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!

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.