Salvaged and Restored -
The Shady Dell
Record Collection!
Vol. 5: Long Lost Dell Songs of
Winter, Spring & Summer, 1957
BEWARE! NOTHING CAN
PREPARE YOU FOR...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
Hello, friends! Dell Rat Tom
welcoming you to volume 5
of my exclusive 36-part
Shady's Place series
SAVED
BY THE
DELL
Today, you will travel
back to the first half of
1957
and find yourself
standing before
the Dell jukebox.
Those dimes
and quarters
you brought
along are
burning
a hole
in your
pocket...
so why not
feed them
to the record
machine and
play some
of the great
Dell songs
of early and
mid 1957?
This series was made possible by Jim Sieling, my good friend
in York, and the husband of John Ettline's niece Nancy.
Jim Sieling
(faithful friend of The Dell)
As you recall, Jim acquired the Dell's Seeburg jukebox (below)
and many of the records that played on it through the decades.
Keep in mind that the Dell had two jukeboxes - one in Helen's
snack bar up at the house, the other down in "The Barn" -
the dance hall John had built onto the barn and garage.
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.
Simply put - they were filthy.
Mice (Dell rats?) had made a home among the records, and at least
one snake (a Violet Hill viper?) had slithered in looking for a meal.
Jim undertook the mammoth job of cleaning, organizing and cataloging
the records, then sent me the finished alphabetical list. There are 6,065
records on Jim's list including Christmas records, 12,130 songs in all!
My series brings you the 180 best Dell jukebox songs from 1955
through 1963, a period long before I arrived on the scene.
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. We have Nancy to thank for rescuing many of the
Dell's priceless platters when they were art risk of being thrown into
a trash dumpster and destroyed, hence the name of my series...
SAVED BY THE BELL DELL
Of course, we also have Jim to thank for tackling the enormous
task of cleaning, organizing and cataloging these 6,065 records!
Okay, it's time to use your imagination. Pretend that you are
at the Dell looking at the musical menu on the jukebox.
Scroll down and play the next 5 Dell songs.
BEWARE AND BEHOLD...
LISTEN AND LEARN...
AS WE EXPERIENCE...
JUKEBOX GIANTS
THAT TIME FORGOT!
The records and pictures are arranged in chronological
order, allowing you to trace the evolution of the
"Shady Dell Sound" and clothing styles
month by month through the years.
You know the drill.
ENJOY THE VINTAGE FASHION
PARADE AND FANZINES.
CLICK ON PICTURES OF
RECORDS TO PLAY SONGS.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 1957
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 21
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 22
MARCH - APRIL 1957
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 23
MAY - JUNE - JULY 1957
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 24
JULY - AUGUST 1957
SAVED BY THE DELL
DELL SONG 25
Once again I thank our late, great friend of the Dell,
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
Shut the front door! I think I'm first again! Whoop Whoop! 1957...what a great fashion year and all the songs were ones I could see all the Dell Rats dancing cheek to cheek with their sweeties! Now, lets go back to the fashions. I was only 4 in '57 so I wouldn't have rocked any of those clothes but I remember my Mom in them or perhaps I just remember the photos she was in. I swear the fashion from then could be done today. That is if there are any kids, women, etc, that are as tiny as the ones back then. I think we've all grown over the years as a nation. But I digress! I loved the ads for Pepsi...my fav drink. Of course I only do the diet version which was not an option back then I believe. Perhaps they put much less sugar in the pop in those days? The bathing suits reminded me of something.....oh yes, they look like the homecoming dresses I saw on Facebook in the Fall! Ha! Also the short shorts in the one ad were so cute but today I guess if you don't have "cheek leak" your shorts are too long! Well, I know that the Dell was all about the music but I love that you put these cool ads and pics in about the fashion and also you can see the prices were so different! Inflation? Yeppers! I hope you have a great week Shady as we slide out of January. I know even Florida has been hit with awful weather this month. Stay warm but always remain "COOL"!
ReplyDeleteHi, YaYa!
