Salvaged and Restored -
The Shady Dell
Record Collection!
Vol. 1: Long Lost Dell Songs
January 1955 to July 1956
BEWARE! NOTHING CAN
PREPARE YOU FOR...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
Who needs Craigslist?
Who needs Angie's List?
We've got Jim's List!
Hello, friends! Dell Rat Tom
back to share more exciting
news. My good friend in
York, Jim Sieling (above),
has surprised me yet again.
Jim sent me a list he made
of 6,065 records he and
his wife Nancy recovered
from the Dell jukeboxes.
That's 12,130 songs when
you count the B sides. As a
result, I proudly present the
new Shady's Place series:
SAVED BY THE
As we learned in previous posts, Jim acquired the Dell's Seeburg
jukebox (below) and the records that played on it through the decades.
When Jim took possession of the Dell's
record collection, he discovered, to
his dismay and ours, that many of
the discs had been improperly
handled and stored and were
in poor condition. Jim wrote:
Some records were clean
while others were unbelievably
filthy. It was like people had just
been stuffing 45’s as they found
some into boxes to get rid of them.
Note: Someone (perhaps John)
had written “Ettline” on the
top corner of every sleeve.
Lots of sleeves had been eaten by mice, lots of mice nests,
and apparently a snake stopped by for a meal!
Also lots of mice drippings were in the sleeves and on the
bottom of the box. Most boxes were really, really dirty!
I believe we are missing a lot of John’s
collection – perhaps John gave some away,
but mostly they ended up in the dumpster.
I suspect Nancy saw some being thrown
away and said, “Jim and I will take care
of them.” As I remember, the cleanup for
the auction was not well organized and
we will probably never know what
happened. Purely conjecture; but,
I suspect a lot of records were thrown
away before anyone realized how
complete John’s collection was
or else they would have been put
with the other auction items.
“Let’s just get rid of the dirty
old things; and anyway, no one
plays 45’s any more”.
None of the cartons I brought home were meant to store 45’s. Mostly food
containers from the snack bar of different sizes or my IBM boxes designed
to ship manuals. In general: The house and barn were both packed with
lots of “stuff” when John died. A dumpster was brought in and filled up.
(I kind of remember a second one was also required). I suspect many,
many artifacts were just thrown away that should have been preserved.
The family doing the cleaning at the time had no idea how much
John and Helen had meant to so many people. They just
needed to get all the stuff cleaned up before the auction.
Jim, you just told us a pre-Halloween
horror story. Dell rats everywhere are
cringing to learn that so many of
the Dell's priceless heirlooms were
regarded as worthless, unwanted
junk, including its musical treasury.
Before we start listening to tunes,
I'd like to remind new Shady's Place
friends that there were actually two
jukeboxes at the Dell - one on the
first floor of the house in Helen's
snack bar, and the other down at
the barn in an adjacent dance hall.
This series is dedicated to
the memory of Nancy Sieling.
Nancy Sieling
(faithful friend of The Dell)
Nancy, who was John Ettline's niece and Jim's wife, passed away in 2020.
Over the years, Nancy's generous contributions of pictures, information
and Shady Dell memorabilia greatly enhanced the quality of both of my
Dell-themed blogs. And, as Jim just told us, it was Nancy who rescued
many of the Dell's priceless platters when they were art risk of being
thrown into a dumpster and destroyed, hence the name of my series...
SAVED BY THE BELL DELL
Of course, we also have Jim to thank for undertaking the enormous
task of cleaning, organizing and cataloging these 6,065 records!
This series is important to Dell rats old and new
because we are learning for the very first time, precisely which records
were played on the jukeboxes at the Shady Dell from the mid 1950s
through early 60s. The list Jim provided offers clues that might
enable us to pinpoint the year or even the exact month that
"The Barn" - the Dell's historic dance hall - was built.
In all my years of blogging, no one has ever
come forward with that information.
Best of all, for the first time, you will be able to
travel back to an exact month and year and play
records on the Dell's jukebox, the same songs
Dell rats played in the 50s and early 60s!
Obviously time does not permit me to list and play all of the records in Jim's
Shady Dell collection. Over a span of weeks, I whittled the number down
from 6,065 to 180 - the 180 songs that I believe are the most significant
of the period. The songs you will listen to in this series exemplify the
style of music that became most popular with the Dell crowd -
vocal group harmony - sweet, innocent, soulful doo-wop
love ballads ideal for slow dancing with your sweetie.
