Obit: David Nelson, 74; "Ozzie And Harriet"

[mleach]

Ozzie, for example, would only have Ricky perform on their show. He even turned down Dick Clark, and their shows were on the same network, ABC.

This is why it bothered me when Brad Paisley portrayed Ricky in a fictitious Bandstand appearance on American Dreams. Elvis Presley and the Beatles also never made Bandstand appearances, but it was never misrepresented on Dreams that they ever did. Since Clark produced Dreams, it puzzled me as to why he would stage a fictitious Nelson appearance on Bandstand.

Dick Clark is known to do such thing perhaps to make HIM look good. For example in his American Bandstand 30th Anniversary Special that had aired on ABC back in October 1981, Dick had showed a clip of ABBA singing "SOS". The clip was clearly shown to be from Wonderama ( Metromedia ) as Wonderama host Bob McAllister was clearly seen in the background..yet Dick Clark claimed that THIS was ABBA's first American TV appearance without even mentioning Wonderama, Bob McAllister much less Metromedia.

 

[TheBigA]

Seems to me there was a disclaimer on American Dreams that the show was fiction.

With regards to ABBA, those performances are all licensed for broadcast. The host has no obligation to credit the source in announcing it. Everyone knows Dick buys performances and may actually own the rights to that one. But the performance was cleared (they all do it) and properly credited at the end of the show.

 

[therealjm12]

Back on the subject of the Nelsons: ION was showing some public domain episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet durring the day in between infomercials - don't know if they still do. They were awful prints probably 16mm. Obviously not the pristine 35 mm prints the Disney Channel were showing in the 80's. The show was OK. At worst harmless. No great acting or belly laughs. That laugh track is very annoying. Ricky's songs at the end are still very cool. Too bad they are not available on video. I wonder why no one shows the good prints somewhere? They certainly are not making money for anyone gathering dust on a shelf.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

That laugh track is very annoying.

Ozzie & Harriet had probably the most obnoxious laugh track in the history of sitcoms.

The same exact "laugh" sound was the only one used and it was tossed in way too often.

Harriet: "The Hotpoint's on the fritz." (laugh track)
Ozzie: "Gee Harriet, I hope we don't lose the sponsor." (laugh track)
Wally: "I hope the food doesn't spoil, Mrs. Nelson; after all you invited me to dinner!" (laugh track)
Rick: "You invited yourself, Wally--and for the third time this week." (laugh track)
(OK, maybe Rick's line deserved a laugh. )

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Ozzie, for example, would only have Ricky perform on their show. He even turned down Dick Clark, and their shows were on the same network, ABC.

This is why it bothered me when Brad Paisley portrayed Ricky in a fictitious Bandstand appearance on American Dreams. Elvis Presley and the Beatles also never made Bandstand appearances, but it was never misrepresented on Dreams that they ever did. Since Clark produced Dreams, it puzzled me as to why he would stage a fictitious Nelson appearance on Bandstand.

I enjoyed "American Dreams" but Dick Clark or whoever made it a different world because "Bandstand" Never moved to California in the TV series. I didn't mind because the show captured the innocence and the turmoil of the times. They also featured something you don't usually see....a Catholic family!

 

[firepoint525]

Seems to me there was a disclaimer on American Dreams that the show was fiction.

I watched the show on a regular basis and never saw such a disclaimer. Maybe it was a subliminal message. :

I do recall seeing ABBA on a Bandstand rerun on VH-1 in the '90s. I remember it being awkward because Clark interviewed them afterward, and, as you know, they didn't speak very good English.

It's also possible that he played what passed for very early music videos on his show; that may be where the footage that was lifted from the other show came from. I remember him playing footage of the Beatles performing "Strawberry Fields" and/or "Penny Lane," then returning to the audience, and the girls commenting on how "weird" the Beatles looked, because no one had seen them with facial hair up until that time.

 

[radioguy39nj]

Ozzie, for example, would only have Ricky perform on their show. He even turned down Dick Clark, and their shows were on the same network, ABC.

This is why it bothered me when Brad Paisley portrayed Ricky in a fictitious Bandstand appearance on American Dreams. Elvis Presley and the Beatles also never made Bandstand appearances, but it was never misrepresented on Dreams that they ever did. Since Clark produced Dreams, it puzzled me as to why he would stage a fictitious Nelson appearance on Bandstand.

I enjoyed "American Dreams" but Dick Clark or whoever made it a different world because "Bandstand" Never moved to California in the TV series. I didn't mind because the show captured the innocence and the turmoil of the times. They also featured something you don't usually see....a Catholic family!

American Dreams begins in Philadelphia in November 1963 and in fact, Bandstand had already moved to California by that time.

The series ended rather abruptly. We never found out what happened when Meg and her boyfriend ran away to California after Meg's HS graduation.

 

[firepoint525]

The series ended rather abruptly. We never found out what happened when Meg and her boyfriend ran away to California after Meg's HS graduation.

It's my understanding that the answer to your question can be found in the DVD(s) of the show.

 

[Limp73]

David worked behind the scenes in his later years in television and film...perhaps notably the movie "Love and Kisses" which starred his brother Rick and the sydnicated 70s series "Ozzie's Girls."

 

[mleach]

Everyone knows Dick buys performances and may actually own the rights to that one.

Well not everyone as everyday many people still upload musical performances from shows such as Bandstand, Rockin' Eve and others onto sites like You Tube only have the clip removed "by request from Dick Clark Productions" but also they usually end up getting a not so friendly "personal message" over their actions from Dick Clark Productions as well.

 

[cyberdad]

I'm willing to bet that 8 out of 10 Hollywood celebrities are mean SOB's in real life.

I know....or have known....several people, who for various reasons have worked with or otherwise have had frequent personal or professional contact with celebrities on a fairly regular basis.  One of them is a Catholic priest (now deceased). 

The general consensus of all of these people is that the celebs they dealt with are mostly are pretty much like most everyone else.  Although often prone to having a somewhat bigger ego....which I suppose is part of the job description.

What IS true, however, according to all accounts that I've heard is that celebrities are frequently quite a bit different "in real life" than their public personnas.  This cuts both ways....those who've built careers being "nasty" or "outrageous" can sometimes be kind, considerate, and gracious.  OTOH, some of the clean cut, "nice guy/girl", "wholesome" types can turn out to be anything but.

I recently was reading Keith Richards autobiography.  He writes about this.  He freely admits that the Stones were/are no saints. But they never even remotely thought of taking on a "bad boy" image until their manager suggested it as a counterpoint to the Beatles "long haired, but squeaky clean" original public perception.

Then there's Judy Markey...former WGN Radio Midday co-host and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.  In one of her columns, she wrote about how she idolized Rick Nelson as a girl.  One day, on a visit to Los Angeles she got as far as the real Nelson family's real driveway.  She never got to meet Ricky....but she did get to witness Ozzie come out of the front door and deliver an F-bomb!

 

[landtuna]

Great piece on David Nelson from the L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-david-nelson-lewis-20110114,0,5477547.story

 

[therealjm12]

It sounds like from that article that the younger Nelsons are working on re-releasing The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet on some medium. I hope they can edit out that laugh track!