Lada Edmund Jr. Not Your Grandma’s Hullaballoo Gal!
Lada on Hullaballoo
I learned about Lada when I recently put together a post on the short-lived Hullaballoo TV program, I came across the appearance of Lada Edmund Jr. She was one of the original Hullaballoo go-go dancers before she returned to recording and then returned again to Hullaballoo during the 2nd season in 1966 to sing, not dance.
Lada was born in 1947 Lada Michele Perkins in Minneapolis, MN. By the time that Hullaballoo was cancelled in 1966 and replaced by those zany Monkees, Lada was already trying to find a spot in Hollywood thinking that acting could be her calling.
After all, at the age of just 12, Lada made her debut on Broadway in New York City playing the part of “Penelope Ann” in “Bye, Bye Birdie”. Roles in other Broadway productions would follow including “West Side Story” and “Promises, Promises”.
1971
In ‘tinsel town’, Edmund would get roles in some less than memorable films including “The Devil’s 8”, “Out of It” both from 1969, then “Jump” (1971), “Savage” (1973) and “Act of Vengeance” (1974). None of the roles were memorable, and often she was selected for her dancing prowess.
The movies weren’t cutting it for Lada but her fortunes would take a turn after meeting up with primo movie stuntman Hal Neeham. Soon Lada would put her athletic prowess to work performing stunts for films including “Smokie and the Bandit”. One of her first “stunts” was a gig for Allstate Insurance where she accompanied Neeham in a test car and was paid a hefty twenty five grand to crash into a brick wall to test air bags!. She collected her hefty check.
Stunt Legend Neeham
She also would take a motorcycle sky bound hurling over an automobile to promote an Evel Knievel TV special. That one cost her a compression fracture. The bumps and bruises of stunt work paid off, with Lada becoming the highest paid stunt woman in the world!
Lada would eventually make her way back to the East Coast and would take up boxing – a sport she had always been fascinated with when she was growing up.
Lada on the Big Bag
Along with boxing, Lada became a personal trainer and then a boxing referee. Today (2024) Lada runs a youth training program in New Jersey. She is 77 years old.
April 4th, 1965 – The Portland Press Herald
August 2nd, 1965 – The Canonsburg Daily Notes
August 4th, 1965 – The Kenosha News
January 8th, 1966 – The Longview Daily News
March 13th, 1966 – Richmond Times-Dispatch
June 5th, 1969 – Cedar Rapids Gazette
June 6th, 1969 – The Waterloo Daily Courier
January 29th, 1970 – The San Francisco Examiner
April 15th, 1973 – The Atlanta Constitution
July 12th, 1974 – The Madison Capital Times
December 27th, 1974 – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Interesting that this ad refers to the film as “Rape Squad” while the title generally appears as “Acts of Violence”. Thinking the original title must have been revised.
Lada Edmund Jr. Discography
45 – “The Answer” b/w “Foxy” – October 1961
45 – “I Want a Man” b/w “This Time” – September 1962
45 – “Tear Drop Shop” b/w “Little Heart” – January 1963
45 – “I Know Something” b/w “Once Upon a Time” – April 1966
45 – “The Larue” b/w “Soul Au Go Go” – August 1966
45 – “Trouble (Is His Middle Name)” b/w “Boopsie” – August 1967
Season 2 for Hullaballoo crossed over from 1965 into 1966 and then the Monkees would bump the program when they took Hullabaloo’s TV spot in September of 1966. The Beatles’ appearance was piped in video of course – not an in-person appearance and no Hullaballoo Go-Go Girls!
January 23rd, 1966 – Thousand Oaks Star – Hullaballoo Hearings!
