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Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 2 - The 1960s

Started by daf, June 12, 2019, 01:55:00 PM

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gilbertharding

Quote from: sevendaughters on July 29, 2019, 10:16:48 AM
absolutely love the shitty business acumen of the nabobs behind B Bumble.


Peter Sellers did quite a nice line in skewering the machinations of the 50s music biz, including this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXxMvu8Bl_w (The Trumpet Volunteer). I always presumed was directly responding to Nut Rocker - but it's from a few years earlier.

New page goodness gracious me.

daf

A-ha-ha, A-ha-ha, A-ha-hah, Ohh Yeah, it's . . .

136.  Elvis Presley - Good Luck Charm



From : 20 May – 23 June 1962
Weeks : 5
Flip side : Anything That's Part Of You

The Story So Far . . . and Further :
QuoteWith the huge success of 'Blue Hawaii' (1961), producer Hal Wallis had decided to promote Elvis as an entertainer rather than the rebel actor, reminiscent of James Dean, as Elvis had been seen in 'King Creole' (1958). Thus another script was set in scenic Hawaii. The working titles for his eleventh film, 'Girls! Girls! Girls!', had been 'A Girl In Every Port', 'Welcome Aboard', 'Jambalaya', and 'Gumbo Ya-Ya'.

Elvis Presley plays Ross Carpenter, a Hawaiian fishing guide and sailor who enjoys boating and sailing out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he seeks to find a way to buy the Westwind, a boat that he built with his father. Ross is caught in a love triangle with two women: childish, insensitive club singer Robin (Stella Stevens), and sweet Laurel (Laurel Goodwin). When Wesley Johnson (Jeremy Slate) makes advances on Laurel, Ross punches him out. Wesley owns the boat, so Ross thereby loses it. Laurel, however, is not who she pretends to be. Ross has to choose between her and Robin.

On March 26, 1962, Elvis began three days of soundtrack recording at Radio Recorders in Hollywood. With the music recorded, it was time to go to Hawaii for the location portions of shooting the film. Elvis wanted to go to Hawaii by ship, however, a strike forced him to fly. The decision placed the production behind schedule.

On April 7, 1962, Elvis and his entourage arrived in Hawaii on Pan Am flight #817. Elvis then took a helicopter ride to the Hawaiian Village Hotel where he would stay. Approximately 8,000 fans were on hand for his arrival and in the 100-yard walk between the helicopter and the hotel he lost his yachting cap, his jewel-tipped tie clasp and a diamond ring that he especially liked. The next day, a young girl called the hotel and said that his ring had come off in her hand and that she wished to return it.

At this time Elvis was very much into karate and actively practicing - breaking up to 40 boards a night. Hal Wallis put an end to it for the druation of the production for fear that Elvis would break his hand and hold up the production schedule.

Principal photography began on April 9, 1962. Shooting in Hawaii included locations such as the Bumble Bee Tuna plant near Waikiki Beach and the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. On April 26, 1962 location shooting was finished. Elvis and the production team returned Hollywood where filming resumed on Stage 5 at the Paramount Studios on May 1, 1962.

After location shooting in Hawaii was finished, filming resumed on May 1, 1962 back in Hollywood at the Paramount Studios. On weekends Elvis and the guys would play football in the local De Neve Park with friends and other actors such as Ty Hardin, Bob Conrad, Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, Gary Crosby and Max Baer, Jr. Also during this time Elvis' name in connection with the filming of 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' was used without authorization in a Coppertone suntan lotion ad in the June issue of 'Ladies Home Journal' magazine. Colonel Parker had Hal Wallis stop the ad.

Principal photography wrapped by June 8, 1962 and Elvis was done with looping and his publicity stills by June 12th. The movie premiered in Honolulu on October 31st. and opened nationwide on Nov. 21st.

It was one of the top-grossing movies of 1962 -  earning $2.6 million at the box office.

A review in Variety wrote that the film put Presley "back into the non-dramatic, purely escapist light musical vein," adding, "Essentially, Presley plays himself in the breezy sea session. He handles the role capably, though one would hardly expect a hardened fisherman to be as soft, smooth and white as the one Presley depicts. The character has little depth, but he is pleasant."

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote in a fairly positive review that the songs were "strung very pleasantly on a story-line of disarming simplicity and bedded comfortably in a stretch of gently fizzing repartee."

 

Girls! Girls! Girls!, the fifth soundtrack album by Elvis Presley, was released on RCA Victor Records in November 1962. It accompanied the 1962 film of the same name. Recording sessions took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood on March 26, 27, and 28, and May 23, 1962.

The title song 'Girls! Girls! Girls' had been written in 1960 by Leiber and Stoller for The Coasters. Elvis was not pleased with the direction his career was headed and wasn't pleased with the prospect of singing to shrimp or any other sea creatures ('Song of the Shrimp').

