I HAD A DREAM last night...

...I was just about to walk onto a bridge when suddenly it started to move. The deck began to go up, up, up and I was sliding down, down, down. I know where this came from. I was looking at a photo of a bridge yesterday that was in this position. But then, in the dream, I suddenly realized I was wearing the wrong glasses. I was wearing my cheap computer glasses, not my prescription lenses. AND I was on my way to school? Huh? School? Geez, I thought I was through with those type of dreams. You know, the ones where you can't remember your locker combination or you've somehow managed to NOT go to the class for an entire year and suddenly it's time for the final? Seriously, I sort of thought those dreams went the way of other things in life once I passed through menopause. Alas, no. This one had me freaking out because I had to get to class because indeed, there was a test. Of course there was. So screwy bridge, wrong glasses, test to take. Middle of the night angst!

I have this feeling on my death bed instead of seeing the light I'll simply see a row of lockers and be left thinking, "Oh #!*% I can't remember my combination!" Fade to black.

Click on image to see it larger.

I bought a couple of old elementary school workbooks a few years ago. Nothing great, but when I look at them I can almost step back in time and get glimpses of moments when I sat with my thick pencil clutched in my tiny hand, nose close to the page, drawing circles and arrows around answers. I wish I could see one of those books again. I sort of like getting a whiff of an old moment. Looking at this page I think I might just be back in school tonight in my dreams.

This page is from a book called Think-And-Do Book to Accompany Streets and Roads published by Scott, Foresman and Company in 1946.

ANNABEL'S HOUSE with Paper Dolls

I bought this book, Annabel's House by Norman Messenger, over 20 years ago and paid only a few dollars. Now online it goes from anywhere from $4.00 to over $100.00. Who knew?

It's a fun book. Well, it's not just a book. It's an Edwardian dollhouse. It's a set of upstairs-downstair paper dolls. It's all of these things.

My edition is the first American edition published in 1989. The UK version was published the previous year, 1988. I'm thinking the UK version is the one going for over $100. Mine is probably worth considerably less, though it's in near mint condition. I've put a link to the left in the "What Not" suggestion column where you get the details about the book such as the ISBN.

Enjoy! What you'll be missing out on are all the fun little cupboards and doors to open. People and things to see only when you open the doors. Plus there are more rooms and a garden not included here.

__________

I have a new design up at Cafe Press, My ABC's, perfect for the little grade school students in the house. Or maybe the teacher who teaches them. Then again, at my age a little visual aid for memory purposes is always helpful!

You can find various items at my Tattered and Lost Cafe Press shop.

What do MET LIFE, MOTHER GOOSE and the TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE have in common?

This little booklet dates back to the 1930s. There is no copyright date on it, but there are so many of these for sale online that I've come by the date due to the consensus of sellers. 1930s. Fine with me.

I bought this copy a couple years ago at an estate sale. It's in such good condition I didn't actually think it was old.

Click on any image to see it larger.

I have found very little about the illustrator Emma E. Clark. I can tell you she was born in 1883 in New York City and died in 1930 in Whitestone, New York. Her medium was gouache. Click here to see another illustration by Clark.

Okay red lights flashing, red lights flashing...how could she have illustrated this in the 1930s and be dead. Well, from what I've been able to determine, this little booklet was originally published in the 1920s. I do recall seeing a 1920s version somewhere, though it's usually the 1930s one that shows up for sale. Then again, I could be wrong about everything. I do know this little booklet is for sale all over the net. It's also available online here.

Now is where it gets interesting. Today is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent immigrant Jewish women aged sixteen to twenty-three. Many of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits. People jumped from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was located in the Asch Building, now known as the Brown Building of Science, a New York University facility. It has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and a New York City landmark. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

So you're wondering what this horrific tragedy has to do with Mother Goose and Met Life? It's the woman who is listed on the title page, Elizabeth C. Watson. I can't verify that this Elizabeth C. Watson is the same who wrote "Home Work in the Tenements" (link to Google Books) in 1911, just a short time before the tragedy. The Elizabeth who wrote this piece was the Secretary of the Work and Wages Committee of the Child Welfare Exhibit.

In 1913 she was part of the team that wrote the "Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913."

I cannot verify whether or not Elizabeth C. Watson for the Met Life Mother Goose booklet and the studies on tenement housing and labor are the same woman. Really, it doesn't make any difference. The fact that my searching her name brought up the labor articles on such a historic day is what's important.

