Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club"
1952
[From "Twenty
Years of Corn"]
| More than 38,000
saw Breakfast Club in action on a two-week Southern trip which included January
broadcasts from St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham, Atlanta, Jacksonville,
St. Petersburg and Miami. There were many examples of fans traveling 300 to 500
miles. A party from Memphis registered 1300 miles round-trip. Unable to get tickets
in Nashville or Birmingham, they went on to Atlanta before seeing the show. Biggest turnout was in St. Petersburg. When all 2700 Coliseum tickets were grabbed up in one day, Don and the gang agreed to make an extra appearance with the famous Kids and Kubs softball team. The game drew the largest crowd in the history of Al Lang Field, but the Breakfast Clubbers lost to the 75-year olds. On its second trip of the year, Baltimore gave Breakfast Club a warm welcome in more ways than one. Six hours before air time, fire destroyed the stage curtain and all of Breakfast Club's broadcast equipment. Between the hours of 3 and 8 a.m., station WFBR and Breakfast Club did the impossible: rented a new theater and found enough engineering and stage equipment to put the show on as scheduled. An audience of 2,000 was treated to one of Breakfast Club's best performances. Another 12,000 saw the show in Boston, Hartford, Washington, Philadelphia and New York. In October, the show moved permanently to the Morrison Hotel. After auditioningmore than 200 girl vocalists, Peggy Taylor of Alhambra, Calif., was selected in July to replace Patsy Lee. O-Cedar and Bobbi-White Rain replaced Jell-O as sponsors. Don began enrolling babies born during the Breakfast CLub hour into an exclusive Baby Club. |
 |
Left: Ourfitted with rebel caps, 22 Breakfast Clubbers toured the South in a chartered Delta plane. |
| Right: The boys welcome Peggy Taylor as Breakfast Club's newest singing sweetheart on July 28. |  |
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