However, one great classic Elvis song came from this film's soundtrack. It was the Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott composition 'Return To Sender'. The song had not been written for this movie, but when Colonel Parker heard it he knew it would be perfect for Elvis and made sure he heard it as well.

Sixteen songs were recorded at the sessions in March, of which thirteen were used for the soundtrack album, including : Girls! Girls! Girls!  /  I Don't Wanna Be Tied  /  Because Of Love  /  Thanks To The Rolling Sea  /  and  We're Coming In Loaded

Two of the songs Elvis recorded in the soundtrack sessions were not used in the film :  'Plantation Rock' and  'Mama' (The Amigos' version of 'Mama' was used in the film).

The songs performed by Stella Stevens in the film — "Never Let Me Go", "The Nearness Of You" and "Baby, Baby, Baby" — were in fact mimed to the singing voice of Gilda Maiken and have yet to be commercially released.

The album peaked at number three on the Top LP's chart. It was certified Gold on August 13, 1963.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Elvis' twelfth film, 'It Happened At The World's Fair', was a musical comedy filmed against the backdrop of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Earlier working titles for the film were 'Take Me Out To The Fair' and 'Take Me To The Fair'.

Elvis, as a crop-dusting pilot 'Mike Edwards', finds himself in a dilemma, his partner and friend Danny, gambles away the money Mike had set aside to pay their debts. Since they lost their money and a $1,200 debt, the local sheriff takes possession of their aircraft, Bessie, a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 cropduster. If they cannot come up with the money in 12 days, Bessie will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

On August 28, 1962 Elvis reported for pre-production work and settled into his MGM dressing room, which had once belonged to actor Clark Gable. Soundtrack recording got off to a bad start as Elvis had a cold and after only three songs they had to postpone the session.

Elvis and his entourage arrived in Seattle for location shooting on September 4, 1962 and took up residence on the 14th floor of the New Washington Hotel. Probably in order to be easily identified in the crowds of visitors to the fair, Elvis' entourage members were all dressed in special uniforms. In addition to Elvis' own security staff, there were hundreds of local police and a contingent of Pinkerton plainclothes detectives assigned to protect and escort Elvis through the crowds.

Alan Fortas (an Elvis entourage member) recalled that Elvis and the group were often confined to the hotel for long periods of time and said that, when boredom set in, they played a favorite trick on the room service personnel. They moved all the furniture out of the room and then ordered room service. When the food arrived they were all sitting on the floor in an empty room. The befuddled bellboy left without a word and when the manager arrived a few minutes later, all the furniture had been returned where it belonged.

Elvis and his entourage left Seattle when location shooting was done and filming resumed back in Hollywood at the MGM lot on September 17, 1962.  On November 9th, Elvis completed his work on this movie and traveled to Las Vegas where he vacationed before returning to Memphis.

Appearing in the film and on the soundtrack with Elvis was a singing quartet called The Mello Men, which was comprised of Bill Lee, Bill Cole, Max Smith and Thurl Ravenscroft, who would later provide the voice for Tony The Tiger.

The transformation of Elvis from rock 'n' roller to handsome leading man that had begun after Elvis' discharge from the Army was complete by World's Fair. The change was indicated by the clothes Elvis wore for the film. Newspapers and news magazines ran articles about the specific attire designed for Elvis for the film, but fanzines constructed stories indicating that Elvis had completely changed his mode of dress, both on-screen and off.

Sy Devore, a leading Hollywood tailor, was given the job of dressing Elvis for the film. He designed a series of conservative suits and ties to make Elvis 'look like a smart, well-dressed young businessman', according to producer Ted Richmond. Devore had to be especially careful about the trousers because Elvis supposedly wore no underwear during this period.

'It Happened at the World's Fair' premiered in Los Angeles on April 3, 1963 and opened nationally on April 10. It was ranked #55 for the year on 'Variety's' list of movies. The film made $2.25 million at the box office.

Film reviewer Eugene Archer of The New York Times wrote, "Elvis Presley's budding dramatic talents have been neatly nipped in the Seattle story, which emerges as a dismal parody of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals of old. Burdened with a dozen tuneless songs and a plot requiring him to play guardian to a mercilessly cute Chinese waif, the crooner merely swivels ingenuously through a morass of clichés."

Variety wrote that "this is apt to be tedious going for all but the most confirmed of Presley's young admirers. The 10-count-'em-10 tunes he sings may be cause for rejoicing among his more ardent followers but, stacked up proportionately against the skinny story in between, it seems at least three too many ... so many warbling interruptions upset the tempo of the yarn and prevent plot and picture from gathering momentum."

 

Sessions for Elvis' sixth soundtrack album, initially booked for August 28 and 29, were delayed as Presley had taken ill, and only two numbers were completed satisfactorily on the first night of August 30. Ten songs were tackled for the soundtrack, the standouts being two written by one of Presley's favorite songwriters, Don Robertson : "They Remind Me Too Much of You" and "I'm Falling in Love Tonight",  and one by the team that had written the hit single "Return to Sender" - Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott : "One Broken Heart for Sale".

