American Bandstand 1968 -’68 Dance Contest- Tighten Up, Archie Bell & The Drells

Airdate: May 18, 1968 “We Dance Just As Good As We Want!” Even though the song was chosen 2 weeks ago (or at least 2 “tapings” ago) for the contest, “Tighten Up” is the #1 song in the country today. Archie Bell was drafted into the Army before recording the song and was already serving when the song hit the charts. (Like most people I always thought the lyrics were “…But We Dance Just As Good As We WALK” but nope….it’s “Want”) Marcia Silverman, a former Bandstand regular and a contestant in the ’67 Swing Dance Contest, is now a Production Assistant and one of today’s judges as another “California finalist” is chosen. She shows no favoritism for her former Swing Dance Contest partner, Stan Sobern (dancing with Robin Morris at 4:07), as Bud (Buddy) Schwimmer and Gretchen Kitchess are chosen as today’s winners. As mentioned on AB Dancers Channel (American Bandstand 1960s Dance Partners 1) “Buddy (Schwimmer) went on to become a successful choreographer and is credited for the development of the ‘California Two-Step’ which was so often used by the 1960’s dancers on Bandstand. His son Benji won first place on the 2006 season of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. His daughter Lacey was a pro dancer on ‘Dancing with the Stars’”- (thank you Jeff and Don Sanuskar for this information) Gone But Not Forgotten: TWA was bought out by American Airlines in 2001. Cypress Gardens Theme Park closed in 2009 and the Gardens are now part of Legoland Florida. Zenith became a subsidiary of LG Electronics in 1999. General Motors stopped making Pontiacs in 2009….And Charlie O’Donnell left American Bandstand in early 1968, leaving Dick Clark to do the show’s announcing as he does in today’s episode.