DeleteYessum, by golly, you're the Early Bird for the second week in a row, dear friend, and I thank you for being the first to arrive! The gold statue of Shady is yours and yours alone. Display it proudly on your mantel. :)
I agree that 1957 was a great fashion year. It's a curious phenomenon that, when you watch an old 1950s movie or TV show in black & white, it looks its age, but seeing these young models in color fashion layouts makes if seem, at least to me, like the photo shoots took place much more recently. This goes along with the point you made concluding that the styles of 1957 would look great on today's women. I'm sure quite a few modern fashion trends are based on great vintage looks like the ones you see in today's post. You make another good point that most young people in the 50s were slimmer and trimmer than today's youth, partly because 50s kids spent much more time outdoors engaging in vigorous physical activity.
You are really sinking your teeth into this series, YaYa, and I'm delighted to give you plenty of women's clothing styles to gaze at and evaluate as we progress through the 36 volumes. I very much appreciate your input and observations as we go along. I'm learning a lot from the things you've written.
Yessum, I added all of these vintage print ads, magazine covers and calendars of the period because I realized that the posts needed more than these obscure, esoteric Dell songs in order to appeal to readers like you. I'm glad I followed my instincts.
Yessum, prices are mentioned in some of these ads, allowing us to note the difference inflation has made in the decades since. The other day, Mrs. Shady and I bought a loaf of bread on the layaway plan. We hope to have it paid off by Christmas!
Well, our fickle weather continues to seesaw, YaYa. The last two days we've had near record heat with high temps in the mid 80s. I am looking forward to more winterlike conditions before the season's over. I realize the opposite is true for folks up there in Ohio.
Thank you again for your kind visit and great comment, and for being a champion Early Bird during the first month of 2023. Your personal recollections relating to the content are always of interest to me. Please give my sweetie Annabelle some yummy table scraps and enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend YaYa!
Great post again. I have in my collection, Please Say You Want Me, Don't Ask Me to Be Lonely and Deserie. I know the other Schoolboys song, but did not know In My Heart. This is about the time I started buying 45s. And I also remember Carol Lynley!! The January calendar is close to some of the ones I remember in the gas stations. Jerre
ReplyDeleteHi, Jerre!
DeleteThanks for your back-to-back visits and comments, good buddy! I'm pleased to have you here to see and hear the rarities our friend Jim Sieling found in the Shady Dell's jukebox record collection.
That Main Line single, the rare Philly blues ballad "In My Heart" by Al Whitfield fronting The Pancho Villa Orchestra, is my Pick To Click. What a wild card! It blows my mind to think of Dell rats in early 1957 discovering, playing and dancing to it. It is actually the B side of a Pancho Villa Orch. single, with the rockin' instrumental "After School Rock" as the A side:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qYhbXCDjjQ
From what I've learned, Pancho Villa's Orchestra was the house band on Philadelphia's Main Line and Casino record labels. The Main Line label released only three other singles in addition to this one. They include "Long Lonely Nights" by Lee Andrews And The Hearts, a 1957 single by the Fabulaires ("While Walking"/"No No") and a 1957 platter by The Superiors ("Don't Say Goodbye"/"Lost Love")."
Casino is the label that released singles by Billy Duke and His Dukes, The Chords, "Try The Impossible" by Lee Andrews And The Hearts, The Videos ("Trickle Trickle"), The Avalons, The Cobras ("La La"), The Rockin' Rebels ("Wild Weekend"), Billie & Lillie ("La Dee Dah") and Dickie Doo And The Don'ts ("Click Clack").
As one YouTuber suggested, and I agree, this "In My Heart" single would be a much sought after doo-wop recording today if only Al Whitfield had been backed by a vocal group along with the Villa Orchestra. Even so, I think it's a great sound out of Philadelphia that somehow found its way into the Dell jukebox all those years ago. That's exciting to me!
Thanks again for dropping in for Vol. 5 of the series, good buddy Jerre. We will soon be getting into the heart of the batting order in this series, the more familiar doo-wop sounds from the years you went to the Dell. Stay tuned!
Yes, how about 15 year old future "it girl" Carol Lynley!
