ON THE TURNTABLE: February 15,1964 -“Meet The Beatles” is the #1 album in the US- Billboard

ON THE TURNTABLE: February 15,1964 -“Meet The Beatles” is the #1 album in the US- Billboard

According to Billboard Magazine, February 15, 1964, The Beatles have the #1 album and #1 single on the US charts. This particular period in BEATLES HISTORY is virtually a goldmine for record collectors. Singles and albums were available on different labels. With the advent of The Beatles performance on Sullivan and all the hoopla surrounding that event, in a short period of time I’d accumulated many BEATLES’ 45s, some were issued by Swan Records, Tollie Records, EMI Records, Capitol Records, MGM Records, ATCO Records and Vee-Jay Records.This got me thinking as to why so many BEATLE records were released at the same moment in time and why on different labels (a magical moment in record collecting).

During most of 1963 while THE BEATLES were having hit after hit in the UK, CAPITOL (US) RECORDS (a subsidiary of EMI/PARLOPHONE the British record company which signed THE BEATLES) continually rejected to release stateside the Beatles singles to which they were offered. Another company, VEE-JAY RECORDS, inadvertently picked up the “right of first refusal” to The Beatles catelogue. And that’s how it begun…

During 1963, The BEATLES had 3 releases in “the colonies”
PLEASE PLEASE ME- February 1963(VEEJAY RECORDS)-a #1 hit in the UK.
FROM ME TO YOU-May 1963(VEEJAY RECORDS)-#1 in the UK, and a cover version by Del Shannon (June 63)
SHE LOVES YOU-September 1963(SWAN RECORDS)which had limited if any US airplay was a #1 hit in the UK.

Almost one full year after the first US 45 release “Please Please Me” bombed, BILLBOARD proclaims “Meet The Beatles” the Number 1 Album in the US. “Meet The Beatles” with its iconic cover was released on January 20,1964, just 20 days prior to their ED SULLIVAN performance (Feb 9th). However, this their first album for CAPITOL RECORDS was actually THE BEATLES second US release.And to confuse matters that iconic photo is the cover of the British album “With The Beatles”, their 2nd UK album.

All this is a bit confusing when researched, as The Beatles’ CAPITOL RECORDS releases were quite different from the actual EMI/Parlophone British releases. US records limit sides to 12 songs AND prefer the hit to be included. So, we find different songs, sequences of songs, cover art, album names, etc, which makes this all the merrier for a record collector. Fortunately,The Beatles took control (another law suit) of this mixing and matching prior to the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.

To set the record (pun intended) straight the first BEATLES album to be released in the US was “Introducing…THE BEATLES” on VeeJay Records beating(LOL) ”Meet The Beatles” by ten days . “Introducing… The Beatles” on VeeJay Records was scheduled for a July (1963) release but the company ran into money problems which later was a factor in their demise as well as losing their “Right of first refusal” option. To find more about what happened to VEE-JAY which had a goldmine at their feet (the right of first refusal of Beatles records) I checked out a copy of (February 15,1964) BILLBOARD, “U.S. ROCKS & REELS FROM BEATLES’ INVASION. There I found a short piece by Nick Biro detailing a legal action taking place (Feb 5,1964) in Chicago Appellate Court whereby Capitol Records was seeking a further injunction from VEE-JAY records rights to sell “Beatle products”. VeeJay Records, an independent record company based in Chicago, needed to post a $30,000 bond which they did.

The background info I dug up concluded (on my part) that Capitol Records(US) continually rejecting BEATLES singles pissed off the head of the mother company EMI so much so that their CEO in a personal visit to Los Angeles ordered (Nov 63) their US subsidiary CAPITOL to “commence promoting and releasing Beatles records” (an album and singles) immediately.EMI had 35 songs, mostly hits, and with a new UK album “With The Beatles” ready to go. VEE-JAY Records owned the rights to 14 other songs(8 Lennon-McCartney originals) which actually was the first EMI British album “Please, Please Me”. If and when THE (Capitol)BEATLES ads hit Vee-Jay was sitting on a possible huge pile of money.

Meanwhile, a separate US indie company SWAN RECORDS picked up the option on another song and(September 63) released “She Loves You” which sold poorly and did not chart.(Note: Dick Clark was a part owner of SWAN and tried the record out on “American Bandstand-Rate a Record segment”. It received a 71%-poor, and the kids “laughed” at the band photo. Clark was not impressed with the tune.“I figured these guys were going nowhere.”  But as Clark would later acknowledge, “We all found out the truth soon enough.”

December of 63, Brian Epstein called SWAN RECORDS wanting to know how “She Loves You” which a huge hit in Britain, was doing in America. They replied that the record was “a stiff.”  Epstein informed the company that the Beatles were going to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Bernie Binnick, the CEO of SWAN was unimpressed with this info telling Epstein he “blew it,” saying he should have had the Beatles appear on American Bandstand rather than The Ed Sullivan Show, suggesting that Clark’s show was more popular. (Payola strikes again-LOL).

January 3, 1964-America finally sees THE BEATLES performing “She Loves You” via a live clip shown on the JACK PAAR SHOW, a Friday night variety show. Paar marveled at how “Beatlemania” was capturing the youthful British audience. The following Monday, “She Loves You” sales exploded.So much so that a re-issued version was pressed to meet the demand. By March 21,1964 “She Loves You” is the #1 record in the land, selling over 1 million copies. Great news for SWAN which now had a “temporary” windfall of cash. Unfortunetly, SWAN lost its option on future BEATLES records as their contract stipulated SWAN had to sell 50,000 copies of that single in their first 1963 offering, which it did not.

VEE-JAY Records on the other hand,was the most successful black-run label before Motown, and one of the most important record companies of the period. When VeeJay pursued (1962) EMI artist Frank Ifield for his hit “I Remember You,” they “had to agreed” to take the unknown Beatles along as part of the deal. So Vee-Jay gets 14 Beatles recordings, eight which are original tunes. These 14 tunes are aka the British “Please,Please Me” album which included “I Saw Her Standing There”,”Misery”,”Anna”,”Chains”,”Boys”, “Ask Me Why”,”Please Please Me”, “Love Me Do”, “P.S. I Love You”, “Baby, It’s You”, “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “A Taste of Honey”, “There’s A Place”, and “Twist and Shout”.

As stated before most US album generally were released having 12 songs so to conform to this unwritten standard the VEE-JAY album dropped “Ask Me Why” and “Please Please Me” for their album release, later selling those as singles. “Love Me Do” was also issued as a single by the VEEJAY subsidiary TOLLIE RECORDS. This event did not go unnoticed by Capitol. The movement of songs is where VEE-JAY later ran afoul with the courts.When confronted,VEE-JAY quickly revised a second pressing (re-issue January 27,1964) to include “Ask Me Why” and “Please Please Me”. Seems “PS I Love You” and “Love Me Do” on the original VeeJay release were published by Beechwood Music, a subsidiary of Capitol Records and should have been deleted or a royalty paid,neither which happened.
(Also, of note to collectors the VeeJay Records “I Saw Her Standing There” starts at “four”, missing the “One, two, three” that Paul counted in. The company thought the count in was to be deleted.)