You will also hear some exciting mid and up tempo
Dell songs that were conducive to dancing.
What surprises did I find on Jim's list?
As I studied Jim's list of 6,065 Dell records, which includes
16 Christmas singles, I was surprised to find thousands that
are atypical - not at all indicative of the style Dell rats came
to know and love - vocal group harmonies. Among these
anomalies are bland, violin-drenched, easy listening pop
ballads by solo artists like Johnny Mathis, Dinah Shore,
Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, Eydie Gorme,
Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Pat Boone, swing-
band instrumentals by Guy Lombardo, Tommy Dorsey,
Mitch Miller and other bandleaders, jazz & blues vocals
and instrumentals, movie themes, Country & Western,
honky-tonk and even novelty comedy records!
This series is designed to simulate the
experience of playing the Dell jukebox.
With the exception of the first song, there are no written intros,
nor are there captions revealing a record's peak chart position.
The Dell's jukebox did not provide that information.
Tip of the iceberg and, in keeping with Dell tradition,
only the cool stuff, regardless of chart position.
Keep in mind that Dellions ignored the national chart. They played
both sides of records and made their own hits by "voting" for songs
they liked with their dimes and quarters. In selecting the tiny fraction
of the songs on Jim's list of 6,065 records (12,130 sides), I avoided
some of the major national hits that we've all heard a million times.
In this series, the Dell songs and Mad Men era
images, ads and headlines tell the story of
changing times and evolving trends.
As you scroll down and play these rare Dell records, you will notice
that I decked the halls and decorated the walls with covers of vintage
fashion magazines, teel idol fanzines, Hollywood gossip rags and
period calendars. These nostalgic images will add context and
facilitate your sentimental journey along the timeline of the
50s through early 60s, revealing changes in clothing and
hairstyles, leisure time pursuits, attitudes and cultural
norms of the pre-Beatles Eisenhower and JFK years.
The end of 1963 was the end of the Age of Innocence.
This 36-part series concludes when we reach the end of 1963,
a pivotal point in time when the popular music landscape
changed dramatically with the coming of The Beatles
and other rock bands, rendering obsolete the
old school doo-wop love ballads that had
long been the Dell's bread and butter.
It's time for you to use your imagination
and play the first five Dell songs.
Pretend you are new on the scene at the Dell and looking at the musical menu
on the jukebox for the first time. One of the most important things you learn as
a Dell rat initiate is to pick records you don't know and take them out for a spin
to gauge their soulfulness and danceability. So scroll down and click on the
pictures of records to play them. I posted only five songs in each volume to
give you ample time to examine the vintage artwork that follows the timeline.
BEWARE AND BEHOLD...
LISTEN AND LEARN...
AS WE EXPERIENCE...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
The records are presented in chronological
order, allowing you to trace the evolution of the
"Dell Sound" month by month and year by year.
ENJOY THE VINTAGE FASHION
PARADE AND FANZINES.
CLICK ON PICTURES OF
RECORDS & ALBUM COVERS
TO PLAY THE SONGS.
Many times before, I have posted "Close Your Eyes" by The Five Keys,
the song that tops my list of The 200 Greatest Hits of The Shady Dell.
JANUARY 31, 1955
Born (released) on January 31, 1955, when I was five years old,
"Close Your Eyes" found its way into the jukebox at the Shady Dell.
It would take more than ten years before I heard the song for the first time
as a new face in the crowd at the popular hangout for teenagers.
FEBRUARY - MARCH 1955
By early March, "Close Your Eyes" had entered the R&B
chart where it spent 16 weeks and peaked in the top 5.
Incredibly, this wonderful love ballad failed to register on the
national pop chart, but that was true of many classic Dell songs.
Like our friend Jerry Blavat - The Geator With The Heater -
Dell rats played songs from the heart... not from the chart.
I proudly begin this series showcasing the Dell's musical treasury
with that glorious love ballad, a slow dance number that worked
its magic on Dell teenagers from the start of 1955 through the
rest of the 50s, the entire decade of the 60s and beyond.
MARCH - APRIL - MAY 1955
Close your eyes, take a deep breath,
open your heart, and whisper "I love you."
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 1
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 2
JUNE - JULY - AUGUST 1955
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1955
SAVED BY THE DELL
DECEMBER 1955 - JANUARY 1956
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 4
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 5
Nancy Sieling, and her husband Jim, for doing the
good work of preserving the Shady Dell legacy for
future generations. We owe you a debt of gratitude.