DeleteKnow most of Casino releases you mentioned, I remember Dickie Doo and the Don'ts. I wonder if he was related to Jack B. Nimble and the Quicks or Little Duck and the Drakes. I really like Lost Love by the Superiors. Also like several Avalons releases. Don't know why I was not a big Lee Andrews fan except for Long Lonely Nights.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jerre!
DeleteJim Sieling just informed me that song #25, "Deserie," was not playing and was marked "private" requiring sign-in. I listened to all 5 songs first thing this morning and they all played fine at that time. I don't know why the uploader has suddenly made the video private. FYI, I have replaced the video, and now you should be able to listen to another nice stereo remaster of that 1957 hit by The Charts.
I acquired "Long Lonely Nights" when I bought the 1957 Joe Niagara volume of the Cruisin' album series. I got most of Lee Andrews' other hit sides on various artists albums hosted by Niagara and other Philadelphia radio personalities including Jerry Blavat, Hy Lit and Georgie Woods. I just checked Jim's Shady Dell records master list and nothing by The Superiors is on it.
It's sad to see lovely young Carol Lynley on that Life mag cover and recall that she died of a heart attack in the fall of 2019 at the too young age of 77. Her ashes were scattered into the sea off the SoCal coast, I read.
Thanks again for coming over on day one, good buddy Jerre! Don Cornelius is up next (after Gary Owens' news) with another edition of Shady Train! The Train starts running next Monday. Take care, good buddy!
Hey, Jerre, I just wanted to even-up the comment total by stating what you might already have noticed but I didn't notice until now. Carol Lynley appears twice in this post, on the cover of Life in April, 1957, and again on the cover of the June issue of Seventeen. Verification that it is indeed Carol can be found on Pinterest:
Deletehttps://www.pinterest.com/pin/253116441546926300/
1957 must have been Carol's breakthrough year.
Enjoy the rest of your week, good buddy Jerre!
I think what I enjoy most in these posts are the advertisements. I believe Winston used that same catch phrase throughout the 60s and maybe even in the 70s. (once upon a time, decades ago, I smoked Winston Lights) Seeing Gale Storm sent me down the Wiki rabbit hole. I don't know why I had it in my head she had anything to do with Father Knows Best, but no... it was Little Margie. I'm afraid with all the visuals that the music took a back seat this time!
ReplyDelete~ Kelly
Hi, Kelly!
DeleteThanks for coming by on day one, dear friend! You captured the bronze! :)
Yessum, I knew that these long lost, obscure, seldom heard oldies would excite hardcore Dell rats, but I wanted the volumes of this long series to include visuals that would interest just about everyone else. In addition to making the posts eye-catching, they are educational, revealing a lot about who we were, how we dressed, what we did in our leisure time and the range of products that were marketed to us by advertisers. Moreover, the records and pictures are in sync with each other as we follow the timeline month by month, enabling us to trace the evolution of the Shady Dell Sound as we also follow fashion and celebrity trends and product advertising strategies. Yessum, I certainly remember that Winston slogan, along with "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!" showing people with black eyes, and many other catchy ad slogans of the day.
I'm excited that you were inspired to do a little research on the side and get the scoop about Gale Storm. As a young boy, I watched her series My Little Margie, which ran from 1952 to 1955. From 1956 to 1960, I watched The Gale Storm Show: Oh, Susanna. Gale was also a recording artist with a pretty good string of easy listening pop hits.
Shady Bunch "Hostess With the Mostest" Joyce Martin (Yvonne Lime), star of the 1958 movie High School Hellcats, played Betty Anderson's friend Dotty Snow aka Dottie Snow in a recurring role on Father Knows Best that lasted from 1956 to 1960. "It's a small world after all."
Thank you again for your kind visit and comment, dear friend Kelly. Enjoy the rest of your week!
Hello my friend. I'm afraid I don't remember any of these tunes but I really enjoy looking at all the retro clothes and ads. They are the sort of thing that is very popular in my junk journaling community. I went through and saved some of the books and magazines my mil was getting rid of for that reason. Have a wonderful rest of your week, dear Shady.
ReplyDeleteHi, Janet!
