Laya Raki, Waxmate Of The Month

Laya Raki (born Brunhilde Marie Alma Herta Jörns on July 27, 1927) is a former dancer and film actress popular in Germany in the 1950s and early 1960s.  She also became an international star for her roles in English films and TV productions.  She married Australian-born actor Ron Randell in a civil ceremony in London in 1957 until his death in 2005.

Her only commitment to music on wax was in 1962 when Dr. Gilbert Obermair reported "Carina Records signed film sex bomb Laya Raki to an exclusive contract. The gal has already waxed her first record in German and in English."   

"Oh, Johnny, hier nicht parken" was recorded during the dancer's stay in Munich in English as well as German.  Considered too pornographic and tasteless the song was banned on German radio.  See Andreas Michalke's blog here for some details.  (All songs can be heard on YT)

IMDb lists some 26 movies and TV series in which she played and danced.  Some videos can be seen at Youtube but, by far her most suggestive dance, in my opinion, was in Beat Girl, a 1960 British film about late-fifties youth-rebellion, later released in the United States under the title Wild for Kicks. See here (the dance start at 6:45)

From an article published at the time of the shooting of Crane, a TV series starring Patrick Allen.

"So, OK, I am wearing this blouse for some new shots and I am walking past Patrick Allen, who is playing this great adventurer, Crane. I am walking past and suddenly he say with great shock: 'You cannot possibly wear that blouse! Your bust is showing!' I look at him and I say: "Really? Is perhaps why I am wearing the blouse.' Then he gets angry and he say: 'You are always showing too much the bust. My wife say that she is disgusted.'

"Oh ho, then he can see that I am angry, too, and he start to go back a little. He say: "But this programme, Crane, is not only seen by the adults. I seen by children as well.'

"Well, you know, I look at him then and I say: 'But children are more used to bosoms than anyone else, Patrick. They have grown up with them, you see.'

"Then he is quiet and I wear the blouse and I wear no bra and it all looks very nice, very natural because it is what Halima would wear.

Joreen

L. E. Richards And The Girls
Joreen
D. Lee, Warmat BMI

Universe 45-550
1962

This quite obscure Ohio label, pressed by King Records in 1962, had only two releases, three if we count the second issue of this one which came on a black label.  "Joreen (She's Something Else)" was given a second chance with the release of Universe 501 by Cody Black & The Celestials as the flip of "The Camel Walk" 

What the two releases had in common was they were composed and produced by Dicky Lee, a pseudonym for one Warren Hambrick.   I've found several songs penned by Warren Hambrick between 1961 and 1963, but none seems to have been recorded:

1961
Sweet Papa Sticky;
Let's Do "The Big End"

Baby Is It True? 
Turn Him Loose, Wine

1962
Don't Mean Nothin", Ain't No Big Thing; (Don't Mean Nothing),
Everybody Likes To Twist;
Many Regrets;
You're Too Fine; 
That Kind Of Blues;
What Did I Do?  
Pretty Crazy,

1963
 Daddy Yum Yum; 
The Eyes Of The Beholder; 

Universe discography

Riders In The Sky

Lee Savage
Buddy Cole Orchestra

Riders In The Sky

Merri 101
1960

This is, I'm quite sure, a pseudonym for Lee Denson, who had already recorded the old Stan Jones classic the previous year for the obscure Twin label.  "Teenage World" the top side of this single also written by Lee Denson, a song which Merri Records also issued on Merri 205 as by Lee Denson b/w Who Tickled The Sphynx

Not included in the various discographies found on the net or in Hydra Records' "The South's Gonna Rise Again" a Lee Denson compilation on CD from Germany released in 2001

Lee Denson bio

Lee "The Big Masher" Lilly

Lee "The Big Masher" Lilly

Spooky Movies / Big Masher
Alcor 014
1962

Lee Lilly born Leland Lando Lilly (1938-2011) better known as Ross Hagen.

Ross Hagen with tiger on Daktari

Raised in Arizona and Oregon, Ross Hagen headed to Hollywood in 1962 on a lark after working as a stand-in on Route 66.  A couple of months later he was convinced to record this single which was issued on Alcor Records, a new label just founded by Everest Records. 

