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JIMMY O'NEILL
The Shindig! host on the time he was almost
stripped naked by marauding Beatle fans
Some of the artists who featured in the Shindig!
TV programme (clockwise) the Righteous Brothers, |
In the mid-1960s
ABC-TV had one of the "hottest" shows on the air. It was called "Shindig!".
A variety of artists appeared , everybody from the Rolling Stones to the
Righteous Bros, Jackie Wilson and, yes, even Louis Armstrong. The host of
Shindig! was Jimmy O'Neill.
Gary James spoke to Jimmy and asked him about the show, on the eve of the 'British invasion' and the time John Lennon walked off the set…
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GJ Why was 'Shindig' only a half-hour show. Was the strategy to keep people hungry for more rock 'n' roll? JO Well, the truth is, we did that on purpose, there was quite a debate within the network over how long the show should be and how often it should be seen. We started out as a 30 minute programme on Wednesday evenings. Due to the success of the show the network wanted to capitalise on that and they stretched it to one hour. We were really reluctant to do that. We though that it would dilute the impact of the show. We wanted to leave everybody kind of panting for more. But, anyway, the network got to win that argument. So were were stretched to an hour and sure enough everybody did sense that the impact was diluted. So the network's solution was to split us into two half-hour shows on Tuesday and Thursday. We did that for about 6 months; finally we went back to 30 minutes a week on Wednesday. GJ Shindig! really made rock 'n' roll special. Today, the market is saturated with award shows. You knew enough back then not to over expose a good thing… JO That's the way we saw it back in those days. You can't deny the success of MTV or VH-1 and all the other formatted TV stations but to my mind they're just following in radio's footsteps. GJ In the mid-60s rock n' roll seemed to represent fun and good times, today's music has a darker edge to it. What do you think happened? JO Well, let me take you back to the mid-60s once more before I answer that question. The most asked question that I received when compering the programme was "What do you think of the anti-war music" (The Vietnam War was going on at the time). My response was that I didn't think it belonged in pop or rock music, I like to keep politics out of music - music is for entertainment! However, a lot of talented composers and performers like to take advantage of the opportunity they have to express their feelings about life and the world. I suppose as long as somebody is willing to buy it, we can't deny them that privilege.(Laughs) Anytime I feel that I am mis-managing my life or things aren't going the way they should, I just turn on the radio and listen to a rap record and I realize there are whole countries, not just people, that are having the same problem. GJ How did you or the producer of Shindig! decide which acts to book for the show? Did you watch the Biilboard charts? JO Well, yes, we certainly did. I had the advantage of having been a disc jockey in Los Angeles since 1959 when I was 19 years old. We started putting the Shindig! pilot together in 1962 but it took a while to sell it to the networks. I was able to lead Jack Good (the producer) around Los Angeles. He'd already produced three successful pop shows in his native England. He really wasn't all that familiar with the American talent on the scene in 1962 when he arrived here. My experience a s a full-time disc jockey was quite a help to us all. We were able to lead him to nightclubs where there were up and coming artists like The Righteous Brothers. Glen Campbell was a good friend of mine, was well-known in Los Angeles, but had yet to make the big time. Jackie De Shannon was another. I remember P J Proby was in the pilot, he later became a superstar in England but never really made it that big in America. We had Jackie de Shannon, who would later become famous, and Little Richard who was a legend in his own right. It was a lot of fun putting that together. I don't want to take anything away from Jack Good. It was his baby, one hundred per cent. I made introductions for him and I think over a period of time he trusted my judgement. The last word belonged to Jack, until of course the network executives got involved.(Laughs) Then we had to deal with all sorts of input from all sorts of people and that was the reason for the programme's ultimate demise. GJ So, the people who were tampering with Shindig! were the ABC executives and not the censors? JO Left to Jack Good's own devices, the show would have had a very rough rock 'n' roll, rowdy look and feel to it - more than what you actually saw when it aired. The reason it took us two years to sell Shindig! was because the pilot was rough and rowdy and, you know, pretty heavy rock for the early sixties. I remember we'd get the same reaction from every important executive that we took the pilot to… they'd watch it, glued to their television monitor and at the end they would go, "Wow!", "Fantastic - but the mid-west isn't ready for it…the south isn't ready for it." We were horrified. GJ How long did the programme last? JO We did 100 episodes, we were on every week for just under 2 years and for six months we were on twice a week. All those tapes were thought to have been lost in a warehouse fire. Then they mysteriously re-appeared much to our delight. Rhino (video) got their hands on those masters and you can actually see the evolution of the programme and the result of the input from the network executives. For example Bobby Sherman (co-presenter) was kind of shoved down our throats by the network and the presenters were there to give an air of respectability and a clean-cut image that wouldn't offend parents. The same happened with Dick Clark, you know? GJ Could Shindig! Have lasted as long as 'American Bandstand'? JO No doubt in my mind. I always tell people the reason Shindig! ultimately began to slip in the ratings (and was ultimately cancelled) was because the quality of the programme slipped. Also, Jack Good resigned as producer over some of the difficulties I mentioned earlier. He just got kind of weary fighting every week for what he thought would make an exciting show and having to compromise to make everybody happy. One day he just called in and said "I can't do this anymore. I'm just burned out. I'm gonna quit." I knew that if he did, chances were that the show would not survive. Sure enough, it took about six months but I could see almost with the first episode without Jack that we had begun to stray off the track. GJ How did you get The Beatles to appear on Shindig!? JO Because of the show's popularity in America and because of their respect for our British producer, Jack Good who they grew up watching on his English television programmes (Ready,Steady,Go!, Oh, Boy!) They agreed to appear on Shindig for 350 dollars each, with the only condition that - because they couldn't work a trip to America into their schedule - we should come to them. We flew to London and spent 2 days rehearsing and taping the episode which starred The Beatles. I will never forget it as long as I live, because it was really at the peak of Beatlemania when they appeared on the show. GJ That would have been 1965? JO Yes, early 1965. I have two vivid recollections from those two days. One, I nearly had my clothes torn off by the British fans as I tried to enter the studio - all these little teenage girls. They heard my American accent and asked me if I was appearing with The Beatles. I made the mistake of admitting that I was. Off came my jacket, my shirt, it was practically ripped to shreds before I got the security guard to let me in. You know it got me thinking - I always thought these rock stars were exaggerating the hazards of celebrity status but this incident turned me around. I thought, My God, this could be dangerous if I had to go through this every day (Laughs). GJ Better to be host of the show? JO Yeah, and just sort of be semi-celebrity status as opposed to idol status, 'cause that can really get rough as I discovered that afternoon. GJ What were The Beatles like to work with? JO We had a couple of network vice-presidents from New York accompanying us to London to sort of oversee the production. When they discovered The Beatles were going to sing a brand new song they had never recorded before they began nagging John Lennon. They wanted him to do one of the songs that had already been a hit. John got quite hostile and you could almost see the smoke coming from his ears. When he lost his temper, he just stalked off the set and we really thought it was all over. I remember Paul McCartney the perfect little PR man dashing after John along with Jack Good. They sat down in a corner and kind of thrashed it out but John got his way. People always ask me who was the most temperamental artist I ever worked with, and I would have to say John Lennon even though he may have been justified on that occasion. And people ask me who was the nicest artist you ever worked with and it would have to be Paul McCartney. GJ Did you meet Brian Epstein? JO Yes. Brian kept a low profile. I remember him as the perfect British gentleman to be honest with you. It was very obvious that he controlled every move that his artists made, from publicity to performance. He did that very well. © 2002 Gary James. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.
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