On 25 June 2009 the song Amateur Hour was involved in a stunt when UK magician and mentalist Mark Cairns predicted that radio personality George Lamb would choose the Sparks song in a free choice from a list of 100 tracks that had been recently played on Lambs BBC 6 Music show.
Sparks' second Island era single, "Amateur Hour," reached the top ten in the UK later that summer.
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In 1966 Sowell won the Mid-South Fair and was scheduled to appear on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour on CBS Television, but before he could go there, he got drafted during the Vietnam War and his musical career was put on hold.
In his comic monologue on his album Sinatra at the Sands (1966), Frank Sinatra describes how his vocal group The Hoboken Four's appearances were so popular on Major Bowes Amateur Hour in the mid-1930s that they were brought back week after week, under a different name each time.
Pergament denigrated his regional competitor, calling it "that amateur hour", while NewsWest president James Kerasiotes alleged that Tab and the Middlesex News were trying to sabotage their new competitor.
Having performed in local shows since 1955, the Hanover, Pennsylvania trio of Midge Bollinger (lead vocals), Kaye McCool (low vocals), and Debra Swisher (high vocals) were signed to Mercury Records in 1963 by producers/songwriters John Madara and Dave White, who had discovered the group at a show in Philadelphia (among the group’s previous successes were two appearances on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour).
She coped with the loss by acting, and took third prize on The Ted Mack Amateur Hour, which launched a professional career with the Children's Chorus of the New York City Opera.