I do wish those who were not around to watch any of the early media live would understand it was a different world. You cannot judge the past by the present. People actually fell asleep smiling and humming a song every night while watching TV. As the old saying goes, "Them days are gone forever" Did you watch it live? SedonaShadow 2008-03-23 03:56:06 2008-03-20 04:29:25 4 This was plenty odd, the music looks to be "adultified" for the over 40 crowd, just to pacify the older folks I guess. It's still fun to watch, just a tad strange. Watch the lady's teacup in the final bit. WHOOPS! Watch those eyebrows! Spuzz 2008-03-20 23:24:07 2008-03-20 23:24:07 4 This looks like it could've been an inspiration for the future Adams Family TV show. Gisele MacKenzie looks like a prototype Mortisha! Looks Familiar! Fuzzyqjones 2008-04-30 03:24:10 2008-04-30 03:24:10 2 Unusual and campy as it was for YHP, it was pretty good in spite of it being off the beaten path due to the new genre that was being handed to them during that point in the 50s, which they tried to make acceptable for their target audience and was the beginning of the end for YHP, but I loved what Giselle Mackenzie did with her eyebrows during the instrumental verse (I cannot do that). It was almost like, say....The Ray Conniff Singers trying to cover Black Sabbath, but it was plenty of fun to watch. Odd attempt to cover rock and roll Vianne 2008-05-07 01:36:32 2008-05-07 01:36:32 4 I'd like to add that the show, Your Hit Parade consisted of skits made up around the top 7(?) songs of the week. We would watch faithfully each week to see what songs "made it". The challenge really came when a song won week after week, like "Sixteen Tons". I remember wondering each week how they would pull it off. I imagine that this cover came from one of those skits when "Heartbreak Hotel won week after week and they came up with this one one week. You can see how much slower things were then because you couldn't imagine watching it now. It was so much fun though. Sweet. Here is an excerpt from http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/Y/htmlY/yourhitpara/yourhitpara.htm " Your Hit Parade was a weekly network television program that aired from 1950 to 1959. The program enjoyed some popularity but was never as successful as its radio predecessor which began in 1935 and ran for fifteen years before moving to television. Both the radio and television versions featured the most popular songs of the previous week as determined by a national "survey" of record and sheet music sales. The methodology behind this survey was never revealed but most audience members were willing to accept the tabulations without question. Both the TV and radio versions were sponsored by the American Tobacco Company's Lucky Strike cigarettes. Original cast members for the TV program included Eileen Wilson, Snooky Lanson, Dorothy Collins and a wholesome array of young fresh-scrubbed "Hit Parade Singers and Dancers." Gisele MacKenzie joined the cast in 1953. The TV version featured the top seven tunes of the week and several Lucky Strike extras. These extras were older more established popular songs that were very familiar to audiences. The top seven tunes were presented in reverse order not unlike the various popular music count-downs currently heard on radio. The top three songs were presented with an extra flourish and audience members would speculate among themselves as to which tunes would climb to the top three positions and how long they would stay there. The continuing popularity of certain songs over a multiple-week period had never been a problem for the radio version of the program with its "Top Ten" list. Regular listeners were willing to hear a repeat performance of last week's songs perhaps with a different vocalist than the previous week to provide variation. The television Hit Parade attempted to dramatize each song with innovative skits, elaborate sets, and a large entourage of performers. Creating new skits for longer running popular songs proved much more difficult on television, particularly when we recall such hits from the period as "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window" and "Shrimp Boats Are Coming." Possible Your Hit Parade Skit? mendomama 2008-10-15 15:52:14 2008-10-15 15:52:14 5 It works. You can absolutely tell this was done strictly for laughs. Years ago, I heard Merv Griffin sing, "How Deep Is Your Love" (a BeeGees song) and he was NOT doing it for laughs, but it WAS very funny (unintentionally, so). It just made me cringe in embarassment for the man. (Since he was as rich as God, I am sure he was not embarassed in the least.) Campy and cute! bestpbx 2008-12-22 22:56:20 2008-12-22 22:56:20 5 The premise of Your Hit Parade was to showcase the songs on the top of the charts each week. If a song stayed on the charts for many weeks the fun was to see how imaginative the show could get in presenting the song over and over. Classic Your Hit Parade RDB59 2009-06-11 23:20:17 2009-06-11 23:20:17 4 7 4.00