline was Feb/Mar 1964 then the car should not have been there.
- During a tv broadcast mention was made of Cassius Clay changing his name to Muhammad Ali. The goof: American Dreams was supposed to be Valentine'sDay (2/14/64) or at least within a couple days. Cassius Clay fought Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight title on Feb 25 1964 and won. He startled the world shortly thereafter by announcing that he joinedthe Nation of Islam nd changed his name. All this happened about two weeks after the dance was supposed to happen. (On February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida, Clay waged his
first challenge for the heavyweight championship in a match against Sonny
Liston. Though Liston was thought by many boxing experts to be invincible,
the brash 22-year old Clay spent the weeks leading up to the fight
entertaining reporters and fans with colorfully-worded promises of his
impending victory. In one of the most stunning upsets in boxing history,
Clay delivered on his promise, knocking Liston out in the seventh round.
Shortly after the fight, Cassius Clay startled the sports world by
announcing that he had joined the Nation of Islam and had changed his name
to Muhammad Ali. Ali defended his heavyweight crown in nine matches over the
next two years. His title was revoked in 1967 when, citing his Islamic
faith, he refused induction into the United States military and was
sentenced to a five-year prison term.) - Other than the list of songs that Luke rattled off as love songs included three that were not in existence at Feb 64 and the fact that Vanessa Carlton sang a Bandstand featured song that wasn't released until at least two months later (Wishin + Hopin). Also Herman's Hermits "i'm into something good" was not released until Nov 1964 (9 months later!).
- During a tv broadcast mention was made of Cassius Clay changing his name to Muhammad Ali. The goof: American Dreams was supposed to be Valentine'sDay (2/14/64) or at least within a couple days. Cassius Clay fought Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight title on Feb 25 1964 and won. He startled the world shortly thereafter by announcing that he joinedthe Nation of Islam nd changed his name. All this happened about two weeks after the dance was supposed to happen. (On February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, Florida, Clay waged his
- Even tough this episode is suposed to take place in February 1964, some of the songs that appear in this episode are clearly ahead in time. The Castaways song Liar Liar was a hit in Sept 1965. Manfred Mann's Do Wah Diddy Diddy was released later in the year 1964 as previously pointed out and The Rolling Stones song was issued in August 1964 (their version of the great Solomon Burke's song Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, not to be confused with Dean Martin's middle of the Road hit entitled Everybody Needs Somebody which was also released in the summer of 1964).
- Luke gave Meg an advance copy of Donovan's "Catch the Wind", calling him a "British" Bob Dylan. This show is supposed to take place in February 1964. Donovan's single didn't get released in the US until June 1965, over one year later. That is quite an advance copy.
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- There were two misidentified songs in the closed captioning:
Don Gardner & DeeDee Ford's song I Need Your Loving was shown on screen as Ray Charles' Hit The Road Jack.
The Gentry's Keep On Dancin' was listed as Be True To Your School by The Beach Boys. Note that Dick Clark was seen and heard in an American Bandstand clip as back-introducing The Gentry's song about five minutes before the song was heard. This episode appears to be March/April 1964 probably before Easter. Keep On Dancin' was not even released nationally until over one year later peaking in Sept 1965.
- There were two misidentified songs in the closed captioning:
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- This episode can be determined to portray May/June 1964 since it is prom season. On American Bandstand, a performance by the Temptations singing 'My Girl' was shown.Great song, terrific tie-in with proms, Meg and Roxanne singing along and all. Problem: the song wasn't released until about 6 months later in the middle of the winter and hit he charts in Jan 1965!!!! This is significant because the song was a major #1 hit for the group and became a prom/wedding standard thereafter. Look it up.
- Please note that the DATE for this show is June 21,1964 and not the 19th as indicated elsewhere on this page. It was Father's Day 1964 and Jim Bunning threw a perfect game that Sunday afternoon.
- There are currently no trivia for this episode.
- Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels were a great band that did not begin to get national exposure until their debut album was released on the heels of their first hit, Jenny Take A Ride. That song has, as a basis for the middle section of it, taken several lines from C.C. Rider which is a completely different song (written by Chuck Willis). What makes this a huge goof is that Dick Clark intro'd the song on his Bandstand show as C.C Rider and the producers of American Dreams made it appear as if it happened during the time of the episode (Aug 1964). Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels did not hit the charts until Jan 1966 or well over 16 months later. Dick was wrong in his intro of the song title. Of course, he really didn't listen to his producer.
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great
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