Season 2 Episode 16: January 3rd, 1966
The Beatles – The Ramsey Lewis Trio – Roger Smith
Season 2 Episode 17: January 10th, 1966
The McCoys – Barry McGuire – Peter & Gordon – The Shangri-Las
McCoysShangri-Las
Season 2 Episode 18: January 17th, 1966
The Everly Brothers – Freddie & the Dreamers – The Vogues – David Winters
VoguesDavid Winters
Season 2 Episode 19: January 24th, 1966
Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels – The Bitter End Singers – Bruce Scott
Bitter EndsScott
Season 2 Episode 20: January 31st, 1966
Frankie Avalon – The Brothers Four – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles – Judi Rolin – The T-Bones
T-BonesJudi Rolin
Season 2 Episode 21: February 7th, 1966
Christine Cooper – The Four Seasons – The Lovin’ Spoonful – Michele Lee
SpoonfulMichelle Lee
Season 2 Episode 22: February 14th, 1966
Chad & Jeremy – The Marvelettes – Jackie & Gayle
Former New Christy’s – Jackie & GayleMarvelettes
Season 2 Episode 23: February 21st, 1966
Bob Lind – Paul Revere & the Raiders – Paul & Barry Ryan – Nancy Sinatra
Bob LindNancy
Season 2 Episode 24: February 28th, 1966
Mel Carter – Lainie Kazan – The Young Rascals – Simon & Garfunkel
LainieCarter
Season 2 Episode 25: March 7th, 1966
The Womenfolk – Nancy Ames – Pat Boone – The Turtles
WomenfolkTurtles
Season 2 Episode 26: March 14th, 1966
The Mamas and Papas – Bobby Rydell – Dionne Warwick
Season 2 Episode 27: March 21st, 1966
The Serendipity Singers – Bobby Goldsboro – The Bobby Fuller Four
Fuller Four
Season 2 Episode 28: March 28th, 1966
The Back Porch Majority – Joe Tex – The Outsiders
MajorityThe Outsiders
Season 2 Episode 29: April 4th, 1966
Lada Edmund Jr. – The Remains – The Young Rascals – We Five – Paul Anka
Lada started off as a dancer on Hullaballoo then became a singer, tried to be an actress and when that didn’t work out became the highest paid female stunt woman in Hollywood! – Later in her career she became a boxer!
Johnny Rivers was born John Henry Ramistella in New York City on November 7th, 1942.
While still quite young, John’s family moved south to Baton Rouge, LA. After he learned guitar, he would join a local band called the “Rockets” which included future songwriter Dick Holler (“Snoopy vs. the Red Baron”, “Abraham, Martin and John” and more). The band also included a yet unknown Jimmy Clanton on guitar.
Rockets Dick Holler and Jimmy Clanton
Ramistella, still in Jr. High School, would next form his own band, “The Spades” at age 14. Next, he would take a trip to the Big Apple where he would meet legend Allan Freed who would suggest a name change, that being “Johnny Rivers” which was inspired by the Mississippi River which wound its way through Baton Rouge.
Johnny would next sign with Gone Records and release his first solo recording in March of 1958. Then it was a rapid progression though record labels Guyden, Dee Dee, Cub, Roulette, Coral, United Artists, Chancellor and Capitol Records. At that point, Rivers believed that he wasn’t cut out to sing and so, turned his attention to composing, residing in Nashville.
Then, it was off to Hollywood where he did session work which led to his ‘discovery’ as a vocalist with a jazz combo and then an introduction to Ricky Nelson for whom he composed “I’ll Make Believe”. He was soon to become a regular at the Whiskey A Go Go which caught the eye of record executive Lou Adler. Johnny cut an LP for Imperial, “Johnny Rivers Live at the Whiskey A Go Go” which nearly reached the top of the Billboard Charts.
The LP cut, Chuck Berry’s “Memphis”, would reach number 2 on the single’s charts, far outstripping Berry’s original chart position of number 87 from 1959!
Johnny’s early formula of ‘live’ songs like “Memphis”, “Secret Agent Man” and others, would eventually give way to softer ballads, several of which I really like (“Poor Side of Town”, “Baby, I Need Your Lovin'”, and much later on “Slow Dancin'” and “Swayin’ to the Music”.
In 1966, Rivers would startup his own label, “Soul City Records and would sign the 5th Dimension. Their “Up, Up and Away” would help kick off the composing career of Jimmy Webb. Many years after Soul City Records had become dormant, Rivers would revive the label in 1998.
Johnny Rivers in Colorado
November 27th, 1965 – KIMN Radio Teen Music & Dance Festival
August 6th thru 13th, 1976 – The Turn of the Century – Denver
July 5th, 1982 – Estes Park
This event also included Barry McGuire who had earlier worked at Dunhill Records, Lou Adler’s label.
