“That really annoyed me because quite a few of the Philadelphia dancers on ‘Bandstand’ died of AIDS,” Smith said. While “Bandstand” fans across the country imagined a true romantic relationship between Sullivan, who secretly liked girls, and her on-screen companion, Rossi, who was straight, she says it was little more than made-for-TV “puppy love.” “We were the first reality show,” she adds.
Like Smith, she believes that if her true sexual preference and that of others on the show had become public in the days before Stonewall and today’s LGBT power, “Bandstand” would have been taken off the air. “Parents across America would never, NEVER have allowed their kids to put ‘Bandstand’ on,” she writes.
