The REAL Originators Of The Late 1950s Line Dance 'The Stroll' : Part I: General Information & Selected YouTube Comments

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series on the Stroll, a late 1950s/early 1960s Rock & Roll line dance*.

This post presents general information about The Stroll along with selected comments about that dance from a YouTube video discussion thread.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/04/which-teen-dance-show-first-televised.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II presents excerpts from the 2012 book by Matthew F. Delmont entitled "The Nicest Kids In Town, American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia"*. Mathew F. Delmont's book focuses on The Mitch Thomas Show, a 1950s Wilmington, Delaware Black teen dance show. That book quotes various sources which document that White dancers on American Bandstand watched The Mitch Thomas Show to learn the latest Rock & Roll dances, including "the Stroll".  

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/04/videos-of-rock-roll-line-dance-stroll.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. Part III showcases three YouTube videos (film clips) of "The Stroll" and two videos of the Soul Train Line which was modeled after "The Stroll" line dance. The Soul Train Line was a signature feature of the nationally syndicated Black teen dance show Soul Train.  

Part III of this pancocojams series also includes a bonus film clip of Black teens or young adults performing a somewhat related 1957 Rock & Roll dance called "The Walk". That film clip is from the 1957 movie entitled Let's Rock.  

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on 1950s and 1960s Rock and Roll dances. Click the tags below for previous pancocojams post and for subsequent pancocojams posts on this subject.   

*The Stroll Rock & Roll line dance is performed differently from the historical Black Greek letter fraternity/sorority performance activity called "strolling". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/05/black-university-graduates-in-united.html for information about and video examples of Black Greek letter organization strolling.   

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INFORMATION ABOUT "THE STROLL" (ROCK & ROLL LINE DANCE) 

These quotes are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stroll
"The Stroll was both a slow rock 'n' roll dance and a song that was popular in late 1950s. The dance called the Stroll began in black communities to the songs "C. C. Rider" and "Betty and Dupree" by Chuck Willis. Willis was known as "The King of the Stroll" prior to the release of the song of that name. Teens' dancing during the 1950s was widely varied in steps and styling. Most of it was still swing-based, but swing had been diverging into local styles and regional variations each decade for thirty years. In one high school it might be low and smooth; in another, wild and angular. In some areas it was constant swing moves, while in others it was dancing with steps in place, simply holding your partner's hand, with no swing moves.

[...]

Billboard first reported that "The Stroll" might herald a new dance craze similar to the "Big Apple" in December 1957.[3][4]

In the dance two lines of dancers, men on one side and women on the other, face each other, moving in place to the music. Each paired couple then steps out and does a more elaborate dance up and down between the rows of dancers.[5] Dick Clark noted the similarity of the dance to the Virginia reel.[6] It was first performed to "C. C. Rider" by Chuck Willis on American Bandstand. Link Wray's "Rumble" was also a popular tune for doing the stroll.

The Diamonds had a hit song entitled The Stroll in 1957.

When 1950s nostalgia came to the forefront in the 1970s, The Stroll saw renewed public awareness. It was used in the film American Graffiti (1973) during the scene at the high school dance and is mentioned in some of the lyrics in the musical Grease. Led Zeppelin's 1950s rock homage "Rock and Roll" mentions the Stroll.

The Stroll was an integral part of most episodes of the dance TV series Soul Train, where host and creator Don Cornelius dubbed it the "Soul Train Line." "

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Excerpt #2
From http://www.ehow.com/list_7271106_line-dances-1960s.html Line Dances From the 1960s
"The Stroll started in the 1950s, but its popularity lasted into the early '60s. The song, by a group called The Diamonds, was released in 1957 and became a big hit on "American Bandstand." The dancers form a line of men and a line of women, facing each other. Couples peel off the end of the line in turn and dance their way down the center to the end of the line, showing off their best moves."
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This article begins with information about the 1950s & early 1960s line dances are "the Madison" and "the Hully Gully" and ends with the 1950s dance "The Bunny Hop".

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SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE ROCK & ROLL DANCE "THE STROLL" AND/OR COMMENTS ABOUT  HOW THAT DANCE  WAS PERFORMED

These comments come from the discussion thread for the film clip that is showcased as Video #2 in Part III of this pancocojams series.

These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrGLNtZ0rEg&ab_channel=MrMemories 

The Original Stroll - February 1958, MrMemories, Feb 4, 2011
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A number of commenters indicated that this 1958 local Iowa television film clip was from Iowa and not Idaho. Also, a lot of commenters described the White teenages who performed the Stroll on that 1958 film clip as being nervous, and/or or having very little rhythm and enthusiasm. (One of those dancers wrote that he and the other teens had just learned that dance shortly before that televison segment was filmed. Read that comment in this pancocojams discussion thread below.)