They said, "Oh man, you should do a record."  So I dit it and I lived off it for about a year.  I don't known if you've ever see what it's like to be a teenage idol for fifteen seconds of fame.  You walk out on this stage and people are screaming.  They screamed like a bunch of vampires.  The hours are horrible.  It wasn't the kind of lifetsyle that I liked.  I like to get up early and listen to the birds.  So I kind of let the music thing drift away.  I wasn't that interested in pursuing a career.

And then of course being from a hillbilly family, the first time they see you on TV, Granny Puss called up and said, "Hon, now that you're a millionaire and a TV star, can you get me some teeth?"  I said, "Granny, I'd love to get you some teeth, but it costs more to join a union than I made on my first job!"

Hagen quickly found work on popular TV westerns like The Virginian and The Wild Wild West, as well as a regular role on Daktari during the 1968-1969 season.  In four decades as an independant actor, director, producer and writer, Hagen has weathered the ups and downs of the film industry during a prolific and diverse career.

References

☛ "Hollywood Hellcat : Ross Hagen", chapter of "Wild Beyond Belief!: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers of the 1960s"
☛ Imdb bio

Listening

Both songs can be heard on YouTube.  Or download both tracks here (mp3)

Walking After Midnight

Calvin Coolidge

Walking After Midnight

Hidin' Out

4 Star CC-15
Promotional Record

This is the kind of recording you can do. Here's the recipe ::

1/ Take the two originals "Walking After Midnight" and "Hidin' Out" by Patsy Cline

2/ With Audacity (a very nice freeware) or any other sound editor, modify the speed from 45 rpm to 33 rpm

3/ That's it, a new artist is born, Calvin Coolidge. Simple, no?

Ellis Nassour has the details. From his book "From Honky Tonk Angel" :

    The record was a practical joke cooked up by Bill McCall, head of 4 Star Records.

    Suddenly, with the incredible sales of "Walkin' After Midnight," there was a cover recording, as often happened with a major hit. Disc jockeys everywhere were inundated with Calvin Coolidge's rendition and received calls from the label's irate promotion director wanting to know why they weren't programming it.

    "This is a hot record," he'd say, "the first male version." The deejays responded that the record was terrible. "Oh, you think so, huh?" he replied. A typical answer was, "It's nothing like Patsy Cline's record." The promotion man would counter, "That goes to show how much you know. Take that record and speed it up and we'll see about that!"

    The prankster was none other than Bill McCall, who slowed Patsy's version to 33 1/3 rpm, then pressed a 45 rpm single.

Using Audacity, I've created in a similar manner a cover of Walking by Lil' Hillary, 8 y. old, the latest teenage sensation.

The two Calvin Coolidge tracks and the two other versions of Walking converted from the "Calvin Coolidge" recording (Patsy Cline & Lil' Hillary) can be found in this archived file

Keeno Boogie

The Keenos

Keeno Boogie

Lark LS-4513
1959

The Keenos : Russel Hicks, Ted Embry; Douglas Beckelhimer, and Charles Chambers formerly called the King Teens from West Virginia, they were playing at the "Showboat," a hotel in Las Vegas, Nev., and with the exception of Ted Embry, were attending school at Las Vegas High School, when this record was issued.

The West Virginia boys have played at several convention centers, appearing with Johnny Horton, who released the song, "Battle of New Orleans," which stayed in number one place throughout the nation for many weeks. Tfrey also appeared with the young singer, Bob Lewman.  [ed. Bob Luman?]

Source : Beckley Post-Herald The Raleigh Register from Beckley, West Virginia · October 25, 1959, page 7

St. Olaf Blues

Vocals Peter Nelson,
piano  Jeff Cook,
harmonica Peder Gaalaas

St. Olaf Blues

CPO 205L

Likely from Northfield, Minnesota where Peter Nelson is still making music with The Zillionaires, while Peter Gaalaas, now an orthodontist in Grand Rapids, Minnesota is now a multi-instrumentalist playing the Hammerhead® NiTi Tie-back Pliers, the Hu-Friedy Orthodontic Slim Collection and Bird Beak with Cutter, Hu-Friedy.  

Maila Nurmi, Waxmate of the month

“I remember the first time [Orson Welles] saw me in a boudoir,
in a negligee, he said in that wondrous voice of his,
‘Magnificent Carcass.’ ‘MAGNIFICENT CARCASS?’
I thought to myself. Whatever, I didn’t see that one coming.”