DeleteThanks a lot for joining the day one fun, dear friend! I'm very happy to see you and to know that you appreciated this 5th batch of images that remind us of "the way we were." Most of my blog friends are women, and I predicted that adding colorful pictures from fashion magazines and catalogs would be a smart move on my part. Thanks for letting me know that the ladies in your circle have a fondness for retro clothing styles and vintage print ads. Direct them here to Shady's Place where they will see many more ads in this series for cars, cigs, booze, cosmetics and other items. You were lucky to get your hands on those old books and mags your MIL intended to throw away. One person's trash is another's treasure, and that is the basis for this series Saved By The Dell.
I hope the weather is settling down out your way, that Bill's mom is feeling more at home as your new neighbor, and that you and my buddy Benny are in good health and in good spirits. Thanks again for coming over to experience this month's fashion parade and Shady Dell platter party. Enjoy the rest of your week, dear friend Janet!
The vintage ads are really cool. Some you would never see today.
ReplyDeleteHi, Alex!
DeleteThanks for taking a peek at the post, good buddy!
Yes, you will be seeing quite a few tobacco and alcohol ads because they were very common during this period. It will be interesting to note the subtle changes that take place in the advertising of various products in the remaining six-and-a-half years covered by this series.
Thanks again for coming by, good buddy Alex, and enjoy the rest of your week!
Loving this music from the year my hubby was born. I gave not heard of any of these...they sound new to me but they are all easy on the ears. I love the fashion of this time...the outfits look classy and feminine although I'd have a heck of a time walking in those penny heels. I'd love Hats and gloves to come back into fashion. I'm still amazed at all the work this man did to clean up self these vintage records.
ReplyDeleteHi, Birgit!
DeleteThanks for staying up late to visit Shady's Place, dear friend!
These songs are little known and seldom heard, BB. It doesn't surprise me that they are new to your ears. Like a good Dell rat, you checked out the tunes and found that you like them.
Yessum, the big draw for most of you is the visual component featuring an array of vintage magazine covers, fashion modeling pics from retail store catalogs, print ads and calendars. Everyone, women and men alike, seems to appreciate the classy, feminine clothing styles of the 1950s. Yessum, it was common at the time for women and girls to dress up and complete their looks with hats and gloves.
Thanks for acknowledging Yorker Jim Sieling for all he did and continues to do to preserve remnants of Shady Dell. "Let the record show" that Jim is a great friend.
Thank you again for coming early and staying up late, dear friend BB. I hope you and my buddy Harley are both well and in fine spirits this week. I'll be over to see you in a bit for Wednesday song day at BBC!
I love those old ads and magazine covers! They remind me of reading my grandmother's copies of Reader's Digest magazine <3
ReplyDeleteHi, Deniz!
DeleteIt's nice of you to drop in, my new friend. Thank you for coming! I know this is IWSG "first Wednesday," and I will be over in a bit to find out what's going on with you and other authors this month.
I'm delighted that you enjoyed gazing at the vintage ads and cover girl fashions and that they brought back fond memories of being exposed to such material via your grandmother.
Thanks again for visiting Shady's Place, Deniz. Have a safe, happy and productive February!
Good morning, Tom! I'm sorry for not making it by yesterday. I got sidelined going through all of my email accounts to unsubscribing to marketing emails and anything I didn't recognize I marked as junk. Cleaning up the in-box is such a headache. Hopefully, doing these steps will keep me from being bombarded daily in the future.
ReplyDeleteListening to your song picks from your Shady Dell days reminded me this morning of Cindy Williams passing this week. Like Happy Days, the spin-off Laverne & Shirley was a fun, wholesome weekly TV.
It won't be a surprise to you that I don't know any of your featured songs. I think my favorites are "Please Say You Want Me" and "Please Don't Ask Me To Not Be Lonely". Thanks for continuing to share music from the Doo-Wop era. It's a pleasure to travel back in time either before my time or when I was only a wee one. Have a doo-wop, ditty-ditty, fun day, my friend!
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteWelcome to part 5 of my 36-part Saved By The Dell series, dear friend! I'm pleased to see you and thank you for coming over.
Yessum, keeping your email inbox free of junk can be a time consuming challenge. As I told you, most of my posts from now on will run six days apart, giving you an additional day to visit.
