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Harvey Sheldon got his first big break based on his moves on the dance floor.
The South Philadelphia-born Sheldon, who spent the first five years of his life at Lawrence and Catharine streets, was soon grooving onstage for a hit television show.
“In 1952, I turned on the TV and saw a DJ sitting there introducing movie clips,” Sheldon said last week from his Anaheim, Calif. home. “I thought, ‘this is boring,’ so I called up Bob Horn and said, ‘Every Friday at Broad Street [in North Philly] … we park our cars and turn on the radio stations and dance out in the parking lot.’”
Horn, who was the host of “Bandstand” — which would eventually become “American Bandstand” — made the trip, Sheldon said, and asked him to come aboard the show, which was taped in West Philly. Sheldon was on its premiere episode, with dancing teenagers. Once there, he was tapped when bandleader Ray Anthony created a new song that needed choreography. Sheldon, then a student at Northeast Philly’s Lincoln High School, become a co-creator of the show’s signature “The Bunny Hop.”
“I got known for doing it, creating the choreography with Dimples [my dance partner],” Sheldon, who has stayed in contact with Dimples, said. “I only stayed on ‘Bandstand’ for a short time because I started getting all this other work.”
The exposure led to a string of opportunities, one of the earliest being the start of his broadcast career.
“I was around 18, 19. I got out of school at 17 and became a disc jockey,” Sheldon, 76, said. “I always wanted to be a disc jockey. It was my dream as a little kid.”
Sheldon went on to have a storied career in television and radio, marked by several firsts, such as bringing rock music for the first time to FM radio. His current projects rely on these six decades of experience, a sharp memory and his proven ability to tell a good story.
“The last [book] I had written is ‘The History of the Golden Age of Pop Music.’ All my books are 828 pages, and heavy, because I have so much to say about music,” Sheldon, who has also written on other topics, such as South Philadelphia’s history, said. “I want people to realize it didn’t just stop at a certain time. It continues on as long as music borrows the same structure of the Golden Age.”
In the same vein, Sheldon still takes to the airwaves with harveysheldonphillyradio.com, where a Philadelphia-located engineer streams many of Sheldon’s favorites from a time he believes produced better music than the “screaming” of today’s artists.
“A few years ago I was playing nothing but Philly artists, but I realized I had to broaden the programming to people who weren’t from Philly,” he said. “Mario Lanza, The Four Aces, Bobby Darin, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon — all the greats. I was told you can’t hear that stuff anywhere else in Philadelphia.”
With a furniture shop at 704 Catharine St., Sheldon’s grandparents — Jewish Russian immigrants — set up an outfit and built themselves a respectable business.
“My grandmother, the first thing [she did] when she got to this country was to learn English. My grandfather never learned but he was the wizard. My grandmother was a saleswoman like you’ve never seen,” Sheldon said.
His parents would move the family to Southwest Philly, not continuing in the furniture business. Sheldon’s dream to be an entertainer also was not a family trait, but he found his way into the spotlight.
“I was a great dancer. At about 8 or 9 someone discovered me … and taught me how to dance. I became very good as a professional,” Sheldon said.
After building a name with “The Bunny Hop,” Sheldon was afforded two seasons on “The Red Buttons Show” and then another stint on “Swing into Spring,” a TV movie with Benny Goodman. After television, he moved back into radio.
“In this country it’s amazing, what made [making music] so great: Freedom. In Europe you couldn’t do it unless you were part of the elite or royalty. [The U.S.] opened up avenues,” Sheldon, who took his first radio job in Boston because he couldn’t find one in Philly, said. “It took off in different ways.”
Sheldon spent the next handful of years at radio stations spanning from New England to California, pioneering such things as bringing rock to FM, as well as hosting a conservative talk show.
“I was always ahead of my time,” he said. “I came back to Philadelphia and at that time in Philadelphia, there was Steve Allison on WPEN and then liberals … I was to be the only conservative one. They’d never heard of anyone being right wing on the radio.”
He was offered a move to Florida, where the audience was more sympathetic with his views.
“I had a No. 1 rating and I was going really gangbusters,” Sheldon said. “It’s a crazy business, nothing lasts forever.”
Eventually finding his way back to California, Sheldon has been able to watch his son, Sam, and daughters, Beth and Ivy, grow up, while continuing to work on the things he loves. A prolific writer, Sheldon keeps churning out histories. With his last two books on the digital shelf two months ago and then six months prior, respectively, he already has plans for his next release.
“‘The Golden Age of Television’ — that will be out in January. After that, I’m going to write ‘The Golden Age of Radio’ because radio has really changed,” he said.
Though he ended up raising a family on the other coast, Sheldon’s heart has never left his hometown.
“I always tell people I might be in California, but I’m living in exile. I love my hometown,” Sheldon said. “One thing we don’t have in California is — I can’t find a real good Italian restaurant. I have to come back [to Philly] to get my veal parmigiana.”
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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