Born: Maila Elizabeth Syrjaniemi on December 11, 1922 in Petsamo, Finland
Died: January 10, 2008 (age 85) in Los Angeles, California, USA

Actress and  horror show hostess, Maila Nurmi appeared in Ed Wood's Plan Nine From Outer Space.   She created her Vampira character -- reminiscent of Charles Addams' spooky New Yorker cartoons -- to host horror movie broadcasts on KABC TV in Los Angeles in 1954.  With darkly mascaraed eyes and blood-red lipstick, Nurmi appeared each week in her revealing black dress and slinky fishnets to introduce such films as "Revenge of the Zombies" and "Devil Bat's Daughter."

"The Vampira Show" was canceled after about a year. Vampira disappeared. But she thrived in the cultural underground. 

By the 1960s, Nurmi supported herself as a tile contractor. Stories, patently untrue, circulated of roles in pornographic films. She became a figure of local legend in West Hollywood, part of a cast of peculiar characters who’d once been famous and now were not.

Maila Nurmi hung out with the punk/metal band the Misfits in the 80s at places like West Hollywood Vinyl Fetish. She also worked on a book she never finished, a memoir of underside of a 50s Hollywood that stayed up late nights at Googies Restaurant, popped pills, and lived off the warm glow of stardom it stalked.

In 1987, she recorded two seven-inch singles on Living Eye records with the band Satan's Cheerleaders. The singles, entitled "I Am Damned" and "Genocide Utopia," were both released on colored vinyl.

She died, alone, in 2008.

Vampira and Satan's Cheerleaders

I'm Damned

Further readings :

Her bio at IMDb
8 Things You May Not Know About Vampira
Wikipedia article
The Rise and Fall of Vampira

Thanks Pat!

Pat Boone Presents

10 Golden Hits

Billy Adams and the Pedal Pushers  - Daisy Belle (KoKo, 1962)                                        
Bobby O'Brown  - Hometown Music (Gateway, 1965)                            
Diana Cole - The Yodelin' Blues (Josie, 1956)                             
Hitmakers - Cool School (Original 1, 1959)                                
Johnny and Ted - Naughty Little Lulu (Vee Jay, 1959)                  
Mohammad Ba Sarish - Since I Met You Baby (Gateway Parade Of Hits, 1956)  
Roy Kildaire  - What About It (Blue Beat) (UK, 1964))                      
Spo-De-Odee - Crashing The Party (Verus, 1960)                        
The DeMires - The Spider ( Lunar, 1959)                               
The Keystoner's - T.V. Gal (Riff, 1957)     

From the back cover :

"Some old RnB non-hits I didn't covered at the time of their releases.  Some are well known (?), some are not.  Specially compiled for my friend Bob for his DeadWax blog.  Sorry, I don't have the time to write some liner notes, next time perhaps..."   Truly yours, Pat

Thanks Pat!

I'll Tell It

Calvin Wills

I'll Tell It

Just One More Chance

[Gray Ant 107]
1965

A Vernon Wray production, no doubt.  Of Calvin Wills, nothing is known. Possibly recorded in Washington, D.C. or at Vernon's studio in Accokeek, Maryland.

☮

A short list of Vernon Wray productions from 1965-1967 

 

(RCA masters) (Label) (Artist)

1965
SK4M 1829 Bella 1000 - Bob Rubino   
SK4M 1830
SK4M 8479 Vermillion 107-  The Sting Rays
S4KM 84??
SK4M 0973 Gray Ant - Calvin Wills
SK4M 0974

1966
T4KM-7477 Gray Ant  - The Hard Times
T4KM-7478 
T4KM 9689 Gray Ant  -  The Dead Beats
T4KM 96??

1967
U4KM 4979 Vector 211 -  Mister's Virtue    
U4KM 4980
UK4M 2375 Vermillion 1951 - Jimmy Eller And His Little People  
UK4M 23??

I See The Water

Patricia Oberhaus

I See The Water

Oberhaus DV-001

Patricia Oberhaus was a Berkeley artist and avant-garde filmmaker known for her erotic drawings and illustrations that appeared in counterculture books  and underground newspapers of the period

Patricia Oberhaus had 3 children (two daughters, Robin and Sue and one son,) and one long-term partner and step-father to her girls of 14 years, Peter Neufeld.  She was an “unusual character”.