Transglobal,an EMI subsidiary, cancels as “null and void” the VEE-JAY contract as of August 8,1963 due to lack of payment of royalties,thereby relinquishing all rights back to CAPITOL Records. However, VEE-JAY had the original pressing stored for the past few months. Also,VEE-JAY’s contract for “She Loves You” would expire October 64 when all rights would be retained by Capitol. Shipments sent and await court to decide.

Capitol Records, Inc. v. Vee Jay Records, Inc., 197 N.E.2d 503 (Ill. App. Ct. 1964)
Appellate Court of Illinois
Filed: March 19th, 1964
Precedential Status: Precedential
Citations: 197 N.E.2d 503, 47 Ill. App. 2d 468
Docket Number: Gen. No. 49,470
Judges: Bryant

…Although to date there has never been any kind of hearing as to the merits it is important to note that both Capitol Records and Vee Jay Records claim that each has a superior right to manufacture and sell “Beatles” records in the United States. Although 472 prior to this suit there was only one duplication in recordings between the parties, each party alleges that it has expended considerable funds to promote the “Beatles” in the United States and that the other party is unfairly reaping the benefits of these expenditures. The rights of Vee Jay Records stem from a contract entered into in January, 1963, allowing it an exclusive license to manufacture and sell “Beatles” recordings in the United States under certain conditions for five years. This contract was entered into with Transglobal which in turn secured its rights from EMI. There are allegations that the Vee Jay contract was terminated because of failure to make statements of sales and failure to pay royalties. There are certain rights to four recordings which Vee Jay may possess following termination, but there are allegations that these rights, if they exist, do not extend to thirteen other songs which presently appear on an LP being marketed by Vee Jay.[*] Capitol, on the other hand, secured its rights directly from EMI following the alleged termination of Vee Jay’s contract rights.

[**] The four recordings to which Vee Jay Records may have a right to continue producing after termination until February, 1964, at least without having had a construction of the contract, are: “Please, Please Me,” “Ask Me Why,” “From Me to You,” and “Thank You, Girl.” The main controversy centers around Vee Jay’s LP, “Introducing the Beatles” which Capitol alleges was not produced at all until just prior to the present action and which appears to be selling in competition with or as substitution for Capitol’s LP “Meet the Beatles.”