Other songs included : "Beyond the Bend"  /   "Relax"  /  "Take Me to the Fair" /  "How Would You Like to Be"  / and  "Happy Ending"

"One Broken Heart for Sale" would be released ahead of time on January 29 as a single to promote both the album and the film. Peaking at number 11 - it was the first RCA single of Presley's career that did not make the top five.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Elvis' thirteenth film, 'Fun In Acapulco', was written by Allan Weiss, produced by Hal Wallis, and directed by Richard Thorpe, who had previously directed Elvis in 'Jailhouse Rock'.

Elvis filmed the movie in Hollywood and did not travel to Mexico where some location shots were filmed. Production began on January 21, 1963 with soundtrack recording. As Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass were currently popular, the brass sections of the songs echoed their style. Principal photography began on January 25, 1963.

Elvis stars as 'Mike Windgren' : a former circus performer trying to escape his past. Mike's circus career ended when he caused his partner to be seriously injured during their trapeze act. Traumatized by the accident, Mike has developed a fear of heights. At the beginning of the film, he finds himself in Acapulco, where he hires on as lifeguard at a resort hotel, and  entertains the guests by singing in the evenings.

Mike becomes involved with two exotic women - hotel social director Marguerita Dauphin, played by Ursula Andress, and lady bullfighter Dolores Gomez, played by Elsa Cardenas. Mike soon finds himself in competition with another hotel lifeguard, who every night performs a death-defying jump off the ocean cliffs near the hotel. This rival uncovers Mike's past and tricks him into jumping off the cliffs. Ultimately, Mike's decision to jump helps him overcome his fears. He decides to spend his life with Marguerita.

Elvis was very uncomfortable in his costume used during the filming of the song 'Marguerita' as he said the untucked, short sleeved shirt was something he would never wear in real life. Because of a previously filmed shot of his double wearing the same costume, it was too late to change the costume for continuity. Later, he put in a request to producer Hal Wallis to be allowed to keep two of the black silk shirts and the flamenco outfit that he wore in the film.

After filming was finished he returned home to Memphis on March 22, 1963. Priscilla Beaulieu, his future wife, had just moved to Memphis from Germany and she was there waiting for him.

The movie premiered nationally on November 27, 1963. The film would be Presley's last release before the arrival of Beatlemania. It was the top-grossing movie musical of 1963.

Howard Thompson of The New York Times wrote in a positive review that "this attractive travel poster for the famed Mexican resort is far and away Presley's best musical feature to date. It's a pleasant, idyllic movie that never takes itself seriously and moves briskly under Richard Thorpe's direction ... And Mr. Presley has never seemed so relaxed and personable."

A middling review in Variety said, "Presley fans won't be disappointed—he sings ten serviceable songs and wiggles a bit to boot. However, the ground covered by the plot doesn't help to increase his star stature and, for those who are not devotees, the main attraction may only turn out to be the Technicolorful scenery of Acapulco."

John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Presley buffs should eat it up ... Director Richard Thorpe has kept the film's pace swift, which helps to cover up a lack of character development and a routine plot."

The Monthly Film Bulletin declared, "There is a distinct falling away here from the charm, humour and liveliness of some recent Elvis Presley films, notably Follow That Dream ... The songs are largely in a poor parody of Latin American style, and the presentation of those in which Presley is dressed as a matador is embarrassingly ludicrous."


 

The third of his tropical "travelogue films" found Elvis frolicking in Mexico. The standard stable of songwriters for Presley delivered songs to match, with titles like "Marguerita", "El Toro", "You Can't Say No In Acapulco" and "The Bullfighter Was A Lady". Included as well was the 1937 standard "Guadalajara" by Pepe Guízar, and the notorious "(There's) No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car".

With the change from the normal routine, and with the addition of brass arrangements inspired by the contemporaneously popular sound of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Presley engaged the material with greater enthusiasm than on recent soundtrack outings.

"Bossa Nova Baby" arrived in stores one month prior to the soundtrack, coupled with the track "Witchcraft" by rhythm and blues songwriter and arranger Dave Bartholomew and a hit for The Spiders in 1956. The fact that the bossa nova craze of the 1960s was a Brazilian phenomenon rather than a Mexican one mattered little, as the single peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The main sessions for the Fun in Acapulco soundtrack were held between January 22 and January 23, 1963 at Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California.

Initially Fun in Acapulco was not intended for release as a long playing album, as on January 24, 1963 Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, announced to RCA Victor that he would not allow its release, expressing concern over its viability in a downsized market. This was in response to the short ten-track It Happened at the World's Fair soundtrack album released the previous year. Parker reaffirmed this in a letter to RCA executive Bill Bullock on January 29, where he also expressed that there was too much pressure on RCA Victor's part to have soundtracks available for the RCA Record Club. In the end Parker acquiesced and allowed RCA Victor to release the soundtrack, but insisted on making Fun in Acapulco a good value. To this end, two additional tracks, "Love Me Tonight" and "Slowly But Surely" were pulled from the aborted album sessions of May 1963, and added here to bring the running order up to thirteen tracks.