May, 1989 – KOOL Concert 1989 Mile High Stadium – Denver
September 1st, 1989 – Taste of Colorado – Denver
August 27th, 1992 – Colorado State Fair – Pueblo, Colorado
Steamboat Pilot
Johnny Rivers Selected Discography
None of Johnny’s hit singles managed to make it onto either R&B or U.K. charts! And only “The Poor Side of Town” would make it to the number 1 position on the Top 100 one of the few songs charting and also co-written by Rivers.
February 1958 – Suede – “Little Girl” b/w “Two by Two”
March 1958 – Gone – “Baby Come Back” b/w “Long, Long Walk
August 1958 – Guyden – “You’re the One” b/w “A Hole in the Ground”
March 1959 – Dee Dee – “Your First and Last Love” b/w “(There’ll be Blue Birds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover”
September 1959 – Cub – “Everyday” b/w “Darling Talk to Me”
March 1961 – Chancellor – “Knock Three Times” b/w “I Get So Doggone Lonesome”
October 1962 – Capitol “Long Black Veil” b/w “This Could be the One”
May 1964 – Imperial – “Memphis” #2 Top 100
June 1964 – United Artists – “Oh What a Kiss” – #120 Bubbling Under b/w “Knock Three Times”
July 1964 – Coral – “That’s My Babe” b/w “Your First and Last Love”
July 1964 – Roulette – “Baby Come Back” b/w “Long, Long Walk”
August 1964 – MGM – “The Customary Thing” b/w Answer Me, My Love”
August 1964 – Imperial – Maybelline #12 Top 100
October 1964 – Imperial – “Mountain of Love” #9 Top 100
February 1965 – Imperial – “Midnight Special” #20 Top 100
February 1965 – Imperial – “Cupid” #76 Top 100
June 1965 – Imperial – “Seventh Son” #7 Top 100
October 1965 – Imperial – “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” #26 Top 100
December 1965 – Imperial – “Under Your Spell Again” #36 Top 100
March 1966 – Imperial – “Secret Agent Man” #3 Top 100
June 1966 – Imperial “(I Washed My Hands In) Muddy Water” #19 Top 100
September 1966 – Imperial – “The Poor Side of Town” #1 Top 100
February 1967 – Imperial – “Baby, I Need Your Lovin'” #3 Top 100
June 1967 – Imperial – “The Tracks of My Tears” #10 Top 100
November 1967 – Imperial – “Summer Rain” #14 Top 100
April 1968 – Imperial – “Look to Your Soul” #49 Top 100
November 1968 – Imperial – “Right Relations” #61 Top 100
February 1969 – Imperial – “These Are Not My People” #55 Top 100
June 1969 – Imperial – “Muddy Water” #41 Top 100
October 1969 – Imperial – “One Woman” #89 Top 100
May 1970 – Imperial – “Into the Mystic” #51 Top 100
September 1970 – Imperial – “Fire and Rain” #94 Top 100
May 1971 – United Artists – “Sea Cruise” #84 Top 100 – #38 Adult
August 1971 – United Artists – “Think His Name” #65 Top 100
October 1971 – United Artists – “Rockin’ Pneumonia” #5 Top 100
March 1973 – United Artists – “Blue Suede Shoes” #38 Top 100
July 1973 – United Artists – “Searchin/So Fine” #113 Bubbling Under
February 1974 – Atlantic – “Sitting in Limbo” b/w “Artists & Poets”
June 1974 – Atlantic – “Six Days on the Road” #106 Bubbling Under – #58 Country
July 1975 – Epic – “Help Me Ronda” #22 Top 100 – #38 Adult
January 1977 – Soul City – “Ashes and Sand” b/w “Outside Help”
June 1977 – Big Tree – “Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancin’)” #10 Top 100 – #8 Adult
December 1977 – Big Tree – “Curious Mind (Um, Um, Um, Um, Um” #41 Hot 100 – #4 Adult
April 1980 – RSO – “Romance (Give Me a Chance)” b/w “Don’t Need No Other Now”
November 1994 – MCA – “Heartbreak Love” b/w Why Can’t We Communicate?”