Stick around. You'll hear more long lost songs
of the Shady Dell... the moldy oldies, dusty discs,
colossal fossils and rusty relics we like to call...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
coming up on the next exciting edition of...
SAVED BY THE BELL DELL
Good morning Shady,
ReplyDeleteSick day today - I caught a cold and since this is the time of year where bronchitis loves to visit (same with spring), I'm taking care of myself today. Saved by the Dell warmed my spirits, and no smelling or tasting required! :D
I'm not familiar with most of these songs, but I will have to ask dad. Dad was born in October 1955 and I may have to take him for a walk down memory lane. His birthday is next Thursday, so maybe this blog entry will be a birthday surprise. :)
I love this series and that's awesome that your friend sent you the collection. That is a lot of music! I also loved reading the stories and I'm glad you mentioned Nancy Sieling.
Have a great day, dear friend.
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteThanks for being the Early Bird, dear friend, the first to arrive at my combination series launch and hurricane party! We didn't lose power yet, but it is possible that we will later today. I can tell you that our devices are already buffering, making it difficult to get communications across. I hope I can get this published before the next freeze-up.
I'm sorry you are out sick today with a cold. That's no fun. I'm glad vol. 1 of my new series Saved By The Dell, boosted your spirits. Good music is the tonic that helps cure your ills. If your dad was born in 1955, he might remember a couple of these recording acts, but I'd be surprised if he remembers the songs. Let me know what he says. I love your idea to surprise your dad with this post for his 67th birthday.
Yessum, Jim & Nancy Sieling are tops. They've done so much to help me with my Dell blogs over the years and have done more than their share to preserve the Ettline - Shady Dell legacy.
Thanks again for coming over so early, dear friend JM. I will stop in and see you next, but please keep in mind that I might be without power for days, starting later today. This is a monster storm!
Hi Shady,
DeleteHope you are well and safe.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI can't say for certain I've heard a single one of your featured songs. "Close Your Eyes" sounds familiar but I'm not sure if I'm thinking of a different tune. The song doesn't quite ring a bell with me. The rest of the music is definitely new. I love all the vintage ads! The women look so pretty and dainty. I always marveled at such tiny waist lines they had in those early years. I was small as a teen but my waist wasn't that small. I guess a gal's height can make the waist appear thiner than someone who's on the petite side and that's me. Your tribute to a one-time Dell Rat and preserver of memories is nice. I'm sure Jim appreciates your thoughtfulness. It's so wonderful how you're able to stay connected with long ago friends. When we passed through Pennsylvania I thought about you, especially on our way home. We passed near Harrisburg while on I-81 and I noticed York was less than an hour away. The world seems small when you pass through an area and you think I know so-and-so lives/lived here. :) Thanks for sharing some these songs from yesterday spent at the Shady Dell, my friend. Stay safe. We'll be keeping y'all in our prayers!
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteWelcome to vol. 1 of Saved By The Dell, my gigantic 36-part, three year series that reveals, for the very first time, exactly which records were played at the Shady Dell from the mid 50s through the dawning of The Beatles in 1964.
I have posted "Close Your Eyes" several times in my 14 years of blogging, so it is likely you've heard it. It is the song ranked #1 on my list of The 200 Greatest Hits of the Dell, and it is also the record of greatest longevity, remaining in the Dell jukebox much longer than any other.
I knew you'd appreciate the vintage magazine covers and print ads revealing women's fashions of the mid 50s. Keep in mind that the images were often doctored to make women appear thinner than they actually were. Even so, we all know that models routinely starved themselves so that they'd be thin as possible, because it was expected of them. As a man, I don't think wafer thin is a good look on women. In fact, I never met a man who does like the Twiggy look.
Yessum, I am doing this series to thank Jim Sieling for his tremendous efforts in cleaning and cataloging thousands of Dell records, and also to pay tribute to Nancy, his wife and John Ettline's niece, who passed away two years ago. In the later years of her life, Nancy was a great friend to me, surprising me with pictures and Dell artifacts to display on my Dell blogs. In her absence, Jim has been doing the same.
It's so cool that you went through the Harrisburg/York area of Central PA on your trip to New England, and that you thought about me. Yessum, as they say at Disney World, "Its a small world after all."