Yessum, thanks for mentioning the death of actress Cindy Williams, another much loved celebrity we have lost as the Reaper goes on a rampage in the early weeks of 2023. I always liked Cindy. I remember her Shirley Feeney character being introduced in five episodes of Happy Days, but I didn't watch Laverne & Shirley. Therefore, I will always best remember Cindy in the role of Laurie Henderson, Steve Bolander's (Opie Taylor's) teenage girlfriend in American Graffiti.
Yessum, the tail end of this long series of mine will feature songs that played at the Shady Dell around the time you were born. I don't expect you to know many of the doo-wop ditties in this series, but I'm glad you picked a couple of favorites in this latest set of five. You can also enjoy gazing at the parade of fashions as you listen to the tunes in every volume.
Thanks again for joining the fun, dear friend Cathy. Enjoy the rest of your week!
Tom,
DeleteIt's Groundhog Day! Will we be serving roasted groundhog for dinner? I'm sure that's what most of us will want to do if that over-sized rodent makes a lousy prediction for the next six weeks. Now, I want to watch the movie, Groundhog Day. We might do that this weekend. :)
The one thing I enjoy most are your posts that captures the 50s and 60s, an area that seems fabulous. Parents had worries, kids got in trouble, and a number of other repeated scenarios but it still it was a simpler time. I guess that's what makes those decades seem dreamy. Music from this period more than anything keeps these feelings alive. In this series I love how you not only share the Shady Dell music but the classy, elegant fashion. It's a shame to see women, especially dressing horridly. Ditch the tight spandex black pants, ladies! It doesn't make you look skinny. Sometimes, I'd like scream, "HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF MAKE UP?" What's with the so-called natural look? Most of our grandmothers powdered their noses and wore a little lipstick in their days or if they couldn't afford the extra on cosmetics they would always wear their "Sunday's best" to the grocery store. Young women today need to mimic the women of yesterday for a more appealing appearance. I'm sure you'd agree they'd certainly turn some heads.
I'm sorry for ranting a bit. It's so refreshing to skim through the old images in your posts and to hope for things to return to a time when people cared how they looked (and act for that matter) in public. Thank you, thank you for reminding us.
Thanks for sharing again with me on my journey through photos and memories of our Maine vacation. I'm sorry for the quick change in my posting schedule but I didn't realize that I had things terribly messed up if I wanted to continue with these posts & TAD on/off week rotation. My brain is scramble. lol
Have a terrific Thursday, my friend!
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteThanks for coming over again, dear friend! I'm always happy to see you. Yessum, Happy Groundhog Day! I mentioned it to Mrs. Shady yesterday, but forgot about it today until you mentioned it. I think the famous whistle pig will see his shadow and predict (at least) 6 more years of friendship for you and me. Sound good? :)
Yessum, I am delighted to expose you to sights and sounds from the years before you were born. It helps give you an idea of what life was like when I was a boy and in my early teens. It was indeed a different world.
You and I have always agreed about the way many modern women choose to present themselves in public. In recent decades, many have adopted a "natural look" instead of wanting to look their best by enhancing their appearance with makeup. Around the same time, they stopped dressing up to appear pretty, elegant and feminine, and started dressing strictly for comfort, hence the haphazard "Wal-mart look." I can think of several reasons behind this trend. One reason I can think of for women to be taking shortcuts with their appearance is that they are too busy to spend a lot of time in front of the mirror. Some have been traumatized, victims of rape and/or abuse, and in their depressed state they neglect their appearance. Many of them have simply abandoned tradition and refuse to "play the game" anymore. They don't want men to appreciate their physical beauty, only their "inner beauty." It's a shame they believe that if a man appreciates one facet of a woman, he cannot appreciate the other.
i was happy to read your latest post and view the slide show and video taken on this portion of your Maine vacation, covering your stay in Bar Harbor. Yessum, I look forward to your 4M Monday feature and your next Thursday Art Date With Rain. I am also eager to see how your band battle turned out. Last I checked, yesterday, the team I was on was winning.
Enjoy your Thursday and have a wonderful weekend, dear friend Cathy!