Her art speaks for itself. She was bold in her assessment of American culture, as in her article and accompanying drawing about Beatlemania which captured the liberation of women’s sensuality in real time, published in the Barb 9/10/65. The original was purchased for $5,000 by a Mr. Daniel A. Kildare for $5,000 shortly afterward. 

Despite some early financial success, Patricia seems to have died without any resources and hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of artwork are unaccounted for. If still in existence, they would likely be found in the Humboldt area, where she lived until her death in the early 90’s.

Patricia Oberhaus, “Artist Tells of Virgin Rites
at Beatle Bacchanal,”
Berkeley Barb, Vol. 1, No. 5, September 10, 1965
Detail

Little David

Pentecostal Travelers

Little David

N.J.P. 45-34
1964

From Covington, Kentucky.  The Pentecostal Travelers comprised guitarist Pete Nantz, better known for his rockabilly platter on the Clix label (see Rockin' Country Style)  and possibly James Walter Penny. Other members are unknown

Pete Nantz first (?) recorded in 1955 with Luke Thompson and Jesse Kidd on Excellent Records (he is the credited vocalist on the "You Promised My Heart" side).   After his Clix recordings in 1956, he became a Pentecostal preacher.  Backed by The Travelers Quartet, he released at least two sacred EPs on the Jewel Records imprint in 1967, just before his untimely death.

Orville (Pete) Nantz died in December 1967 at General Hospital, Cincinnati.  He was 37 yr. old.

Sorry 'Bout That

Curly McIntyre
and the Cimarron Cowboys

Sorry 'Bout That
Henderson Publishing Co. ASCAP

HAP Music Productions, Inc.
Box 5044 San Angelo Texas 76901

HP-653-105A

1966

Floyd P. McIntyre is his name.  He recorded two singles in 1968 (probably in Nashville), one for Stop Records with "Sorry 'Bout That" (backed by a different flip) and another for Plantation Records.

This Hap label is rather obscure and the usual sources of information about Texas music are of no help.

Four singles on this San Angelo label are listed here and obviously a dozen of singles still missing

Let It Rock

Ronnie McFarlin

and the Javamen
Let It Rock

Slim Slo Slider SSS 230

Late 60s/early 70s

Hollywood-based country rocker Ron McFarlin came from Michigan where was first based this Slim Slo Slider label which was perhaps his own label as further releases by Ron on the label had an address in Hollywood, Calif.

He released three albums on the Round Robin label and  a number of singles for a number of labels (Corby, Sequoia, K-Ark, Solar, Mystic) including one single in Nashville for Stargem Records proudly "dedicated to the unknown singer and songwriter" as printed on the label

Johnny B. Goode

Stacy Lynn Ries

(10 yrs. old)

Johnny B. Goode

Nu-Sound Records 81N-447

1981

Born in 1970, Stacy Lynn Ries is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Ries of Fort Wavne, Indiana.  The youngster began appearing on television at age 3 and recording records at age 4. when she also began appearing with her own band.   She has appeared twice at the Indiana State Fair, and in 1976 she performed before President Gerald R. Ford at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Indiana.   She also sang on her own weekly radio program. Stacy has appeared with such well-known singers as Ernest Tubbs. Faron Young. Justin Tubb. Loretta Lynn and Rex Allen Jr.   Her records include. "The Kindergarten Class Convoy." Be My Valentine" and "The Easter Bunny Hops Along." and several others.

Zabethe Wilde (China Doll Dickerson)

Elizabeth Dickerson, Waxmate of the Month (not yet known as Zabethe Wilde)

Zabethe Wilde - What A Feeling

Capitol Records (1961)

Betty "China Doll" Dickerson, who possessed a rare knack for interpreting the blues with her body,  introduced a sparkling new brand of eurythmics to night-club audiences. 


China Doll Dickerson changed her name to Zabeth Wilde when she became a singer. She recorded at least two singles for Capitol Records in 1961

1952

 

 

 

 

 

 possesses a rare knack for interpreting the blues with her body

 

 1954

Covers her torse with balloons and lets male customers at ringside pop them . 

