Wrapping up the Hits from 1961! Quiz

Answer: Quarter to Three

U.S. Bonds was the name applied to Gary Anderson by the owner of the record label he represented, Legrand Records. He became Gary U.S. Bonds after his first two hits to clarify that he was not a group but actually a solo act.

"Quarter to Three" was a song about dancing until that hour with the very band that performed on this recording, The Church Street Five. The "Daddy G" mentioned was Gene Barge, the group's leader and tenor sax man. They were the house band for Legrand Records and "Quarter to Three" was essentially a cover version of a song, "A Night With Daddy G", that the band recorded in 1961. The best it could do was Number 111 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart and it goes to show what a vocalist can sometimes do for an otherwise nondescript instrumental. This was Bonds' only Number One hit and, as a bonus, was deemed to be the 20th most popular song of 1961 by Billboard.

He first hit the charts in 1960 with the Number Six "New Orleans" and later in 1961, scored again with the Number Five "School Is Out", the Number 28 "School Is In", and then two Number Nine hits in 1962 capitalizing on the twist dance craze, "Dear Lady Twist" and "Twist, Twist Senora" all, I'm sure, with the same backing band. Thereafter, Bonds found the going tough and only returned to the charts twenty years later when he collaborated with Bruce Springsteen and released a song penned by "The Boss", "This Little Girl". It peaked at Number 11. Back in the limelight to a degree, he continued to record occasionally into the new millennium and remains active on the oldies circuit as 2019 dawned.

Answer: Where the Boys Are

Your choices were the only four movies that Connie Francis acted in where she was actually playing a role. She later appeared in others as herself.

"Where the Boys Are", the song, was specifically written for the movie by the team of Howard Greenfield and Neil Sedaka largely through the intercession of Francis herself. Veteran film director Joe Pasternak was at the helm of this movie and, of course, was in control of such details. Although Francis was the rookie, it was to be her song so she felt compelled to recommend the pair to Pasternak since they had written good material for her in the past. The very title "Where the Boys Are" did not appeal to Greenfield who felt creating a song with that theme would be difficult, but he relented and they wrote two different songs they thought suitable, made demos, and left the decision up to Pasternak who chose this version. Apparently, the written version and demo of the other option were tossed into the garbage but Francis thought it might have been the better choice. But who quibbles over a Number Four hit and gold record to boot!

Those other movie choices in the question also contained theme songs that, like the movies, weren't quite as good as "Where the Boys Are". "Follow the Boys" did okay peaking at Number 17 and the movie was the same - okay. "Looking For Love" struggled to a Number 45 placement and "When the Boys Meet the Girls" failed to chart at all. Of course, none of those songs were written by Greenfield/Sedaka and the movies, which featured Francis as the lead actress, didn't fare that well with critics and the public. Clearly, Connie was a better singer than actress and she wisely focused on the musical component of her career thereafter.

Answer: Raindrops

Dee Clark was an Arkansas native but moved with his family to Chicago when he was three. By the age of 13, he was a street entertainer with a couple of friends engaging in an exercise that became known as the Bo Diddly Beat by slapping their thighs, chest and assorted other body parts. Sounds like the forerunner to "Stomp" without brooms or garbage can lids! He sang with a couple of R&B groups until he finally decided to pursue a solo career in 1957 at the age of 19.

His first recording efforts proved fruitless but in 1958 he caught a break. Little Richard was on tour when he suddenly decided to enter the ministry and Clark was signed up to replace him. This led to recording dates that yielded three decent hits on the Hot 100, "Nobody But You" at Number 21, "Just Keep It Up" at Number 19 (a personal favorite of mine) and "Hey Little Girl" at Number 20. These songs did even better on the R&B charts but then he hit a two-year swoon that finally ended with "Raindrops". Unfortunately, this simultaneously prevailed as his career apex and swan song. He continued to record songs for several years thereafter with several different labels, all to no avail except for the occasional blip on the R&B charts. He actively remained on tour playing nightclubs and lounges from coast to coast throughout the 1980s and it's thought that the grind may have led to a massive heart attack which ended his life in 1990. He was 52.

Answer: Hello Mary Lou

Let's start by eliminating your options. "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" was a duet by Brook Benton and Dinah Washington and a Number Five hit in 1960. "Do You Love Me" was huge hit in 1962 for The Contours peaking at Number Three. "Let's Get Together" was a Number Eight hit in 1961 but that song was recorded by Hayley Mills.