Thank you again for being here for the start of this jumbo size series and for listening to the Jukebox Giants That Time Forgot. Enjoy the rest of your week, and bear with me as I deal with the unpredictable hurricane Ian which could easily k-o our power at any moment.
Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend Cathy!
This series is going to be great. Loved all the old photos and even two of the songs were new to me. I can not guess at how much time you put into this endeavor. I am going to go back and enjoy it again when I have a few hours. Thanks for your effort!!!! Jerre
ReplyDeleteHi, Jerre!
DeleteI'm still online, good buddy, and thank you very much for coming! I'm delighted to welcome you as I begin the longest series of my blogging career, a 36-volume, three year marathon entitled Saved By The Dell - Jukebox Giants That Time Forgot!
I'm thrilled that you, an original Dell rat, is here to experience this historic series, the very first time guys like you and I can stop guessing the wondering and learn once and for all precisely which records were loaded in the Dell's jukeboxes from 1955 through the end of 1963, great years in music, I'm sure you agree. What excites me is that quite a few of these early volumes contain songs that played at the Dell before you arrived on the scene. It will be an education for us all.
How about those Dell-rat-infested boxes of records Jim inherited! Along with all the mouse droppings, he even found a shed snakeskin! I couldn't believe my eyes when Jim sent me that picture! We have Jim and Nancy to thank for having a sense of history and a passion for preserving what's left of the Dell legacy and for saving 6,065 of John's priceless records. Who knows how many other platters were tossed in the dumpster and lost forever before Jim & Nancy intervened? I shudder to think.
I am also very pleased that you enjoyed the "slide show" of vintage fashion magazine covers, celeb fanzines, print ads, calendars and other visual reminders of what life was like during the period. It's exciting to follow the timeline and note how the styles, attitudes and cultural norms changed along with the "Dell sounds" in the jukebox.
That's one down and 35 more volumes to go in this series, so check back week by week and month by month to make sure you don't miss anything. Thank you very much for dropping in and for your words of encouragement about the series. I undertake projects like this one for people like you, Jerre - "folks who were there and still care."
Enjoy the rest of your week and I hope to hear from you again soon. The winds are now gusting to tropical storm intensity as the borderline Cat. 5 hurricane pushes ashore to our southwest. It's going to be a rough and rocky evening and overnight period for us, and we could lose power at any moment. I'm glad I was able to see your comment before the lights go out. Take care, good buddy!
Thinking about you and Mrs. Shady. Stay safe over the next few days! 🙏🏼
ReplyDeleteHi, Kelly!
DeleteThank you very much for the kind visit and well wishes as we ride out the storm. It's raining hard at this moment and the wind is occasionally gusting to tropical storm strength. Our devices are buffering but, so far, there has been no interruption in our service. The city where we recently lived for five years, Venice, is close to the eye of this ferocious storm and is being pounded by Cat. 4 winds that are only one mph less than the Cat. 5 threshold! I'm so glad we aren't still living down there because the city is likely suffering severe damage and flooding. Ian is a big rain-maker, and we are in the belt where the greatest accumulation is expected - around 19 inches of new rain on top of weeks of rain we've already had!
Thanks again for taking a peek at the post, dear friend Kelly. I hope you will enjoy this 36-part series over the next three years!
Hi Shady,
ReplyDeleteWhat a find! ( dirt, etc and all)!
These old Relics are certainly a treasure! Thanks to Jim for not trashing them and for sharing them. There certainly are a lot of memories in those old food boxes!
Toni Deroche
Hi, Toni!
DeleteThank you very much for adding your thoughts about this new series, a 36-parter honoring Nancy Sieling and thanking her husband Jim for salvaging, cleaning and organizing what's left of the original Shady Dell record collection - a whopping 6,065 records! What a shame the boxes containing those precious platters were filled with mouse poop, snakeskin and other disgusting debris! It must have been an enormous task for Jim just to clean up that mess, and I am astonished that he sent me a list of all 12,130 song titles and artists in alphabetical order!
Yessum, I'm still online at this hour, but Venice, the beach town where we lived for five years, is at ground zero, the eye of powerful hurricane Ian, and currently being clobbered by high winds (gusts up to 190 mph!!!) and torrential rain. This system might dump 19 inches of rain on us, and that will lead to widespread flooding across Central Florida because the ground is already saturated from weeks of rain in our vicinity.
Thanks again for reporting in, dear friend Toni. I'm sure it will mean a lot to Jim that the former owner of the Shady Dell wants to join the rest of us in thanking him for his efforts. Now sit back and enjoy the remaining 35 volumes of Saved By The Dell!