Take a moment and remember those who died 100 years ago at the hands of greedy employers and women with few worker's rights. Bless those who died and the families they left behind.

BOBBY PINS and hair winding rods

Bobby pins. They always seemed to be in the bottom of my mother's purse. She used them for all sorts of things, including in her hair. And once a stray bobby pin is lost in a drawer it may take years before it's found again. This isn't to say it won't be seen in the drawer, it's just that there are probably plenty other pins around so why go digging around for that particular pin.

The pins on these cards are probably as organized as I've ever seen these little tools. Put them in a drawer, box, or jar and they end up in all directions, stuck in and out of each other. Oh sure, I'm betting there are some very neat people who keep their pins organized all facing the same direction. Not me. Sometimes a stray one will stick upright keeping me from closing the box lid.

Not finding much online in my brief search for information about bobby pins or hair winding rods. But then, who really wants to read a lengthy history of a piece of bent wire?

The "bobby pin" came into wide use as the hairstyle known as the "bob cut" or "bobbed hair" took hold. This trend gained popularity in the 1920s, and the bobby pins kept the bobbed hair in place. A trademark on the term "bobby pin" was held for some decades by Bob Lépine Corporation of Buffalo, New York. A trademark infringement claim made by Bob Lépine against Procter & Gamble regarding their naming their home permanent product Bobbi was settled in the 1950s by a payment to Bob Lépine by P&G. The term is now in common usage and therefore is no longer a valid trademark.

In 1913, Hump bobbie pins are introduced by Cincinnati-born inventor-manufacturer Sol Harry Goldberg, 33, who has devised "humps" for hairpins to help them grip the hair and has founded the Hump Hairpin Manufacturing Co.

In 1915, the Hump Hairpin Mfg. Co. factory was built in the Prairie Avenue section of Chicago.

A site called Ads by Dee is selling a vintage 1945 ad for the Hold-Bob pins seen above. This ad is from her site.

My other car is a TROLLEY!

Before I gave up on eBay I was buying very old advertising paper dolls. Some of my favorites were made by Lion Coffee. I collected many in a series of nursery rhyme characters. And I got this one in the bargain. I wish I had all of them. The back of the toy says there were ships, cars, and fire engines. I've never seen photos of these so I have no idea what they're like.

When a container of Lion Coffee was bought the youngsters were sure to be standing by, waiting to see what sort of a toy was inside. Remember diving into a cereal box hunting for the toy? Cracker Jacks?

I've created some products at my Cafe Press shop utilizing this image. Know a friend who loves trains or trolley cars? How about a trolley car t-shirt or mug? There's a link on the left.

_______

Yesterday I received the blog award to the left from the very nice Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here. In turn I'd like to recommend some other blogs for folks who like genealogy and old photos.

First off is Pieces of the Past. One woman's journey through her family memories with stories and images.

Photo Detective

Dead Fred

Everyday Ago

And a little plug for my other site that people visiting here might not know about:

Tattered and Lost Photographs

Thank you Leslie. It's always nice to know someone is enjoying my little worlds.

Artist CHRIS JORGENSEN and Bert's mother

Hand-coloring images with oil paints used to be quite a hobby before color film was readily available. I've seen many old photos that were colored with oils, but had never seen images like these.

These were given to me by my friend Bert. All belonged to his mother. She is the one who added the coloring. He gave me a small stack of images, some she'd colored, some she'd started, and others still awaiting her artistic hand. Images could be purchased, I'm imagining, specifically for this hobby. There are several different artists represented in the small stack Bert gave me.

The artist for all of these images was Chris Jorgensen.

CHRIS JORGENSEN

1860-1935

Chris Jorgensen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1860. At the age of ten years he came to America making California his home. He was interested in drawing and painting from earliest childhood and was the first student to enroll in the California School of Fine Arts organized in San Francisco in 1874. From 1881 to 1883 he was assistant director of the school. In his sketch class was Angela Ghirardelli, a young society girl of San Francisco, a gifted pupil and art critic. Jorgensen’s picture, “Along the Wharfs,” had hung on the wall of the school for some time. Angela admired it and appraised it highly. It was exhibited by the Art School in 1882 and immediately sold. Angela felt the loss of the picture so keenly that Jorgensen recovered it from the purchaser and presented it to his pupil. The following year Chris Jorgensen and Angela Ghirardelli were married. There followed more than half a century of rare companionship. Two children, a son and daughter, completed the family circle.