1988 – EMI Manhattan – “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” b/w “Summer Rain”
Johnny Rivers Charting Long Plays
1964 – MGM – “Johnny Rivers, Ricky Nelson. Randy Sparks”
June 1964 – Imperial – “At the Whiskey A-Go-Go” #12
October 1964 – Imperial – “Here We Go-Go Again!” #38
February 1965 – Imperial – “Johnny Rivers in Action!” #42
June 1965 – Imperial – “Meanwhile Back at the Whiskey A-Go-Go” #21
September 1965 – Imperial – “Johnny Rivers Rocks the Folk” #91
April 1966 – Imperial – “And I Know You Wanna Dance” #52
September 1966 – Imperial – “Johnny Rivers Golden Hits” #29
December 1966 – Imperial – “Changes” #33
June 1967 – Imperial – “Rewind” #14
June 1968 – Imperial – “Realization” #5
June 1969 – Imperial – “A Touch of Gold” #26
August 1970 – Imperial – “Slim Slo Slider” #100
September 1971 – United Artists – “Home Grown” #148
November 1972 – United Artists – “L.A. Reggae” #78
September 1975 – Epic -“New Lovers and Old Friends” #147
“So long for a while. That’s all the songs for a while. So long to Your Hit Parade, And the songs that you picked to be played, So long!”
Your Hit Parade was born in 1935 on the radio, heard from coast to coast and sponsored by Lucky Strike Cigarettes a company owned by British American Tobacco.
Lucky Strike 1917Lucky Strike 1940s
The “Your Hit Parade” program ran on radio stations into 1953. The television version came along in 1950 and was aired into 1959.
The original format included a presentation of 15 top songs. Later programs featured a “count down” format which culminated in the most popular three finalists including the top song of the week.
July 1949
“Your Hit Parade” said they formulated results through a collection of sales data in stores, top selling sheet music, most programmed on radio and record sales. But apparently this method was often tweaked to fit the programs available time and available talent factors.
The original idea for the radio show came about in 1928 and was known as the Lucky Strike Saturday Night Dance Party. Then, in 1930 the show became The Lucky Strike Dance Hour. The next name change came the next year in 1931 when it became The Lucky Strike Magic Carpet Show. Finally, in 1935, “Your Hit Parade” was settled on for the one hour in length program.
The TV show version debuted in the summer of 1950 on NBC
Many singers and bands passed through the ranks of the program with some of the very earliest being Kay Thompson, Bea Wain and Buddy Clark on radio.
The most famous TV vocalists were Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms and Gisele MacKenzie in the ‘glory years’. In 1957 the program moved to the west coast in Hollywood and featured a brand-new lineup. But there was trouble beckoning on the horizon.
Hit Parade 1957 Youth Movement
First, it was very difficult to present the same top songs week after week with different solo singers, choruses and instrumentals, and also to choreograph a different routine weekly with the program’s dancers.
Then, the real killer arrived, rock and roll!
Here is a clip from “Television Heaven” regarding the challenge of rock and roll:
‘Vamp-eyed (Gisèle) MacKenzie tried to brazen it, but her coyness did not work. Bucktoothed Dorothy Collins–then married to (orchestra leader) Raymond Scott–seemed puzzled and uneasy, despite her youthfulness and lisp.’ And Snooky Lanson? A rock critic wrote: ‘The creepiest of the four, Snooky Lanson, stood up in front of the cardboard sets they used and sang out (Elvis Presley’s) ‘You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog,’ with a s–t-eating Lucky Strike grin on his face.’
And:
‘…teens refused to watch Your Hit Parade while older audiences became increasingly alienated by the growing number of rock and rhythm tunes reaching the Top Ten. Moreover, true rock fans didn’t want to see Snooky Lanson perform “Hound Dog” (or Dorothy Collins doing a shockingly bad version of “Heartbreak Hotel”); they wanted Elvis singing the hits that made him an idol…
Hit Parade Mainstays
The Hit Parade staff just simply were not rockers and the younger viewers weren’t buying it. Popularity dwindled – NBC sold it to CBS in 1958 and the following year, Your Hit Parade was gone almost forever.
There was a very brief attempt at a comeback in the summer of 1974 on CBS but its candle extinguished very quickly after 1975.
