Hollywood Playboys, "Talk To Audrey" c/w "Ding, Dong, School Is Out," Sure S-105 (rel. 6/1960)

 

As I view publicity photos of little-known groups from the era covered here, I think, many times: people sure looked different back then. It's not the clothes or the hairstyles-it's the facial constructions, the head-to-torso ratio, the cast of their eyes. I try to imagine these people in 2025; it's difficult. Have the visuals of mankind changed so over 60 years' time? I just can't see any member of The Hollywood Playboys shopping at Costco, nervously flipping through an Instagram account on their cell phone or in line at a coffee house in search of a fancy latte. 

Once in a while I'll see a modern-day person with old-school looks in a crowd of people. They're incongruous and, I hope, unaware of this as they go about their life. A random musing, I realize, but I was struck by this thought as I prepared today's post.

The Hollywood Playboys were a New Jersey group whose first iteration included Nick Massi of The Four Seasons. That group made a 1959 single. Then Massi left and a couple of new members came in. The result: today's record, a release on the Sure label out of The Garden State. Sure used Decca Records' custom pressing services (the typefaces on the song credits are the giveaway) and got good vinyl platters for their trouble.

This is more regional teen rock 'n' roll, but performed with charm by a group that must have sounded great live. Both sides were penned by 'Joel Dames,' whom I suspect was a pen name for Playboy Joey D'Amora. They're his only recorded compositions.

"Talk to Audrey" was the intended A-side; it might have had a local context that's lost to time. This minor-key mover details the solution for anyone's problems: whatever they are, Audrey will fix them. Who Audrey is, or what she does, or if her actions are legal, isn't discussed. "You can't take your problems to the shoe-repair shop/you can't take your problems to the neighborhood cop," our narrator warns us. The group's pianist (the lad with the specs) works up a sweat on a commanding solo, backed by the drummer, who works the Latin-beat angle just fine, abetted by the sleazy sound of a regional studio (perhaps someone's basement or rec room). 

It's a delightful, odd song and I'm glad it exists. There have been times in my life when an Audrey could've helped out. I wish they'd left a phone number!

The adenoidal drama of the B-side became the one disc jockeys played.

"Ding Dong, School is Out" would seem to be an upbeat song; it's a bittersweet story of a shy guy who's carried a classroom crush all year. Now that it's summer, will he get up the nerve to spill the beans to his romantic obsession? What might in many hands be a whiny, wimpy ballad is handled with care by these guys, whose hours of rehearsal and polish are evident.

This sounds like an outtake from the retro musical "Grease," but without the slight wink of condescension that touches its songs. This is sincere. The scuzzy studio atmosphere adds to its appeal. That drummer is solid, jackson. Cat can swing. 

And that was it for these lads. I hope life treated them well and that they recalled this single from time to time with some pride. It did get airplay and national distribution without troubling the pop charts. That was no small feat in the tightly controlled world of commercial pop music, 1960-style.

Tomorrow: a brick in the construction project of rock 'n' roll. Tennessee Ernie, with Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant in the studio band, delivers a #1 country hit of 1950, coupled with an excellent flip. This is very close to rockabilly and thus fascinating.