Open the Door, Richard

Yesterday's (Tuesday, September 1, 2009) Expecting Rain news page had a couple of interesting links provided by über-correspondent, Scott Miller, pertaining to the novelty hit single of 19 and 47, "Open the Door, Richard." One of the links was to a detailed Wikipedia article on the history of the song, which I commend to your attention. The nature of Wikipedia is such that it's often hit and miss when it comes to either accuracy or quality. But you'll occasionally find well-written articles that carefully cite their sources, as does this one. I question some of the anonymous author's conclusions, but that's what makes horse races.

Although the article says "Open the Door, Richard" started out life as a vaudeville routine, it's more likely that it was first a song on the blackface circuit, written by the great Bob Russell, who was working in a troupe called "The Florida Blossoms" during the mid-1900s. According to Pigmeat Markham, he of "Here Come De Judge" fame and one of several performers who would popularize the "Open the Door, Richard" routine, Russell wrote the song for a skit called, "Oh, You Mr. Rareback," and it was performed and possibly expanded by "Spider Bruce" (John) Mason. According to the book This is Pop, Mason claimed to have been doing the song as early as 1919, and definitely was performing it in a Broadway show called Bamboola in the late `20s.

One of Mason's co-actors in the show was a young comedian named Dusty Fletcher, who would later make his version of "Open the Door, Richard" a hit at the Apollo. The history Showtime at the Apollo describes Fletcher appearing on stage, "... dressed in rags, drunkenly weaving, and with a ladder as his only prop." With ladder planted center stage, Fletcher would bang on an imaginary door (sound effects provided by the orchestra pit), while imploring roommate Richard to open up in drunken semi-song. "I know he's inside," Fletcher would mutter. "I'm wearing our only suit." With Richard uncooperative, unresponsive, and likely in the embrace of love's sweet arms, Fletcher would next use the ladder to try to get in, only to crash to the floor.

Repeat for as long as the jokes would hold out.

Some sources say saxophonist Jack McVea saw Pigmeat Markham, who had inherited the routine from the retired Fletcher, perform "Open the Door, Richard." Other sources say he learned it directly from Dusty Fletcher himself. In either case, McVea decided that "Open the Door, Richard" would make a great novelty tune, similar to the stuff that Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five were getting action with, and came up with what he called "that simple melody," performing it along the R&B circuit, and gradually building up the story until it was a full-fledged musical fable.

In late 19 and 46, Jack McVea and His All-Stars went into the studio, recorded "Richard," and it was released on the Black & White label in January 1947. It was an immediate jukebox hit, sales outstripping supply so quickly that Black & White was out-of-stock of the single by February, when its "Richard" hit #3 on the Billboard charts. 10,000 copies of the single were shipped to New York City alone to meet demand.

As usual, a hit attracted the other big "M" often associated with music, "Money." Dusty Fletcher and John Mason surfaced, both claiming authorship of "Open the Door, Richard." In fact, Dusty Fletcher, being no fool, came out of retirement and into the studio and recorded his cover of "Open the Door, Richard" just days after McVea's release. Interestingly, Fletcher would also claim that one of his original versions of the song had been called, "Open the Door, Homer," a title later used for a much different version by a certain musician living semi-retirement in Woodstock during the late `60s.

Eventually it was decided there was enough moola from "Richard" to go around for (almost) everyone, and the song would be credited in later releases as, "Words by Dusty Fletcher and John Mason" and "music by Dusty Fletcher and Don Howell." Notably missing from the credits was Jack McVea. Nobody knows who the hell "Don Howell" was, although McVea's contention that the name was a pseudonymous front chiefly designed to screw him out of his rightful royalties is probably accurate.

There were dozens of covers of "Open the Door, Richard," including one by the Count Basie Orchestra, which hit the #1 slot just a month after the original's release. About every take on the song you can imagine was cut - bop versions, doo-wop versions, hillbilly versions, calypso versions, versions in French, Spanish, Swedish, Hungarian, Yiddish versions, white-guy versions by Jimmy Durante, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, and Burl Ives among others, and the slightly blue version by Walter Brown with the Tiny Grimes Sextet that we included above.

"Open the Door, Richard" would become a catch-phrase in both black and white communities for a decade, and may have sparked the first full-bore marketing craze of the post-war era, with everything from perfume to beer carrying the slogan. The song would lose its luster in the black community in the `60s, some feeling it was Uncle Tomish and on a par with "Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah." But its legacy lives on, bringing a smile to the faces of those of a certain age... just as long as they aren't named "Richard."

The original Royal Street Bachelors circa 1968.

From left: Jack McVea on clarinet, Herb Gordy on bass and Harold Grant on guitar.

Jack McVea only earned a few thousand dollars from his hit, calling it "just another song" from a money perspective. In his later career, he led a strolling group of Dixeland musicians at Disneyland for 27 years, from the `60s into the 1980s. My father was a gigantic Dixeland fan, always pausing our family on Disneyland's Main Street or in New Orleans Square when the band came by. It's likely I saw and listened to Jack McVea, not knowing who he was, while I impatiently waited to get to Adventureland.