You have some very long-standing friends, Shady. That speaks well of you and the Dell, for sure. Hated to see that "rat" nest among your treasured records--the snake probably didn't do much harm, but just slithered through.
ReplyDeleteAnd the clothes from the late '50s...good memories. I may have to dig through a closet or two and see if I can ferret out one of those old gems. :-)
Hi, Cheryl-Lee!
DeleteI'm very happy to see you, dear friend. Happy February, 2023, and welcome back to Shady's Place!
I'm pleased that you you got some enjoyment out of this month's volume of my series Saved By The Dell. I believe the mice posed a greater threat to those old Dell records than did the snake. It's also a shame that the records were left unprotected in those dusty, dirty cartons without proper clear plastic storage sleeves. That's no way to treat a vinyl record collection, especially one that carries thousands of Dell rat memories with it.
I'm thrilled that you liked the vintage fashions so much that you are compelled to rummage through your closet in search of similar.
Thanks again for dropping in on IWSG Wednesday, dear friend Cheryl-Lee. Enjoy the rest of your week and month and I hope to see you again soon!
Well all of these songs were new ones for me. I'm a little surprised that I didn't know any of them but they sounded good.
ReplyDeleteSome of those ads though seem kinda familiar. I might not have seen those exact ones in the 70's but I'm sure they were similar to those you shared.
Have a good rest of your week.
Hi, Mary!
DeleteThanks for coming to the Vol. 5 platter party and fashion parade, dear friend! Looks like the blog gremlins gave up on you. :)
These five songs from early 1957 are not well know to most people today. Even I didn't know about three of them until I found them on Jim's list, played them on YouTube and decided I like them. I chose these five songs because I consider them "Dellworthy," meaning they have the kind of sound I believe Dell rats of 1957 would have picked to play on the jukebox. I'm happy that you like them.
Together we will witness the subtle changes in clothing styles and advertising campaigns as we proceed through the fall and Christmas season of 1957 in the next volume and then onward through 1963 in the rest of the series. It will be fun and educational.
Thanks again for coming by, dear friend Mary. I hope things are going well in Vegas for you and my buddy Falcor. I'll be over to see you at Dark Thoughts this weekend!
Hi Shady! I'm walkin' backwards and missed your previous post, and will try to get back to it. We're surrounded in icicles this morning coming from the ice-cold rain of the last few days.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool group of photos and pictures from the late 50's you've shared! I love the Coke, Pepsi and 7-up ads. I was a 7-up fan in those days, but we were only allowed soda on special occasions. As a "former" smoker, I reminisced over the Winston ad! I have to say, that even the bad habit ads were fun to watch. The fashions of the day were great! My sister had a Catalina swimsuit one summer that 'wowed' all of the guys at the pool! It really wasn't recommended that you get in the water with the suit on, being made of some kind of knit fabric and verry clingy when you step out of the water...imagine that! I remember Vanity Fair, Seventeen and Life magazines. Carol Lynley was so pretty and popular an actress at only 15!
I'm sorry to report that I don't know any of your song offerings, but I enjoyed hearing them. The Schoolboys put out some good vocals for doowop and I liked "Please Say You Want Me". Al Whitfield's "In My Heart" is soulful and a good one to listen to. I liked The Dubs "Don't Ask Me to Be Lonely". They are a good singing group with great harmonies!
It was quite a job for Jim to go through the Dell records, cleaning and categorizing them for us to enjoy! A lot of care and dedication went into and what fun to find such a collection from earlier years.
This has been a wonderful tribute to Jim's wife Nancy and to Jim also. I'll bet there are plenty more great Jukebox Giants this collection yet to come. Thank you Shady and Jim for bringing these greats to us.
Hope you are doing well Shady. We've been iced under since Monday afternoon, and "fingers crossed" we are with power when so many others are not. We are getting some rain today which hopefully will assist with melting the ice. Scootie has been out of school since Monday afternoon, and I don't want to get out in my car in this ice. Take care dear friend!
Hi, Suzanne!
DeleteI'm delighted to see you again this week, dear friend! Welcome to Part 5 of my series featuring old gold salvaged from The Shady Dell jukebox, plus a parade of fashions, magazine covers, advertisements and calendars reminding us of what life was like way back when, in this case, early to mid 1957.
