• In 1975 Bobby did a movie called “That Lady from Peking” where he played Buddy Foster, a singer in a night club. And ends up helping his brother in solving some crimes.
• In 1974 the rock group KISS released their cover version of Bobby’s “Kissin’ Time!” The song was used in a massive nation wide promotional campaign with radio stations and kissing contests to promote the group. “Kissin’ Time” became KISS’ first top 100 single.
• Although Bobby didn’t appear in the movie Because They’re Young, his song “Swingin’ School” was a part of the soundtrack.  It hit the billboard top 40 on May 16,1960 and stayed for 8 weeks peaking #5.
  A) Bobby spent 3 weeks performing for the troops in Viet Nam in 1966.
  B) Academy Award winning actor James Dunn (1945 Best Supporting Actor) co-starred with Bobby Rydell in a network television pilot “Swingin’ Together”
• Tidbit #1: In 1963 Bobby played Private Gifford Tyler on “Rockabye the Infantry”.  He was a young Army enlisted man, who decides that he could make a little extra cash running a babysitting service on post.
• Tidbit #2: Bobby appeared on Bandstand for his 16th birthday with his mother and father and they had a three tiered cake that said, “Happy Birthday Bobby, whoa, yeah”
• When Bobby was on the The Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club he won his family’s first TV set! It was an RCA Victor. He also won a RCA 45 rpm record player and a crate of Tootsie Rolls on the same show!
• Bobby Rydell was the first artist to release an entire album for Cameo Parkway records. During his tenure with the label (1959-1964), he released 16 albums with the label (including compilations and collaborations with Chubby Checker ;not including reissues of material with various other C-P label artists). -source: bsnpubs.com-“The Cameo Parkway Story.”
• Did you know that in 1966 when Bobby appeared at the Copacabana night club in NYC that Danny Thomas made a guest appearance there just for Bobby? Danny Thomas went around to all the tables and was saying nothing but great things about Bobby!!!
• Sent in by a fan who was there that night as her high school graduation present & witnessed it!
• That Frankie Avalon had a band when he was 15 and asked neighborhood pal, Bobby Ridarelli a/k/a Bobby Rydell, to fill in at a gig when his drummer was sick.  That same night Bobby met his soon-to-be manager, Frankie Day.
• Billboard lists Bobby Rydell as earning 34 Top 40 hits, making him one of the Top 5 artists of his era.
• In the movie Parent Trap (1961 with Haley Mills) the walls at the camp are adorned with posters of Bobby Rydell and Elvis.
• Bobby had 3 questions about him in the Baby Boomer Edition of Trivial Pursuit
  1. What early rocker appeared in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie?
  2. Whose last big hit was 1963’s Forget Him?
  3. What city spawned Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon and Fabian?
• In Bob Dylan’s autobiography, “Chronicles, Volume I” Dylan, whose real name is Bobby Zimmerman, said he changed his name to “Bob Dylan” vs. “Bobby Dylan” as he did not want to be confused with Bobby Darin, Bobby Rydell or Bobby Vee….
• Bill O’Reilly was a guest on “The View” Nov 13, 2007.  On the program he said when he was a teenager all he wanted “was to be Bobby Rydell
• Bobby used to do Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) for the St. Jude Research Hospital with Danny Thomas.  Bobby was the National Teen Chairman @ St. Jude’s Hospital at one time.
• Popular Irish singer/songwriters Charlie McGettigan and Paul Harrington recorded this great tune  Whatever Happened to Bobby Rydell
• Did you know PSAT tests in the United States currently contain a question about Bobby Rydell
• Question: Paul McCartney has said that an old Bobby Rydell song  Forget Him was the original inspiration for writing what famous Beatle recording?   Answer:  “She Loves You” Inspired by Bobby Rydell’s Forget Him Paul McCartney had the idea to write an answer song to Forget Him and She Loves You was born

Copyright © 2023 Bobby Rydell.