By Bruce Klauber
He was once Elvis Presley’s number one rival. In later years, he was the butt of jokes and heavily criticized for recording cover versions of songs originally performed by Black artists, and he never performed in a casino.
Yet he has sold almost 50 million records, appeared in a number of motion pictures, and hosted his own network television program. Today, at the age of 90, he’s still on the road as a motivational speaker.
Pat Boone is revered for his honesty, his considerable work on behalf of charitable causes, his integrity, ability to laugh at himself and for being among the last surviving pop music idols of the 1950s.
In 1955 one of his first recordings for Dot Records, a remake of Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That a Shame,” was a gigantic hit. The Steel Pier’s George Hamid, who was always on the lookout for the hottest new talent, booked Boone for a weekend in July in the Music Hall. It was mobbed. Hamid and the fans got their money’s worth.
The late Bobby Rydell, who headlined at the pier often, described what it was like working at the pier in “Teen Idol on the Rocks,” his autobiography.
“Usually, the pier’s theater had four or five scheduled shows a day,” Rydell recalled. “If I had a hot record on the charts, I would sometimes do as many as 10. My first show started at 10 a.m.; the last one ended at 9 p.m.”
Boone continued to make appearances, mainly at state fairs, but not long after his arduous pier appearances, he began concentrating on television and films, including a stint as a regular on the “Arthur Godfrey and Friends” television program, which lasted until 1957, and as host of his own “Pat Boone Chevy Showroom,” broadcast on Thursday nights.
It was during this period, 1956 to be exact, that Pat Boone was one of the stars in an obscure and long-forgotten movie made for television called “Atlantic City Holiday.” This unique project, which is not on YouTube, not on cable, and not on DVD, was a 90-minute feature film expressly made for television, something which did not really become common until the 1960s. It was broadcast in black and white on the NBC network on Aug. 12, 1956 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the network’s short-lived “Sunday Spectacular” series.
The “movie” was basically an all-star variety show partially filmed in Atlantic City. Boone, who was the biggest star in this gala, sang his hits, “Tutti Frutti,” and “I Almost Lost My Mind.” Others in the cast were brash comic and early television staple Jack Carter, Bill Haley and His Comets, Jayne Mansfield, boxing champ and television personality Rocky Graziano, singer/actress Polly Bergen, comedian Jonathan Winters and a young Jean Stapleton.
There’s a good deal of Atlantic City footage of Bergen, then appearing at the 500 Club; a circus act filmed at the Steel Pier, and Jack Carter presenting the key to Atlantic City to Carol Morris, Miss Universe. The grand finale, which must have been really something to see on television, featured Rocky Graziano, Jayne Mansfield and Pat Boone all singing “See You Later Alligator” with Bill Haley’s group. If anyone has any interest in viewing this, and it probably sounds a lot better than it actually was, can find it at the Paley Center for Media in New York City.
Boone visited Atlantic City’s Steel Pier again 17 years later. On the weekend of July 30, 1973, the Boone Family, featuring daughter Debby, performed in one of the pier’s final shows. It was just the type of family act that Steel Pier owner George Hamid loved.
Pat Boone did not perform in casinos, so through the years there were few places for him to perform in the Atlantic City area. But on Sept. 17, 2016, he made a rare appearance at the shore at the Stockton Performing Arts Center. At that juncture in his career, he was doing an autobiographical, one-man show which included songs, stories, film clips and a question-and-answer session.
Though the audience was relatively small, those who were there reported that the then 82-year-old star was still singing well and adhered to the old showbiz adage: “Give it everything you’ve got.” Spotlight Central, a channel on the widely-read Medium website reported, “In addition to stories about his career as a singer, actor, television host, author, radio personality, family man and humanitarian, Boone absolutely charmed the members of this South Jersey audience with his pleasant singing, vivid storytelling and down-home personality.”
Near the end of the show, Boone told the crowd about his infamous, 1997 album, “In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy.” Boone’s unique take on some heavy metal classics didn’t sell a heck of a lot of units, but did put him back in the public eye. Never one to disappoint, Boone changed into a black, fringed leather jacket, donned sunglasses and performed a song from the album, Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.” His fans loved it. And yes, he was still wearing his trademark white bucks.
Anyone familiar with the name Pat Boone is likely aware that he is a devout Christian and patriot. Boone concluded the evening, wrote the Medium reporter, “When he unabashedly displayed his patriotism and faith by performing another original composition, ‘Under God.’ With his hand on his heart, in this song – his 61st hit record – he sang about the importance of those ‘two sacred words’ in America’s Pledge of Allegiance.”
If Pat Boone is to be remembered in the history of popular music at all, it probably won’t be for his covers of Little Richard songs, his hit version of “Love Letters in the Sand,” or his faith. At the age of 23, Pat Boone was one of the youngest performers to ever host a network television series, “The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom,” which ran from 1957 to 1960. To his credit, Boone broke new ground on network television by regularly booking African American performers including Count Basie, Johnny Mathis, The Mills Brothers, Pearl Bailey, Nat “King” Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and the Billy Williams (gospel) Quartet.
After reviewing Pat Boone’s rich history in the industry, one gets the sense that he didn’t set out to be a pioneer or to break new ground. I suspect that’s just the way he was. And that’s just the way, at the age of 90, he is.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