Chris Jorgensen painting Wawona Tunnel Tree

(SOURCE: Pioneer Yosemite History Center)

In 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Jorgensen went to Italy, the homeland of Angela Ghirardelli, where they spent two years with Italy’s great artists. Shortly after returning Jorgensen built a studio home in Yosemite, for which he drew the plan and did much of the labor of building. The panel over the fire-place—a study of heads —was the work of Mrs. Jorgensen. The artist made all the furniture in this studio home. Mr. Jorgensen says of this home: “The studio proper is a room twenty-four feet square and is always open during the summer for friend or stranger. The big, broad porch of our cottage—ten feet in width—is a main lounging place and it is here that most of the social life goes on.” This studio he used for twenty years. It was here that he began his painting of Yosemite scenes, most of which canvases were sold from the studio. Among these were “Yosemite in the Winter,” “Cathedral Spires,” and “Happy Isles.” Other noted pictures of this period are “Mount Lyell at Sunset,” “Big Trees,” and the entire “Yosemite Valley,” the canvas needed for this painting was so large that it was taken to the point of view on a truck

and here the artist did his work.

Half Dome from Washburn Point Area.

Watercolor by Christian Jorgensen

(SOURCE:Yosemite Museum)

Chris Jorgensen had a deep feeling for the old missions which he expressed on canvases. When in 1905 he built a studio home at Carmel-by-the-Sea he painted the Carmel Mission for the panel above the fire-place. He also built a bungalow at Pebble Beach. His home on the Piedmont Hills, surrounded by trees and shrubs and winding ways, was an artist’s home built for the family; for artist friends; for the social life of the son and daughter and their friends; it was built to meet the unlimited hospitality which characterized both Mr. and Mrs. Jorgensen. It was a rambling house of many rooms in each of which a picture from nature in its changing moods was framed in.

Chris Jorgensen had a studio home in his beloved San Francisco where he was also a member of the Bohemian Club and where his pictures were frequently exhibited. His canvases are many and will live for their portrayal of mountain grandeur; of boisterous waters; of quiet meadows; of by-gone mission days; of fishermen and wharves. One great picture will live in history. This canvas is the expression of the artist’s love and distress for the city that fell in April, 1906. It bears the title “San Francisco in Ruins.”

In Galen Clark’s book, Yosemite Indians, published in 1904, are four drawings by Chris Jorgensen. The cover design and the drawing of a “Chuck'-ah” are by Mrs. Jorgensen. Jorgensen’s portrait of Galen Clark, etched on a slab of red-wood, has, for many years hung in the Yosemite Museum and is much admired.

Chris Jorgensen died at his Piedmont studio after a brief illness on June 25, 1935. Only a few months later, in February, 1936, Mrs. Jorgensen died. The recaptured picture, “Along the Wharves,” was still hanging on the wall of her room, a precious token of girlhood days. The son, Virgil Jorgensen, is the only survivor, the daughter having died some years ago.

By the will of Mrs. Jorgensen many of her husband’s paintings are bequeathed to the United States Government for exhibit at the Yosemite Museum. (SOURCE: Pioneer Yosemite History Center)

If it hadn't been for Bert's mother I might have never known about this artist.

Click here to see paintings by Jorgensen of California Missions.

Click here and here to see Jorgensen's cabin in Yosemite.

And click here to see some illustrations done by Jorgensen for a book entitled Indians of the Yosemite.

UPDATE: For those who live or will be visiting Northern California and are interested in seeing a series of very nice paintings done by Jorgensen of the California Missions, make sure to visit the mission in the town of Sonoma. An entire room filled with beautiful paintings.

L. FELLOWS, illustrator

This vintage ad for Kelly-Springfield tires comes from the June 1920 Sunset magazine. The illustrator was Laurence Fellows. In his day Mr. Fellows work was apparently very well known.

Click on image to see it larger.

It took me a bit of digging, but I found the following information at a site called Dandyism.net written by Bill Thompson:

Fellows was born in Ardmore, Pennsylvania in 1885. He was trained in illustration at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, and honed his trademark “continental” style studying in England and France. But the real story begins when he returned to the States in the early 1910s and burst on the scene as an eager and talented young artist.

Fellows found work contributing to satirical magazines like Life and Leslie’s, and his European-influenced style was fresh and new, reflecting the sleekness and stylization that led to Art Deco. His work was so fresh, in fact, that he found many of his better-known contemporaries, including John Held, Jr. and Ralph Barton, were adapting his stylistic elements for their own use.

