Post by mikef6 on Aug 12, 2018 0:55:06 GMT
Your Hit Parade began on radio in 1935 and came to television (NBC) in 1950. A quartet of singers – two women, two men – would take turns singing down the Top songs of that week, ending with #1. There were some cast changes in the first couple of years but 1953 saw the cast that I always watched as a young boy: Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms, and Gisele MacKenzie.
The end came when rock ‘n roll became mainstream in the mid-1950s. The legendary moment (which I unfortunately missed) had Big Band crooner Snooky Lanson attempting Elvis’ “Hound Dog.” Talk about Jumping the Shark. The shark practically ate the whole show that night. That must have been 1956 because Presley’s cover of Big Mama Thornton’s greatest hit landed on the Billboard Top 40 in August of that year. NBC cancelled YHP soon after, in 1957. YHP moved to CBS with a new cast and limped along there for two more years.
The show was sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Clockwise from top left: Snooky Lanson, Russell Arms, Gisele MacKenzie, Dorothy Collins
