Editing Alan Freed (section)

===Film and television===
Freed also appeared in a number of pioneering rock and roll motion pictures during this period. These [[jukebox musicals]] were often welcomed with tremendous enthusiasm by teenagers because they brought visual depictions of their favorite American acts to the big screen, years before music videos would present the same sort of image on the small television screen.

Freed appeared in several motion pictures that presented many of the big musical acts of his day, including:
* 1956: ''[[Rock Around the Clock (film)|Rock Around the Clock]]'' featuring Freed, [[Bill Haley & His Comets]], [[The Platters]], [[Freddie Bell and the Bellboys]], [[Lisa Gaye]].
* 1956: ''[[Rock, Rock, Rock (film)|Rock, Rock, Rock]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbPEzjX8Htg|title=Alan Freed and His Rock and Roll Band – Rock and Roll Boogie (from the movie Rock Rock Rock – 1956)|access-date=May 31, 2021|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> featuring Freed, [[Teddy Randazzo]], [[Tuesday Weld]], [[Chuck Berry]], [[Frankie Lymon]] and the Teenagers, [[Johnny Burnette]], [[LaVern Baker]], [[The Flamingos]], [[The Moonglows]].
* 1957: ''[[Mister Rock and Roll (film)|Mister Rock and Roll]]'' featuring Freed, [[Rocky Graziano]] and Teddy Randazzo, [[Lionel Hampton]], [[Ferlin Husky]], [[Frankie Lymon]], [[Little Richard]], [[Brook Benton]], Chuck Berry, [[Clyde McPhatter]], [[LaVern Baker]], [[Screamin' Jay Hawkins]].
* 1957: ''[[Don't Knock the Rock]]'' featuring Freed, Bill Haley and His Comets, [[Alan Dale (singer)|Alan Dale]], [[Little Richard]] and [[The Upsetters (American band)|the Upsetters]], [[The Treniers]], Dave Appell and His Applejacks.
* 1959: ''[[Go, Johnny Go!]]'' featuring Freed, [[Jimmy Clanton]], Chuck Berry, [[Ritchie Valens]], [[Eddie Cochran]], [[The Flamingos]], [[Jackie Wilson]], [[The Cadillacs]], [[Sandy Stewart (singer)|Sandy Stewart]], [[Jo Ann Campbell]], [[Harvey Fuqua]] and [[The Moonglows]]. Chuck Berry also played Freed's pal and sidekick, a groundbreaking role in those days.

Freed was given a weekly primetime TV series, ''[[The Big Beat (TV program)|The Big Beat]]'', which premiered on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] on July 12, 1957.<ref>Brooks & Marsh, p. 136.</ref> The show was scheduled for a summer run, with the understanding that if there were enough viewers, it would continue into the 1957–58 television season. Although the ratings for the show were strong, it was suddenly terminated. ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' summarized the end of the program as follows. "Four episodes into ''The Big Beat'', Freed's prime-time TV music series on ABC, an uproar was caused when African-American artist [[Frankie Lymon]] was seen on TV dancing with a white audience member". Two more episodes were aired<ref>{{cite book |last=Sagolla |first=Lisa Jo |date=September 12, 2011 |title=Rock 'n' Roll Dances of the 1950s |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRhBf_6L8B8C&q=Alan+Freed%27s+TV+show+the+big+beat+abc++July+12%2C+1957&pg=PA74 |publisher=Performing Arts |page=74 |isbn=978-0313365560}}</ref> but the show was suddenly cancelled.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/moondogs-final-sign-off-on-alan-reed-1421710119 |title=Moondog's Final Sign Off |date=January 20, 2021 |work=WSJ |access-date=February 4, 2021}}</ref> Some sources indicate that the cancellation was triggered by an uproar among ABC's local affiliates in [[Southern United States|the South]].<ref>Jackson, p. 168.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17440514 |title=How the world's first rock concert ended in chaos |date=March 21, 2012 |work=BBC News |access-date=February 4, 2021}}</ref>

During this period, Freed was seen on other popular programs of the day, including ''[[To Tell the Truth]]'', where he is seen defending the new "rock and roll" sound to the panelists, who were all clearly more comfortable with swing music: [[Polly Bergen]], [[Ralph Bellamy]], [[Hy Gardner]] and [[Kitty Carlisle]].