By Bruce Klauber
There’s nothing new about the concept of a talent show or talent contest presented on television, radio or elsewhere. The long-forgotten Major Bowes instituted the idea on radio in 1935 as “The Original Amateur Hour” and it was consistently top-rated in the years it ran. Among its talent discoveries was a singing group called the Hoboken Four. One of the four youngsters in that singing group was named Francis Albert Sinatra.
Upon Bowes’ passing in 1946, Ted Mack took over the hosting duties, and two years later, “The Original Amateur Hour” was broadcast on television. It ran, on various networks and in a number of different time slots until 1970. Among those who got their start on Mack’s show were Gladys Knight, Ann-Margaret and Pat Boone.
While Mack presented nothing but amateurs, Arthur Godfrey took a slightly more professional route with “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” which ran from 1946 through 1958, first on CBS Radio and later on television.
Godfrey, an immensely powerful media presence for decades, relied on pro talent scouts who presented their discoveries each week to the old redhead. Dozens of future stars first appeared on Godfrey’s program including Steve Lawrence, Barbara McNair, Tony Bennett, and strange as it might seem, comedian Lenny Bruce.
What Bowes, Mack and Godfrey presented eventually morphed into Ed McMahon’s “Star Search,” which had an incredible television run – from 1983 to 1995 – and a number of programs on the air today including “American Idol,” “America’s Got Talent” and “The Voice.”
Atlantic City’s Steel Pier presented children’s shows, actually children’s theater, as early as 1931. In 1934, the shows were formalized when a variety performer named Dave Tyson was hired to produce the shows and hold auditions. At one point, the Pier’s children’s theater was presented seven days per week, with four shows each day.
The real talent shows, though still with a theatrical orientation, came about when Tyson passed and former vaudeville performer Tony Grant took over, circa 1947.
“Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow,” as it was eventually called, was a tremendously popular daily attraction on the Pier. By the mid-1950s, there were some 45 youngsters who were a part of Grant’s performing troupe, including Connie Francis (who also appeared on the Arthur Godfrey talent program) and Frankie Avalon.
Despite changing times and demographics, and Atlantic City’s ups and downs, Tony Grant’s presentations remained a major Pier attraction through it all. In 1973, John S. Wilson of The New York Times headed down to the Steel Pier to do a story on Grant and the show.
Author Steve Liebowitz, in his terrific book on the Steel Pier, “Showplace of the Nation: Steel Pier Atlantic City,” managed to track down the Times’ feature story on Grant. It read, in part: “More than 300 kids come a week in July and August to dance, sing and play instruments at the 1,700-seat theater. With 12 acts in each show, Mr. Grant is faced with the task of polishing up a total of 36 new acts a week.”
Grant explained to Wilson just how the auditions worked.
“At the auditions,” Grant said, “I give each act from one to four stars. I don’t really turn an act down. I just say, ‘I’ll get in touch if I need you.’ That way, when I need substitutes, I’ve got a good bench. All the children come at their own expense, paying for travel, lodging, food and costumes. Steel Pier pays them nothing.
“These are not ordinary children. There has never been an incident with them. Nobody has ever been sent home. We have four rules. A performer is not allowed to be on the Pier in costume. A performer is not allowed to sit in the first ten rows of the theater. No chewing gum on stage. And if you’re old enough to smoke, you’re too old for the children’s theater.”
The many pieces written about music and show business through the years by the Times’ John S. Wilson tended to be sharp, biting, often hyper-critical, and brutally honest, with the accent on “brutally.” What’s pleasantly surprising about his feature on Tony Grant and his talented youngsters is that the piece is 100 percent positive. It seems Grant and the kiddies were even able to charm the curmudgeonly Mr. Wilson.
The latter-day Grant shows, which actually lasted until the Steel Pier closed down at the end of the season in 1978, produced only one real “Star of Tomorrow.” That was Andrea McArdle, who went on to Broadway fame as the star of “Annie.”
Grant was still presenting in the neighborhood of 150 kids each and every week by the end, but Grant knew that time was running out.
“I just hope we can keep ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ alive once Resorts takes over,” he said near the end. “The show just wouldn’t be the same somewhere else. Where would we go? Where could we take it?”
Though Tony Grant died in 1990, his “Stars of Tomorrow” lives on not only at the Steel Pier. His legacy continues on television, almost every night of the week.