THE TIMELINE-
Article Citation:
Jack Doyle, “Beatles in America, 1963-1964,”
PopHistoryDig.com, September 20, 2009.
January 1963
George Martin of EMI in London sends a copy of “Please Please Me” to U.S. subsidiary Capitol Records, urging executives there to distribute Beatles’ songs in the U.S. They decline, saying: “We don’t think the Beatles will do anything in this market.”  Lesser known labels then begin picking up Beatles’1963 songs for U.S. release.
Vee-Jay single of Beatles’ “Please Please Me,” in Feb 1963, distinguished by ‘Beattles’ mis-spelling, later corrected.
25 Jan 1963
Vee-Jay record label of Chicago obtains a contract to release limited number of Beatles records in the U.S. for a limited time period.
25 Feb 1963
“Please Please Me”/ “Ask Me Why” released as single on Vee-Jay label.  The song is played on Chicago’s WLS radio station where it reaches No. 35 on WLS music survey in March, but does not chart nationally; not on Billboard.
27 May 1963
“From Me To You” / “Thank You Girl” released as a single by Vee-Jay, but is barely visible; No. 116 on August Billboard chart, drops off thereafter.
16 Sept 1963
“She Loves You” / “I’ll Get You” released in U.S. by Swan Records, a Philadelphia label, but does not chart on Billboard.
31 Oct 1963
American TV variety show host, Ed Sullivan, traveling to London, has his arrival delayed at London Heathrow Airport by a screaming crowd of teens welcoming the Beatles home from a tour of Sweden.  Sullivan has his first thoughts of booking these rising British music stars with strange haircuts — perhaps as novelty act.
11-12 Nov 1963
Beatles manager Brian Epstein travels to New York and persuades Ed Sullivan to book the Beatles for an unprecedented three consecutive appearances on Sullivan’s much-watched Sunday evening variety show — February 9th, 16th and 23rd, 1964.  CBS-TV gets one year’s exclusive rights to the Beatles’ U.S. television appearances.
15 Nov 1963
Time magazine take notice of the “Beatlemania” craze sweeping England and the Beatles’ command performance for British royalty in London.
16 Nov1963
CBS News bureau London — at the suggestion of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein — sends a news crew to the British seaside resort of Bournemouth where they film a Beatles concert, thousands of screaming fans, and a few Beatles’ comments on camera.  This film clip is later sent to New York.
Mid-late Nov 1963
Brian Epstein phones Capitol Records president Alan Livingston over label’s refusal to distribute Beatles songs in America.  Epstein urges Livingston to listen to the U.K. single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” while mentioning the Beatles’ upcoming 1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearances as a big opportunity for Capitol.  Livingston later agrees to spend $40,000 for Beatles promotion, equal to about $250,000 in today’s money.
18 Nov 1963
NBC’s evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, airs a four-minute segment on the Beatles.
22 Nov 1963
U.K. album, With The Beatles, is released in the U.K., rising to No. 1 on the British album charts and remaining there for 21 weeks.  With The Beatles becomes the Beatles’ first million-selling album in Britain, and the second album of any kind in Britain to sell one million copies, the first being the South Pacific soundtrack.
22 Nov 1963
The “CBS Morning News With Mike Wallace” runs a story on the Beatles for the network’s morning news show.  CBS planned to repeat the segment that evening on Walter Cronkite’s newscast.  However, that day, in mid afternoon, Walter Cronkite was breaking the tragic news to a shocked nation that their President, John F. Kennedy, had been shot and killed while visiting Dallas, Texas.
29 Nov 1963
The Beatles’ single “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is released in the U.K. and immediately hits No. 1 on the British pop charts.
29 Nov 1963
Radio station KIOA in Des Moines, Iowa begins playing “I Saw Her Standing There” from a Drake University student’s copy of Beatle’s U.K. album, Please Please Me, and a few days later, “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” from a U.K. Beatles’ single  (see sidebar story below).
1 Dec 1963
The New York Times Sunday Magazine, runs a story on “Beatlemania” in the U.K.
4 Dec 1963
Capitol Records issues a press release announcing that it will begin selling the Beatles’ first U.S. 45 rpm single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” on Monday, January 13th, 1964.
10 Dec 1963
A four-minute CBS film segment on The Beatles that had been pre-empted by the JFK tragedy is aired on Walter Cronkite’s  CBS Evening News. 
17 Dec 1963
Radio disc jockey Carroll James at Washington. D.C. station WWDC, plays rare U.K. copy of  “I Want to Hold Your Hand” on the radio after 15-year-old girl from Silver Spring, MD wrote to him  requesting Beatles music after seeing the CBS-news segment.  James arranged to have an airline stewardess buy a U.K. copy of the Beatles’ latest single in London.  Listeners phone in repeatedly to request the song.
18-19 Dec 1963
Capitol Records threatens to sue WWDC to stop playing song, but then reverses itself and decides to rush-release “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” previously scheduled for  January 13, 1964.  Christmas leave is canceled at Capitol Records, as pressing plants and staff gear up for rush release.
23 Dec 1963
Capitol Records issues a memo to its sales people and regional managers across the country, outlining an extensive “Beatles Campaign” using various promotional items — from major music magazine trade ads and a fake tabloid Beatles newspaper (reprinted in the thousands), to Beatle buttons, Beatle stickers, Beatle wigs, and a battery-powered, “Beatles-in-motion,” bobble-head-like, window display for music stores.
26 Dec 1963
Capitol Records begins distributing “I Want To Hold Your Hand” to radio stations in major U.S. cities where it is played regularly.  With teens home for Christmas-New Years break, radios get full-time use, and the record begins selling like crazy.  In New York City, 10,000 copies are sold every hour.  In the first three days, 250,000 copies are  sold.  Capitol was so overloaded it contracted Columbia Records and RCA to help with the pressings.
28 Dec 1963
The New Yorker magazine publishes a Brian Epstein interview; regarded as first serious article in U.S. about the Beatles and their manager.
29 Dec 1963
New York city radio station WMCA joins others  broadcasting “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”  Back in London, meanwhile, Sunday Times critic Richard Buckle praises the Beatles as the greatest composers since Beethoven.
30 Dec 1963
A two-page ad from Capitol Records pitching the Beatles’ recordings runs in Billboard and Cash Box music industry magazines.  Bulk reprints of these ads have already been distributed to Capitol’s sales agents for use with radio stations and in enlarged, easel-scale size for use in music store displays across the country.
3 Jan 1964
Jack Paar, host of the late night U.S. TV talk show, “The Jack Paar Show,” airs a filmed Beatles’ performance of “She Loves You” from England.  It is the first complete Beatles song shown on American TV, and for many in America, the first time they see The Beatles.
10 Jan 1964
Vee-Jay Records releases the first Beatles album in the U.S., Introducing…The Beatles.  Legal and business issues plague the album, but by late fall, it would sell more than 1.3 million copies.
10 Jan 1964
Two weeks after the Capitol Records release of “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” sales hit 1 million copies — a staggering number at that time for an unknown music group from overseas.
mid-Jan 1964
Vee-Jay Records’ issues special record sleeves for promoting “Please Please Me” to radio DJs,  noting Beatles’ clip on Jack Paar’s show, upcoming Ed Sullivan Show dates, and national news coverage in Time, Life & Newsweek magazines.
17 Jan 1964
“I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles is the No. 1 single in America.
20 Jan 1964
Capitol Records issues Meet the Beatles, the Beatles’ first Capitol album in the U.S.
20 Jan 1964
To promote the Meet The Beatles album and their upcoming first American visit, Capitol Records distributes pre-recorded interview with the Beatles to American radio stations.
29 Jan 1964
Capitol Records announced in a press releases, that Meet the Beatles had already sold 400,000 copies by January 27th.
30 Jan 1964
Vee-Jay Records releases, for the second time, the single “Please Please Me” / “From Me to You,”  entering the Billboard chart at No. 69.  It would later reach No. 3, and Vee-Jay would sell at least 1.1 million copies.
7 Feb 1964
At about 1:20 p.m. the Beatles arrive at Kennedy International Airport in New York where they are greeted by 3,000 screaming teenagers, 200 reporters and photographers, and more than 100 New York police officers.  At a televised press conference the Beatles come off as witty, charming and playful.
9 Feb 1964
Elvis Presley sends The Beatles a telegram wishing them well in their upcoming Ed Sullivan Show appearance later that evening.
9 Feb 1964
Beatles perform live on The Ed Sullivan Show, reaching a record-breaking audience of 73 million, or according to A.C. Nielsen, 23.2 million households.  One estimate at 40% of population.  They perform five songs: “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”
31 Mar 1964
The Beatles hold the top five slots on Billboard: (1) Can’t Buy Me Love, (2) Twist and Shout, (3) She Loves You, (4) I Want To Hold Your Hand (5) Please Please Me — a musical first.
10 Apr 1964
The Beatles’ Second Album is released by Capitol Records, which replaces
the Beatles first Capitol album, Meet The Beatles, at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart from May 5th to June 2nd.
11 Apr 1964
The Beatles hold 14 slots on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
14 Apr 1964
The Beatles’ Second Album reaches $1 million in sales by this date.

Top Five Albums:Feb 15,1964

1Meet The Beatles-The Beatles

2 The Singing Nun

3 In The Wind-Peter,Paul and Mary

4 Little Deuce Coupe-The Beach Boys

5 West Side Story_Soundtrack

and

22 Introducing…The Beatles

April 5,1964 Top Singles-BILLBOARD Magazine

1: Can’t Buy Me Love (jumped 27 spots):THE BEATLES

2: Twist And Shout:THE BEATLES

3:She Loves You:THE BEATLES

4:I Want To Hold Your Hand:THE BEATLES

5:Please Please Me:THE BEATLES

April 11,1964 BILLBOARD Magazine
1.      Can’t Buy Me Love
2.      Twist & Shout
4.      She Loves You
7.      I Want To Hold Your Hand
9.      Please Please Me
14.    …Want to Know a Secret
38.    …Saw Her Standing There
48.    You Can’t Do That
50.    All My Loving
52.    From Me To You
61.    Thank You Girl
74.    There’s A Place
78.    Roll Over Beethoven
81.    Love Me Do

THE COLLECTOR’S GEMS
-The first Vee-Jay release “Introducing The Beatles” with “Love Me Do” on side one
-The second Vee-Jay with the changed sequences
-MGM 45 “My Bonnie/When The Saints Go Marching In
-TOLLIE 45 “Love Me Do” (american version features Alan White on drums. There are 3 versions of this song with three different drummers, Pete Best, Ringo Starr, and the one most heard with Alan White)
-ATCO 45 “Ain’t She Sweet”
-all early 45 picture sleeves
The Dream items for most collectors

1: The first issue VEE-JAY single of “Please Please Me” with the mis-spelling of the band as “The Beattles”

2: First issue (Sept 63) SWAN Records “She Loves You”

ON THE TURNTABLE: January 20,1964- The Beatles “Meet The Beatles”

ON THE TURNTABLE: January 20,1964- The Beatles “Meet The Beatles” is released in the US.