Listing of Your Hit Parade Singers/Personnel in the TV Era
Russell Arms/Singer (1952-1957)
Chuck Barris/Producer (1974-1975)
Andre Baruch/Announcer (1950-1956)
Sue Bennett/Singer (1951-1952
Dorothy Collins/Singer (1950-1957)
Alan Copeland/Singer (1957-1958)
Jill Corey/Singer (1957-1958)
Milston DeLugg/Hit Parade Orchestra (1974/1975)
Johnny Desmond/Singer (1958-1959)
Ted Fetter/Writer (1950-??)
Bob Fosse/Dancer
Kelly Garrett/Singer (1974-1975)
Virginia Gibson/Singer (1957-1958)
Dick Jacobs/Music (1957-1958)
Norman Jewison/Writer (1950/??)
Clark Jones/Writer (1950/??)
Snooky Lanson/Singer (1950-1957)
Tommy Leonetti/Singer (1957/1959)
Dan Lounsbery/Writer (1950/??)
Gisele MacKenzie/Singer (1952-1957)
William H. Nichols/Writer (1950-??)
Raymond Scott/Leader Hit Parade Orchestra (1950/??)
Del Sharbutt/Announcer (1957-1958)
Sheralee/Singer (1974-1975)
Harry Sosnick/Music (1958-1959)
June Valli/Singer (1952-1953)
Eileene Wilson/Singer (1950/??)
Chuck Woolery/Singer (1974-1975)
Hit Parade Number One Songs in the TV Era
The number of weeks that the song was number 1 is listed as well as the artist most noted for the recording. Only listing songs with more than three weeks on the Hit Parade.
Notice that only Presley’s “Love Me Tender” appears here mostly because it was a sweet ballad and not a rocker!
“April Love” – 7 Weeks 1957 (Pat Boone) “The Ballad of Davy Crockett – 9 Weeks 1955 (Bill Hayes) “Because of You” – 11 Weeks 1951 (Tony Bennett) “Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered” – 5 Weeks 1950 (Bill Snyder) “Canadian Sunset” – 7 Weeks 1956 (Hugo Winterhalter) “Catch a Falling Star” – 4 Weeks 1957 (Perry Como) “Chatanooga Shoe Shine Boy” – 6 Weeks 1950 (Red Foley) “Cry” – 5 Weeks 1951 (Johnnie Ray) “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes” – 5 Weeks 1952 (Perry Como & the Ramblers “Ebb Tide” – 5 Weeks 1953 (Frank Chacksfield) “Goodnight Irene” – 4 Weeks 1950 (The Weavers with Gordon Jenkins) “Hey There” – 10 Weeks 1954 (Rosemary Clooney) “If (They Made Me a King)” 10 Weeks 1957 (Perry Como) “Kiss of Fire” – 7 Weeks 1952 (Georgia Gibbs) “Libson Antigua” – 4 Weeks 1955 (Nelson Riddle” “Little Things Mean a Lot” – 6 Weeks 1954 (Kitty Kallen) “Love Letters in the Sand” – 10 Weeks 1957 (Pat Boone) “Love Me Tender” – 5 Weeks 1956 (Elvis Presley) “Melody of Love” – 6 Weeks 1954 (Billy Vaughn) “Memories Are Made of This” – 4 Weeks 1955 (Dean Martin) “Mona Lisa” – 8 Weeks 1950 (Nat “King” Cole) “Mr. Sandman” – 8 Weeks 1954 (The Chordettes) “My Foolish Heart” – 9 Weeks 1950 (Gordon Jenkins) “Poor People of Paris” – 5 Weeks 1956 (Les Baxter) “Round and Round” – 5 Weeks 1957 (Perry Como) “Secret Love” – 7 Weeks 1954 (Doris Day) “Singing the Blues” – 7 Weeks 1956 (Guy Mitchell) “Sixteen Tons” – 5 Weeks 1955 (Tennessee Ernie Ford) “Slow Poke” – 9 Weeks 1951 (Pee Wee King) “Stranger in Paradise” – 6 Weeks (Tony Bennett) “Tammy” – 10 Weeks 1957 (Debbie Reynolds) “Tennessee Waltz” – 6 Weeks 1950 (Patti Page) “Three Coins in a Fountain” – 4 Weeks 1954 (The Four Aces) “Till I Waltz with You Again” – 4 Weeks 1952 (Teresa Brewer) “Unchained Melody – 7 Weeks (Al Hibbler) “Vaya Con Dios” – 5 Weeks 1953 (Les Paul & Mary Ford) “Wanted” – 7 Weeks 1954 (Perry Como) “Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” – 4 Weeks 1956 (Doris Day) “Wheel of Fortune” – 6 Weeks 1952 (Kay Starr) “Where is Your Heart (Song from Moulin Rouge)” 8 Weeks 1953 – (Percy Faith) “Why Don’t You Believe Me” – 5 Weeks 1952 (Joni James) “You Belong to Me” – 9 Weeks 1952 (Jo Stafford) “Too Young” – 12 Weeks 1951 (Nat “King” Cole) “The Yellow Rose of Texas” – 9 Weeks 1955 (Mitch Miller Chorus) “You, You, You” – 4 Weeks 1953 (The Ames Brothers) “Young Love” – 5 Weeks 1956 (Sonny James)
