(editor’s note – no ex post facto proof for Molly Bee)
Song Festival: Good TV Fare But ‘Disaster’ on The Scene
by Don A. Metivier, The Post-Star, September 4, 1974
Viewers who watch the American Song Festival finals on ABC’s “Wide World of Entertainment” special on Friday, Oct. 18, will see a superbly produced, smooth-flowing production.
Those unfortunate enough to have been on hand for the final night of the Festival at Saratoga Performing Arts Center were parties to a disaster.
TV viewers will watch the neat, 90-minute package featuring the 12 finalist songs, happy smiling winners and seemingly well-rehearsed presentation of the songs.
The 4,398 persons duped into paying from $5 to $25 for the privilege of attending the final night of the nation’s first festival for songwriters were treated to a 12-hour marathon session of false starts, retakes and hours of waiting.
While the audience, which had dwindled to only a few hearty souls by the time the amateur winner was announced at 6:30 a.m., was being kept waiting, a large contingent of press was being fed various explanations as to who and what had caused the long delays.
The “Gala Awards Night” was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The audience watched for nearly an hour as television production personnel walked around the stage, putting down tape marks for performers, as ABC television was taping the final evening for a “Special” on ABC Wide World of Entertainment.
At 7:45 p.m. Paul Williams came on stage and opened the proceedings with one of the best lines of the weekend, “Good evening, music lovers. How do you like it so far?”
Williams joked with the audience for several minutes, said the show would be getting under way “soon” and then introduced singer Jose Feliciano.
Williams was to have opened the evening in a concert performance, but he was nursing a heavy cold and a high fever, so Feliciano stepped in and took his place.
Feliciano began his concert at 7:55 p.m., as upstairs in the press room a pool was started as to what time the “evening” would end.
After the Feliciano concert and another unexplained delay, Helen Reddy appeared in concert. She made the lawn crowd happy by inviting them to sit inside so television would not have to show the rows of empty seats.
Attendance at the four-day Festival totaled only 12,781, more than 17,000 below the reported “break-even” point for the event. The largest crowd was 4,825 on hand Sunday night.
Following the Helen Reddy concert, the audience got to watch a Frisbee game, as bored youngsters in the crowd tossed the plastic discs around the inside of the amphitheatre waiting for the show to continue.
Williams brought the house down with his line, “Let’s hear it for the frisbee,” but a bigger laugh and cheer went up when someone in the audience yelled, “Call in CBS.”
The audience was “treated” to the opening of the show four times before it was done satisfactorily. Miss Reddy came out singing the Festival theme, introduced Williams, who then introduced Bobby Womack, and the three sang.
They were backed by taped music, not the live orchestra which made believe behind them, which will sound fine on the TV production but left the audience wondering why they couldn’t hear the music.
When the opening was finally done and the stage had to be set up for the presentation the first finalist song.
This set off another long delay, which Wolfman Jack, Friday night’s guest host, tried to fill. He chatted with the audience, talked with the songwriters, introduced Skitch Henderson from the judges box and finally asked if anyone in the audience wanted to sing, setting off one of the evening’s most humorous moments.
A barefoot young man, wearing a hat and cut-off jeans, carrying a can of beer, made his way to the stage and offered to sing. He asked the audience to help by singing, “plinka, plinka, plinka,” and as the crowd did, he sang a chorus of “Singin’ in the Rain” and got the biggest ovation of the weekend.
The presentation of the first of the finalist songs actually started at 11:42 p.m. as Feliciano sang the professional rock winner, “Oriental Gate.” The second song, the professional rhythm and blues finalist, “And A Little Child Will Lead Us,” went on with singer Al Wilson at 12: 15 a.m.
The Limeliters Reunion ’74 sang the professional folk category winner “Everybody Wants to Get to Heaven” at 12:45 a.m.
It was 1:40 a.m., nearly an hour later, when the Oak Ridge Boys sang the professional gospel winner, “Plant A Seed.”
The final song in the professional category, “Lonely Together,” the professional popular category finalist, was sung by The Lettermen at 2:35 a.m.
Finally, after nearly three hours of stage changes and other delays, the six professional songs had been presented.
After a waiting period so the judges could vote on the songs, it was announced from the stage by Wolfman Jack and Bobby Womack at 2:50 a.m. that “Lonely Together” had won the best professional song of the Festival award.
During a break between the professional and the amateur portions of the competition, Miss Reddy and Williams left. Their introductions of the amateur finalist songs reportedly will be dubbed into the TV tape at a later date.
When it came time for the Rev. James Cleveland to present the amateur gospel category winner, it was discovered the reverend had also “split,” as it was announced.
The judges conferred with the writer of the song, Mrs. Esther A. Cleaver of Compton, Calif., and she agreed that the judges could include her composition, “Can You See God,” in the competition without hearing it again.
Reportediy, ABC is going to try to get Cleveland to tape the song next week in Los Angeles in an ABC studio, so it can be included in the program.
Singer Roger Miller, who was scheduled to appear in the second half of the show, also did not appear, as he had left by the time he was scheduled to go on.
After the five amateur songs had been presented, the winner was announced just before 6:30 a.m. to the few persons who were still on hand.
Kyoko Kosaka, winner of the Yamaha Popsong Contest in Tokyo in May, who had been waiting since mid-afternoon Monday to congratulate the American Song Festival winner, was then introduced.
The Post-Star, August 30, 1974
Daily Sentinel, October 12, 1974
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