No clear release date for Fun in Acapulco is known. Traditionally it has been given a date of November 1, 1963, however unearthed paperwork dated October 7, 1963 has shown that RCA Victor slated the album's release for December 1963, with copies being shipped out to record dealers beginning November 15.

Quote"Good Luck Charm" was written by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold and recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee by Presley on October 15, 1961.  It reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in the week ending April 21, 1962, remaining at the top of the list for two weeks. It also reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in the week ending 24 May 1962, staying there for five weeks to complete his second hat-trick of chart topping singles in the UK.

Presley is joined vocally on the chorus by Jordanaires first tenor Gordon Stoker. The first LP appearance was on the album Elvis Golden Records, Volume 3 released in September, 1963.

Other Versions include : "Don't Wanna Be Another Good Luck Charm" by Judy and Jo (1962)  /  "Le coup du charme" by Les Vautours (1962)  /  Les Champions (1962)  /  Annick Bouquet (1962)  /  Bobby Stevens (1962)  /  "Talisman" by The Fouryo's (1962)  /  The Marvelettes (1962)  /  Bill Allison (1962)  /  Johnny O'Keefe (1963)  /  "La meva sort" by Francesc Heredero (1963)  /  The Hollyridge Strings (1964)  /  "Tur i kärlek" by Sven Ingvars (1970)  /  Curt Haagers (1975)  /  "Jeg har købt en guitar" by Shu-bi-dua (1975)  /  Die Kavalier (1981)  /  Peter Hofmann (1992)  /  The Jordanaires (1994)  /  James Garfunkel (1997)  /  Helmut Lotti (2002)  /  The Brotherhood of St Gregory (2003)  /  Daniel O'Donnell (2005)  /  Pete Miserendino (2008)  /  Eric (2011)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Joe Var Veri & Veronica Mosey (2012)  /  Jimbob (2016)  /  Pascal Cotton (2017)

On This Day :
Quote23 May : Scott Carpenter orbits Earth 3 times in US Aurora 7
26 May : Colin Vearncombe, (Black), born in Liverpool, Merseyside
26 May : "All American" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 80 performances
30 May : Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" premieres
1 June : Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi officer, hanged in Israel at 56
1 June : Oscar 2 (ham radio satellite) launched into Earth orbit
2 June : Vita Sackville-West, English novelist and gardener, dies at 70
6 June : The Beatles meet their producer George Martin for the first time and record "Besame Mucho" with Pete "not even the best drummer in the Beatles" Best on drums.
6 June : Sacré Bleu! Yves Klein, French sculptor and painter, dies at 34
7 June : Paddy McAloon, (Prefab Sprout), born in Newcastle upon Tyne
9 June : Eddie Lundon, (China Crisis) born in Liverpool, Merseyside
19 June : Paula Abdul, singer, born in San Fernando, California
22 June : Ruby Turner, singer, born in Montego Bay, Jamaica
23 June : "Subways Are after Sleeping" closes at St James NYC after 205 performances

famethrowa

Quote from: machotrouts on July 29, 2019, 02:13:02 AM


I suppose the obvious question to ask here is: why would this ever have been a policy?, but the question preying on my mind more is: why would THIS record be regarded as an exception to that policy? What else could that policy have had in mind if not exactly this?


Oh it's to stop Spike Milligan and his funsters coming along with a farting version of the 1812 Overture. This would be fine because it's the basic tune jazzed up a bit, but still played on real instruments. It's not a bawdy ballad set to Chopin

sevendaughters

never heard this Elvis song before, I presume this is what they parodied in Father Ted during Dougal's 'Young Elvis' part of the Craggy Island Tribute to the King?

Floyd Cramer is on this Elvis session

https://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/611015.html

And on Can't Help Falling In Love (29 takes!)

https://www.keithflynn.com/recording-sessions/610323.html

Some Wrecking Crew members were at the sessions but I don't know on which tracks.


purlieu


machotrouts

I feel like if you combined this with 'All Shook Up' you might get one full song out of it. Gall Shluck Charp: the secret ultimate Elvis song

Quote from: daf on July 29, 2019, 02:00:00 PM

God I'm sick of the sight of his orange face. Looking like he's just won Love Island ass bitch

Quote from: daf on July 29, 2019, 02:00:00 PMThe next day, a young girl called the hotel and said that his ring had come off in her hand and that she wished to return it.

At this time Elvis was very much into karate...

Disappointed that this didn't turn out to be one continuous anecdote about him kicking the shit out of a nice little girl.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: sevendaughters on July 29, 2019, 04:48:28 PM
never heard this Elvis song before, I presume this is what they parodied in Father Ted during Dougal's 'Young Elvis' part of the Craggy Island Tribute to the King?

It's the Elvis song that sounds exactly like what people who've never listened to Elvis think all his songs sound like.