Some say it was the Assassination of our beloved President JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY which surrounded the Nation in a national funk that somehow brought THE BEATLES to stardom in the U.S. Some say we needed an escape, a diversion, and these four lads from Liverpool were the escape. Yet, I’m not buying it. My reasoning is simple. First,we, the American record buying public came a many months late to the BEATLES party, having not accepted their first few records when released stateside, these same records which were huge hits across the pond. Secondly, the time was ripe for a new (television) hero for the “youngsters” as Ed Sullivan would call us. The biggest show on TV at that time was the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, a preposterous show which made a ratings killing week after week, and that show having their biggest week just prior to The Beatles first appearance. Americans were enamored with television. And Ed Sullivan was considered a religious experience every Sunday night. Like Sunday morning mass in a Catholic household, one couldn’t miss Sullivan on Sunday nights, it would be sinful.

So here goes my thesis:

Point ONE: Prior to Sullivan (one year before) The BEATLES had 3 releases in States, all which were misses, that is NO HITS, no charting…zero. Those records were

PLEASE PLEASE ME- February 1963(VEEJAY RECORDS)

FROM ME TO YOU-May 1963(VEEJAY RECORDS)

SHE LOVES YOU-September 1963(SWAN RECORDS)which has limited if any airplay.

In early November 1963 after Sullivan witnessed the impact of the lads in their home turf England,and how their audiences responded, BRIAN EPSTEIN,The BEATLES manager, persuades Mr. Sunday Night Television ED SULLIVAN to have THE BEATLES do three consecutive weekly performance on Sullivan’s top rated American CBS television show. Never before had any act accomplished three consecutive appearance on Sullivan, let alone an “unknown” act. CAPITOL RECORDS (US) smelling something good is happening picks up the BEATLES EMI option just as The CBS Morning News (Sullivan’s network) aired a segment on BEATLEMANIA, the morning of November 22, 1963,which they have ready to repeat it on their nationally syndicated CBS NIGHTLY NEWS. However, regular programming was cancelled as JFK was assassinated that day and THE BEATLES piece did NOT air that evening, happenstance. THE BEATLES and their manager become very anxious as they await their coming to America in a few months for three consecutive weeks no less without a hit record. This could mean a disaster for the band. Some in The Beatles camp and a few others considered cancelling.

The BEATLEMANIA segment was finally re-broadcast on CBS NIGHTLY NEWS the evening of December 10, 1963. Immediately airplay for THE BEATLES was requested on radio stations across the nation and CAPITOL RECORDS rushed out I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND, the boys newest single on December 26, 1963 which sold one million copies in the first ten days with one and one half million copies by three weeks time, just in time for the SULLIVAN appearance. THE BEATLES have the Number 1 hit in the land AND are appearing on one of the top rated television shows, for three consecutive weeks. BEATLEMANIA has arrived.

April 5,1964 BILLBOARD Magazine

#1: Can’t Buy Me Love (jumped 27 spots):THE BEATLES

#2: Twist And Shout:THE BEATLES

#3:She Loves You:THE BEATLES

#4:I Want To Hold Your Hand:THE BEATLES

#5:Please Please Me:THE BEATLES

 

 

 

 

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 8,1999-ERIC BURDON@ IMAC,Huntington,NY

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 8,1999-ERIC BURDON@ IMAC,Huntington,NY

After hearing a recording of THE ANIMALS doing “Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker it was only a very short period of time before I was adding blues records by black Americans to my primarilly Anglophile collection. That song, as the lyrics go, really “knocked me out”. I watched as THE ANIMALS performed on ED SULLIVAN, again my mouth wide open,but I never had the opportunity to see them live, never, not as THE ANIMALS Parts 1,2 or 3. So this was my shot at seeing a legend perform in a small theater not far from my home. I went with two buddies, the three of us attending with great anticipation. “Ladies and gentlemen, a true legend…ERIC BURDON”… and sadly, that was the highpoint of the evening.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:CHAPTER 32-Senior Year (Part 2)

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:CHAPTER 32-Senior Year (Part 2)

The KinKs was one of my favorite bands from the early British Invasion days. They had not played live in the USA in quite some time so this show scheduled for October 18,1969 at FILLMORE EAST was a “must see” for me. From the very first time I heard YOU REALLY GOT ME on my small transistor radio I knew these guys were different. We even played that tune with THE TRIANGLE my doomed band of yesteryear. So when the opportunity to see The KinKs live became a reality I jumped at the chance. But this night was not my usual fare of two or a large group as my girlfriend requested another couple attend with us, so two tickets became four, balcony seats left side of stage, not too shabby a view.

The Bonzo Dog Band opened the show. While the crowd waited for their “hit” URBAN SPACEMAN, we were treated to some of the best comedy, music, and visuals I had ever seen (in my limited experience). Just sheer joy, I laughed hysterically throughout their entire set. The singer pretending he was urinating on the light show, the silly hats they wore, the large eyeglasses, and hundreds of props. They were GREAT. Needless to say I purchased two Bonzo albums the next week.Then the amazing KinKs were introduced. Even though it was a short set and one without their pianist who as Ray Davies said, “cracked his skull” so Ray played piano for a few tunes. Overall, it was a fabulous set. Upon leaving the show I remember thinking, ahhh The KinKs and The Who, two of my favorite bands, all I need is The Stones and The Beatles. BTW SPIRIT, the headliners, hit the stage after The Kinks and were decent but Randy California is NOT Raymond Douglas Davies by any stretch of the imagination. So tonight it was The KinKs.

It was about this time when my homeroom teacher questioned me about some teachers(guidance) opening my locker before school that morning. Puzzled I said I did not know. As I retrieved my books for morning classes a Guidance Counselor, not mine, arrived and asked me to come with her. In her office she asked me if I was selling “pot”(her word). I was taken aback. She followed up with a question regarding me smoking “pot”. At first I did not answer and requested she call my father to come to school. She appeared confused by my request, hesitated for a second and said that calling my father would not be necessary as she was trying “to help” me. Knowing there was nothing in my locker or on my person I said “NO, I was not selling pot” to her first question. She asked why kids would meet me at my locker some mornings, to which I said “cassettes”. She was bewildered it seemed, so I took her to my locker and showed her a stack of about 10 cassettes I had placed there that morning. She had no idea what cassettes were so I explained their function. She led me to class. I never heard another word about the incident until a follow-up question, by a different teacher, a few months later.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: CHAPTER 18: AND THE JUKEBOX KEPT ON PLAYING…

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 18: AND THE JUKEBOX KEPT ON PLAYING…

“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear”, Stephen stills wrote in the 1967 song FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH.