When the last ones burst , she runs offstage nude

1958

Zabethe mimicking Elvis

Baby, Don't Do It

Jim Westerfield

with orchestra directed by
Mark Liberstein

Baby, Don't Do It

Addition

Marlo 1526

1962

Jim Westerfield

Jim was born on March 8th, 1935 in East St. Louis, IL. He was the youngest of eight children. He was an accomplished musician and composer.  He loved to share stories of his early days in music, including sharing coffee with Ike and Tina Turner at Technosonic Studios, and meeting his idol, Al Alberts of the Four Aces, in the 1950’s, and continued a close friendship with him until Al’s passing in November 2009.

Jim and his wife Marilyn had been married for over 55 years and turned their passion for history, food, and each other by creating The Westerfield House in 1984.   Visitors from across the country (and around the world) came to enjoy the experience of the bed & breakfast/restaurant until the Westerfields’ retirement in 2002. Also during the Westerfield House’s incredible run,  Jim turned his extensive knowledge of botany into another amazing chapter of his life. He cross pollinated mints and created a “new child of nature” (as Jim so eloquently put it) called Dulcia Citreus, or better known as ‘Hillary’s Sweet Lemon Mint’, which he also held the patent on. (The mint was delivered to then First Lady Hillary Clinton in 1993 and planted in the White House garden.) At the time of Jim’s passing, he had created over 60 unique culinary mints.

Jim Westerfield passed away at home on November 22nd, 2013 with his wife Marilyn at his side.

The Westerfield House was listed in Conde Nast Traveler magazine (4/95) as one of the top 250 restaurants in the US

Motorcycle Michael

"Motorcycle Michael" has been issued on CD by Cees Klop on his Collector label in 2000 on a double CD titled "50 Early Rockin' Tracks".  The accompanying booklet had a picture on a single on the Mesquite label, a single that never was, as it was another of these fabricated images sometimes found on the Cees Klop's releases' booklets.

The song was issued on "Hollywood On The Pike" (Mesquite Records) an album presenting 13 tracks by various performers and recorded from the bandstand at the Hollywood On the Pike, a Long Beach show club (no dancing) located on West Pike.

Cindy Carson was mainly a Long Beach club performer, vocalist, bassist, and yodler. According to a musician who worked with her " Ol' Cindy had a great set of pipes and played a solid country bass. At one point she was with Capitol Records. We worked together a good bit over the years, mostly private stuff....."

Motorcycle Michel was a minor hit for Jo Ann Campbell in 1961. 
Peter Udell wrote the lyrics and Gary Geld the music.  Born in 1935 in New Jersey) Gary Geld was a writer and producer for Connie Francis, Brian Hyland, Jackie Wilson, Gene Pitney, and Skeeter Davis.  His main collaborator was Peter Udell. Geld-Udell team's greatest hit was perhaps "Sealed With a Kiss".

★

Cindy Carson
Motorcycle Michael 
Mesquite Records,   1965


Jo Ann Campbell
Motorcycle Michael 
ABC-Paramount 10200,    1961

★

P.S. I've just learned today the passing of Mr Klop (See this blog)
Sure, a controversial figure. But how many obscure recordings and artists were saved from the oblivion thanks to him and other music collectors from Europe. He will be forgiven for his [minor] sins. I fondly remember these wonderful albums with so many obscure artists I've never heard before... 

R.I.P. Cees

Africa (The Jungle Song)

The Kornettes

Africa (The Jungle Song)

Minnie Records SP-M-104
1964

The songwriters Allie Mae Brock & Minnie Pearl Brock, two sisters from Chattanooga, Tennessee had records on Gennett and Paramount as early as... 1929. 

The Brock Sisters were among the first duets who opened the field of country singing for women, according to the Jemf Quarterly [Spring 1978]

Milly and Dolly Good, as the Girls of the Golden West, had played a big part in
breaking open the field of country singing for women, and particularly for women duets.
Such duets, drawing on the appeal of blended voices and building up repertoire from the
innovative kinds of music being done by Cliff Carlisle and the Delmore Brothers, now
took center stage. The route to the break from traditional style had been shown in
the 1920s by popular duets like the Boswell Sisters. A taste of the Brock Sisters shows
uptown phrasing and the instincts of jazz-pop:

Oh, a Knoxville girl'd make a
hound dog lose his trail (2)

And a Chattanooga girl'd make a
tadpole hug a whale,

When you take those blues,
those Broadway blues.