Yessum, I read that you were getting hit by an ice storm over there. I know how destructive they can be, and hope you don't lose power this time. I'll be thinking about you. I appreciate you making time for some pleasant distraction at Shady's Place in the midst of life's hassles.
Yessum, it's been many years since I had my last taste of soda pop, but I drank a lot of it in the 1950s and 60s. Like you, I preferred 7-up to Coke or Pepsi, although I was also fond of novelty flavors of soda like Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, Orange, Grapette and Cream Soda. Like you, I am a former smoker, and the cigarette ads in this series will bring back fond and not so fond memories of the good old days when smoking was healthful and famous actors and athletes were pitchmen for tobacco companies.
Thanks for letting me know you also liked the parade of fashions from 1957 that you gazed upon as you scrolled down the page. Thanks for letting me know your sister wore a Catalina swimsuit. I remember it being the official swimsuit of the Miss America pageant. (Remember Bert Parks hosting the event?) The annual Miss America Pageant is another example of a relic of the past. Back then, it was a very big deal, "must see TV," but in recent years it comes and goes barely noticed by most people.
Yessum, there you see cute newcomer Carol Lynley posing for the cover of Seventeen at age 15, and also appearing on the cover of Life Magazine, an indication of how buzzworthy she already was at that age. She was born Carol Anne Jones and was known as Carolyn Lee when she started out as a child model. Far as I can tell, Carol had only appeared in one TV show, Goodyear Playhouse, and zero movies by the time Life Magazine put her on the cover. That's extraordinary, if you think about it. Carol must have landed the cover of Life strictly on her merits as a young model.
The dusty discs in this volume of Saved are more obscure than most sets of five you will hear in the rest of the series. Before getting Jim's list and auditioning the records, I was not familiar with The Schoolboys or with The Pancho Villa Orchestra or vocalist Al Whitfield.
I'm so glad you appreciate how important this series is to original Dell rats, and how much it means to us to have had Jim & Nancy Sieling on our team, serving as our eyes and ears at the Dell during the critical period after John Ettline died, when his estate was being prepared for auction and much of it considered junk and thrown in the trash. Jim & Nancy intervened and "Saved" the precious "Jukebox Giants" of the Shady Dell.
Yessum, please stay off the roads, at home safe and sound, until that treacherous ice melts away. "More power to you" in the days ahead. We are having springlike weather here in Central Florida. That means highs in the lower 80s, too warm to stay outdoors for long periods of time doing yard work, etc. So, yes, we've been running the air conditioner day and night for several days now while you have been riding out an ice storm. I'm so sorry!
Thanks again for coming to the party. Please take good care of yourself and Scootie, and join me if you can next week, starting Monday, when Don Cornelius invites you aboard his Shady Train for another hip trip across the tracks of your mind into the exciting world of Soul.
Have a nice Thursday and Friday and a safe and happy weekend, dear friend Suzanne!
Wow! That was quite a job organizing all of that. Loved seeing all these images! Like going back in time.
ReplyDeleteHi, Sherry!
DeleteHow are you, my newlywed friend? I'm pleased to see you! Happy February!
Thanks for coming over and flashing back to the year 1957 in Vol. 5 of my series Saved By The Dell. Yessum, the more I think about it, the more I appreciate the great job Jim Sieling did of cleaning and organizing the Dell record collection, or what was left of it. You see, Jim believes some, perhaps many of the Dell's jukebox 45s were thrown away before his wife, Nancy, could save them from destruction. I'm thinking a small percentage of the records might have made it to auction and are now in the private collections of former Dell rats.
I'm glad you enjoyed the sounds and images that transported you back to the Fab Fifties. Thanks again for dropping by and enjoy the rest of your week and month, dear friend Sherry!
Hi Shady,
ReplyDeleteIt's a hangover type of day. David's friend Justin turned 21 yesterday and we celebrated with him. What fun and many wonderful memories were made. Now I wish I played some of these 1957 hits last night. Ah, well, they're fun to listen to now.