The music of the 60s famously captured the countercultures activism and ethos of those times. Music can inspire, it can galvanize and fuel movements, it can spread the key messages for social causes. However, do we define the music that the artists create or do the songs they sing about the social issues defined us? Sometimes it’s both as its almost impossible to separate the art from the artist.

In my generation’s time the biggest example of music affecting culture had to be the music of the Beatles. Their music created an iconic shift in our culture. Take a look at photos in any high school yearbook before 1964, and you will see the American middle-class males all have really short haircuts. However in just one years time, everyone’s hair was a little longer. The Beatles were influencing culture, as a matter of fact they changed the entire culture. Fortunately during that time the music scene was not as fragmented as it is today. With about only five popular radio stations and/or TV stations( in NY) everyone heard the same songs. It was truly broadcasting in a “broad” sense of the word as opposed to today’s “narrow” casting. Music mobilized people and songs became anthems as music was one of the strongest ways to influence our generation.

By ’67 I was an avid reader of magazines, books, news weeklies, most somewhat politically skewed to the left, well as left as I could get away with in my household. Even my newspaper of choice was the VILLAGE VOICE, a weekly out of Manhattan. My high school’s reading assignments, the general novels assigned, the poems, did little to excite me, but I read what I was asked to read, mostly.  But then, I read Ralph Nader’s UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED which intrigued me. His invitation to the auto makers to produce a safer machine was researched so well, and his requests and suggestions to the industry and to the government made so much sense. Yet no one did anything about it. The CORVAIR car, transmission gear positions on cars, safety to pedestrians, wind shield standards and seat belts.WOW, simple safety. That year Nader was “the man” to me.

THE SUMMER OF LOVE: 1967

A news item came across the screen the other day (2017) declaring that JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’S album SURREALISTIC PILLOW was certified Platinum, I’m talking a few month shy of it’s 50th anniversary of its release. That’s a long haul. The LP went GOLD back in July of 1967, THE SUMMER OF LOVE, finally platinum in 2017.

50 Years ago “it” was all over the press: San Francisco and the “SUMMER OF LOVE”. The SF Chronicle was the first to depict that designation to which I am sure they regretted almost immediately. But, WHAT WAS THAT SUMMER OF LOVE LIKE?

I was 15 and it was no summer of Love for me, summer of Confusion might best describe my circumstances. SURREALISTIC PILLOW was on my turn table yet I actually had to look up and research what the heck “surrealistic” meant and how the hell did it apply to a pillow. This was too far out.

Summer of ’67 nearly 100,000 kids head to San Francisco’s HAIGHT ASBURY  with “flowers in their hair, flowers everywhere”. It is time to “turn on, tune in, drop out”. This coincides with young adults declaring rock and roll was here to stay, it was not some phase we would grow out of. Rock was to be our music, an essential part of our being, the way we expressed ourselves. I’m in, I ready to volunteer. Frank Sinatra, not for me. Even the sounds recorded at that moment in time changed. Listen to JORMA KAUKONEN’s feedback on PILLOW. It was new, unique, and different.We took this music, our music seriously, and so did the musicians who made it . Singles were fading fast as bands/musicians sought to make a statement or two. Albums became the rage. Musicians experimented and so did we.

Our radio changed. AM stuck to the hit parade format. Recent legislation stated that AM stations could no longer simulcast on FM, so the clearer sounding FM was free to experiment and experiment they did. The AM dj’s catch phrases, their gift of gab would not survive the coolness of the FM disk jockey playing THE DOORS Light My Fire (extended version).And in June of 67 The BEATLES released Sgt. Pepper’s which had no singles on it. Truly the listening teens were FM bound.

Reporting on the “happenings” changed also. The cigar smoking, shirt and tie wearing newsman suddenly had long bushy sideburns, bell bottom jeans, smoked a joint and wrote from the heart. Journalism,the reporting of the news was way different from what it was only a few months before. Slanted as it might have been, these new writers helped me develop a better understanding of culture and politics. An example would be RAMPARTS magazine, which started as a Catholic Quarterly, but now in ‘67 it was a full blown anti-establishment rag. It’s articles raised the hair on the back of my neck; Vietnam, the CIA, The Black Panthers. And then the NewYork Times Best Sellers List had names like Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe and other non-traditional authors topping the charts. Hail, hail to THE CLASS OF ’67.These “New Journalists” led me to read authors who influenced the new generation: Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, and many other so called “muckrackers” as Teddy Roosevelt named their genre.

So what was 1967 through the eyes and ears of a fifteen year old boy? Well, January 15 the very first SUPER BOWL was held with a television audience of 60 million folks.The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. Interesting to note that according to all research this singular event catapulted the NFL in viewership which in turn drew advertising money to football. The cost of a 30 second SUPER BOWL ad in 67 was a mere $37,500.

By February my neighbor, a guy I tried to get to take me to see the Lovin Spoonful told me about a new group he saw at Stony Brook, a local university. The band was Jefferson Airplane, yes, same group I read about in NEWSWEEK. Now, I was more than interested in that band.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in February 1967 thereby establishing the “succession” to the Presidency which was vitally important as our Vice-Presidency had been vacant at least 16 times through our short history. This Amendment gave us a clear path to what steps were needed to take place, especially after the death of JFK when we had a void. This would prove to be politically significant in subsequent years.

In April Muhammed Ali, aka CASSIUS CLAY the Heavy Weight Champ who became a CO, was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for refusing induction in to the US Army.

THE SIX DAY WAR (June 5-10) occurred just as we were finishing our school year. The  Arab Forces were defeated and Israel took possession of additional territories.  This news item intrigued me as I knew little if anything about the Middle East which we had studied this past year history class, but not like this.This was for real. My knowledge or lack thereof about the Middle East would soon change.

Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court Justice in October. These events made ’67 an interesting year. Monterey Pop was held (June), Otis Redding died, and SGT.PEPPERS was released. We listed to Sgt. Peppers almost every afternoon that June at my girlfriend’s house,with the music blasting through the speakers from her brother’s stereo which she placed in the front window while a group of us were playing whiffle ball in the street. Life and relationships were simple then.

My 45’s record collection seemed to grow by the end of each week: The Letter by the Box Tops with Alex Chilton on vocals is still a gem today, Light My Fire by The Doors (the edited radio version of course), The Rascals lovely Groovin’, Little Bit Of Soul, Kind Of A Drag, Expressway to Your Heart, Soul Man, Incense And Peppermints, Somebody To Love,and Whiter Shade of Pale just to name a few. However, I used more of my limited cash on albums: The Doors(first), the aforementioned Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow,  Moby Grape’s first, The Beatles Sgt. Peppers, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The KinKs Something Else,The Doors Strange Days (which my dad bought for me),Cream’s Disraeli Gears, The Who Sell Out, The Rascal’s Collections and The Soul Survivors, which I was led to believe by the guy behind the counter at the local RECORD RACK sounds “exactly” like the Rascals.This proclamation was not necessarily true and another story all together. By years end I included the newly established ROLLING STONE magazine to my mandatory reading list .