Anyway, I like it. Bouncy. Elvis sounds like he's enjoying himself. I BET HE WAS THE DIRTY OLD BOLLOCKS.

The B-Side, Anything That's Part of You, is one of the great self-pitying break-up songs. "No reason left for me to live..." Don't be hasty, Elv, chances are you'll be falling in love with another hot chick by lunchtime tomorrow at the latest. As previously established, you can't help it.

daf

Ground floor: Perfumery, Stationery and Leather goods
Wigs and Haberdashery, Kitchenware and Food. Going up , it's . . .

137.  Mike Sarne with Wendy Richard - Come Outside



From : 24 June – 7 July 1962
Weeks : 2
Flip side : Fountain Of Love

QuoteMike Sarne was born Michael Scheuer at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London on 6 August 1940.

He is best known for his 1962 UK novelty chart topper, "Come Outside", which featured vocal interjections by Wendy Richard. He had three more releases which made the UK Singles chart: "Will I What?" (b/w 'Bird, You Know I Love Ya'), #18 in September 1962, which featured Billie Davis; "Just for Kicks" (b/w 'Don't You Phone Me I'll Phone You'), #22 in January1963; and "Code of Love" (b/w 'Are You Satisfied'), #29 in April 1963.

As well as the singles, his 1962 album - "Come outside with Mike Sarne" - contained such gems as : "Dodgy Lookin' Bird"  /  "Slow Twistin' Round The Totem Pole"  /  "My Baby's Crazy About Elvis"  /  "The Waitress Song"  /  and "Dracula's Castle"



in 1963 Mike Sarne And The Innocents were the first to record the Geoff Goddard penned Eddie Cochran tribute song 'Just Like Eddie' - a hit later the same year for Tornados bassist Heinz.

Later flop singles included : Please Don't Say (Sep 1963)  /  Hello Lover Boy (Dec 1963)  /  A Place To Go (Apr 1964)  /  Love Me Please (sep 1964 - as 'Mike Sarne And The LeRoys')

As an actor, he has appeared on television, in British series including The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, Jonathan Creek and The Bill. His film credits include a starring role in the 1963 film 'A Place to Go' with Rita Tushingham, directed by Basil Dearden, and he also appeared in Invasion Quartet (1961), Every Day's a Holiday (1965), and the Brigitte Bardot film 'Two Weeks in September' (1967). Sarne had a relationship with Brigitte Bardot only a few days after her honeymoon with Gunter Sachs, I BET HE DID, THE DIRTY OLD BOLLOCKS, I BET HE DID!!

He later appeared as a stage manager in Telstar: The Joe Meek Story (2008), and in 2011 he was the voice of Karla in the spy film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In 2012, he played Father Mabeuf in the film of Les Misérables. In 2013, he was 'Publican No 5' in the British comedy film, The World's End.

QuoteWendy Emerton, an only child, was born in Middlesbrough on 20 July 1943. Her parents, Henry and Beatrice, were publicans and ran the Corporation Hotel in the town. While Richard was a baby, her family moved to Bournemouth. They later moved to the Isle of Wight and then to London, where they ran the Shepherds Tavern in Shepherd Market, where Elizabeth Taylor and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon are said to have been customers. Glug-glug!

Richard attended the local primary school, St George's, but her education was interrupted when her family moved again, this time to the Valentine Hotel at Gants Hill, then in Essex, now in Greater London. Another move, to the Streatham Park Hotel in south London, followed a few months later. It was there, in December 1954, that Richard's father committed suicide. Wendy, then 11, found his body. Her mother Beatrice never remarried, and died of liver cancer in May 1972.

Richard was enrolled at the Royal Masonic School for Girls at Rickmansworth after her father's death, as Henry had been a Freemason, and help with fees was provided by the organisation. She found the school unduly strict, and her art mistress called her paintings and drawings "affected, rather like herself". Richard dreamt of becoming a TV continuity girl or film star from a young age and, after leaving school at 15, helped to pay her way though the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London by working in the fashion department at Fortnum and Mason. It was at that time that she decided to change her surname to Richard, because "it was short and neat". While at the Italia Conti, Richard appeared on television with Sammy Davis, Jr. in the ATV programme 'Sammy Meets the Girls', and also in 'No Hiding Place'.

Richard first became familiar to TV audiences playing Joyce Harker, a regular in the BBC's 1960s soap opera 'The Newcomers'. Richard's first appearance in a television series, however, was as a teenager in Stranger on the Shore, which debuted in 1961. The theme tune of the series was the Acker Bilk clarinet solo of the same name.

In 1962, Richard's distinctive cockney vocals helped get her to No. 1 on the UK singles chart with the single "Come Outside" by Mike Sarne.

In June 1963, with Diana Berry, she released the charming pop star name-checking single "We Had A Dream" (b/w "Keep 'Em Looking Around") on Decca. It failed to trouble the charts.

