Fame movie ad. 

New York Magazine. May 19, 1980. 

The first song that I truly connected to as a kid was the theme to Fame. I was almost 6 when the film came out, and I remember dreaming of dancing and singing and totally thought that this is what high school was going to be like, where people danced in the streets, blocking traffic. In this issue of New York that feature the ad, there’s a rather scathing review of the film and how it glorifies the tragedy of performers. I still love the film, nonetheless. 

The show would spawn an original TV series, first run on NBC before heading to syndication. Also, “The Kids From Fame” was a recording group featuring cast members, and toured internationally. Many other reprisals would follow after the original syndication run ended in 1987. There was the short-lived Fame L.A. in 1997, a reality show in 2003, and a couple of other TV projects that never came to be, not to mention the forgetful remake of the film in 2009. Sometimes, you just can’t recapture the magic.