By end of 1967 heading into ’68, listening to FM radio and watching television rock was not enough for me. Like every other red blooded discophile I was drawn to the fire of live music. Having no true curfew I started to attend The Hullabaloo, a local teen club in the neighboring town of Lindenhurst. A true TEEN SCENE club serving 15-20 year olds  with an affordable  $2.00 cover. Their stage hosted a few bands each weekend (Friday and Saturday nights), many were local garage style combos, with a few noted National acts tossed in…The Vagrants, The Hassels, and Vanilla Fudge just to name a few.

During this period I saw The Critters (Younger Girl; My Dyingly Sad) at the local Roll N Ice, followed by Every Mothers Son (Come On Down To My Boat, Baby) at my 10th grade dance, The Good Rats (pre-TASTY) at a high school art show(1968), and a WMCA (NY Radio station-THE GOOD GUYS)sponsored “Sock Hop Show” featuring The Left Banke (1967).  And of course Long Island’s own The Vagrants (Leslie West), and The Hassels (Billy Joel) regularly played at the aforementioned Hullabloo.

At home I played Rubber Soul and Revolver over and over again. Two of my favorite albums at that time and probably my two favorite Beatles albums of all times.

See you next time….Chapter19:THE SUMMER OF LOVE. Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:Chapter 9-The British Invasion

The first wave of the BRITISH INVASION: The arrival of THE BEATLES.

What ELVIS did for our older brothers and sisters, a newer group did it for us younger folks. The Beatles on Ed Sullivan changed everything.

Ask anyone who remembers seeing/hearing/experiencing “it”. Overnight the vocal groups, the Doo Wop street corner guys, the girl groups, the lounge acts, virtually disappeared as they were no longer en vogue.

From that fateful February Sunday evening, we, the youngsters of ‘64 had The British Invasion groups bombarding our radio airwaves and appearing on all the variety shows, whether their hosts wanted the bands or not. Teens, mostly those who had little if any understanding of ELVIS, had something to stick “our” teeth into. Within a few weeks, The Beatles three appearances on The Sullivan Show had changed the course of our world. No longer were “we” revolving around the Sun (records) but rather on a NEW path, a new orbit, one we had chosen and that orbit was The Fab Four.

As the weeks progressed we discovered other “planets”; The Rolling Stones (on The Hollywood Palace), The Animals, The KinKs and more, oh, so much more.  Radio playlists changed immediately as The Beatles and those other BRITISH INVADERS took over the POP charts.

Some say it was the Assassination of our beloved President JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY which surrounded the Nation in a national funk that somehow brought THE BEATLES to stardom in the U.S.

Some say we needed an escape, a diversion, and these four lads from Liverpool were the escape. Yet, I’m not buying it. My reasoning is simple. First,we, the American record buying public came many months late to the BEATLES party, having not accepted their first few records, these same records which were huge hits across the pond.

Secondly, the time was ripe for a new (television) hero for the “youngsters” as Ed Sullivan would call us. The biggest show on TV at that time was the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, a preposterous show which made a ratings killing week after week, and that show having their biggest week just prior to The Beatles first appearance. Americans were enamored with television. And Ed Sullivan was considered a religious experience every Sunday night. Like Sunday morning mass in a Catholic household, one couldn’t miss Sullivan on Sunday nights, it would be sinful.

So here goes my thesis:

Prior to Sullivan (one year before) The BEATLES had 3 releases in States, all which were misses, that is NO HITS, no charting…zero.

Those records were

PLEASE PLEASE ME- February 1963(VEEJAY RECORDS)

FROM ME TO YOU-May 1963(VEEJAY RECORDS)

SHE LOVES YOU-September 1963(SWAN RECORDS)which had limited if any airplay.

In early November 1963 after Sullivan witnessed the impact of the lads in their home turf England, and how their audiences responded, BRIAN EPSTEIN,The BEATLES manager, persuades Mr. Sunday Night Television ED SULLIVAN to have THE BEATLES do three consecutive weekly performance on Sullivan’s top rated American CBS television show.

Never before had any act accomplished three consecutive appearance on Sullivan, let alone an “unknown” act. CAPITOL RECORDS (US) smelling something good is happening picks up the BEATLES EMI option just as The CBS Morning News (Sullivan’s network) aired a segment on BEATLEMANIA, the morning of November 22, 1963, which they have ready to repeat it on their nationally syndicated CBS NIGHTLY NEWS.

However, regular programming was cancelled as JFK was assassinated that day and THE BEATLES piece did NOT air that evening.

THE BEATLES and their manager become very anxious as they await their coming to America in a few months for three consecutive weeks no less without a hit record. This could mean a disaster for the band. Some in The Beatles camp and a few others considered canceling their performances.

The BEATLEMANIA segment was finally re-broadcast on CBS NIGHTLY NEWS the evening of December 10, 1963. Immediately airplay for THE BEATLES was requested on radio stations across the nation and CAPITOL RECORDS rushed out I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND, the boys newest single on December 26, 1963. That record sold one million copies in the first ten days, selling with one and a half million copies by three weeks time,  AND….just in time for the SULLIVAN appearance.

THE BEATLES have the Number 1 hit in the land AND are appearing on one of the top rated television shows, for three consecutive weeks. BEATLEMANIA has arrived.

April 5,1964 BILLBOARD Magazine

#1: Can’t Buy Me Love (jumped 27 spots):THE BEATLES

#2: Twist And Shout:THE BEATLES

#3:She Loves You:THE BEATLES

#4:I Want To Hold Your Hand:THE BEATLES

#5:Please Please Me:THE BEATLES

See you next time…..Chapter 10:THE BRITISH ARE COMING 1964-1966 . Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:Chapter 8-Before The Beatles

Previously, I discussed THE MELTING POT of our democracy and the cultural impact it had on the development of American music . We also touched upon the technological advances specifically the birth of the radio networks which in time broadcasted this “American Music” to the masses.

Following up on that let’s look at how the radio and television championed rock music, at least for me it did. I mentioned how in 1964 my black and white single speaker television became stereophonic and in living color. This happened metaphorically as my TV didn’t change but what it showed changed my life.

It started with the BEATLES February of 1964 on Ed Sullivan and then other shows like Shindig, Hullabaloo, Where The Action Is, American Bandstand, Upbeat, Lloyd Thaxton, Clay Cole,  and acts such as The Shindogs (aka The Wrecking Crew), The Blossoms, The Animals, James Brown, Roy Head, The Yardbirds, the Zombies, and The Kinks all changed my world.

