Jamboree (1957 film)

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Jamboree
Directed by	Roy Lockwood
Produced by	Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky
Written by	Leonard Kantor Milton Subotsky
Starring	Dick Clark Frankie Avalon Fats Domino Charlie Gracie Buddy Knox Jerry Lee Lewis Carl Perkins Slim Whitman
Release date(s)	1957
Running time	71 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Jamboree (known as Disc Jockey Jamboree in the United Kingdom), is the name of a black and white 1957 rock 'n' roll motion picture directed by Roy Lockwood that runs for 71 minutes in mono RCA sound. Its storyline concerns a boy and girl who become overnight sensations as a romantic singing duo who run into trouble when their squabbling managers try to turn them into solo acts. Against this backdrop in cameo performances appear some of the biggest names of rock 'n' roll in the 1950s who appear to have lip-synced to their own recordings.

[edit] Overview

Jamboree is film that was built upon the popularity of a name which at the time was becoming associated with rock 'n' roll music and it appears to have derived its name from a show starring disc-jockey Alan Freed that began airing over Radio Luxembourg in 1956 (the year before this movie was released). Freed recorded his featured segment while working for WINS in New York City. A great rivalry developed during this time between Alan Freed and Dick Clark who appears in this film. Freed was the pioneer of rock 'n' roll movies (Rock Around the Clock; Don't Knock the Rock; Rock, Rock, Rock), however, Congressional Hearings into payola practices and radio broadasting eventualy ruined Freed's career, while Clarke's career continued uninterupted.

Jamboree was was essentially a music film in the manner of music videos that followed many years later on MTV where the storyline was secondary to the musical performances. The acting has been rated as more or less pathetic by people who have seen it and then written a review about it. However, this movie is of historical importance due cameo performances by various musical acts that are featured.

[edit] Featured stars

Included in Jamboree are Frankie Avalon; Jimmy Bowen; Dick Clark acting as the host for a show within the film which was made shortly after first appearing as host of American Bandstand on TV; Fats Domino; Charlie Gracie (who became an even bigger hit in the UK than he was in the USA; Jack Jackson (British bandleader who acted as the disc jockey host of the Decca records show on Radio Luxembourg; Buddy Knox; Jerry Lee Lewis (who belts out "Great Balls of Fire"); Louis Lymon and the Teenchords (with some confusion in one IMDd review as to whether this was really Frankie Lymon); Jack Payne (another British bandleader); Carl Perkins (who sings "Glad All Over" which was later turned into a big hit during the 1960s for the Dave Clark Five; Jodie Sands and Slim Whitman who gathered a tremendous following in Europe.