Fellows’ style during this period was very mannered and graphic, with thin black outlines enclosing flat expanses of tone and compositions that emphasized graphic weight and balance over fussy illustrative detail. His bread and butter throughout the 1920s was his work for the Kelly-Springfield Tire company. He brought an idea to the Kelly advertising manager for a series of magazine ads featuring “smart cars and smart types of people.” It was the beginning of an assignment that lasted for nearly a decade. The ads are still smart and fashionable today (and becoming collectible, by the way). (SOURCE: Bill Thompson)

The complete article is worth reading and includes several illustrations by Fellows. You can also see two illustrations which are owned by Corbis at:

Illustration of woman on a swing with two fellows

Illustration of Racehorse Owners Seeing off Their Horse and Jockey for a Race

So now I need to keep my eyes peeled for more illustrations by Fellows in vintage magazines. I don't know that I've ever seen his work before, but I really like his style.

HIGH SOCIETY with COLE PORTER

Stopped by the thrift store the other day and bought a few albums, all movie scores. When I saw this one in the bin I nearly leapt across the room. I grabbed it, never putting it down, worried someone else would try to mooch my score. Of course, there wasn't a single person in the place who gave a pip or a squeak about Cole Porter. I left, anxiously awaiting the tunes coming from my turntable.

Click on either image to see it larger.

The movie High Society is a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story. It is not as wonderfully wicked as The Philadelphia Story, but the music and performances are grand.

High Society (1956) is a musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in VistaVision and Technicolor with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It was directed by Charles Walters and produced by Sol C. Siegel from a screenplay by John Patrick, based on the play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. The cinematography was by Paul Vogel, the art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Hans Peters and the costume design by Helen Rose. It was the last film appearance of Grace Kelly, before she became Princess consort of Monaco.

Plot

The successful jazz musician C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby) is divorced from wealthy Newport, Rhode Island socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly), but remains in love with her. She, however, is about to get married to a bland gentleman of good standing, George Kittredge (John Lund).

Spy Magazine, in possession of embarrassing information about Tracy's father, is permitted to send a reporter (Frank Sinatra) and a photographer (Celeste Holm) to cover the nuptials. Tracy begins an elaborate charade as a private means of revenge, pretending that her Uncle Willy (Louis Calhern) is her father (Sidney Blackmer) and vice versa.

The reporter, Mike Connor, falls in love with Tracy. She must choose between three very different men in a course of self-discovery.

Score and Songs

The score is interesting for a number of respects. It was Porter's first new film score for over ten years and introduced a couple of pop standards, including True Love and You're Sensational. Not only did Sinatra and Crosby collaborate for the first time, but behind the scenes two master orchestrators -- Conrad Salinger and Nelson Riddle -- melded their distinctive arrangements under the baton of Johnny Green. Armstrong and his band get a couple of standout moments and Kelly makes an impressive singing debut.

A long playing record of the soundtrack songs was released the same year and was a major success in both America and Great Britain. It has been said that one of the main reasons star Frank Sinatra was drawn to the film was a mock-tipsy duet with his boyhood idol Bing Crosby on Well, Did You Evah!, a song added at the last minute when it was noted that the two singers didn't have a duet to perform in the film. Culturally, the song Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has gained new significance as the source of the title of the popular gameshow. I Love You, Samantha has also become a jazz favorite for improvisations. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

LITTLE PEGGY MARCH is still recording

Amongst my old 45s I found this by Little Peggy March. I bought it for "I Will Follow Him." It had a good beat and it was easy to dance to. I recall dancing to it at my 8th grade "graduation" party at a swim club. There was some dance at the time where you did a walk forward, pivot 180, then walk back to where you started. The person you were dancing with did the same moves towards you. So in unison you were dancing towards each other in a sort of stalking manner. One person always had their back to the other. I don't know if this dance had a name. I doubt it. I remember they did it on Bandstand and at all the dances in the cafeteria during lunch breaks.

Anyway, I bought this record on a day trip to San Francisco with my mother. We took the bus to the city and I remember walking into Woolworths and hearing "I Will Follow Him" playing. I HAD to have it. As I was buying it they started playing Little Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips." Yeah, I know...I should have bought "Fingertips" instead because that was some mean harmonica playing. Let's just call this my Little Pony moment. It was girlish and pubescent and it was pre-Beatles and Stones. It was the days of records by Shelly Fabares, Lesley Gore, and even Paul Peterson. (If you don't recognize these names think the Donna Reed Show and It's My Party.)

