Somebody from N.J. mailed a fake bomb to the office of Dick Clark on this week in Philly history

The package was mailed from New Jersey, which should have been the first clue.

Inside was a cigar box rigged to resemble a bomb, and it was delivered on the afternoon of Nov. 21, 1960, to the office of TV host Dick Clark.

Clark, a week away from his 31st birthday, was the star of the nationally televised ABC program American Bandstand, which was filmed at WFIL-TV studios at 46th and Market Streets. He was filming his afternoon program when the parcel arrived shortly after 3 p.m.

His secretary received the package, and as she started to untie the brown-paper wrapping, the cigar box became visible. One side of the box had been removed, and she spotted a net of wires and a five-inch piece of copper tubing.

Police quickly arrived and inspected the device, and took it to their headquarters for further evaluation. And while it looked like a crudely constructed explosive device, police and postal leaders told The Inquirer that it was missing two key components: powder and a fuse.

There were no actual explosives in the box, and the device couldn’t have set any off.

It contained what at first appeared to be a blasting cap, but after closer examination was identified as a piece of tree bark.

“The package was obviously the work of a crank,” the officials told The Inquirer.

Philly Police, the U.S. Postal Service, and the FBI took part in the investigation, but no culprit was ever publicly identified.

TV staffers were still jumpy a few weeks later when an unmarked gift package that resembled the faux bomb arrived at Clark’s office.

Responding police, taking no chances, carried it across the street and into the middle of Drexel University’s athletic field.

When they finally got the courage to open it, out popped a shaggy, stuffed dog.

All packages from then on, The Inquirer quipped, should carry a notation:

“No bombs inclosed.”