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"Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
captain54
()
Date: January 13, 2011 03:43AM
Does anyone remember an old local WCIU dance show called "Red Hot and Blues"? It was kids dancing to R&B, and the host of the show was a DJ named "Big Bill Hill"...this show is widely know to be the inspiration for "Soul Train"
As white kids, we were riveted on Friday nights, mainly for the cheesy..ultra low budget commercials..."ZIP Deparment Store....bad credit, good credit, or no credit at all"..or the auto dealership that wanted to sell cars so badly, they would pay for your driving lessons if you didn't know how to drive.
Great vintage Chicago stuff..
As white kids, we were riveted on Friday nights, mainly for the cheesy..ultra low budget commercials..."ZIP Deparment Store....bad credit, good credit, or no credit at all"..or the auto dealership that wanted to sell cars so badly, they would pay for your driving lessons if you didn't know how to drive.
Great vintage Chicago stuff..
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
()
Date: January 14, 2011 11:03PM
Hey Cap'n, you will dig this (if you haven't seen it already)!
[url=http://stepfatherofsoul.blogspot.com/2008/04/soul-on-air-7-big-bill-hill-1967.html]Big Bill Hill WOPA 1967[/url]
[url=http://stepfatherofsoul.blogspot.com/2008/04/soul-on-air-7-big-bill-hill-1967.html]Big Bill Hill WOPA 1967[/url]
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
b.a.hoarder
()
Date: January 14, 2011 11:37PM
Big Bill Hill was a favorite of ours on Sunday nights when there was pretty much of a dry spell on Chicago radio in that era. I still remember his call,"broadcasting direct from the parking lot of Whooppie's Drive In at xxxx(?) Roosevelt Road". Another great black DJ from that era was Al Benson, but Hill was my favorite, I think it was his voice and "down home" delivery.
Thanks WayOut, that brought back some great memories.
Thanks WayOut, that brought back some great memories.
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
captain54
()
Date: January 15, 2011 07:41PM
WayOutWardell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Cap'n, you will dig this (if you haven't seen
> it already)!
>
> Big Bill Hill WOPA 1967
OH yeah....this is GOLD....! Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" still gives me chills.... all I gotta do now is find some old B&W footage of "Red Hot and Blues" ...(or "Red Hot and Blue (s) as Big Bill would say) and I'm a happy camper
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2011 07:43PM by captain54.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Cap'n, you will dig this (if you haven't seen
> it already)!
>
> Big Bill Hill WOPA 1967
OH yeah....this is GOLD....! Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign" still gives me chills.... all I gotta do now is find some old B&W footage of "Red Hot and Blues" ...(or "Red Hot and Blue (s) as Big Bill would say) and I'm a happy camper
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2011 07:43PM by captain54.
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
Berwyn Frank
()
Date: January 16, 2011 03:05AM
Wow, VERY cool stuff. The show was based at Central Park (3600 W.) & Roosevelt in North Lawndale.
My father who is 60 grew up on R & B, Motown, & Soul. He grew up on the west side and went to Farragut High School which was 90% black at that time. This where I get my eclectic music tastes. Papa was all soul and mama was rock & roll!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2011 03:06AM by Berwyn Frank.
My father who is 60 grew up on R & B, Motown, & Soul. He grew up on the west side and went to Farragut High School which was 90% black at that time. This where I get my eclectic music tastes. Papa was all soul and mama was rock & roll!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2011 03:06AM by Berwyn Frank.
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
lrodney78
()
Date: February 01, 2012 12:35PM
I do remember Red ,Hot and Blues. I got to be on the show as a kid. Im trying to find recordings of the show to find the one I was on. If anybody knew how I can got them let me know.Sad thing today Don Corneilus died today
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
Diogenes9561
()
Date: February 03, 2012 11:45AM
What a kick, remembering this old show. WCIU was the first Chicago UHF TV station and seemed to have a microscopic budget. But, Don Cornelius' Soul Train ("You can bet your last money, it'll be a stone gas, honey") was 5-6 PM daily, IIRC, and RH&B was 9-10 Fridays.
Both were really cheesy as has been noted, but for us ethnically isolated North Side white kids, it was fascinating.
Hey, Captain, I'd forgotten about Zip's but do you remember the commercials for Don's Cedar Club, too? Don did his own and he was simply godawful in front of the cameras but that was part of the charm of the show. He always brought a couple of "dancers" from the club, too, who couldn't dance for diddly compared to the kids on the show. Or, how about "Joey's, the big store" on West Madison?
I recall Soul Train started off with low budget sponsors, too, like Atlas Brooms and Joe Louis Milk. Was it really 40-odd years ago now? Good memories, good times.