Hi dear friend. I was happy to see this post because then I knew you were safe from Ian for at least a while. These songs are from 1955 which is the year I was born so I don't know them but could imagine them being played on the jukebox at Shady Dell. Some serious slow dancing going on I bet.
ReplyDeleteI was expecting Tears on My Pillow to sound like the version by Little Anthony.
I love looking at the photos from magazines of that era. How prophetic to say that the next VP would be a woman - LOL. Some of the waistlines on those models! No wonder we women have body image issues.
Hope you and the Mrs. can stay safe! Praying for you and the other folks out there (except maybe your governor. I kinda want him to do some suffering).
PS. The mouse poop and snake skin definitely would have made me think twice about looking in these boxes. Glad there were people who didn't mind and wanted to save the treasures.
DeleteHi, Janet!
DeleteI'm back online, dear friend, and thank you for coming! I also thank you for the well wishes regarding Hurricane Ian, one of the deadliest and most powerful storms ever to hit Florida, now being described as a 500-year flooding event. By the time you submitted this comment yesterday, Mrs., Shady and I had already been without power for two hours. We remained in a blackout throughout the evening and night. Thankfully, the power was restored this morning, and we are now cleaning up and trying to get back to normal. There are big branches down all over our property and much of it is under water.
Turning to this post, the launch of my epic 36-part series, and your comment about slow dance songs - yessum - records conducive to slow dancing always seemed to go over well at the Shady Dell. I used that criterion to select the 180 "Dellworthy" songs from Jim's extensive list of 12,130 titles. There are a few great mid and up tempo songs among the 180, but most of the selections are white doo-wop and black R&B ballads.
Yessum, when I first noticed "Tears On My Pillow" by The Chimes on Jim's list, I knew I had to be a good Dell rat and check it out, because I wasn't familiar with their recording. It turned out to be a completely different song, one that predated the hit by Little Anthony and group.
I'm so glad you enjoyed scrolling down and examining the vintage mag covers, ads and calendars of 1955. Yessum, I wonder if the publishers of Tempo magazine were suggesting that Marilyn Monroe would make a good Vice President? :) I also agree that tiny-waist models can produce anxiety and body image issues for normal size and plus size women. As for me, after a week of stressing over the approaching storm, I've seen all the "spaghetti models" I'd care to look at for a while. :)
In that Halloween ad for Reingold, you see spokesmodel Nancy Woodruff, "Miss Reingold." As a boy, I watched Nancy do commercials on Arthur Godfrey's and Jackie Gleason's TV shows. For three years, Nancy served as secretary of the NYC chapter of the D.A.R. - Daughters Of The American Revolution - a national society and service organization that was, at the time, segregated, but in recent years has become more inclusive, accepting African and Native Americans as members and elevating them to leadership positions.
(next)
Yessum, we all need to thank our friends Jim & Nancy Sieling for saving these records, and Jim for undertaking the unsavory task of cleaning them up after years of being stored in mouse dung, snakeskins and lord knows what else. It's a wonder Jim didn't find any live critters still nesting in those boxes!
DeleteThanks again for being here on this special occasion, dear friend Janet, and for your kind words and great comment. Enjoy the rest of your week and please give my buddy Benny lotsa lubbins!
I am loving the love you share with us today. These old 1950s ads just show how dar we come. From a ladu with beautiful hair and a great dress high heels and pearls( of course) to women who haven't comed their hair the hair might be a different colour. They wear too small leggings or their pajama bottoms...yes, we have come a long way. Others mentioned listening to the music but I don't see it anywhere. I hope you hot through the 🌀 with minimal damage.
ReplyDeleteHi, Birgit!
DeleteWelcome, dear friend!
Thanks for joining the fun as we trace the evolution of the "Shady Dell sound" through the Ike Eisenhower and J.F. Kennedy years and observe changes in Mad Men era fashions, pop culture trends and more in part 1 of my 36-post series Saved By The Dell - The Jukebox Giants That Time Forgot! As you might have noticed, the post includes three Dinah Shore pictures.... uh... I mean DINOSAUR pictures :) They reflect my lifelong fascination with the prehistoric beasts. For my birthday or at Christmas when I was around 5 years old, I received a set of authentic looking molded plastic dinosaurs that I treasured in the years that followed.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the fashion parade and agree that many women have become lazy about their appearance in recent decades, choosing casual comfort over class. I have always appreciated a "put together" look. The women you will see in this series on magazine covers and in print ads, including many "girl next door" type models, represent the way I remember most girls and women looking when I was a boy. They cared a lot more about how they looked when they left the house.