Their "Broadway Blues" from 1929 can be heard on YouTube here

But what about the Kornettes I hear you asking? I have no idea. Perhaps some good people from Chattanooga would have some information.

Recorded at Spann Records, 2642a South Broad St., Chattanooga.  Spann Records was formed there by two juke ops Fred Cofer and Alfred Samples.

Bread

The Players

Bread

Power 45-14214

1956

Lyrics by Ernest Torres Chavez, music by Irving Marcus.  

Biography of Ernest Chavez found at IMDb :

Date of Birth     31 August 1927, Watsonville, California, USA
Date of Death     19 September 1992, Palo Alto, California, USA  (brain tumor)

As a five year old boy, the story goes, Ernest Torres Chavez would scale a fence next to the family's first home in North 11th Street in San Jose, California, and quietly enter the house next door. The neighbors then would be surprised to hear the boy making noise on the guitars stored in the back room. The music stayed with him. He left San Jose High School at the age of 17 to join the National Guard, where he played tenor sax at his base in Tacoma, Washington. Released from active duty in 1947, Ernie joined the San Jose jazz combo called Three Bees and a Queen. He played around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. The group, which also featured pianist Jose Castro and singer Treasure Ford, reached its high point in the early 1950's when it was given second billing at the London Palladium. In the 1950's he settled in Los Angeles, where he played for several years with Cuban-American composer Rene Touzet and his Latin jazz orchestra. He also worked as a member of the house band at the Band Box, a well-known comedy nightclub. It was there that Don Rickles often used Mr. Chavez as a straight man, hurling racial slurs at him while Mr. Chavez chuckled and the audience roared. One night Mr. Chavez came back with a swipe of his own, recalled Rita Chavez-Law who married Mr. Chavez in 1950. "Some day I want to be just like you, Mr. Rickles" he said. "How's that?" Rickles asked. "Vicious." said Mr. Chavez. The audience roared. Rickles never asked him back on the stage after that. Other LA stints included music arrangements for Nancy Wilson and filling in for recording sessions with band leader Harry James. He also had a one-time speaking role in "The Ring". Other bit parts included Musician roles in "strangers When We Meet" and a spot on the TV series "Bourbon Street Beat." After his divorce in early 1960's Mr. Chavez returned to San Jose. He played sax and flute for lounge combos around the Bay Area for 30 years. A working musician until health problems took him off the stage, Mr. Chavez developed a brain tumor and died in 1992.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Richard J. Gonzales, Jr.

Thumpity Thump

Gracie Lind

with

Jim Rollins on guitar

Thumpity Thump

B. Blue - J. Rollins

Fairway Music Corp.

Intro 45-6094
1956

Her only record?

Billboard rev. 24 Nov. 1956

Cash Box rev. 5 Jan. 1957

A Dallas artist, or at least a Dallas recording.

B. Blue is a pseudonym for Bob Belyeu, "a Dallas up-and-coming tunesmith", who was with the Charles Wright Agency.  For guitarist Jim (Jimmy) Rollins, see Wikipedia article

Rocky Road Blues

David Bailey

Rocky Road Blues

Banner 60204

The Bill Monroe classic song.  

 

Guessed date : 1960. Label most probably from Shreveport, Louisiana and owned by Owen Perry, a singer, songwriter, and guitar player popular during the 40's and 50's. Recording artist (Bullet, Four Star, Capitol) from 1947 to 1954.

Next Stop, Paradise

Jesse Pearson

Next Stop, Paradise

Decca 9-31117
1960

"Next Stop, Paradise" penned by Oramay Diamond and Dave Dreyer was first recorded by Teddy Randazzo (Vik Records, 1957) followed in 1959 by a version by Rusty Draper (Mercury Records, 1959)

Songwriter Oramay Diamond was an acrobatic dancer in New York City, adding a strip routine in her show around 1953. According to Billboard (May 16, 1953) 

Ora May, star Morokoff chorine at the Hudson, Union City, pressed into service every
so often to do a strip routine, scored another show-stopper last week with an act in which she cleverly imitated Vicky Wells, Peaches and Georgia Sothern. . . .

Bobby Wayne Pearson (1930-1979) known as Jesse Pearson,  actor, singer, director, and writer.