There are also a lot of comments in that YouTube video's discussion thread comparing the dancing in this film clip very unfavorably to the Soul Train Line. The Soul Train Line is a  feature that was a signature part of Soul Train, an American nationally syndicated television series that featured teenage dancers and performances by recording artists.Soul Train aired from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Soul Train featured a Black host and almost all of its teenage dancers were Black. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Train 

However, I want to focus on a few of  the comments from that YouTube video's discussion thread that responded to the video publisher's statements that "The Stroll... originated from American Bandstand" and "this is how it ["the Stroll"] was done originally."

American Bandstand was an American nationally sundicated televisionAmerican Bandstand, abbreviated AB, was an American nationally syndicated television series that featured teenage dancers and performances by recording artists.  American Bandstand aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989. When it was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, if not afterwards, American Bandstand in practice if not by policies did not allow Back teenagers and other non-White teenagers to be parts of its studio audiences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bandstand

Part III of this pancocojams series showcases examples of Stroll dancing including this above referenced 1958 Iowa film clip video, along with a 1958/1968video of American Bandstand, a video of the 1973 movie American Graffitti, and two 1970s videos of the Soul Train Line.

Full discloser- I posted several additional comments to that discussion thread in addition to the one that is included below.

2012

1. Michael Kelemen
"American Bandstand got The Stroll from The Mitch Thomas Show.

The kids who danced on Mitch Thomas didn't make it to Bandstand because Bandstand was segregated.

Matt Delmont explains in his book, The Nicest Kids in Town"
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Part II of this pancocojams series presents an excerpt on this subject from that book.

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2. TheReturnofStephan1
"The Stroll", as a dance, began in began in black communities, usually danced to the 1975 Chuck Willis hit song, "C. C. Rider", not on "AB".

Dick Clark's program never really created pop culture phenomena.

It merely "exploited" them.

 

That said, I always find it amusing that whenever there are posts about "not wanting to 'talk politics'", it ALWAYS ends up being code for whites not wanted to be "called to the carpet" by blacks for appropriating the latter's culture.:)"

[...]

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2016

3. victor manley
"MUSIC THEY STOLE FROM BLACK PEOPLE"

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Reply
4. RAFAEL RAMIREZ
"+victor manley NO BRO, MUSIC THEY LIKED AND ACCEPTED!"

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[...]

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2020

5. Cass Darlon
"This was "borrowed" from black dances by some very observant and brave white teens. This innocent looking dance was forbidden from white high school dances when it was first introduced. White teens had to do it at their private parties."

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6. Beverly Tomlin
"Perhaps the original stroll for this show, but definitely not the “Original Stroll.” Research please"

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7. Lafayette Smyre
"The stroll and just about every modern dance style was created by Blacks. Whether Black Americans or those of the Caribic, or South American countries or fo4 that matter Africa. What these dancers are do in a poor version of a rhythmic dance. It’s pitiful to see how badly they were doing those movements. But this was filmed at a time when people of  non-Northern European descent were  rarely seen on television."

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8. Kathy GARBEŔ
"Well , don’t know where this was but where I was ..Cincinnati , Oh we had more life in our Stroll  ! These kids weren’t even moving their feet correctly ! I was 13 when the Stroll was popular , then the Mashed Potatoes , the Locomotion , the Twist  ! Fun times in America in the 50’s !"

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9. Seahunt 60
"When I was in high school, I came home every evening couldn't wait to tun on American Bandstand. I would stand in front of t.v. and dance. They did the stroll. But they didn't hold hands it was a bit different but it also was a few yrs. Later. Brings back memories I loved to Do the stroll"

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10. Linda Koschwitz
"These kids have no clue!!! Philly kids did this the best!!!"

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11. john donohoe
"Ok pick up the beat, speed it up and get some Black folks in to show us how to do it!"

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12. hollie65
"This thing is Dullsville til the 3rd dancer, Gene Vincent strolls to wonderland with plenty of cool and attitude!"

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13. Ellarwee Gadsden
"These kids can't dance and we knew that back then. But they wouldn't have black kids on TV. Why do you think that was?"

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2021

14. Ahmasi Lloyd
"All of the popular dances of that era had their origins in the African American community just as in previous eras when jitter bug took hold in white America and across the globe! During American Bandstand's heyday, Black kids weren't allowed on the show but the popular dances they did originated in Philadelphia' s Black community!  My friends from Philly would come up to New York during the summer and we'd learn the new dances from Philly! These kids didn't do the Stroll justice; it had a lot of other steps and different communities had their variations of the dance!"

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Reply
15. Azizi Powell, 2022
"@Ahmasi Lloyd,  I agree with you that the dancers on American Bandstand tried to copy The Stroll from that dance's originators- Black teens from Philadephia where American Bandstand was filmed.

There's extensive documentation that American Bandstand had a practice if not a policy of only allowing White dancers on that show. Here's a link to one online article about that https://www.phillymag.com/news/2012/03/01/american-bandstand-didnt-allow-blacks/  Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Didn’t Originally Allow Black Dancers

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16. Dan Jones, 2021
"Sorry, this is not the original, they can’t enough do it right, no rhythm 🥁 you need to keep looking and find who their trying to copy."