Birgit, this post is like my previous post, the one with Geraldo. All you need to do to listen to the songs is click on pictures of the 45 rpm record labels or record albums. There are only five songs in the post, and they are clearly marked. Look for the words "SAVED BY THE DELL" printed in bold red letters above each of the five images, and "DELL SONG (#)" beneath each image. When you click on the image, it opens a separate box enabling you to listen to the song on YouTube. When finished listening, simply close the box. That returns you to the post where you can continue scrolling down the page to the next song.
Yessum, we managed to get through Hurricane Ian AOK. This morning, I spent an hour picking up the yard. Hundreds of small branches were strewn all over the property along with a few large ones. Fortunately, no trees came down on our roof this time. Three or four trees landed on the roof during the hurricanes of the mid 2000s, and another toppled and crushed the neighbor's fence. The winds were fierce last night, but not quite as severe and sustained as what we endured in those earlier hurricanes. However, there are large puddles all over our property. Our power outage lasted 15 hours, which was reasonable and shorter in duration than the canes of the 2000s.
Thanks again for your visit and comment and for your caring and concern about our close encounter with monster hurricane Ian. We made out much better than thousands of others on the SW coast who dealt with devastating floods - a 500 year flood event - as it is being called.
Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend BB!
I found them and listened to the fun music. Glad you are both doing well.
Delete:) Thanks, BB!
DeleteFYI - My next post (on Oct. 9) also has a couple of songs that will require you to click on the image to play it on YouTube. I need to do this in some cases because the YouTube uploader does not enable the video to be embedded on other sites. The song can only be played on Y/T. I do this only when it is the best version of the song available. The other songs in the upcoming post can be played the regular way by clicking within the body of the post.
Thanks, dear friend!
I'm glad to read in the comments that you came through the hurricane alright. I'm glad to hear that.
ReplyDeleteThe mice and snake made themselves at home there in the box. Fashion sure has changed since these pictures.
Tears On My Pillow is the only song I recognized but I'm pretty sure it's been used in movies or shows and that's where I've heard it.
Hi, Mary!
DeleteThanks for swinging by, dear friend! I am pleased to have you here as I begin Saved By The Dell, a 36-part mega-series devoted to identifying and playing records of the 1950s and early 60s found on the Shady Dell jukeboxes.
Thank you very much for letting me know that you had your eye on the storm as I rode out hurricane Ian. It was no picnic, but we've seen worse here in Central Florida. It was a dramatically different story for folks on the SW coast where triple digit wind velocity and heavy flooding took a massive toll.
Yessum, what a revolting development. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that mice and snakes made themselves at home among the Dell's priceless platters. As Mr. Jinks from Pixie & Dixie used to say, "I hate those meeces to pieces!"
Yessum, in this 36 volume series, you will be able to observe the changing clothing and hairstyles from the mid 50s through 1963.
The Charms' song "Tears On My Pillow" is different from that recorded by The Imperials, and yet it does sound vaguely familiar to me as well. However, I can't remember how or when I first heard it.
Thanks again for your kind visit and comment, dear friend Mary!
Hi Shady, Last night and this morning, I was looking online at the devastation in Florida and hoping you and your family were okay. When I looked up Tampa Bay, I was relieved to see your area was not badly damaged. I'm so glad, but sad for those who suffered the loss of so much.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy we are going to hear these songs from the Dell that we may not know. It will be fun to hear them. In this batch, I think I liked, Teenage Prayer and Close Your Eyes the most. I bet it was lots of fun to dance along to romantic songs. I grew up in a strict household and was not allowed to go to dances, although I did sneak out and go to three, one at a Shakey's Pizza, one at the high school and one at a mountain resort. It's great that Jim found and saved this music.
I love the magazine covers. My favorite magazines of that time were, Seventeen, Tiger Beat and Photoplay. I collected pics of my favorite movie stars and pasted them in a scrapbook. I longed to have the clothes from Seventeen magazine and once, I showed my mom and picture of a pink swimsuit, and she bought it for me. I was so excited. Then when I was 18 saw a dressy pantsuit at a store that had been in the magazine and got it too. I've noticed that Seventeen is still in print! I also remember the brand name, Ship n' Shore. They sold good quality clothing.
