Rockin' TV: Rock & Roll and Television from Elvis to The Monkees

Beginning in the mid-1950s, rock music found a surprising home on mainstream television. Programs hosted by Milton Berle, Steve Allen, and especially Ed Sullivan featured a wide variety of musicians including Bill Haley & the Comets, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, and especially Elvis Presley, who appeared on all three shows to galvanic response. Afternoon dance programs like American Bandstand played a role as well in bringing rock to large and eager teenage audiences. Then, in 1964, the appearance of the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show would change the face of pop culture, leading to an explosion of televised rock, from the Supremes to the Rolling Stones, for the rest of the decade. This program will present a lively survey of the fascinating history of how rock and television grew up together. Presented by Brain Rose, Professor emeritus at Fordham University.