Rocky Mountain College – Colorado A&M – Lucky Strike Ad – October 1950
What we have here is a listing year-by-year of the highest charting easy listening in the Rock and Roll era which more or less started when Elvis hit the scene and was signed to RCA Victor, as far as the nation’s charts were concerned. In 1955, none of the Top 10 were non-easy listening songs and the highest charting rock and roll single was Haley’s “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” at number 18.
I am counting teen-oriented groups as part of the rock genre. These listings are taken from the “Music VF” site. The “Music VF” site’s criteria for chart position takes into account both the U.S. and the U.K. charts which distinguishes it from Billboard and Cash Box and their respective U.S. weekly charts.
Additional ranking criteria included performance on R&B, Country and Adult Contemporary category charts – all taken from U.S. charts.
Easy Listing Top Ten 1956
Elvis had the number 1 single with “Hound Dog” and had five singles in the Top 100.
1 (#2) – Guy Mitchell – “Singing the Blues”
2 (#4) – Pat Boone – “Don’t Forbid Me”
Boone placed five singles on the 1956 Top 100
3 (#5) – Doris Day – “Whatever Will Be Will Be (Que Sera, Sera”
4 (#6) – Johnny Ray – “Just Walking in the Rain” – Johnny Ray
5 (#9) – Perry Como – “Hot Diggity (Dog Diggity)”
Como placed four songs on the 1956 Top 100
6 (#10) – Pat Boone – “I’ll Be Home”
7 (#11) – Vic Damone – “On the Street Where You Live”
8 (#12) – Sonny James – “Young Love”
With this song, James seemed almost poised to head more in a teen pop direction, but he quickly recovered.
9 (#15) – Jim Lowe – “The Green Door”
10 (#18) – Teresa Brewer – “A Tear Fell”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1957
Things really changed in 1957 with Elvis again in the top spot with “All Shook Up” and also in the number 2 spot with “Jailhouse Rock”. The nation’s youth were flexing their purchasing muscle! Elvis landed six singles in the Top 100.
1 (#8) – Andy Williams – “Butterfly”
2 (#10) – Pat Boone – “Love Letters in the Sand”
3 (#11) – Debbie Reynolds – “Tammy”
4 (#16) – Frank Sinatra – “All the Way”
5 (#18) – Harry Belafonte – “Banana Boat Song (Day-O)”
6 (#19) – Pat Boone – “April Love”
7 (#20) – Laurie London – “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
8 (#24) – Guy Mitchell – “Singing the Blues”
This one was number 2 for easy listening in 1957
9 (#25) – Jimmie Rodgers – “Honeycomb”
10 (#26) – Jimmie Rodgers – “Kisses Sweeter than Wine”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1958
The Everly Brothers took the top spot with “All I Have to Do is Dream” in 1958 and landed four singles in the Top 100.
1 (#7) – Tommy Edwards – “It’s All in the Game”
2 (#16) – Perry Como – “Magic Moments”
3 (#17) – The Kingston Trio – “Tom Dooley”
4 (#19) – Four Preps – “Big Man”
5 (#20) – Perez Prado – “Patricia”
6 (#22) – Dean Martin – “Return to Me”
7 (#23) – Pat Boone – “A Wonderful Time Up There”
8 (#29) – Perry Como – “Catch a Falling Star”
9 (#34) – Tommy Dorsey Orchestra – “Tea for Two Cha Cha”
10 (#36) – Jane Morgan – “The Day the Rains Came”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1959
Four of these songs were country crossovers.