BEFORE THE BEATLES

What was life like in America for a preteen (age 12)  BEFORE THE BEATLES? Besides reading for enjoyment there was AM radio, television (with few channels and limited hours of broadcasting) and of course the movies.The television shows of the Fifties mostly depicted the American family as a cohesive (white) unit consisting of a stay at home Mom (always in a dress) accompanied by the head of the household Dad (usually in a tie) who was employed with a non-descript job, and they the parents having two or three kids while happily living in Suburbia aka/ Cul-de -sac America, the place where the kids rode bikes everywhere and never having to lock the bike up, sorta like cowboys of yore slinging a rope to secure their horse knowing the horse would not be stolen. Or the shows featured urban couples without children.

I LOVE LUCY was the most popular show of the day. Here we find The Ricardo’s (the tenants) interacting with The Mertz’s (the landlords) both childless urban apartment dwelling couples. (Lil Ricky was added later) Also, there was FATHER KNOWS BEST a more traditional Mom, Dad, with siblings show, followed by the ever popular Ward and June aka THE CLEAVERS of Leave It To Beaver fame and of course The Honeymooners, again another childless urban dwellers. Rounding television viewing out would be the numerous cowboy shows, and there were many of that genre.

The radio hits I distinctly remember from the fifties were: How High The Moon(Mom and Dad’s favorite Les Paul song),(HOW MUCH IS) THAT DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW, MR. SANDMAN, followed  by  Elvis, Elvis, Elvis  in 1956-58.  Throw in a little Everly Brothers WAKE UP LIL’ SUSIE, Sam Cooke’s YOU SEND ME and who could forget THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATER (1958) and that’s the radio I remember at about 6 years of age.

In 1959 the tunes I remember most were Johnny Horton’s BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS, Bobby Darin MACK THE KNIFE, Lloyd Price MR.PERSONALITY and STAGGER LEE, VENUS by Frankie Avalon,DREAM LOVER by Bobby Darin, and Santo & Johnny’s SLEEP WALK. But as years went on I heard Elvis, Buddy, Fats and Chuck with plenty of DoWop/Blues/ Race Records and of course those lily white artists who were SURFIN’ the USA ,The Beach Boys. Many dance records were played such as THE TWIST, LET’S TWIST AGAIN, MONKEY TIME, THE MASHED POTATO, and The MONSTER MASH. Occasionally one could hear a protest tune or drug referenced song like Puff The Magic Dragon. And most of these hit record recording artists could be seen on television every afternoon for the 1/2 hour show on AMERICAN BANDSTAND.

The movies of the day were CLEOPATRA  with the ever popular and beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, BYE BYE BIRDIE, SOME LIKE IT HOT,and the epic BEN HUR which I saw at RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL.

Alaska was admitted to The Union as the 49th State, followed by HAWAII as the 50th, so new flags were going up everywhere (July 4,1960). And I remember something about Fidel Castro coming to power in CUBA. The MERCURY SEVEN astronauts were announced with a big spread in LIFE magazine. And my folks discussed the value of electing a Catholic as President after viewing on television (Sept 26) for the very first time a live  Presidential Debate between RICHARD NIXON and JOHN KENNEDY.

In November of 1960 the American people elected JOHN  FITZGERALD KENNEDY as the 35th President of THE UNITED STATES.

 

For the next two years the news is filled with stories about racial inequalities, a Russian/ US Space Race, The Cold War, and this place called Vietnam. There was the construction of the BERLIN WALL , weather satellites, a U-2 spy plane being shot down over Russia, Alan Shepard becomes an American hero going into space, and THE BAY OF PIGS invasion which lead to the CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS standoff. James Meredith becomes the first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi.

And my radio kept on playing:

1961: I FALL TO PIECES- Patsy Cline, RUNAWAY- Del Shannon, CRYING- Roy Orbison, RUNAROUND SUE- Dion, as well as THE BRISTOL STOMP, QUARTER TO THREE, MAMA SAID, and hits by The Shirelles, The Miracles, Ricky Nelson, Ben E. King, and the ever classic BLUE MOON by The Marcels.

1962: MASHED POTATO TIME- Dee Dee Sharp, THE STRIPPER- David Rose, JOHNNY ANGEL- Shelley Fabres,THE LOCO-MOTION- Little Eva, SOLDIER BOY- The Shirelles, DUKE OF EARL- Gene Chandler, and THE TWIST by Chubby Checker, followed by TWISTIN’ THE NIGHT AWAY by Sam Cooke and The PEPPERMINT TWIST by Joey Dee and The Starlighters (the first album I ever bought).

1963:SUGAR SHACK (one of the first singles I ever bought at WT Grants)- Jimmie Gilmore and The Fireballs, HE’S SO FINE- The Chiffons, MY BOYFRIEND’S Back- The Angels, HEAT WAVE- Martha and The Vandellas, FINGERTIPS- Little Stevie Wonder, BE MY BABY- The Ronettes, and two “strange” records PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON and BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND by Peter, Paul and Mary.

August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his “I HAVE A DREAM” speech

November 1963- President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

Locally, the NY Typographical Union walked out shutting down the NY Daily News, the New York Journal -American, the New York Times, the New York World- Telegram & Sun, the New York Daily Mirror, the New York Herald Tribune, the New York Post, the Long Island Sun Journal and the Long Island Daily Press.

Subsequently WABC- FM radio adopted an all news format to keep the folks informed during this strike. Overall, a total of $100 million in advertising and circulation were lost. After the strike some papers doubled their daily rates which affected their readership, others slowly closed shops because some readers never came back from the 114 days hiatus until November 1963 with the assassination of JFK.

This was my life “before The Beatles”.

See you next time… Chapter 9:THE BRITISH INVASION . Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: THANK YOU MARCONI

 

Sitting with my brother one evening, over a glass of wine, chatting about the hundreds if not thousands of concerts we saw, the albums we played, the singles we bought and/or the songs we had heard on the radio he suggested that I write some of “that shit” down. Hence,”that shit” from the last half century plus, as best as I can remember it and then some. Who said there was nothing better than “sex,drugs and rock and roll”? Not me.

This is dedicated to my best friend, my roommate for our teen years, my brother KEVIN PATRICK HODGKISS (April 17,1954-Feb 10, 2018). I love you all the money in the world.

CHAPTER 1: THANK YOU MARCONI

It just might be the two AM radios that I remember most. Two radios exactly the same model except one was black which was in my parent’s bedroom on Dad’s nightstand, the other a white model on top of the Frigidaire in the kitchen. Very rarely if ever would either be on but when one was, especially “whitey” in the kitchen, the sounds would be amazing. The magical tunes seemed to send the cares and woes of this seven year old far away. When I was tall enough to switch it on that one in the kitchen got a good workout.Then Christmas of 1959, I received a small transistor radio all for myself.The first tune I heard was MACK THE KNIFE by Bobby Darin and life would never be the same.

