Responding to widespread speculation in the media about Mr. Clark's health, Paul Shefrin, the longtime spokesman for Dick Clark, insisted that Mr. Clark is well enough to go through with the show reports New York Times. "He's doing real good," Mr. Shefrin said. "He's not 100 percent. He's not the exact person he was standing in the square."

As for the composite publicity photo, in which a healthy, smiling Clark appears to be standing beside Duff and Seacrest, Shefrin said it was "photo-shopped, like 90 percent of the photos distributed by the industry everywhere."

"It's a composite photo because Dick opted not to do a photo session he's done before," Shefrin said. "It's only because of the health situation that this has become a cause celebre."

Performing live from Times Square: Mariah Carey, Chris Brown and Sugarland. The party starts on ABC at 10 p.m. ET.