Viewers often emulated the Committee members' dance moves, copied their personal style, and followed their life stories and interactions. I hated to see so much emphasis put on the integration plot, but I do understand that that was a part of what happened. Apr 14, 1997 at 3:00 am. This is a home for all of the dancers from the Buddy Deane Era (1957 - 1964) to meet up and keep in touch. But we thought of him as being so flamboyant. Rich and I didn't get together until 1989 and, like some other "Deaners", I had the attitude that no one would remember me after all that time, so I never went to the dances. Vicki Defeo: Ive tried to think this through, because it sounds ridiculous, but [integration] was a non-issue to us. I was just accidentally obsessed with something that was appealing to more people. Very few "squares" or "Joe College" teen-agers were on the show. We all watched that and the Mickey Mouse Club. [At my audition], I was not quite 14. Deane helped numerous black record artists in their careers -- James Brown among them. He was 78. Id hook and have to dance in the back so the teachers couldnt see me, says Helen. . The rivalry with Dick Clark meant that Deane urged all his performers not to mention American Bandstand or visits to Clark in Philadelphia. If you made the short list, you were required to bring in a letter of reference from your parish priest, minister, rabbi or a teacher. On the show: Gene joined in February 1958; Linda was on from September 1958 to February 1961. And who could forget those great ads for the plastic furniture slipcovers that opened with the kids jumping up and down on the sofa and Royal Parker screaming, Hey kids! It was really no big deal to us. Linda Snyder: We were on the show Monday through Saturday, six days a week. It was 1961 and I was on television, successfully building my teen-aged reputation. To those of my generation, Deane left a lasting legacy in both culture and memory. Its interesting that our paths have crossed at reunions and weve all chosen to stay friends. . Tom Wheeler Hairspray came to CCBC Essex's Cockpit in Court theater, and so did the real original castthose Committee members from the old Buddy Deane Show, whose moment in history became the premise for . The boys had to wear coats and ties, dressing in the aforementioned "Continental" style. When Barry Levinson, another Baltimore native, requested video from the show for his film Diner, the station told him it had no footage.[2]. The cause was . In the years following The Buddy Deane Show, quite a few Deaners have gotten hitched, including Linda Warehime and Gene Snyder, Concetta Comi and John Sankonis, Anne Boyer and Richard Tempera, Shirley Temes and Jim Joyce, Frani Nedeloff and Wayne Hahn, Joe Loverde and Joyce Tucker. Get off that furniture!? You can help by adding some! To qualify, first you needed a solid command of the day's dances -- the pony, Madison, jitterbug, bop, cha-cha, the stroll, the twist -- and there was even a "cool" style for slow dancing. At school, we were just one of the other kids, but we used to get fan mail. It was maddening: the Mashed Potatoes, the Stroll, the Pony, the Waddle, the Locomotion, the Bug, the Handjive, the New Continental, and, most important, the Madison, a complicated line dance that started here and later swept the country. And those wonderful dances. So many talented musicians and people who wanted to show their appreciation made the night truly special. 'Buddy Deaners' Reunite, Reminisce at CCBC Essex An earth force for a generation of Baltimore teens