1 (#7) – The Browns – “The Three Bells”
2 (#10) – Guy Mitchell – “Heartaches by the Number”
3 (#14) – Johnny Horton – “The Battle of New Orleans”
4 (#21) – Jim Reeves – “He’ll Have to Go”
5 (#22) – Marty Robbins – “El Paso”
6 (#23) – Chris Barber – “Petite Fleur (Little Flower)”
7 (#25) – Lonnie Donegan – “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Over Night)”
The 1961 Top 100 song overwhelming reflective of the teen crowd in the U.S. and the U.K. 1961 would mark a changing of the guard more or less with Elvis placing eight songs on the Top 100 but with the Beatles preparing their assault the next couple of years and beyond.
1 (#2) – The Highwaymen – “Michael”
2 (#3) – Jimmy Dean – “Big Bad John”
3 (#5) – Mr. Acker Bilk – “Stranger on the Shore”
4 (#9) – Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen – “Midnight in Moscow”
5 (#12) – Floyd Cramer – “On the Rebound”
6 (#24) – Pat Boone – “Moody River”
7 (#25) – Leroy Van Dyke – “Walk on By”
8 (#43) – Joe Dowell – “Wooden Heart”
9 (#45) – Burl Ives – “A Little Bitty Tear”
10 (#55) – Shirley Bassey – “Reach for the Stars”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1962
1 (#9) – Frank Ifield – “I Remember You”
2 (#10) – Nat King Cole – “Ramblin’ Rose”
3 (#12) – Ned Miller – “From a Jack to a Queen”
4 (#24) – Pat Boone – “Speedy Gonzales”
5 (#25) – Ketty Lester – “Love Letters”
6 (#30) – David Rose Orchestra – “The Stripper”
7 (#31) – Steve Lawrence – “Go Away, Little Girl”
8 (#38) – Frank Ifield – “Lovesick Blues”
9 (#47) – Marty Robbins – “Devil Woman”
10 (#54) – Mike Sarne – “Come Outside”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1963
The Beatles landed four songs on the Top 100 in 1963, the year before they broke big in the U.S.
1 (#2) – Andy Williams – “Can’t Get Used to Losing You”
2 (#4) – Kyu Sakamoto – “Sukiyaki”
3 (#5) – The Singing Nun – “Dominique”
4 (#6) – The Rooftop Singers – “Walk Right In”
5 (#14) – Trini Lopez – “If I Had a Hammer”
6 (#22) – Peter, Paul and Mary – “Blowin’ in the Wind”
7 (#26) – Los Indios Tabajaras – “Maria Elena”
8 (#34) – Allan Sherman – “Hello Muddah! Hello Fadduh!”
9 (#46) – Frank Ifield – “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)”
10 (#47) – Peter, Paul & Mary – “Puff (The Magic Dragon)”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1964
Interesting Top 10 for 1964 with the three top spots taken by the Supremes (“Baby Love”), The Righteous Brothers (“You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin'”), Roy Orbison (“Oh, Pretty Woman”).
But, the British groups and singers took 54 of the Top 100.
1 (#14) – Louis Armstrong – “Hello Dolly”
2 (#19) – Dean Martin – “Everybody Loves Somebody”
3 (#25) – Lorne Greene – “Ringo”
4 (#33) – Julie Rogers – “The Wedding”
5 (#44) – Sounds Orchestra – “Cast Your Fate to the Wind”
6 (#59) – Matt Monro – “Walk Away”
7 (#60) – Andy Williams – “Almost There
8 (#61) – Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto – “The Girl from Ipanema”
9 (#73) – Jim Reeves – “I Won’t Forget You”
10 (#75) – Al Hirt – “Java”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1965
1 (#8) – Roger Miller – “King of the Road”
2 (#21) – Tom Jone’s – “It’s Not Unusual”
3 (#31) – Eddy Arnold – “Make the World Go Away”
4 (#37) – Horst Jankowski – “A Walk in the Black Forrest”
5 (#47) – Tom Jones – “What’s New Pussycat”
6 (#64) – Roger Miller – “England Swings”
7 (#65) – The Seekers – “The Carnival is Over”
8 (#69) – Ken Dodd – “Tears”
9 (#71) – Herb Alpert – “Spanish Flea”
10 (#79) – The Statler Brothers – “Flowers on the Wall”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1966
In 1966 Music VF’s Top 100 only included eight songs which I could place in the mostly non-teen pop/rock genre!
