Dick Richards, the original drummer for the band Bill Haley & the Comets

Dick Richards, 90, was the drummer for the band Bill Haley & the Comets, who debuted "Rock Around the Clock" during a 1954 Memorial Day concert in Wildwood. Richards jams Monday afternoon in the music studio of his home in Ocean City.

(Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)

During Memorial Day weekend of 1954, a country singer named Bill Haley swapped out his cowboy hat for a zoot suit and debuted a swinging new song with his band,

the Comets, at the HofBrau Hotel in Wildwood.

Backed by incendiary guitar riffs and a rumbling beat, Haley chanted the hours of the day and brought the sound of youthful rebellion to the Jersey Shore.

"Rock Around the Clock" was two minutes of syncopated euphoria that ushered in a decade of pop upheaval. The song struck a chord with the young beachgoers in the audience, said the group’s drummer, Dick Richards. To him, the rock revolution began in Wildwood at that summer kickoff concert on May 29, 1954.

"The first crack of the drums and the kids went crazy," said Richards, 90, of Ocean City. "They were up on the floor dancing around."

Bill Haley and his Comets debuted "Rock Around the Clock" in Wildwood on Memorial Day weekend in the 1954.

The Comets saxophonist, Joey Ambrose, said he’ll never forget the band’s wild night at the HofBrau 60 years ago. The venue is gone but a sign marks the corner where the club once stood, commemorating it as the place where a classic anthem was introduced to the public.

"We didn’t even know that we were doing something new," said Ambrose, 80, who now lives in Las Vegas. "We were just doing our thing and the audience loved it. I’d walk off the stage and went into the audience and played the saxophone and it got a great reaction because I was the same age as the kids. I was 18. I was one of them. They were tired of listening to ‘(How Much is That) Doggie in the Window.’ The teenagers wanted something of their own. It wasn’t like the band set out to do anything. It just happened that way."

Even though Haley and his Comets debuted their groundbreaking hit in Wildwood, the Jersey Shore rarely gets recognition as the birthplace of a genre, said Daniel MacElrevey, president of the town’s Doo Wop Preservation League.

Yes, Memphis, Cleveland, New Orleans, Detroit and Philadelphia were hubs of rock innovation, but Wildwood deserves props too, said MacElrevey. Richards and Ambrose, the two surviving Comets, will be honored during the town’s annual Fabulous Fifties Weekend in the fall.

Haley died in 1981 at the age of 55.

"This is where Bill Haley got his start," said MacElrevey. "I was a kid during the 1950s and I remember coming off the boardwalk and hearing Bill Haley and his Comets. The doors to the club were open and you could hear everything outside and there was a crowd out in the street listening to them. And the crowd outside drew a crowd. They caused quite a stir. It was obvious ‘Rock Around the Clock’ was going to be popular."

The five surviving original members of Bill Haley and The Comets, from left, Franny Beecher, John Grande, Joey Ambrose, Marshall Lytle, and Dick Richards set their hands in wet cement as the band is inducted into the Rockwalk in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Their song 'Rock Around The Clock' became the first rock and roll record to ever reach number one on the Billboard charts 50 years ago this week. Their lead singer and founder Billy Haley passed away in 1981.

It may have been obvious to MacElrevey, but the executives at Decca Records didn’t envision "Rock Around the Clock" as a monster hit. They promoted a different song, "Thirteen Women (and Only One Man in Town)," a jaunty tune about an amorous survivor of a nuclear blast. It was released as a single in 1954, with "Rock Around the Clock" on the B-side, like an afterthought.

Nearly a year after at the band debuted "Rock Around the Clock" in New Jersey, the song got a boost from Hollywood. It played during the opening titles of the drama "Blackboard Jungle," a movie about teen delinquents. Decca re-released it and the single vaulted to the top of the pop chart in the summer of 1955, remaining number one for nearly two months. Haley and His Comets also had hits with covers of R&B tunes, "See You Later, Alligator" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll."

Reluctant rocker

Haley, who grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, successfully reinvented himself after years of struggling as a country crooner. His group, the Saddlemen, was the house band at the Twin Bar, a Gloucester City tavern. When Haley hired Richards and Ambrose, he segued from twang to rock, commercializing songs by blues artists.

"I always thought that Bill would have been happier if he had made it in the country field rather than rock ‘n’ roll," said Richards. "Bill was a champion yodeler. The Saddlemen worked as just four guys doing cowboy and hillbilly stuff. They didn’t have a drummer. After I came into the band and they added the saxophone, that started a tremendous transition. They changed the name to the Comets and they took off the cowboy suits."

The gold record "Shake Rattle and Roll" in the home of Dick Richards, 90, who was the drummer for the band Bill Haley & the Comets, who debuted "Rock Around the Clock" during a 1954 Memorial Day concert in Wildwood.

In 1955, Elvis Presley opened for the Comets in Tulsa, Okla. He released his own version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll" the following year.

Entertainment Mecca

When Haley and His Comets returned to Wildwood for a Labor Day concert in 1955, thousands of screaming fans packed an amusement pier for outdoor show, according to Richards.

"Wildwood was an entertainment mecca during the 1950s," he said. "In the summertime, it was better than New York City. It was the top spot on the East Coast. At every corner, there was great entertainment. When they started taking down the old clubs, they ruined it. If they were smart, they’d put the place back like it used to be and bring the entertainment back."

Wildwood was once nicknamed "Little Las Vegas" for its glitzy nightlife. Dick Clark hosted dances at the Starlight Ballroom in 1957, the same year "American Bandstand," which was broadcast live from Philadelphia, premiered on network television.

Dick Richards, 90, was the drummer for the band Bill Haley & the Comets, who debuted "Rock Around the Clock" during a 1954 Memorial Day concert in Wildwood. Richards poses with his Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame award in his home in Ocean City.

Chubby Checker debuted "The Twist" at the Rainbow Club in 1960, and the pompadoured pop idol, Bobby Rydell, recorded a 1963 ode to the boardwalk, "Wildwood Days."

Paul Russo, a music aficionado and owner of a retro ice cream parlor, Cool Scoops in North Wildwood, said he’d love to see the town return to its roots as a hot spot for live entertainment, though he not holding out hope.

"Atlantic City … kind of killed Wildwood," said Russo, 55. "Most of the artists would sign contracts that said you can’t perform 90 days or 90 miles from Atlantic City, which eliminated Wildwood."

Remembering the past

During its post-World War II heyday, Wildwood had more than 50 nightspots, according to an archived telephone directory. Although many of the town’s doo wop hotels have been preserved, virtually all of the clubs have been razed.

"Everyone would try their acts here, Tony Bennett, the Count Basie Orchestra, Elton John, the Supremes," said Russo.

"Jerry Lewis used to perform at the Manor supper club. The Drifters, the Platters, the Coasters, they all played at the little clubs in Wildwood. It went right through to the 1980’s, when Madonna played in Wildwood. It’s a nice history. It’s changed since the 1950’s. It’s more of a bikini beach and beer town now."

For the past decade, Russo has been hosting the Wildwood Music Awards at his ice cream shop, honoring such past performers as the Monkees, Chubby Checker and, of course, the Comets.

"I think a lot of the flavor of the island is lost but many people come to visit just for the Wildwood history and anybody who comes in here, I give them the whole story," he said.

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