McVea died in 2000. Eight years later, his "Open the Door, Richard" would be played during the "Lock and Key" episode of Theme Time Radio Hour, almost 60 years to the day after the song was first released. Our Host prefaced McVea's "Richard" with an excerpt from Dusty Fletcher's version, mistakenly crediting that one as the original.

Or maybe it was. Only Richard could tell us, and he ain't answering.

And for even more on the story, see "And Even More Richards"

Episode 50 - Short-Shorts

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[Dylan on "The Letter"]

"By the way, 'The Letter' is the second shortest single to reach Number One. It's under two minutes long. The only song shorter was 'Stay' by Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs." - Bob Dylan, "Mail" Theme Time Radio Hour, Season 2.

[Stay - Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs]

Outside of being the shortest song ever to reach #1 on the charts, clocking in at a tight 1:38, Maurice Williams' 19 and 60 Stay has stayed a popular song for years, gaining a whole new audience in 19 and 87 when it was showcased in the movie, Dirty Dancing.

Maurice Williams was born in Lancaster, South Carolina sometime between 19 and 38 and 1940 (sources differ on the year). He formed his first group, The Royal Charms in 1953, the same year that he'd write Stay and another mega-hit for the group that would become the Zodiacs, Little Darling. Both songs were written by Williams for a girl he was wooing.

By 1956, the Royal Charms had signed with Excello Records, based out of Nashville, and had changed their name to the Gladiolas, a kind of weird replacement suggested by the head of Excello, who thought there were already too many Royals and who liked flowers.

Little Darling by the Gladiolas was released by Excello in January of 19 and 57. It did great on the R&B charts, making it to the #11 spot, but Little Darling couldn't break into the Top 40 on the pop charts. But Little Darling would be a hit - in fact, chart to #1 - just not for the Gladiolas. A white group - the Diamonds - would cut their own version of the song, eventually selling over a million copies, as well as establishing the doo-wop style. Since Williams had retained full rights to the song, Little Darling ended up making him bags full of money at the tender age of 17.

In 1958, the Gladiolas decided to move from Excello, requiring yet another name change, as the label owned their name. A member of the group saw a German car, liked the name, and "the Zodiacs" were born. Two years later, the Zodiacs were cutting demos for Herald Records and Williams revived Stay for one of the recording sessions. Stay became their debut on the label, hitting the #1 slot in the fall of 1960, and became the biggest hit in the history of Herald Records.

Williams and the Zodiacs never had another record nearly as big as Stay, which has sold over 10 million copies and been covered by a variety of artists including the Four Seasons, Jackson Browne, and Chaka Khan.

Not bad for a song not much longer than a minute-and-a-half.

We'll be back to the second-shortest song to reach #1 in a bit, but to go up the charts, the all-time shortest charted single is Little Boxes by the Womenfolk, which ran just two seconds over a minute, and went to #83 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 19 and 64. The song was written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, and made popular by Pete Seeger, whose own version ran over two minutes.

Little Boxes is featured in the Showtime TV series Weeds as its theme song. The first season used Reynolds' recording, and later seasons have included versions by Elvis Costello, Engelbert Humperdinck, Randy Newman, Joan Baez, and Death Cab for Cutie, among others.

We also have the term, "ticky-tack" thanks to Little Boxes, a particularly annoying tune that Tom Leher once described as, "the most sanctimonious song ever written," which I tend to agree with, and is the reason why I'm not inflicting any version on you.

[Some Kinda Earthquake - Duane Eddy]

Duane Eddy's 1959 hit Some Kinda Earthquake remains the shortest song to ever hit the American Top 40, officially weighing in at 1:17. Two other very short songs that made it into the Top Ten include The Dave Clark Five's I Like It Like That (#7 in 19 and 65), which ran a brisk 1:37 and which was the same length as Leslie Gore's Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, which also charted that same year.

But beating them both as the shortest Top Ten single is this 1:28 number from 19 and 61, a one-girl duet that made it to #8 on the charts...

[Let's Get Together - Hayley Mills]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hayley Mills was a young Fred's heart-throb back when I was just a sprout in Saco, Maine, and I would probably still come running if she crooked her finger at me.

Let's Get Together is from the original The Parent Trap, one of the best live-action movies Disney ever made. As well as the 15-year-old Mills, the movie stars Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith doing his best John Wayne imitation. The role of the father, Mitch Evers , was originally written for John Wayne, with O'Hara slated for her regular role as his feisty Irish love interest. But the notoriously cheap Disney Studios refused to pay Wayne's going price, and substituted Brian Keith as a Wayne clone. Close your eyes and listen to Brian Keith's take on the role, and you can almost see John Wayne as father to the twins, Sharon and Susan.