After releasing two singles on Decca Records with little success, Pearson was heard by composer Charles Strouse, who recommended him for the national tour of the musical Bye Bye Birdie. When Richard Gautier, the original actor playing Conrad Birdie, fell ill, Pearson took the role of the rock idol inspired in Elvis Presley. He repeated his hilarious characterization in the 1963 film version, Bye Bye Birdie.

Further readings:
https://alchetron.com/Jesse-Pearson-(actor)-779646-W#-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Pearson_(actor)
http://musicweird.blogspot.fr/2014/02/jesse-pearson-aka-conrad-birdie.html

Mendocino

Rudy And The Vigilants

Mendocino

Out of Albuquerque, New Mexico on the Del Norte label came this cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet hit (Smash Records, 1968)

Nanette Fabray

 Nanette Fabray

Born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Theresa Fabares

in San Diego, Calif. in 1920
actress, dancer and singer

Nanette Fabray and Chorus performing "Louisiana Hayride"
 in the musical film “The Band Wagon (1953)”

House Of The Rising Sun

Carl Curtis

House Of The Rising Sun

Marjon Records MJ-523

Early 70s

 

A native of Ashland, Kentucky, Carl Curtis Hughes was the son of the late Albert and Mildred Dixon Hughes.  He recorded at least one LP for B-W Records  He left the music business, went to Africa where he worked for over 30 years before becoming a Chaplain in Waynesville, North Carolina where he resided for more than 12 years when he died in 2015.

 

 

 

Popcorn

Rudy Harvey And The Pips

R.D. Stokes Band

Popcorn

Capri 103

1958

Better known as a DJ and entrepreneur, Rudy Harvey owned and operated several labels in California :

Capri (58), Dynamic (60-61) Dynamite (62) Titanic (62-63), Amazon (62-63) and Azuza.  

Henry Strogin, a long time friend of Rudy Harvey, reported :

We received the astonishing and shocking news that Rudy was found dead. That was shocking and surely it was surprising to say the least. To this date, we never found out the details of the death of Rudy Harvey.

There was much talking about Rudy having ties to the «mob». If he was and did have ties, we knew nothing about it. Rudy was a young man of about 28 or 29 years.

Bedaledee

Babe Blanchard

Bedaledee

Enjoy Records EN-101

1956

Backed by The Four Bucks, this is Babe Blanchard, also known as Ollie Blanchard.  Babe Blanchard had another release on Nestor Records (#26 : One More Time / Sugarfoot Sam). 

His biggest success was as composer with a song he co-wrote with Johnnie Malone : "Please Love Me Forever" was a hit for Tommy Edwards in 1958. And also for Cathy Jean and the Roommates in February 1961 and for Bobby Vinton in September 1967.

But most of his compositions were recorded for small New York labels such as Tarx (Coo Coo Coodle Coo by The Admirations) and Tri-X (So Can I by Little Wilma). 

This certainly one-off Enjoy record was probably produced by one Renaldo Denino whose Music Company has been reported in Panama where he handled the distribution of the Co-Ed and Mayhams record labels in 1960, both labels owned by the shady Mr. Norridge Mayhams.

Joyce Taylor, Waxmate of the Month

How Will I Know (If I Love You)
 Liberty 55090

(1957)

Born in Taylorville, Illinois as Joyce Crowder.  Most online sources indicates a year of birth in 1932, but 1936 is the most probable year.  Joyce looked and acted older than she was. A coal miner's daughter [or according to another source, her father was a singer with his own radio show in St. Louis]  she attended public schools in Taylorville and was the top baton twirler at Taylorville High School.  Her performance in a school talent show led to a recording contract with Mercury Records in 1953.  Roy Rodde, one-time manager of Joni James, was her personal agent.

Her first record, “You’ve Got Something” for Mercury Records, was written by Joyce while sitting at a table in her mother’s restaurant called Pauline’s Place on South Washington Street. 