In 1965, Richard appeared in an episode of the original Likely Lads series as a household cleaner saleswoman called Lynn. She also had a bit part the same year in Danger Man in the episode "Don't Nail Him Yet", and appeared in a scene cut from the released version of The Beatles movie Help!.

 

Richard's first soap role was as teenage supermarket till girl Joyce Harker in The Newcomers, which ran on BBC1 from 1965 to 1969. She appeared in Dad's Army (first as Edith Parrish, and later as Private Walker's girlfriend Shirley), and Up Pompeii!. Richard appeared in two Carry On films, playing a small role in Carry On Matron and a supporting part in Carry On Girls

She was a regular cast member of the 1970s sitcom Are You Being Served? as Miss Shirley Brahms, a shop assistant with a heavy Cockney accent, and subsequently found continued success as Pauline Fowler in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from the first episode in 1985 until the character's death at Christmas 2006.

She died on 26 February 2009 of breast cancer, aged 65, at a clinic, Harley Street, London.

Quote"Come Outside" was written by Charles Blackwell. a number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1962. The track stayed at No.1 for a fortnight during the weeks commencing 28 June and 5 July 1962. The song was placed twelfth on the chart of overall single sales for the calendar year 1962 in the UK.

It knocked Elvis off the #1 spot and stayed in the charts for a respectable nineteen weeks. The song is a duet between Sarne and a then youthful Wendy Richard, who didn't sing but played the would-be girlfriend/conquest who Sarne kept asking her to come outside to see the lovely moon (among other things). Richard's replies including "What for?" were delivered in a broad Cockney accent.

An article in the Daily Telegraph May 9, 1998 about the music/movie producer Robert Stigwood revealed how the then unknown Wendy Richard was chosen to partner Mike Sarne on this song. It appears that Wendy was employed as a secretary for Stigwood at the time the song was being developed. To quote the newspaper: "From her desk, Wendy started lobbing sardonic comments in her native Cockney. Stigwood had the notion of including them on the record, making it a duet." Apparently in doing so he overruled the objections of the song's writer Charles Blackwood.

Sarne capitalized on the appeal of the song to later record both German and American versions -- for the latter, the girl spoke with a Brooklyn accent.

In 1991, Samantha Fox, Frank Bruno, Liz Kershaw and Bruno Brookes recorded a cover version of the song as the official Children in Need single of the year.

Other Versions include : Bobby Stevens & Kay Barry (1962)  /  Judge Dread (1975)  /   Wendy Richard & Mike Berry (1986)  /  Danny McEvoy & Jazzy (2011)

On This Day :
Quote
25 June : Phill Jupitus, comedian, born in Newport, Isle of Wight
28 June : Thalidomide drug banned in Netherlands
2 July : Fidel Castro visits Moscow
4 July : Neil Morrissey, actor, born in Stafford, England
5 July : Algeria gains independence after 132 years of French rule
6 July : Wimbledon Men's Tennis Final : Rod Laver beats fellow Australian Martin Mulligan 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
7 July : Wimbledon Women's Tennis Final : American Karen Susman beats Věra Suková of Czechoslovakia 6-4, 6-4
7 July : Clive "Doctor" Jackson, British rocker (Dr & Medics), born in Knotty Ash (it's a real place!!), Liverpool

gilbertharding

No relation to Joy Sarney, as I realised as soon as google corrected my spelling.

Wendy Richards was a hateful old bag, wasn't she? Or perhaps she just played one, on Just a Minute. Who can blame her?

purlieu

Quote from: gilbertharding on July 30, 2019, 02:17:21 PM
Wendy Richards was a hateful old bag, wasn't she?
Probably sick of people getting her surname wrong.

daf

Couldn't find any proof of this, but her newly minted "Richard" surname must have been a Cliff nod - I calculate it happening in 1959 when she would have been 16 (and most likely while 'Living Doll' was at number 1).

purlieu


gilbertharding

Keith, of course, was persuaded to drop the 's' from his surname for exactly that reason.

purlieu


daf

The madness will probably pass, but I am sorely tempted to buy this CD - Definitive Collection Singles, Rarities - which seems to contain every single scraping he ever laid down on wax.

purlieu

Quote1. Come Outside
  2. Come Inside

Good start.
Quote3. Dodgy Lookin' Bird
  4. Slow Twistin' Round The Totem Pole
  5. Now You've Moved
  6. Dracula's Castle
This is beginning to look like the tracklist of a particularly surreal concept album.

Quote17. Hello, Lover Boy!
Very interested to hear this one.

daf

Featuring Margot Quantrell no less!

(Shameless bandwagon jumping Beatle Landfill from Dec 1963 : all the 'Yeahs' / 'Ooohs' / & Scouse boxes ticked on that one!)

blackcockerel

I assumed the Children in Need version of this was someone's idea of a joke, until I found it a while after my blog on it. Insane.

machotrouts

Not to victim-blame but Wendy Richard could have ramped up those interjections a bit. "Jesus. What the fuck?" "Calling the police you creepy fucking lech." "Oh Mike! You're such a rancid cunt!"