Both were really cheesy as has been noted, but for us ethnically isolated North Side white kids, it was fascinating.
Hey, Captain, I'd forgotten about Zip's but do you remember the commercials for Don's Cedar Club, too? Don did his own and he was simply godawful in front of the cameras but that was part of the charm of the show. He always brought a couple of "dancers" from the club, too, who couldn't dance for diddly compared to the kids on the show. Or, how about "Joey's, the big store" on West Madison?
I recall Soul Train started off with low budget sponsors, too, like Atlas Brooms and Joe Louis Milk. Was it really 40-odd years ago now? Good memories, good times.
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
KTM
()
Date: February 08, 2012 07:45PM
On Sunday nights back in the 1960s, my brothers and I would typically listen to Top 40 music programming until the last station, usually WCFL, would either go off the air or switch to community affairs programming at 11:00 pm. (You knew it was getting close to 11 when Barney Pip would play that god-awful instrumental version of the Beatles' "And I Love Her.") One Sunday night in late August, it was after 11 and my brothers and I were combing the radio frequencies listening for something, ANY-thing, entertaining when we heard the roaring laughter of a giant black man telling stories about growing up in the south. We listened until the next station ID and learned that we had been listening to "Big" Bill Hill's Shopping Bag Show on WOPA(Oak Park). "Big" Bill became a personal favorite of ours and we tuned in regularly to hear what Bill had to say. Later, we were amazed to see him with his own dance show "Red, Hot, and Blues" on Channel 26. Loyal fans - we tuned in every week. His name still comes up over the holidays when we get together and reminisce about growing up on the West Side. I'm going to send an email to The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (chicago.fuzzymemories.tv) and ask them if they can get videos of RH&B.
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
cst
()
Date: February 14, 2012 07:16PM
I recall (I think) a sponsor of RH&B was "The Royal Chicken Shack". Is it still in existance?
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
cadelew
()
Date: February 14, 2012 07:22PM
I remember that Bill always said "ny-un" instead of nine. So, the sponsors phone number was "ny-un, ny-un, five..." I always thought that was hilarious!!
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
()
Date: February 14, 2012 11:45PM
[b]How about "Jam With Sam"? Sam Evans on WGES at 10 PM. He came on after Al Benson. That was in the early to mid 50's we listened to them.[/b]
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
conqueroo
()
Date: December 22, 2012 08:55PM
I remember it well.
Does anybody know of any video footage from the show posted at YouTube or elsewhere? Would die to revisit this show which was a Friday fixture in my house circa 1970.
I used to love the lip sync performances by Mighty Joe Young and Eddie Show in the Don's Cedar Club commercials, whereupon Don would get up and say, "I don't care if you're black, white, green, yellow or purple."There is nothing about this club on the Internet that I can find, except via this thread.
In the following segment, Bobby Hicks would shill for Dell's Upholstery on West Madison Street. "I don't care if you have good credick, bad credick or no credick at all."
And yes, nine was pronounced "ny-uhn."
Ah, lo-fi, UHF, when UHF was from Mars and you needed a coat hanger attached to your TV to receive it!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2012 09:01PM by conqueroo.
Does anybody know of any video footage from the show posted at YouTube or elsewhere? Would die to revisit this show which was a Friday fixture in my house circa 1970.
I used to love the lip sync performances by Mighty Joe Young and Eddie Show in the Don's Cedar Club commercials, whereupon Don would get up and say, "I don't care if you're black, white, green, yellow or purple."There is nothing about this club on the Internet that I can find, except via this thread.
In the following segment, Bobby Hicks would shill for Dell's Upholstery on West Madison Street. "I don't care if you have good credick, bad credick or no credick at all."
And yes, nine was pronounced "ny-uhn."
Ah, lo-fi, UHF, when UHF was from Mars and you needed a coat hanger attached to your TV to receive it!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/2012 09:01PM by conqueroo.
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
Paul Petraitis
()
Date: May 03, 2013 01:32PM
Preceeding this was the short-lived "Danceville USA" an integrated dance show on which I saw the 5 Du Tones sing and perform their epic "Shake A Tail Feather" Even Pruter hadn't heard of this gem. It was like "Hairspray"!
Re: "Red Hot and Blues" - mid 60's local Chicago Dance show -
Posted by:
Paul Petraitis
()
Date: June 04, 2013 07:04PM
Don't forget Ch 11 had "Sid McCoy and Friemds" July 1952 9:30 every Tuesday (found an ad in the Hyde Park Herald!) jazz and blues!
