Fifty years after the Dave Clark Five and the Beatles hit the American shores, Great Performances presents a look at the British Invasion in The Dave Clark Five and Beyond—Glad All Over, a two-hour special airing Tuesday, April 8, 2014, 8-10 p.m. ET and on Friday, April 11 at 10 p.m. – midnight on PBS (check local listings).
The Dave Clark Five were the first English group to tour America (in May 1964), thus spearheading the British Invasion. The band achieved a record-breaking 15 consecutive Top 20 U.S. hit singles within a two-year period — more than any other group in the world except the Beatles. The Dave Clark Five appeared a record-breaking 18 times on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” with its weekly audience of 70 million viewers — more than any other rock, pop or R&B artist. They took the world by storm and helped change the rock scene, blasting hit after hit over the world’s radio airwaves.
The film presents new interviews with Tom Hanks, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt of The E Street Band, Stevie Wonder, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Gene Simmons of Kiss, Whoopi Goldberg, Dionne Warwick, ’60s fashion icon Twiggy and Sir Ian McKellen, all sharing their memories of how the music of the 60s and the cultural revolution of 1964 changed their lives forever.
Footage includes the Dave Clark Five’s iconic performances on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” along with rare live concert footage and the band’s countless appearances on television with American musical icons. Much of this material — much of it on 35mm film — has not been seen in decades, either on television or home video.
The film also features never-before-seen footage from Clark’s personal archives together with performances by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Dusty Springfield, Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Freddie Mercury of Queen and Sir Laurence Olivier.
Glad All Over features scenes from the band’s feature film Catch Us If You Can (Having a Wild Weekend in the U.S.). There are scenes of the group with Lucille Ball (on whose “Lucy in London” special they guest-starred); Richard Chamberlain; Lulu; Cliff Richard; Julian Lennon; and Mercury.
The Dave Clark Five, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones were all war babies, born during the World War II. The film highlights the Dave Clark Five’s working-class roots in war-torn England and tells in fascinating detail the story of how the five — Clark, Mike Smith (an underrated rock vocalist, as several of the luminaries in the film attest), Denis Payton, Rick Huxley and Lenny Davidson — met while training in the gym two nights a week in Tottenham and their rise to worldwide fame, selling more than 100 million records in the process.
Clark, a fan of the legendary Buddy Rich, was the drummer and manager of the group; his drumming was a key influence on Springsteen, Max Weinberg, Van Zandt and others. Clark — whom Elton John dubs a “stone-cold genius” — made sure the band owned the masters of all their music and video appearances.
Further demonstration of Clark’s business acumen was his acquisition of the pioneering classic British rock/pop series “Ready Steady Go!,” which was released on TV and video throughout the world. In the United States, it was released on the Disney Channel, which billed it as “a timeless treasure.”
Clark studied at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in Los Angeles. He created the long-running British musical Time, which featured the hologram image of Laurence Olivier. Clark had the privilege of directing him in his final theatrical performance, one that received critical acclaim.
In 2008, Tom Hanks inducted the Dave Clark Five into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Dave Clark Five and Beyond—Glad All Over will be released by PBS Home Video in conjunction with the broadcast.