I actually prefer the fashion of the 1940s when compared with the 50s. I think that is because I watched so many 1940 movies on TV when I was growing up. The clothes Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine and Myrna Loy wore made me want to wear clothes just like theirs. Also, I did have a small waist, but big hips and those full skirts looked awful on me. I'm happy to say, the 1960s had fashion that flattered my type of figure.
Thanks for the memories!
Hi, Belle!
DeleteI'm excited and delighted to see you, dear friend!
Yessum, we are AOK down here. Hurricane Ian was an unpleasant, uncomfortable, anxiety-producing and frightening ordeal. We lost power for 15 hours and wound up with a flooded property and lots of tree limbs scattered around the yard, but we haven't found any exterior damage and we stayed safe and sound, thankful to be alive. Along the Gulf coast southwest of us, the dawn's early light revealed mass devastation and severe flooding described as a 500-year event. Hundreds of residents might have perished because they had too little time to prepare for the fickle storm that couldn't make up its mind where it wanted to go until the last minute. Ian was one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike Florida. Needless to say, we are eagerly awaiting the end of the 2022 hurricane season.
Thank you for returning this week to see the first of 36 posts dedicated to the songs that played on the Shady Dell jukeboxes from 1955 through 1963, years before I arrived on the scene, got my mouse ears and joined the rat pack. I was thrilled to receive Jim's surprise email containing an alphabetical list of 6,065 Dell records and find out once and for all exactly which songs were played at my favorite hangout during that early period.
Thanks for singling out "Close Your Eyes" and "Teenage Prayer." You have probably heard the #1 Dell song "Close Your Eyes" before because I have posted it on several occasions on my two blogs. I became familiar with Gloria Mann's "Teenage Prayer" ten years sooner than "Close Your Eyes" because my big brother bought the record and brought it home. I played it quite frequently on my tiny tinny turntable down in the basement game room. As the record scan shows, "Teenage Prayer" as released on the Sound label. Sound Records was a company located in Philadelphia. In the mid 50s, Sound issued 22 singles in all by artists that included Gloria Mann, The Re-Vels and Billy Duke And His Dukes. Those three acts are the only ones I am familiar with.
You must have been the coolest teenager ever, Belle, and I wish I had known you back then. Thanks for sharing the anecdote about heeding the call of the wild and going to dances even though you were forbidden by strict parents to do so. As you know, hundreds of young people in Central PA were simultaneously doing the same thing you were doing - sneaking out to go to the Shady Dell, a hangout with a bad reputation.
I'm so pleased that you enjoyed gazing at the magazine covers and other period images. This series is for you, because each volume contains around 25 scans of vintage fashion magazine covers, clothing, soda pop, car and retail store print ads, celeb fanzines and calendars. You'll love looking at them, and they will surely bring back memories of growing up in America in the 50s and early 60s. I enjoyed your stories about scrapbooking images you collected from style, celebrity and teen idol mags, and how you actually got a swimsuit you spotted in an issue of Seventeen and a pantsuit you later saw in another publication. Yessum, the 1940s was another great decade for fashion. I'm sorry some of the styles you favored from that period did not fit you very well. I know for sure that you looked great in 60s mod clothing, because I still have that picture of you, circa age 14, holding baby sister Liz in your arms and wearing a groovy looking dress and the type of hat that London girls used to wear. What a great look on you, Belle! You were America's answer to Lulu!
I'm thrilled that you got so much enjoyment and so many memories from this vol. 1 post. Stick around, because there are 35 more in the series and they will be published monthly. And coming up in my next post on Tuesday, you'll meet six more new members of The Shady Bunch and learn about the radio shows they will soon be hosting here at Shady's Place.
Thank you again for your cheery visit and excellent comments, dear friend Belle. Take care and I hope to connect with you again soon!
NOTE TO ALL FRIENDS:
ReplyDeleteWe lost cable and internet Thursday night and it is still down as Saturday afternoon approaches. I am posting this message using a borrowed device with limited capacity and it keeps dropping out. Cable company's recorded message states that crew cannot reach the origin of the problem and work to restore service until it is "safe." That leads me to believe flood water from the hurricane or downed power pines are involved at the site. I have no way of knowing when I will be back up and running at 100%. I will try to continue blogging, but pages take a minute or more to load and freeze-ups are common. I hope this ordeal doesn't drag on much longer, but I have no way of knowing because the cable company hasn't really explained the situation. Thank you for understanding!
