American Bandstand 1968 – TOP 10 – Love Is Blue, Paul Mauriat & His Orchestra

Airdate: February 17, 1968

Here’s a “pretty song” to cap off a chaotic year just as it began the chaotic year of 1968. Mauriat’s cover of “L' Amour est bleu” is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the 2nd of 5 weeks in a row today. The song will go on to be the #2 song of 1968 (“Hey Jude” was #1) and the 12th most popular song of the decade.

While it seems some of the dancers are struggling a bit to dance to it, I think Famous Hooks & Jenny Nichols (1:16) and Don Sanuskar & Maureen Cohen (shown briefly on the right at 1:29) have the right idea partner dancing to the song. Also spotted dancing here are Peggy Waggoner & (her then-boyfriend) Mark Reinglass (0:32), Rick Bach (1:25), Stan Soburn (1:31), Forrest Hutchins (2:01), Sondra Gomez (2:15), Theodosia Dayton (2:42) and Roberta Simon on the top riser.

Love is blue: a toast to all those who didn’t make it to 2022 with us including 60’s artists Michael Nesmith, Billy Hinsche, Keith Allison, Charlie Watts, Jay Black, Don Everly, B.J. Thomas, Wanda Young (Marvelettes) and Mary Wilson (…and Phil Spector :|)

This’ll wrap it up for 2021. Thank you to @dancer don, our resident Bandstand dancer, for all of his insights and comments, @Andrew Haberman for colorizing several clips and episodes, @jthyme for sharing several of these episodes (including the one today), Uncle George for the rare video clips he’s shared, and to all of YOU for your views, likes, and comments this year. I hope you’ve enjoyed watching as much I’ve enjoyed posting.

Have a Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Stay safe, keep on dancin’, and I’ll see you in '22!