Some critics have praised "Hello Mary Lou" as one of Ricky Nelson's best efforts and suggest it would have been a much bigger hit, perhaps even Number One material, if it hadn't existed on the "B" side of "Travelin' Man". In Britain, it was considered the "A" side and peaked at Number Two while in Australia, it levelled off at Number Four. In Canada, the disc was considered as one unit and both sides were accorded Number One status. However, its performance in Norway was, in a word, unbelievable... 14 weeks atop their chart!

The song was accorded writing credits to Gene Pitney and a fella named Cayet Mangiaracina. Gene Pitney actually composed the song and recorded a version himself, but his label didn't release it and instead offered it to other artists to record, Nelson's label accepting it. However, in 1954 there was a group in New Orleans named The Sparks and in 1954, one of their members, the above mentioned Mangiaracina, wrote a song entitled "Mary, Mary Lou". Their recording of the song in 1956 flopped but other artists, most notably Bill Haley and Sam Cooke, recorded covers. By the time Nelson recorded this hit, Mangiaracina had quit the group and had entered the priesthood but his publisher recognized the similarities and sued for co-writing status on behalf of his client. He was successful and the priest donated his share of the royalties to his Order. Pitney never commented on the judgement.

Answer: sad movies

When Sue Thompson recorded "Sad Movies" she was 35 years old although her singing voice belied that age... she sounded like she was 16! Her follow-up release in 1962, "Norman", proved to be an even bigger hit, peaking at Number Three on the Hot 100. Both hits were written by the prolific John D. Loudermilk and of the five Top 40 songs she recorded in her career, four of them were composed by Loudermilk. The other two were the Number 17 "James (Hold the Ladder Steady)" in 1962 and "Paper Tiger", a Number 23 hit in 1965, her last chart entry.

Reinventing herself as a country artist, she had a few moderate hits in that genre during the 1970s and 1980s. Ultimately, she relocated to Las Vegas and performed at various country-oriented venues there well into the new millennium. I may be wrong, but as this is being written in 2019, she would now be 93 and presumably her entertaining days are over.

Incidentally, there was a competing version of "Sad Movies" released at the same time as Thompson's. Recorded by the Lennon Sisters, who were regulars on "The Lawrence Welk" TV show from 1955 to 1968, their rendition plateaued at Number 56.

Answer: Running Scared

"Only the Lonely" gets eliminated because it charted at Number Two in 1960. "Oh, Pretty Woman" was a Number One hit alright but the year was all wrong. It was his last big hit of the 1960s in 1964. "In Dreams" was a Number Seven hit 1963.

"Running Scared" deals with the fear Orbison feels when his girl is suddenly confronted with an old love from her past. Will she decide to dump him and run off with her old lover? Things end well as noted in the lyric... she turns her back on the intruder and leaves with Roy. In his critique of the song, Richie Unterberger of AllMusic.com spells it out better than I ever could! Orbison was one of the most melodramatic writer/singers in the business. This song was undoubtedly his most melodramatic creation and performance. Ergo, this might be the most melodramatic song of the rock era!

Answer: Walk On By

Leroy Van Dyke was born in 1929 on a farm in Spring Fork, Missouri and initially intended to follow a career in agriculture. His uncle was an auctioneer and he did a bit of that too after graduating from the U. of Missouri with his agriculture degree with a minor in journalism. While serving in the armed forces during the Korean conflict, he started performing for his peers and wrote a song named "The Auctioneer" in honor of his uncle. When he returned after his service, he worked in Chicago as a newspaper reporter and sang in clubs on the side which ultimately led to an opportunity to record "The Auctioneer". It became a Number 19 hit on the Hot 100, a Number Ten hit on the Country chart. The die was cast and he threw his lot into the entertainment biz.

Following this huge hit in 1961, one that was ranked as the 31st biggest of the year, he only had one more moderate Number 35 hit on the pop charts with "If a Woman Answers (Hang Up the Phone)" in 1962. However, he always continued to maintain a presence with country music fans and his dynamic shows in Vegas were very popular. He continues to perform, at the age of 89 as this is written, balancing his entertainment career with another as a rancher on his 1,000 acre spread in central Missouri.