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17. Darrell Campbell
"I kept looking for the token black dude but nope! Not even. The fifties must have been terrifying. Nothing but white kids. Wow."

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18. Dorothy Crawley
"And we all know what race people invented "the STROLL".."

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19. JoJo Sewist
"They look pretty good  especially some of guys waiting their turn  But the next couple should be starting when first couple about as third to fourth of way down alley.  You keep it full but all need to be in same time, so it looks really super.  At least that's what my aunt who danced like that in 1958 told me."

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Reply
20. Pat Peters
"Yup, that's how we did the stroll. When the couple got near the end a new couple was starting to stroll down the line.

Maybe they were just learning it."

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21. harmoniabalanza
"this dance is a direct descendant of the tradition of Virgina Reels and minuets, etc. About 1000 years of handed down culture that only has been lost in the last 40 years.  Conga lines too."

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22. Ola Scruggs
"Black kids did the stroll too but it had more styling and profiling in it. Like snapping fingers, spinning, leaning, (more like strutting) and you and your partner were in sync with each other and the music no matter what they were doing. These people were not feeling this music. To my surprise, back in the 80's, I found that older White men who were formerly vets could do an acceptable "shag". Some could even freestyle whereas their children were rather stiff. I guess they learned on relief in bars, USO shows, etc. Now just about everyone can dance.

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23. Gilmore Mccoy
"Well known fact! Black people were created the stroll and sang the lyrics.

Whites will take credit for air if they can get away with it 🤮!"

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24. sugarfalls1
"Do you realize how risque this song was probably for this era!  lol  If they only knew how some musicians would start dancing across the floor 40 yrs from this song, they'd be flabbergasted!"

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25. hollie65
"This thing is Dullsville til the 3rd dancer, Gene Vincent strolls to wonderland with plenty of cool and attitude!"

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26. Robin Nelson
"Part of the "Stroll" was to look like you were bored and could care less. Being giddy was square

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27. Karli Rastetter
"My Grandpa and his twin brother are in this video! He said everyone one of them were so nervous as it was such a big opportunity “to be on TV:)”
-snip-
The discussion thread for this pancocojams post includes a comment from one of the twins who danced The Stroll in this 1958 Iowa television show.. 

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Reply
28. Frances McStay, 2022
"I wondered why one guy seemed to "stroll" twice. I was thinking no way he could have made it back to the front of the line. Lol."

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2022

29. Janet Little
"Here I thought The Stroll came from my town, Philadelphia!  My cousin, born in 1944, knew all of the dances."

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30.  DJ Rychlak
"Where are all the black kids?  This music 'borrows' from Black culture.  But only the white kids are dancing."

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31 fob1xxl
"I was 13 and would dash home from Jr. High to watch "American Bandstand" to learn all the new dances. I remember how big this was ! I'll be 77 in April and can still do the Stroll !"

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32. Michael Lawson
"😂😂😂😂😂😂😂bvllshvt, dmn whites didn't televise anything concerning blacks , no one knows when line dance started, blacks had they own thing started long before whites though about it"
-snip-
This is how this comment is written in that discussion thread.

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Reply
33. Billy Yonet
" @Michael Lawson  thank you…

We all know what you said is true…all of blues and rock n roll was black music, and it wasn’t ‘allowed’ until white kids starting getting into it."

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34. Wendy Lynn
"The third couple looked like they were having fun. The rest of them were so nervous."

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35. Reneer Ornellas
"I'd love to see the black version 🤣🤣"
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Unfortunately, there are no surviving film clips of Black people doing the Stroll in the 1950s and 1960s. The earliest films of Black people dancing the Stroll appear to be from the Soul Train Lines from the 1970s.

However, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrrElzKqBhA for a clip from a 1957 movie called "Let's Rock" which shows Black teens/young adults doing the somewhat related Rock & Roll dance called "The Walk".

That YouTube video incorrectly labeled that dance as "The Stroll". A commenter with the screen name "Cool Daddy" corrected that mislabeling and chided a previous commenter for criticizing the teenagers who were filmed dancing the Stroll in that 1958 Ames, Iowa television show. (Video #2 in Part III of this pancocojams series.). 

Here's that comment: 
 Cool Daddy, 2022
"I presume you are referring to the kids dancing to The Stroll by the Diamonds. Firstly, you are very rude to call them Zombies. Some background info for you. Up until that famous tv clip, the Stroll was almost exclusively a black dance and it was just becoming mainstream. Half an hour before that tv section was shot, those "zombies" were taught it for the first time....so have some respect. I wonder how you would do with only practising a "new" dance for half an hour or so before going on national tv. Secondly, the dance in this clip with the black dancers is NOT the Stroll...it is a slightly faster dance called The walk"

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

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