Simon and Garfunkel I attended the YMCA dances on a regular basis “way back when” and also remember the night Simon and Garfunkel performed there. Many of the kids were asking each other, “Who the heck are Simon and Garfunkel?” a few knew of them (vaguely) and informed others that they were “sort of like The Everly Brothers… kind of.”When they began their performance, I clearly remember some of the kids walking out and many remarking, “They sure aren’t as good as The Everly Brothers. You can’t even dance to this stuff! What kind of music is THIS?” I felt a little sorry for them, personally. After all, they weren’t all THAT bad… and it took a lot of courage to get up in front of a crowd of people who were there to DANCE… and to pick up chicks… when you knew your music would help them accomplish neither.
Bob Dyer was definitely ahead of his time on booking them, although I’m certain many of the crowd felt like having Bob Dyer “booked” in a different sense of the word. Mumbles and grumbles could be heard throughout their performance, but at the end they were politely “applauded” for their effort and, in large part, dismissed by many. BIG MISTAKE!! But… times were different then and Saginaw was “behind times” when it came to music, as compared with, say, Chicago, Philly, New York, and all of the major cities across the nation. Eventually, we “caught on” to what was happening elsewhere and jumped on the bandwagon…. but it was a long time coming and took much effort on the part of the promoters and the radio DJ’s.
Kraft Music Hall was a longtime running series that went through many changes over the years with different hosts and formats starting on radio in 1933. Bing Crosby was the regular host from 1936 to 1946. Kraft moved to television in 1947 but switched to weekly dramatic productions as "Kraft Television Theatre". The "music-hall" format first appeared on TV in the 1958-59 season with regular hosts that included Milton Berle and.