UPDATE: Our cable and internet service has been restored, at least for now. I thank everyone for their patience during my extended absence.
ReplyDeleteNote to Jerre and everyone:
ReplyDeleteIn my replies, I forgot to mention interesting facts about DELL SONG #5 - "Witchcraft" - by The Spiders. The Spiders, a New Orleans-based R&B vocal group, released their original version of "Witchcraft" around Halloween in 1955. It reached #5 on the Most Played by Jockeys chart. If the song sounds familiar to you, it is because it was also a hit for Elvis Presley. In the fall of 1963, The Pelvis released his cover on the B side of "Bossa Nova Baby,' a song from his movie Fun In Acapulco. Both sides of the single charted in the weeks before and after the JFK assassination, with "Bossa Nova" finishing at #8 and "Witchcraft" peaking at #32.
Good early Sunday morning Shady! If there's a prize for the late poster I think I won it. I sure hope all is well with you and Mrs. Shady and that storm didn't do damage to you or your home. My brother lives in Fort Myers and my nephew in Cape Coral. Phil's home got some damage but not bad. My nephew lost half his house. What a scary time it was. This post really took us back to a sweet time and place where fashion was just plain beautiful and glamour was in! I would love to score some of those outfits! The music is before my time but that's the reason for the post...to bring us back in time to get the feel of being a real Dell Rat and I can see why these songs would be ones to dance to with your sweetie. That box of old records with the snake was scary! It's sad to realize that when our time here on earth is done that our things have no meaning unless there's a family member or good friend to rescue them. Once my son Phil was working a construction site and in the dumpster there were tons of family photos. He just though it was sad that a whole life captured on film was now worth only the dumpster. I'm sure many Dell Rats are sad at how much was thrown away after John's passing. You've kept the memories and music alive and brought us back to that special place and time. I hope you have a good rest of this weekend and all is well down south soon. Thanks again for the memories!
ReplyDeleteHi, YaYa!
DeleteI'm excited and delighted to see you, dear friend! Thanks for coming over on your Sunday! I was hoping you wouldn't miss the beginning of this jumbo 36-part series, because every installment is tailor made for someone like you who pays close attention to clothing styles and hairdos of the past.
I'm very pleased that you enjoyed gazing at the vintage clothes and other reminders of "the way we were" in 1955. I wish I had film footage of the actual Dell rats of the mid 50s playing the jukebox and dancing. It would blow my mind.
YaYa, you brought up on a very important point. Somehow, around 2007, something got inside my head telling me to give blogging a try. I answered the call and chose to create a blog based on my experiences at the Shady Dell. If I had never became a blogger, or if I had chosen a different theme, none of this would ever have happened. Thousands of posts revealing startling secrets about the Dell, The Ettlines, Margaret Schneider, Phil Spangler's ancestors who lived at the Dell in the 1930s - none of it would ever have been put into print. Now all those facts, and all those stories are on the record. However, another dilemma has arisen. Thanks to Nancy & Jim Sieling, Kathleen Mae Schneider and other contributors, I have accumulated quite a few vintage Shady Dell artifacts, not to mention my collection of vinyl records containing Dell songs. I'm not going to live forever, but I have found no one in the younger generations of my family or in the younger generations of any of my Dell-related friends who has expressed any interest whatsoever in taking possession of these priceless items and caring for them on into the future. Who will "rescue" them when I'm gone? I shudder to think what might happen to them. Your story about Phil finding precious family photos in the trash is upsetting and drives home the point you and I are making.
Yessum, we are AOK down here in the wake of monster storm Ian. We had a 15 hour power outage followed by a 2.5 day cable and internet outage. Apparently flood waters and/or downed power lines impeded work crews striving to restore service. I am terribly sorry to learn that your brother and nephew were in harm's way and close to the eye wall when Ian made landfall. What a disaster that your nephew lost half his house! At least they are both safe and sound. Thousands of Florida residents were "in the same boat," hit hard, and lost their homes and in some cases their lives. This is why we dread the start of the hurricane season in Florida and are always glad when it is finally over.
Thank you again for your kind visit and comments, dear friend YaYa, and have a wonderful week ahead!
I liked the first one the best. I hope you survived Ian OK. I think I read somewhere that two Florida politicians asked for relief, and then, amazingly, turned it down. Is that right?
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