Surely the worst fade-out in #1 history. What exactly is he saying? It sounds like "oh, come outside for a bit of snot, eh darling". Please tell me he doesn't call it that.

I like it when the quality of the songs is reflected in the compilations they can be found on:



(That second one turned out to be a mistagged Shirley Bassey song.)

Given some of the things missing from Spotify, I'm not sure what to make of every single Mike Sarne song mentioned being on there. Yeah we've got to archive this. It largely sounds like what I'd expect the discography of Mike Sarne to sound like. "The Waitress Song" somehow out-creeps "Come Outside". "Dodgy Lookin' Bird" elicits one sharp intake of breath by ending the first line of a rhyming couplet with "snigger". (He went for "figure".)

Regrettably, I've got something out of it: "Hello, Lover Boy!" is the best Beatles song I've ever heard. Added to my library after I made sure he wasn't singing "you give me the horn" in the chorus.

sevendaughters

those interjections does push this into the, err, problematic.
absolute shite song. b-side a little better.

gilbertharding

It's all the references to twisting which push this into sublime territory for me.


daf

Is it on there? I thought it was lost.

The blu ray just had interviews talking about it - here.

You are correct. My misreading.

According to imdb, Come Outside was played at the party of Jack and Annie Walker in the Rovers, Corrie episode 194 (see under Soundtrack)

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0723910/

Episode is on YouTube so this can be checked.


daf

Excellent detective work!

. . . and here it is  - 22 October 1962 (13 minutes in)

(Cor - check out old Dad's Army on the pull!)

daf

He's Elmer the Twitch, he is, it's . . .

137b. (NME 136.)  Joe Brown and the Bruvvers - A Picture of You  



From :  7 - 13 July 1962
Weeks : 1
Flip side : A Lay-About's Lament
bonus : Live

QuoteJoseph Roger Brown was born in Swarby, Lincolnshire on 13 May 1941. His family moved to London when he was two and ran the Sultan public house in Grange Road, Plaistow, then in Essex, now part of the London Borough of Newham.

He worked for British Railways at their Plaistow Locomotive works for two years in the late 1950s, becoming a steam locomotive fireman. He left the job because "the smell of the diesels drove me out when they took over from steam".

In 1956, Brown formed The Spacemen skiffle group, which lasted until the skiffle movement faded towards the end of the 1950s.

In 1958 Brown was spotted by television producer Jack Good who hired him as lead guitarist in the orchestra of his new TV series, Boy Meets Girls. The Spacemen had no other work while Brown was contracted to do the show, so they were able to do this tour with Chris Wayne as "The Echoes". Original line up was: Chris Wayne (vocals), Tony Oakman (rhythm guitar), George Staff (rhythm guitar), Peter Oakman (bass), and Bert Crome (drums). As Joe Brown was usually the lead guitarist, another one had to be found for the tour: Dave Burns.

During this period he backed a number of U.S musicians such as Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran on their UK tours.  Brown introduced lead guitarist Hank Marvin of the Shadows to the Italian Meazzi Echomatic echo unit (because he himself could find no use for it), in so doing contributing greatly to the sound of the Shadows.

In 1959, Brown signed a management agreement with Larry Parnes, who was notorious for giving his acts new stage names - (eg. Billy Fury = Ron Wycherley  /   Vince Eager = Roy Taylor  /  Dickie Pride = Richard Knellar) - But, for some reason, he was unsuccessful in persuading Brown to change his name to "Elmer Twitch". Signed to Decca Records, he released his first single - "People Gotta Talk" / "Comes the Day".

His first chart success came the following year when "The Darktown Strutters Ball" reached #34 in the UK chart in February 1960. His next single - "Jellied Eels", released in June 1960 failed to chart. Jumping ship to Pye, "Shine" saw him swiftly back in the charts at #33 in February 1961.

Named "The Bruvvers" by Jack Good to give Brown the identity of having his own backing band for record releases, his recording band consisted of session musicians - including Michael Leslie (guitar) and Mick Waller (drums).

Released on 'Piccadilly Records' (the Pye subsidiary for new pop acts), "Crazy Mixed Up Kid" was the label's first single in April 1961, though it, and the next "I'm Henry The Eighth", failed to chart. But, "What A Crazy World We're Livin' In", got him back in the Hit Parade with a #37 placing in November 1961.

It was in 1962 when he needed a band to tour with him that 'Joe Brown and the Bruvvers' was cemented, containing two members of the Spacemen, brothers Tony and Pete Oakman, who had also remained with him in the "Boy Meets Girls" band. Brown was voted 'Top UK Vocal Personality' in the 1962 NME magazine poll.