“Oh, the shark babe has such teeth, dear,

And he shows them pearly white

Just a jack-knife has ole MacHeath, babe

And he keeps it out of sight”.

In 1865 Guglielmo Marconi was credited with inventing the “wireless” that is the first practical signaling system, therefore he was later granted the title of the “inventor of the radio”.

To me it seems humorous and somewhat prophetic that the town I live in, Copiague, New York, a small hamlet located on the south shore of Suffolk County, Long Island would once have been named Marconiville.  There is still a large iron awning in the center of town proudly declaring “MARCONIVILLE” to all visitors. And of course, there is the obligatory Marconi Blvd, which years later in my story will be the location of The Record Rack, a short lived but interesting shop where I purchased many of my vinyl wares. Yes, at one point in his life Marconi resided in my town, however so short a time it was.

My folks were not rich by any means, as a matter of fact we were poor, as in welfare poor. Thank God for welfare, as little as it was at that time, because with welfare and the good graces of family and friends we survived. Our poverty was not self inflicted as Dad who was a true worker, contracted POLIO. In fact Dad, later in life, was working three jobs to pay off the bills which mounted due to his extended stay in the hospital with polio. Dad paid off not just hospital bills but all the bills. Pop was medically famous being one of the last men in The United States of America to contract that dreaded disease and he was one of the last victims to be placed in an “iron lung” while in the hospital. Fortunately, being one of the last victims in the long history of the disease had a huge upside as most of the treatments and actions taken to combat the disease were by now perfected, Finally after many moons in the hospital Pop was released. I remember the “WELCOME HOME” party as vividly as I remember the Sunday morning he had fallen and the ambulance that took him away. I was just a babe then, but not so much when he came home almost two years later.

Seems Pop and a group of his friends were digging dry-wells for each other’s homes with ours being one of the last to be finished. These dry wells were not sunk for drinking water but rather for drainage of washing machine waste water and yes, as additional cesspools. This was  a time before sewers appeared in suburbia. I remember the men finishing ours only a few weekends before Dad took ill.

This one Sunday Mom had dressed me up for church, and with my baby brother in tow Dad drove us to church for mass but he did not go in, which was unusual. Years later I found out that he had not been feeling well for a few days time and needed to beg off this one Sunday.  After mass he picked us up, drove home, and with Mom walking Patty, my brother, up the front steps (which we never used) Pop lagged behind. I walked with him for a few steps before he collapsed on the sidewalk which lead across our suburban lawn. He looked up at me and as little as I was…. I knew he was in pain. Mom ran Patty into the house probably placing my baby brother in his playpen and was back outside in a flash instructing me to go across the street to fetch “Aunt” Ruth, our neighbor. In what seemed like seconds an ambulance arrived and my Dad was gone so was my Mom. My brother and I were in the company of “Aunt” Ruth to whom I would always be grateful to ,“Aunt” Ruth the good neighbor and family friend.

Doctors were unsure if the digging of the wells aided in Pop contracting Polio but most neighbors thought it had something to do with it.

Mom did not drive, she walked everywhere and with Dad being in a hospital about 20 miles away, in an area without public transportation, Mom’s visitations would be dependent on others. During the mid 1950’s most folks in suburbia did not have a dedicated land line aka phone but rather used a party line, one which we shared with “Aunt Ruth” and our next door neighbor who was related to Aunt Ruth.

Mom’s visits to the hospital were day long affairs and she didn’t get there as often as she wanted. In the hospital, since polio was considered a “contagious disease” Dad was in “isolation” with a thick protective glass wall separating him from the visitors. Mom would find Dad laying on his back in the “iron lung” facing into his room. Mom could only see the top of his head as the iron long ran the length of his torso, and most of his legs.There was a mirror stationed over his head so he could look out into the hallway. Visitors spoke to him through a microphone. Now of course I did not know any of this until years later for as kids we were not allowed in hospitals, and women had to follow a dress code, that is to wear a dress, no slacks. This was the 1950’s.

One particular Saturday my paternal grandparents who lived in Brooklyn arrived as they had many weekends before and took us to the hospital in their car. I was so excited anticipating being near my Dad even thought it was only me being in the parking lot. I loved to be with Nana and Papa and this day would be special as they told me my Dad would wave to us from his window. Anxiously we waited in the fresh air while Mom visited. AND then, there it was, a hand, a wave….my Dad. Or so I thought. Years later I found out it was just Mom pretending to be Dad. Yet my heart was overjoyed at that moment and for days to come. To this day passing by that hospital I can pin point exactly where I was standing at that moment.

Note:After remission and many good decades later Dad was one of the first people to be diagnosed with what was labeled “post-polio syndrome”. Ultimately, polio led to his demise.

So, during Pop’s extended hospital stay the television and the radio were our escape. We might have been poor and on welfare but we had TV, a glorious television located in the living room, the only TV in the house, one which took a good couple of minutes to “warm up” before we could get a picture, a clear picture from one of the seven available channels. The screen was small, and the picture was black and white but it was ours and it was our family time together with Mom who despite her husband being seriously ill never wavered from her beautiful smile and the loving care she had for her two boys. Truthfully she was a bit over protective and used some pent up anger against a few neighbors who told their kids to stay away from us as we were “contagious” with polio.

Besides the two radios and the aforementioned TV we also owned a very small “victrola” and an even smaller record collection. Our “collection” consisted of what The Columbia House Record Club had to offer, mostly big band stuff that Dad had accumulated and of course  some “little kiddie records”. So that was ENTERTAINMENT 101 in the Hodgkiss household for those months of polio and years of welfare. Also, there was reading. Mom taught me how to read before I hit Kindergarten. Not deep insightful stuff, mostly sight words with me guessing what the other words were or should be. Reading was a game or so I thought.

So what’s all this psycho banter have to do with Marconi? Well, it’s now 1964 and my black and white TV world becomes stereophonic and ultimately “in living color”. My TV didn’t change from B/W but the way I viewed it certainly did. Ed Sullivan, Shindig, Hullabaloo, Where The Action Is, American Bandstand, Upbeat, Lloyd Thaxton, Clay Cole, The Shindogs (later known as The Wrecking Crew), The Blossoms, The Animals, James Brown, Roy Head, The Yardbirds, the Zombies, and The Kinks all changed my world.I could not get enough of this music. I started to buy 45’s, singles preferably with a picture sleeve. And the collection grew in leaps and bounds. While I loved to read it was mostly the newspaper and a few novels. Music became my escape, not the Hardy Boy mysteries.

My radio listening habits changed throughout the years going from the traditional New York  “AM  TOP FORTY” stations which included WMCA, WABC, 1010WINS, and WWRL, all featuring disc jockeys known as Murray the K, BMR, Cousin Brucie, and the legendary Rosko  and years later to glorious free-form FM but I digress…