1 (#2) – Frank Sinatra – “Strangers in the Night”
2 (#26) – Sgt. Barry Sadler – “Ballad of the Green Berets”
3 (#27) – Tom Jones – “The Green, Green Grass of Home”
4 (#45) – Jim Reeves – “Distant Drums”
5 (#51) – Chris Montez – “The More I See You”
6 (#59) – The Sandpipers – “Guantanamera”
7 (#74) – Frank Sinatra – “That’s Life”
8 (#92) – Val Doonican – “What Would I Be”
Easy Listening Top 10 1967
1 (#1) – Frank & Nancy Sinatra – “Something Stupid”
2 (#5) – Petula Clark – “This is My Song”
3 (#8) – Vikki Carr – “It Must Be Him”
4 (#10) – Engelbert Humperdinck – “Release Me (And Let Me Love Again”
5 (#21) – Bobbie Gentry – “Ode to Billy Joe”
6 (#23) – Paul Mauriat – “Love Is Blue (L’Amour Est Bleu”)
7 (#34) – Engelbert Humperdinck – “The Last Waltz”
8 (#36) – Dionne Warwick – “(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls”
9 (#41) – Engelbert Humperdinck – “Am I That Easy to Forget”
10 (#42) – Petula Clark – “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1968
1 (#2) – Bobby Goldsboro – “Honey”
2 (#4) – Hugo Montenegro – “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
3 (#8) – Herb Alpert – “This Guy’s in Love with You”
4 (#16) – Richard Harris – “MacArthur Park”
5 (#18) – Jeannie C. Riley – “Harper Valley PTA”
6 (#21) – Glen Campbell – “Wichita Lineman”
7 (#24) – Mason Williams _ “Classical Gas”
8 (#27) – Jose Feliciano – “Light My Fire”
9 (#33) – Tom Jones – “Delilah”
10 (#35) – Engelbert Humperdinck – “A Man without Love (Quando M’Innamoro)”
Easy Listening Top Ten 1969
1 (#1) – Zager & Evans – “In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminnus)”
2 (#6) – Peter, Paul & Mary – “Leaving on a Jet Plane”
3 (#10) – Johnny Cash – “A Boy Named Sue”
4 (#11) – Edwin Hawkins Singers – “Oh Happy Day”
5 (#17) – Kenny Rogers – “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”
6 (#27) – Oliver – “Good Morning Starshine”
7 (#30) – B.J. Thomas – “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”
8 (#31) – Mary Hopkin – “Goodbye”
9 (#32) – Glen Campbell – “Galveston”
10 (#38) – Henry Mancini – “Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet”
Tropics’ Jacqueline Blanton Out of Jail – May 1st, 1951
Smokers Welcome Here – May 2nd, 1951
Clarice Cartwright & Dorise Warren – May 23rd, 1951
Clarise Cartwright
Clarise Cartwright & Dorise Warren – May 24th, 1951
Teen Jacqueline Blanton “Jungle Girl” Arrested – May 31st, 1951
Dottie Carleton – January 22nd, 1952
Tropics Torched – March 20th, 1953
Just as this fire hit, the Tropics had just contracted national performer Tempest Storm to a contract with a penalty of $5,000 if she was prevented from appearing.
Tropics Closed – March 23rd, 1953
Tropics Reopens After Fire – May 16th, 1953
Evelyn “$50,000 Treasure Chest” West to Court – August 13th, 1953
Evelyn “$50,000 Treasure Chest” West – August 23rd, 1953
Hugh C. McGonagle Snake Act – November 17th, 1953
Tropics Owner Faces Divorce – December 15th, 1953
Gertrude St. Thomas
Tropic’s Owner Home Burglarized – December 20th, 1953
Donna Roache – January 8th, 1954
Tropics Show to Fitzsimmons – the Carolettes – Donna Roche – April 25th, 1954
Evelyn “$50,000 Treasure Chest” West – August 11th, 1954
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