NY_Daily

BIG APPLE'S EARLY ROCK-'N'-ROLL FEAT OF=20 CLAY

BY DAVID HINCKLEY, DAILY NEWS STAFF = WRITER

Monday, September 6th 1999

It was 40 years ago Thursday that Clay Cole launched one = of New=20 York's most famous rock-'n'-roll TV shows. And while no video survives, = one=20 still photo captures what "The Clay Cole Show" imprinted on a few = million=20 teenagers.

The photo shows the boyish Cole whirling across the = floor opposite=20 one of the girls in a moment of pure early-'60s Americana: two wholesome = kids=20 dancing and beaming.

Cole now spends less time on the dance floor.=20

He has spent the last 20 years happily, he adds = producing TV=20 specials on subjects from Marilyn Monroe to Stan Musial. He recently = spent six=20 months in China, helping Westernize a theme park.

"I don't miss performing," he says. "But I enjoyed = the show,=20 and I know it touched people. It used to be I couldn't go out on the = street in=20 New York. I took my vacations in L.A. This summer I went to a U.S. Bonds = show=20 and when he introduced me, the response was the same." =

Warmly as nostalgia can glow, however, Cole cautions = that even=20 with something as simple as that famous photo, (above) there is often a = critical=20 subtext.

"Behind me and that girl, you see a black couple," he = says. "I=20 insisted on an integrated audience, and it drove the station nuts. I was = always=20 on the carpet.

"A few years later, the station got a citation for = its=20 progressive civil-rights attitude and they took full credit, even though = they'd=20 resisted it all the way."

As this suggests, Cole's memories of his nine years = on local TV=20 first Ch. 13, then Ch. 11 aren't all warm and fuzzy. The pay, for = instance, was=20 lousy: "500 bucks a week to host a top-rated show. And when I got calls = about=20 hosting [national shows] 'Shindig' and 'Hullabaloo,' they wouldn't let = me do=20 it."

He thinks it was a mistake, in the '60s, to start = taping the=20 show. "When you took away the live element, it lost its appeal to me." = And don't=20 even ask about the executives who decided to save a few bucks by erasing = his=20 shows and reusing the tape.

"Not a single clip survives," he says which not only = causes=20 fiscal pain, but wipes out cultural history: hundreds of rock = performances, like=20 the young Rolling Stones doing a live "Tell Me."

Cole stresses, though, that he doesn't feel bitter. = Life is=20 fine.

After an early performing career in Hubbard, Ohio, = where he was=20 born Albert Rucker, he got to New York at 20 and rose fast. With help = from Alan=20 Freed, he was soon hosting "Rate the Records" and then "The Record = Wagon" on Ch.=20 13. First guests: JoAnn Campbell and Teddy Randazzo. =

"To get to know artists like Little Anthony, the = Shirelles and=20 Dionne Warwick was incredible," he says. "Frankie Valli says it best: It = all=20 felt like family then."

After the show ended in 1968 last guests, Paul Anka = and the=20 Cowsills Cole split his time between hosting and producing. In 1979, he = and=20 Janet Langhart co-hosted "AM New York," which he calls "the worst = experience of=20 my television life We were supposed to do only serious subjects, and no = one=20 watched."

So he went to full-time production, from Robin Leach = to a=20 22-hour PBS history of the arts, with many awards along the way. "I've = seen the=20 world and a lot of the time I've gone first-class for free," he says. = "When my=20 phone rings, I never know what to expect. It's great." =

He's writing a book, "not an autobiography," on the = twist,=20 Freed and other paths he has crossed. He's talking with Valli about a = concert to=20 publicize the issue of artists being paid when their songs are played on = radio.=20

He listens to Aretha, Etta James, blues and jazz. On = radio, he=20 likes the Imus show ("particularly Bernard").

"I've had a great time being out of the spotlight," = says Cole.=20 "But I did see an Internet posting that said I died 10 years ago. So I'm = poking=20 my head out just far enough to let people know I'm still here and doing=20 fine."

(C) NY Daily News

A clean-cut, sock-hop, malt-shop moment.