The sad thing is that there are no versions online of "I Will Follow Him" to hear. Well, there probably is at iTunes, but all youtube videos have been removed because of copyright infringement.

I did find "I Wish I Were a Princess" at youtube. This song was in the original John Water's Hairspray.

So if you were born after the early 60s you probably have no idea who Little Peggy March is. I say "is" because she's still alive and still recording.

From Wikipedia:

Peggy March (born Margaret Annemarie Battavio, March 8, 1948, Lansdale, Pennsylvania is an American pop singer. She is primarily remembered for her 1963 million-selling song "I Will Follow Him"

She was discovered at age thirteen singing at her cousin's wedding and was introduced to the record producer partnership Hugo & Luigi. They gave her the nickname Little Peggy March because she was only 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) in height, she was only thirteen, the first record she did with them was "Little Me", and her birthdate was in the month of March.

On April 24, 1963, her single "I Will Follow Him" soared to number one on the U.S. charts. Recorded in early January 1963 and released January 22, March was only 14 at the time. March became the youngest female artist with a number one hit, a record that still stands for the Billboard Hot 100. The recording also took the number one spot in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, and Scandinavia. It was a translation of the French song "Chariot" recorded a year earlier by Petula Clark.

March's success also came with financial trouble. She was a minor and the Coogan Law prevented her parents from managing her money. The responsibility was placed on her manager, Russell Smith. It was discovered in 1966 that he had squandered the fortune away, leaving her with $500. Peggy graduated from Lansdale Catholic High School in 1966. She soon had a new manager, Arnie Harris, who later on became her husband. They had one daughter, Sande, born in 1974.

Although she is remembered by some as a one-hit wonder, her singles "I Wish I Were a Princess" and "Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love" made the Top 30 in the United States, with the latter also reaching #29 on the UK Singles Chart. She recorded 18 singles for RCA between 1964 and 1971 and several albums as well, none of which charted in any serious way in the United States. She began making a strong presence in the European and Asian music markets, and she moved to Germany in 1969. Her commercial success in Germany continued through much of the 1970s and she also tried her luck in representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969, only to be placed second in the national final with the song "Hey! Das ist Musik für Dich". March made another Eurovision attempt in 1975, when she performed the Ralph Siegel composition "Alles geht vorüber" in the German national contest. Again she was placed second. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

To see what Peggy March is doing these days go to her website: http://www.peggymarch.net/

UPDATE: Thank you Anonymous!

Dear Auntie / Dear Cousin...FROM YOUR BAWDY NIECE / COUSIN

If you were going to send one card to your auntie and another to your cousin which one of the following would you choose?

The tweaker?

or the kissing fondler?

I know, tough decision, right? Well, as you'll see below "Marie" made that decision. Did auntie and cousin blush when they received these cards or were they aware of Marie's slight bawdy side?

Dear Auntie Dena...

Dear Cousin Francis...

Marie held the purse strings and Howard liked to bowl. Match made in heaven.

As to the publisher Bamforth & Co.:

Bamforth's was started in 1870 by James Bamforth, a portrait photographer in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. In 1883 he began to specialise in making lantern slides. During 1898 'Bamforth & Co. Ltd' started making silent monochrome films with the Riley Brothers of Bradford, West Yorkshire, who had been making films since 1896. James Bamforths expertise with lantern slides proved invaluable in the film making. They used a camera developed by Bradford cine inventor Cecil Wray. This partnership with Riley and Bamforth, known as 'RAB' films lasted until 1900. Though film production was restarted in 1913 it was again stopped in 1915, when the film production was changed to the new named 'Holmfirth Producing Company,, which quickly moved operations to London. The last Holmfirth film, Meg o' the Woods, emerged in February 1918.

In 1910 Bamforth started making illustrated 'saucy' seaside postcards which, like his films, were exported worldwide for sale. The company was bought out by the Dennis Printing Company, in Scarborough during the early 1980s. Following the demise of Dennis the 'Bamforth & Co' name and postcards rights to over 50,000 designs were purchased by Ian Wallace in 2001.

Although the Bamforth company was best known in the United Kingdom for producing the 'saucy' seaside cards, what is less well known was their rich history of filmmaking. Drawing heavily on their work with magic lantern cinema, the company began making monochrome films in 1898. The popularity of these films, in particular those featuring a character named Winky, led to a film industry in West Yorkshire which for a time surpassed that of Hollywood in terms of productivity and originality. It is also believed the company invented film editing with the release in 1899 of The Kiss in the Tunnel.

