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Here’s where you’ll find TJ photos and stories that don’t fit into any other categories. It is, as its name says, just for fans — and, hopefully, for fun.
Tom Jones And Dick Clark’s 1965 Summer Caravan of Stars: Part II
Saturday, August 30th, 2008Yesterday, we noted that on August 28, two events of great historical significance took place in the United States. In 1963, Dr. King delivered his I Have A Dream speech and, this year, the first African American candidate accepted a major party’s nomination to run for President of the United States. We noted, too, that in 1965, Tom Jones traveled the US for the first time, as a member of Dick Clark’s Summer Caravan of Stars. On that trip, he later recalled his first experience with the racial prejudice then still way to common here, despite the passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Please understand we know prejudice was rife in other parts of the USA (Las Vegas until 1960 was knows as “The Mississippi of the West.”) We’re not singling out the South.
The Caravan of Stars ran from August 1 through September 6. In addition to Tom & The Squires, the Summer Caravan of Stars also featured Peter and Gordon (A World Without Love), Them (Baby Please Don’t Go), The Shirelles (Will You Love Me Tomorrow), Ronnie Dove (Say You), Brian Hyland (Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini and Sealed With A Kiss), Billy Jo Royal (Down In The Boondocks), Mel Carter (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me), The Turtles (Happy Together), Sonny and Cher (we don’t have to list their songs) and others.
The Caravan was a bus trip across and up and down the US, playing one-night stands. There was some protocol involved in being on the bus, as the bigger stars got to sleep on the seats. Tom said he slept on the luggage rack. Others used the floor. It was tedious and uncomfortable, although Billy Joe Royal recalls, “Tom Jones, Mel Carter, Peter Asher and myself dressed up as The Shirelles,” Royal smiles. “We showed up in chiffon dresses and threw some wigs on. It was really crazy.”
Otherwise there were certainly lessons to be learned.
Take this one that Tom recalled in an article, Tom Jones: The Super Furry Animal,(Great name for an article about Tom Jones, isn’t it?) by Sylvie Simmons in Mojo, October 1999. He talked about traveling through the deep South: “…every time you stopped you had to make sure that a white person got off to go into the truck stop. If one of the black people went in there they’d shoot them. Shirley [Alston-Reeves], the lead singer of the Shirelles, and I were talking away in this hotel and all of a sudden she marched off. Later I said, ‘What’s up with you?’ and she said, ‘Didn’t you see those people in the lobby? They were staring at us. We were touching. You can’t do that in the South. They wouldn’t only hang me, they’d hang you as well. [N-word]-lover they would call you.’”
At an Alabama truck stop, he recalled, the locals started baiting the group. Mel Carter, who is black, lost his temper and reacted. It quickly turned into a full-blown brawl and, also quickly, the local constabulary showed up.
Tom recalled, “The cops just ran in, grabbed Mel and flung him into a paddy-wagon. I said to this cop, ‘You can’t come in here and just grab somebody and throw him in there. You didn’t even ask any questions.’ And he said, ‘You gonna stay out of this, boy?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not going to stay out of this. I’m British.’ and the cop put his left hand on my chest and his right hand on his gun and I started seeing it come out in slow motion, and he said, ‘I’m gonna ask you one more time, you gonna stay out of this?’ And I said, ‘Yessir.’ My legs were shaking. There was nothing I could do. He would have shot me. I thought, ‘Jesus, these people are mad.”
Of course, the best part of this trip for Tom was meeting Elvis in LA.
August 30th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
As promised this was interesting. I grew up in the northwest. Didn’t see much of this. In fact, didn’t see many minorities so I am always surprised when I read stories like this one. Makes me feel bad that this is the impression people got of America.
August 30th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
I only Thank God that the frightening incident between Tom Jones and that crazy cop did not turn out tragic. Had Tom not known when to back down, he would not have been here with us today. That is something I really could not imagine. If that were me, I would certainly make sure that I never would have included that state in the tour schedule. I doubt very much that Tom Jones would have wanted that nervous cop to protect him.
August 30th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
“‘Jesus, these people are mad.” Yes, it was a madness that has, thankfully, for the most part, faded. I remember as a very young child being in a certain part of this country and seeing racism first-hand. TJFriend, I don’t think we should make a sweeping generalization and suggest that all people from a particular state would in the same category as the folks mentioned above and that Tom should exclude all the good people from that particular state. Same as when he went to South Africa. Even tho the powers-that-be were hesitant to allow Tom to play to audiences of various colors, Tom stood his ground and he was eventually allowed. I wouldn’t say that all folks in South Africa were supportive of Apartheid and therefore, Tom should shun South Africa.
Moderators, thanks for providing this posting. I was happy to see what Tom had to say about his experience with the Caravan. I remember a TV interview years ago with Dick Clark – Dick was talking about being on the bus with all of these people. He looked upon it fondly and also remembered situations happening that were representative of the day. I’m glad we are living in these days!
August 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I didn’t mean to generalize, if appeared as such, Holly. Only reacted, as if in those times, if that makes any sense. I only wonder if Tom ever met up with that same cop, who got rough with him, during his travels and have they become friends? It would be a nice ending to that chapter.
August 30th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
This topic is rather controversial, especially since I grew up and still live in Alabama. I would like to state many of us “touched” black people, and it was no disgrace, and we did not get shot or put in jail. I grew up before integration, and segregation was evil, no doubt, but when reading articles like this one involving Tom and some isolated incidents in the south, one must not generalize and believe all southerners were race baiters, nor race haters. Apologies from us are not sufficient for what the black race suffered during those years and before. History tells the story of the KKK, our city leaders, and their detestable actions….all fact. These leaders did not speak for all of us. I would not question Tom’s credibility in this article, but some statements may have been isolated incidents. Racism still exists today, and it existed in other parts of the country as well as the south, but I believe it has abated as much here as in other states.
It is a harsh reality this city, Birmingham, and the state, have suffered for the sins of the minority at that time, and we have continued to reap this type controversy possibly into eternity.
August 30th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Thank you, Marian, for your cogent and most welcome comment. You are, of course, right, and we all — in the USA or in just about any nation — have to live with the past we inherited, for better or worse. Thanks again.
August 30th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Thanks, Moderator, for letting me have my say on this topic. I am a “color-blind” person, and know many of us in this great city are also. Times have changed, and time will heal all wounds, I hope.
I forgot to say previously Tom has performed here in Birmingham several times in recent years, God bless him.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:21 am
I remember this so well. I also remember because of the unpleasant circumstances Tom said ” If this is show business you can keep it.”
September 1st, 2008 at 8:58 am
Gill: Though we’re Americans, we must be fair to the rest of the world. He actually said, “If this is showbusiness in America, you can keep it.”
April 9th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I was fortunate enough to see this show in West Virginia. (Liberty University) I was only 12 at the time but I remember Tom Jones singing his “new hit single” What’s New Pussycat!
November 26th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I have an original program book in mint condition from the 1965 Summer tour of Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars. I remember that I couldn’t believe I was going to see and hear Mel Carter sing “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” in person. It was awesome even though I was just 8 years old!