He hit his chart peak with "A Picture of You" - a #2 hit (a #1 in NME chart) in July 1962. The follow-ups,  "Your Tender Look" reached #31 in September 1962,  "It Only Took A Minute" #6 in November 1962,  and he got back in the top 3 with "That's What Love Will Do" in February 1963. He rounded off the year with two further singles - "Nature's Time For Love" (#26) in August, and "Sally Ann" (#28) in October 1963.

In December 1963, the film What a Crazy World, based on a stage play, starring Brown and Marty Wilde among others, had its world premiere in London, while he also starred in the hit musical Charlie Girl in the West End between 1965 and 1968, and starred in the musical comedy film Three Hats for Lisa in 1965, alongside Una Stubbs, Sophie Hardy and Sid James . He also made a cameo appearance as himself in the 1964 film The Beauty Jungle, and presented the children's television series, Joe & Co, on BBC Television.

In the mid-60s his chart success began to slip, and "Teardrops In The Rain",  "Thinkin' That I Loves You", and "Charlie Girl" from 1965,  and "Th' Wife",  "Sea Of Heartbreak", "Little Ray Of Sunshine", and  "A Satisfied Mind" from 1966 all flopped.

In 1967 he briefly returned to the chart with "With a Little Help from My Friends" (#32), and saw out the decade with a few further flops, including :  "Bottle Of Wine", and "Katerine"

In 1972, he formed another band, Brown's Home Brew, which played rock and roll, country and gospel music and featured his wife, Vicki Brown, and Pete Oakman from the Bruvvers. This eclectic collection of musical styles, together with his hits, became the basis of his live sets ever since.

His final chart entry, "Hey Mama", was a Top 33 in April 1973 on the Ammo Label.

Good friends with George Harrison, Brown appeared with his group at the tribute concert Concert for George, held on the first anniversary of his passing. Brown demonstrated his versatility by playing guitar whilst singing "Here Comes the Sun", mandolin on "That's The Way It Goes", and ukulele on the closing number, "I'll See You in My Dreams".

In 2005 he co-wrote a musical, 'Don't You Rock Me Daddio', with songwriter Roger Cook, while in December 2006, he was one of three guest hosts of Sounds of the '60s on BBC Radio 2 during the absence of host Brian Matthew, having already presented two series on rock and roll for the same station.

His album 'More of the Truth' was released in the UK on 13 October 2008, and in 2009 the US musical instrument manufacturer Kala launched a series of 'Joe Brown' ukuleles. At the Mojo magazine's awards in London on 11 June 2009, Brown was presented with the lifetime award for outstanding contribution to music.

Highly regarded in the music business as a "musician's musician" who "commands respect and admiration from a wide spectrum of artists", in recent years he has again concentrated on recording and performing music, playing two tours of around 100 shows every year and releasing an album almost every year.

Quote"A Picture of You" was written by John Beveridge and Peter Oakman. Elmer Twitch Joe Brown recorded his version at Pye Records, and the single was released on the (Pye subsidiary) Piccadilly label in the summer of 1962.

Although "A Picture of You" is designated as the B-side of "A Lay-About's Lament", it was this song which became the chart hit. The song spent nine weeks in the UK Singles Chart Top 5  during a nineteen-week chart run. It was kept at #2 by Mike Sarne's "Come Outside" on the rotten old Record Retailer "official" chart, however it scored a week on the dead cool NME chart in early July 1962.

On June 15 1962, version by The Beatles was broadcast on their second BBC session (in the "Teenagers Turn" programme) - along with 'Ask Me Why' and  'Besame Mucho' - and featuring Pete Best on drums.

Other Versions include :  Redd Wayne (1962)  /  The Kalin Twins (1962)  /  "Au cœur de la nuit" by Dick Rivers (1962)  /  The Deejays (1966)  /  Freddie & The Dreamers (1967)  /  Jack Wild (1970)  /  Robert Gordon (1980)  /  Alvin Stardust (1982)  /  Tom Jones (1984)  /  Danny McEvoy (2010)  /  Daniel O'Donnell (2013)  /  Bandhub (2016)  /  Ukulele Crazy (2016)  /  Geoff Alexander (2019)

sevendaughters

he sings the b-side a bit more Newley-ish. not bad. glad there's a bit of energy coming in now.

In the 1980s Brown sang the themes for Cowboys and Give Us A Break. Regular guest on Punchlines and Blankety Blank.

Recorded a cover of There Ain't No Pleasing You by Chas & Dave. Was at Chas's memorial service.

machotrouts

Another song that's dated badly, thanks to Google Reverse Image Search. Nonsense now.

It might be the headache I'm nursing after my first day at the Fringe – front row at 6 shows, and it turns out I do NOT have the mettle for comedy bills where the compère shouts at the beginning "WHO'S DRINKING TONIGHT?!" and everyone behind me roars – but just about every one of these songs makes me sick. "Th' Wife" has incited a SURGE of hatred and racism against cockneys within my body. And what the fuck is a "musician's musician"? What musicians? There are lots. Is he Chingy's musician? Is he Lords of Acid's musician? Is he Haus Arafna's musician? No? Well shut the fuck up