The origins of Soul Train can be traced to 1965, when WCIU-TV, an upstart UHF station in Chicago, began airing two youth-oriented dance programs: Kiddie-a-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues. These two programs—specifically the latter, which featured a predominantly African American group of in-studio dancers—would set the stage for what was to come to the station several years later.

Don Cornelius, a news reader and backup disc jockey at Chicago radio station WVON, was hired by WCIU in 1967 as a news and sports reporter. Cornelius also was promoting and emceeing a touring series of concerts featuring local talent (sometimes called "record hops") at Chicago-area high schools, calling his travelling caravan of shows "The Soul Train". WCIU-TV took notice of Cornelius's outside work, and in 1970 allowed him the opportunity to bring his road show to television.

After securing a sponsorship deal with the Chicago-based retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co., Soul Train premiered on WCIU-TV on August 17, 1970 as a live show airing weekday afternoons. The first episode of the program featured Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, and the Emotions as guests. The show was co-founded by Clinton Ghent.

You might be wondering now how you can see episodes of the Chicago Soul Train.

Well, so far you can't. Tapes probably exist, but there are no episodes at Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications. Lehman came across none in his research, and there's nothing on YouTube. No video collectors have even hinted at existing clips. Nate Pendleton recalls having a Super-8 film of the Dontells' performance but can't locate the reel, and among Chicago's home-movie archivists (including my wife, Jacqueline Stewart, who runs the South Side Home Movie Project) footage has yet to emerge from any proud parents who might've filmed their children on the TV screen.

From the 1950s to the 1970s local live television broadcasts often went undocumented, their ethereal existence recorded only in the memories of home viewers. Kinescoping (a special process to make a 16-millimeter film of a live broadcast by filming a television monitor) was prohibitively expensive. Because the only compensation many producers received was the razor-thin remainder of sponsorship money after production costs, few were willing to add even an extra hundred bucks to the weekly budget after three-quarter-inch U-matic videotapes were introduced in the early 70s. (Sears's original Soul Train sponsorship deal was $100 per episode.) Those who did record shows often recorded subsequent shows over them to save on tape stock. Only three episodes of Kiddie-a-Go-Go were preserved, and there are likely no episodes of Red Hot and Blues. WCIU ran local Soul Train tapes for years, but Howard Shapiro says he doesn't think the station still has copies. And as I searched for footage while preparing this article, Cornelius, historically tight with material even from the national show, seemed an unlikely benefactor.






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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on February 7, 2010 at 10:42pm
No, you didn't tell me about the books, i bet they are good...I wish i could have found some pics of the dancers on the living room size dance floor....LOL
Comment by Edie Antoinette on February 7, 2010 at 10:20pm
And those sleeves that the Impressions had on. Whoa. Interesting. I LOVE these pics!!!
Comment by Edie Antoinette on February 7, 2010 at 10:18pm
Don Cornelius looks...uh...*laughing* on the top pic. Reminds me of that pic of Ernie Isley that I put on Gene's page...ROFLMBO
Comment by Edie Antoinette on February 7, 2010 at 10:16pm
I know! It's funny looking but I love that kinna stuff. You can see how the show evolved. You always do more than an outstanding job with all of your blogs...love runs through it. Did I tell you I bought two Robert Pruter books? Doo Wop: Chicago and Chicago Soul.
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on February 7, 2010 at 9:48pm
When i saw those pics on the show last night, i knew i had a blog on my hands, that train prop is funny....LOL
Comment by Edie Antoinette on February 7, 2010 at 7:58pm
This is exceptionally superb+. I can't get over the 'train' prop. even though no video has been found, these pics will do for now. Wonderful post Sole!!!!

Introspection

Entr'acte

  1. play Norman Brown — Night Drive
  2. play Norman Brown — Feeling
  3. play Norman Brown — Still
  4. play Miles Davis — miles 1
  5. play miles 2
  6. play miles 3
  7. play miles 4
  8. play miles 5
  9. play Marvin Gaye — I Met A Little Girl
  10. play Santana — 01 Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
  11. play Santana — 02 Black Magic Woman-Gypsy Queen
  12. play Mongo — 02. Afro Blue



The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. If, by chance, you know of a way to get in touch with Frankie Beverly or his management, please drop me an e-mail. It would be absolutely great to do an interview with him about his pre-Maze work. He's still playing out, most recently doing a New Year's Eve show in Atlanta.
:: Funkinsoulman ::

Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪

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