On this day in 1956 Bobby Darin made his first appearance on TV when he sings “Rock Island Line” on ‘The Stage Show’.

‘The Stage Show’ was a variety programme on CBS US TV. One of the interesting things about the show (this blog was going to be about Bobby Darin, then it was going to be about ‘Rock Island Line’, now it looks like it is going to be about some defunct US TV show. Go figure) was that it had alternate hosts. One week it was Tommy Dorsey the next it was his brother Jimmy. Both were noted jazz musicians and band leaders.

At that time Jimmy had stopped leading his own band and was working with Tommy’s which was billed as ‘The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra Featuring Jimmy Dorsey’. A bit of a mouthful but it seems to have worked.

Apart from Bobby Darin’s first TV appearance the show also gave Elvis a spot on 28 Jan 1956. The response was so overwhelming they booked him for another 5 appearances in the next 8 weeks!