Special thanks to both Jim and Nancy. I'm so glad Jim could clean off those records and restore them. I love Nancy's drawings and her memory will live on through her work, as well as your blog. I love how you keep memories alive. :)
Have a wonderful Thankful Thursday, dear friend.
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteHappy Thankful Thursday, dear friend! Welcome to part 5 of my long series and thanks a lot for stopping by!
I don't know if you could call any of these Dell records "hits," because a few are obscure and none of them burned up the charts. "Don't Ask Me (To Be Lonely)," the record by The Dubs, is the biggest hit of the bunch but, even so, it only reached #72 on the Pop chart and failed to register at all on the R&B chart. "Please Say You Want Me" by The Schoolboys peaked at #13 on the black chart but failed to make a dent on the pop chart. The flip side of that Schoolboys' record, "Shirley," reached #15 on the R&B chart and #91 on the pop chart. The last record in today's set, "Deserie" by The Charts, merely made the Bubbling Under survey, peaking at a lowly #132. So, while these records might have been "hits" at the Dell, none of the five could be called a major hit nationally by any stretch.
Happy -b-day to David's friend Justin! I'm happy to know you made some new memories helping him salivate. :) Thanks for acknowledging Shady Dell VIP's Jim & Nancy Sieling for all of their hard work and contributions.
Enjoy the rest of your TT and have a safe and happy weekend, dear friend JM!
Some very good songs that I never heard before. My favorite this week is the very first Schoolboys song "Shirley". Other than that, the rest of my comments had to do with the imagery.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to see Carol Lynley on the cover a 1957 Life magazine. I didn't think she'd even been discovered, and certainly not at the age of 15. Well, I looked it up on Wikipedia. She had been discovered as a teen model, but not yet as an actress. Still, Life was the one of the most highly circulated magazines of the day, so to get on the cover for any reason was a big deal.
If that Rave magazine is from 1957, then there's a dead man on the cover, as James Dean left this world in 1955, when Elvis was still just a regional act. I wonder if it's a scandal magazine, a la Confidential, which was popular at the time. Billie Holiday clearly looks out of it. I bet there's a juicy story about her as well as one on the live-fast-die-young-leave-a-beautiful-corpse Dean on the inside.
I was curious who who illustrated those Pepsi ads, since I find the style kind of striking. It took a while, but it was a man by the name of Coby Whitmore, a much sought-after commercial artist of the day. The Ellis and Howard Ltd calendar was illustrated by Gil Elvgren, a much sought-after pin-up artist of the day.
That's all I got.
Hi, Kirk!
DeleteWelcome in, good buddy! It's a pleasure to see you at a different time of the day and week. Thanks for taking a peek at the post midway through its run!
I'm glad you liked the tuneage that was played on the Shady Dell jukebox in the first half of 1957. As I told Jessica (above), "Shirley" reached its peak at #15 on the R&B chart, but only made it to #91 on the pop chart. Shirley, it deserved to climb higher.
As I discussed with Suzanne (above), it is a bit of a mystery why and how 15 year old model Carol Lynley wound up on the cover of Life magazine when she only had one TV credit by that time and zero movie credits. In her brief career as a child model, she must have impressed the heck out of some people in high places. Either that, or it was a really really really really really slow week, and Life didn't have anyone else to put on the cover.
I have "proof" that the Rave Magazine was indeed an early 1957 issue. In fact, it is the January 1, 1957, issue of the gossip mag according to this seller on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Magazine-January-Mansfield-Billie-Holliday/dp/B07Z2G65VB
And check this out. Follow the link below, then scroll down the page and you will find a blurb giving the gist of the James Dean article. A model who claims she had an intimate relationship with Dean offers a "fresh impression" of "the late great idol":
http://www.elvisechoesofthepast.com/rave-january-1957/
Yes, Coby Whitmore's eye pleasing artwork will appear again and again in this series, so stick around. I admire his work tremendously. You might also see an occasional pinup, but not very many, because I have another series, Shady's Angels, devoted to showcasing the classic pinups the great mid 20th century pinup artists.
Thanks again for joining the fun, good buddy Kirk. Take care, have a nice Friday and a wonderful weekend!