Jamboree!

Elvis Presley didn't make the cut here. But just about every other act from those early days of rock and roll made it into Jamboree. It's like one long version of the old Ed Sullivan show with a plot tossed in between the acts.

The story such as it is involves Paul Carr and Freda Holloway two aspiring singers who are teamed together by their managers Kay Medford and Robert Pastene respectively who are busy playing their own oneupsmanship games.

But you bought a ticket to see and rock and roll show and in 1957 that's what you got here.

So if you are fan of the music of the era, this is your movie.

Pitiful plot and sorry as a movie. But the real stars performing makes for good viewing. A young couple played by Freda Holloway and Paul Carr want to be famous singers. Kay Medford plays the agitating manager that manipulates the two songbirds,that don't even come near professionalism; let alone sing good rock 'n' roll. Although the singing voice of Holloway is that of singer Connie Francis.

Also in the cast are disc jockey Dick Clark and songwriter Aaron Schroder. Schroder in the real world wrote many hit songs; the best were for Elvis Presley and Gene Pitney.

Some of the real stars of this film, doing their thing for the camera are: Jerry Lee Lewis, Frankie Avalon, Fats Domino, Charlie Gracie, Buddy Knox, Count Basie, Slim Whitman and Carl Perkins.

The plot is a flop and the music is hip. Turn the lights on low and GO! Daddyo! GO!

Don't watch this for the plot. The acting is so-so.

The music? Cool man, cool.

Lots of acts from the past. Great ones (Fats Domino, Carl Perkins), and good ones you never heard of

In New York City, Pete Porter and Honey Wynn are fresh-faced performers eager for their big break. Managers start pushing them onto the radio and they become the hot new sweetheart duo.

This would have been interesting if Connie Francis actually play the part of Honey Wynn. I don't know if she's any good as an actress but at least, that would have been historically interesting. At the end of the day, non of the written story is that compelling. Pete and Honey are very white bread. They just about have as much heat... next to non. What is more interesting are the real world music performers and a few familiar faces. I wonder if those local DJs were actually famous. Dick Clark is so young and in the same year, he's going nation-wide with American Bandstand. This is a piece of music history although it's not much of a film.

I believe this was put out only about a year after Dick Clark began hosting the long-running Amercian Bandstand television show. Clark plays an emcee in this film, similar to his role on that famous TV show. It's very interesting to see him as such a young guy. It was just about 50 years ago....hard to believe.

Joining him are some mega-stars from the early rock 'n roll era: Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins Frankie Avalon and Fats Domino and some lesser-names like Jimmy Bowen, Jodie Sands, Buddy Knox and a bunch more.

For viewers looking for upbeat music, this was disappointing. Most of the songs were Connie Francis-type ballads. Also, the dubbing in here is horrible. It's obvious these singers were dubbing the music and - no surprise here - they weren't all the greatest of actors and the script was lame.....very lame. Hey, that's what you got with a lot of "rock" movies back then - some horrible scripts. I guess you just watch it to see the singers in their heyday.