Mercury Records issued four singles on Joyce Taylor in 1953-1954 :

53 Mercury 70243 : If I Cry / You've Got Something  
54 Mercury 70317 : Babe In The Woods / Take My Love
54 Mercury 70345 : Sealed With A Kiss / If You Only Knew
54 Mercury 70461 : Your Mind, Your Lips, Your Heart /No Happiness For Me

She is also rumored to have recorded as Joyce Bradley (not confirmed)

55 Mercury 70769 : A Dangerous Age / Take Your Time With Me Lover (as Joyce Bradley)
55 Mercury 70716 : Why Don't You Write Me / Love Is A Many Splendored Thing as Joyce Bradley)

 

 
Under contract to Howard Hughes' RKO Pictures in the 1950s  she was only allowed by the eccentric and enigmatic tycoon to act in one picture, a small part in "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" in 1956.  After seven frustrating years being “bottled up” by the eccentric and enigmatic Howard Hughes, she became a regular on the TV sci-fi/adventure series, “Men into Space” (1959) and acted in many other TV shows in the late fifties and early sixties including “Sea Hunt,” “Bonanza,” “Ozzie and Harriet,” “77 Sunset Strip” and “The Untouchables.”   Joyce’s movie titles include: “Atlantis the Lost Continent,” “Ring of Fire,” “Thirteen Frightened Girls,” “F.B.I. Story,” “Windsplitter,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Rappacinni’s Daughter.”   In addition, she made numerous television commercials, some of which were for VO5 hair spray and cream, Rambler, Ford, Coke, Spic and Span, and Folgers Coffee.

She later married a stockbroker and left the business. Now makes her home in Colorado where she writes poetry.

Several paragraphs in "Howard Hughes: The Untold Story" book by Peter Harry Brown and Pat H. Broeske describes the Joyce Taylor's RKO years:

I Wish I Knew

Iona Mack

I Wish I Knew

McMackon Mack Records 55

★

1961 — McMackon 12
Tell Me Why You Act That Way You Do / That You Will Be Mine

1961 — McMackon M17  
True Love / Yes Daddy Let Your Love Be Mine

1962 — McMackon 17   
Love Me Again / You're Allright With Me

1962 — McMackon 26   
I Like To Dance With My Baby / It Is You Baby On My Mind

1965 — McMackon 35
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall / I Wish I Knew, I Wish I Knew

1967 — McMackon Mack 55
I Wish I Knew / Love Me Again

First releases had this address :

795 St. Nicholas Ave. New York

According to jukebox george at 45cat.com "795 St. Nicholas is an apartment building [50 or so units] in the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill section of Harlem, about 2 km north of the Apollo Theater"

Later releases had no address, just a phone number :  JU 6-0499 New York

Mysterious Iona Mack, about her I wish I knew... more.  Was it a pseudonym? Did she had a previous and long career under another name?  That's what I like to think...

The Two-Minute Record

 

Cash Box Music Editorial
5 December 1953

   For years now, The Cash Box has been campaigning for two-minute records for juke box operators.  We have pointed out time and time again how important they are because the period in which an operator gets peak play is highly limited and records that run longer than two minutes cut drastically into his possible income.
  
   But now sevral disk jockeys, among them Joe Deane of Pittsburgh and Ed McKenzie of Detroit, have pointed out to us that the two-minute record is just as important to the disk jockey as it is to the operator.
  
   The demands upon a disk jockey's time today are enormous.  There are more records than ever being issued and each one is being promoted.  They are all being offered to disk jockeys for air play and a disk jockey has a terribly difficult time deciding what to play and what not to play.  One important factor which he considers when he is deciding is the lenght of the record.   If he has twelve minutes of available playing time, he would certainly rather play six two-minutes records than four three-minutes ones.

   Today, the disk jockey's situation is one in which the time available for playing records is strictly limited.  On most shows, sponsors' messages take up considerable space and must be considered before anything else.  Since many shows are highly packed with sponsors — a situation which is encouraged by both the station and the disk jockey, for after all, they are engaged in a commercial enteprise — messages sometimes cannot be spaced as far as three minutes apart so that the longer record cannot be played simply from a physical factor point of view.

   From every angle, it is obvious that the two-minute record has a better chance of being played and is therefore more in the interests of the record company, publisher, artist and everyone else connected with it than a longer record.

   Disk jockeys and opeattors together determine a great deal of what happens in our music business.  When they combine their interests and demands, they are irresistible.

   And here is one need with both of them share.

   If each will make his needs known vociforously to recording men of all capacities, it won't be long before the two-minute record is the rule rather than the exception.