The Disney songwriting team of the Sherman Brothers - who churned out most of Disney's hits in the `60s and `70s - wrote Let's Get Together, as well The Parent Trap's title song, which incidentally is sung by my other Disney girl, Annette Funicello. If anybody could have made me jilt Hayley, it would have been Annette.

I should note that the cut I played is taken from the movie. Hayley Mills' hit single has her doing the song as a solo. Of course, she did the other song as a solo too, I guess.

Okay, time to talk about the second-shortest #1 single ever, and I've got a problem, because I'm not sure Our Host and the Theme Time Radio Hour crack research team have it right that The Letter is the one. In fact, there's some pretty convincing evidence ag'in it. But considering how Mr. D. wailed on poor ol' Tim Ziegler about being too anal over facts and figures in the Lock & Key episode, I'm a little scared about bringing it up.

[Dylan - This isn't a classroom]

But, what the hell. Here's the deal. Nowhere can I find any evidence that The Letter was the second-shortest single ever to reach #1. "Under two minutes," yep the song certainly is. I've found versions ranging from a high of 1:57 to a low of 1:52. But let's give the original single the benefit of the doubt and say it clocked in at that 1:52. That's still eight seconds longer than the song which probably has the best claim to actually be the second-shortest #1 single.

[(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley]

From 19 and 57, Mr. Presley's #1 Summer Hit... all one minute and 44 seconds of it.

Now, I suspect this is one of those geeky things that guys in thick glasses and over-tight t-shirts argue about at record conventions, and who knows who's right? Are we counting what it says on the record label or are we timing it? Are we using the single that actually charted or another version? Does anyone care?

Maybe somewhere out there there is a version of The Letter shorter than 1:52, maybe it's even shorter than Teddy Bear. But in the end it probably doesn't matter except to guys like Tim Ziegler... because it's all about the music.

But I still think you got it wrong, Bob.


Some show notes: This Dreamtime marks our 50th podcast, believe it or not. When I started way back in July 2006, I had 50 shows targeted, the same number as what we thought was going to be Theme Time's total run at the time. But Our Host has decided to keep on going... and I've decided I'm still having too much fun doing Dreamtime to stop.

So, thank you all who have been with me from the beginning, welcome to those who have recently joined the Dreamtime audience, and I hope you all stay on-board as Dreamtime continues to roll along, talking about Theme Time Radio Hour trivia as we find it.

Thanks to all of you, and we'll be back soon with a new show.

Sources: The primary source for this show was The Both Sides Now Stereo Chat Board.

Maurice Williams biographical information comes from his home site.

***

You've been listening to the Dreamtime podcast – occasional commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Dreamtime is researched and written by Fred Bals and is a Not Associated With production. As the name says, we're not associated with XM Radio, Bob Dylan, or much of anything else.

Some of the music on Dreamtime is provided via the Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com.

Remember that the Dreamtime team loves to get email. You can write us at dreamtimepodcast@gmail.com

The Dreamtime top cats are Curly Lasagna and Shaggy Bear. Our announcers are the notorious honky-tonkin' sisters, Jailbait and Joyride.

Until next time, dream well.

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Rants and Raves: "This isn't a classroom here."

In my copious free time, I need to document the various rants Dylan occasionally lets forth on TTRH. I think this one, from the recent Lock & Key episode, ranks as #3 among my favorites, right behind "What happened to country music?" and "Commercial affiliation."

Note the perfect, stubborn geekiness of "Tim," who isn't going to let go from his assertion that, by God, it was the wrong label, no matter what Mr. D. says:

Our Host: "What's that Tex? Someone needs to talk to me on Line 2? All right. Hello caller, you're on the air. What's your name and where you calling from?"

Tim: "Yeah, uh, my name is Tim Ziegler calling from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois."

OH: "Why, that's beautiful country. What can I do for you, Tim?"

Tim: "Yeah, uh, I've been listening to the show all day, and that song you just played, 'Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door.' Well, you know, you told everyone it was on the King Record label, and, uh, I went to Wikipedia and sorry to tell you, it was on Apollo Records."

OH: "Huh! What do ya know? You're probably right, Tim. You know, sometimes we tell you who wrote the song, what kind of music it is, who else recorded it. But, you know, sometimes we don't get it right. I mean, it's important to remember, this isn't a classroom here. This is music we're playing. It's music of the field, of the pool hall. The back alley crap game. The bar room and the bedroom. We don't want to make it dusty and academic. It's full of sweat and blood. It's like life itself. If every once in awhile we get a name wrong, or we tell you it's on the wrong label, it's not going to kill anybody, Tim. Just listen to the music."

Tim: "Well, I hear what you're saying. But, ah, you know, it was on the Apollo Record label."

OH: "Thanks for your call, Tim."

Tim: "Yeah, thanks."

OH: "Well, there's no pleasing some people. That was 'Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door' by Wynonie Harris on the Apollo Record label. You happy, Tim?"