In September 2010, on the 100th anniversary of the original launch of the postcards, the new owner Ian Wallace has relaunched the publication and sale of the postcards, with the Jane Evans Licensing Consultancy. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

Click here to see more about Bamforth & Co.

These were purchased a few years ago at an estate sale. Believe me, they weren't bought for their poetry.

Do you remember EDDIE HODGES?

Digging a little deeper into my old record collection I found this little ditty sung by Eddie Hodges. I’m pretty sure if you mentioned Eddie Hodges to anyone under let’s say 50 you’ll get a bland stare or bored sneer. That bored sneer seems to be too common today. The facial version of “whatever!”

I bought this 45 when I was a kid in Hawaii and remember making up special dance routines for it. I’m sure I bored my best friend with it each time she came for a visit. I was notorious for planning shows when I knew she was coming over.

The story of Eddie Hodges is one of a kid in show biz having the sense to get out of it before being eaten alive. There must certainly be some old Eddie Hodges fan out there.

Eddie Hodges
Hodges was born in March 5, 1947 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Hodges traveled to New York City with his family in 1952. This began a long career in show business for Hodges in films, on stage and popular recordings.

Acting career
Hodges made his professional acting debut on stage in Wilson's 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man. He made his film debut in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head with Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson, in which Hodges and Sinatra performed a song called High Hopes. Hodges did not perform on Sinatra's hit recording of the song.

Hodges made eight feature films and numerous TV guest appearances. He is probably best remembered for the title role in Michael Curtiz's 1960 film 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is considered one of the best of the many attempts to film Mark Twain's classic. Both Hodges and his co-star as Jim, Archie Moore, received generally positive reviews for their performances. He also appeared in the 1963 Disney film Summer Magic and the 1967 film The Happiest Millionaire.

Guest appearances on network TV productions included Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Cimarron Strip and The Dick Van Dyke Show, among others. He was also a Mystery Guest on What's My Line?

Recording career
At the age of 14, Hodges recorded for Cadence Records and his biggest hit was "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door" in 1961. He also scored a minor hit with "(Girls, Girls, Girls) Made to Love," a song written by Phil Everly and originally recorded by The Everly Brothers. He recorded for several other record labels. Before he left Hollywood, he was a union musician, record producer, song writer and music publisher. He collaborated with Tandyn Almer ("Along Comes Mary") with whom he wrote and published several songs and owned his own music publishing business. Hodges continues to write songs today but is no longer involved in the music business.

Personal life
Hodges was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s, but remained in the USA in a non-combat assignment. After he was discharged, he returned to Hollywood and became disillusioned with show business. He decided to return to his native Mississippi and entered The University of Southern Mississippi where he received his B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Counseling. He became and is still a mental health counselor. He converted to the Roman Catholic faith in 1998. He is divorced and has two grown children and four grandchildren. He occasionally gets in touch with his old show business friends and still writes songs, though he is unable to play guitar due to spinal nerve injuries. Hodges rode out Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and informed his fans that he was fine after being without water, electricity and telephone/internet contact for 19 days when the utilities were restored. He enjoys hearing from fans and makes occasional appearances around the USA. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

There's a very good possibility one of those dancers in the background is one of my best friends. Shindig was just one of the shows she danced on.

And here's a real step back in time. Raise your hand if you remember Arlene Francis. Bennett Cerf? Dorothy Kilgallen? The handsome Ben Gazarra? Or perhaps you just a had thing for Mr. Daly?

SPIN AND MARTY redux

I've never figured it out, but one of the more "popular" posts I've done that gets brought up on searches is about Spin and Marty. I even took it down for awhile because it was starting to get a little weird. It's up again, for now.

So this is a test, this is only a test. This is to see how tolerant the net really is of Spin and Marty. It is possible this song, like a dog whistle, will have people running for cover.

I did not have this record as a kid. This is one I bought at an antique store a long time ago. My copy is near mint for sound unlike this one on youtube which jumps and spits, but I'm not willing to take the time to copy it. I just "found" this today while looking through my record collection in search of an album I wanted to listen to and you are the beneficiary of said search.

Lucky you!

Dig the metal thingie in the middle of the 45. Not a plastic one mind you. Metal. Hardcore.

And if you can listen to this and not turn a little maniacal before it's over, not twitch even a little bit, then you're a better man than me Gunga Din. And do try to listen to it with the 1950s in mind when things were a bit more innocent because otherwise this one is an eyeopener around minute 3:28.