Answer: Don't Worry

"Don't Worry" was correct but if you chose one of the wrong answers, at least they were all songs that charted at one time or other. "Blue Blue Day" was a Number 20 hit for Don Gibson in 1958, "Kiss Me Quick" was strangely a minor Number 34 hit for Elvis in 1964 that should have done much better, while "Don't Pity Me" peaked at Number 40 for Dion and the Belmonts in 1959.

While Marty Robbins had reasonable success on the pop charts with 13 top 40 hits including three top tens, two that I mentioned in the question, "El Paso" and "Don't Worry" plus "A White Sportscoat" that hit Number Two in 1957, he was a superstar in Country music circles. No less than 82 of his releases achieved Top 40 status with 17 of those climbing all the way to Number One. He also appeared as an actor on the big screen and on TV while taking time away from entertaining to pursue an avocation as a NASCAR driver, driving in 35 races over 13 years with six top ten finishes. Unfortunately, Robbins was afflicted with cardiovascular disease relatively early in life and suffered his first heart attack when he was 44. After his third attack, in 1982, he underwent a quadruple coronary bypass but died of complications six days later. He was 57.

The "fuzz-bass" effect mentioned in the question was purely accidental. Grady Martin, a seasoned session man, had his bass guitar connected to a faulty channel in the mixing console. Martin didn't like the effect when he heard it but both Robbins and the session producer, Don Law, decided to keep it on the record. Eventually, the "fuzzbox" was engineered to purposely create the sound and it became a common feature in rock music.

Answer: But I Do

Clarence "Frogman" Henry was born in New Orleans in 1937 and started his professional musical career in 1952 playing piano and trombone in local bands. Naturally, he was musically influenced by local luminaries such as Fats Domino and Professor Longhair. He splashed onto the music scene nationally with his 1957 hit "Ain't Got No Home" which made it to Number 20 on the Hot 100. He sang the first verse with his normal voice, the second posing as a young girl and the third mimicking a frog's voice, hence the moniker "Frogman". It was prominently featured in the 1982 movie "Diner" and I'm certain that was my personal introduction to that song.

It was tough sledding for a few years before re-emerging with "But I Do" in early 1961 and following that up with the Number 12, "You Always Hurt the One You Love", later that year. Three other releases made mediocre placements on the Hot 100 in 1961-2 and that would conclude his impact on Billboard's charts. Thereafter, he toured extensively culminating with being the opening act for The Beatles in 18 of their concerts during their 1964 tour and for The Rolling Stones concert tour in 1965. Eventually, he rooted himself in his hometown and was a perennial presence at various venues on Bourbon Street.

Answer: Goodbye Cruel World

No, this was not "Tears of a Clown"! That was a 1970 Number One smash hit for Smoky Robinson & The Miracles.

"Goodbye Cruel World" was composed by Gloria Shayne who, as a child growing up in Brookline, MA., was a neighbour of the Kennedy clan. Although that opening sequence of this song sounds like a calliope playing "Entry of the Gladiators", it was actually Shayne vocalizing those sounds! Her best-known piece was probably the Christmas carol "Do You Hear What I Hear?", co-written in the early 1950s with her then husband, Noel Regney.

James Darren was primarily an actor who dabbled in music long enough to have five songs enter the pop charts in the 1960s. This was his biggest hit although "Her Royal Majesty" in 1962 fared pretty well also, peaking at Number Six.

He always desired a career in acting and commenced studies to that end as a youth in NYC, moving to Hollywood in 1955 as a 19-year-old to pursue the dream. He landed his first screen role in the 1956 "B" film "Rumble on the Docks", had a more significant role in the Jack Lemmon film "Operation Mad Ball" in 1957 and graduated to a lead role in the 1959 release, "Gidget", co-starring with Sandra Dee. In that film, initial intentions were to have him lip-synch the title song as sung by a studio vocalist, but he convinced the powers that be that he could handle the vocals himself. It prevailed as his first Billboard chart entry taking it just outside the Top 40 to Number 41.

His acting career has carried on into the 2010s, appearing both on the big screen and on TV. Among his more notable credits include two Gidget sequels, "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" (1961) and "Gidget Goes to Rome" (1963), as well as "The Gene Krupa Story" (1959) and "The Guns of Navarone" (1961). He also had significant roles in three TV series; "The Time Tunnel" (1966-7), "T.J.Hooker" (1982-86) and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1998-9) and has appeared in individual episodes of many other TV series up to the turn of the 21st Century. His last acting credit on IMDB, as of 2019, is listed as occurring in 2017.