Event Recap Chat with Duke Allen about Christmas Flipsides and Flops

[MerryCarey]

 

[SBellsRikki]

that's a fast hour...

 

[e_xander]

Time flies when you're having fun @SBellsRikki

 

[Duke Allen]

I love the Marcels, but I wish this was a better record!

 

[Jordan Rivers]

Twistmas?

 

[MerryCarey]

Yep. "Merry Twist-mas."

 

[Duke Allen]

The Marcels tore up the charts with their doo-wop version of Rodgers and Hart’s “Blue Moon” in 1961, and their record producers (Columbia subsidiary) insisted on handing them more old songs. “Heartaches” was the biggest hit after “Blue Moon,” but they also recorded various antique tunes. That was the Marcels’ thing until their record label hit them with an original tune, “Merry Twist-mas,”

 

[MerryCarey]

Is this one a "flip" or a "flop"?

 

[Jeff Westover]

I'll just say it right now: We cannot wait five months to hear from Duke again.

 

[Jeff Westover]

We need to do more of this

 

[Jordan Rivers]

A-freakin'-men!

 

[e_xander]

I think every few months we should have one of these chats with Duke, if he's up to it.

 

[SBellsRikki]

Agreed @Jeff Westover ... I - Have - Been - Schooooooled.

 

[Duke Allen]

F-L-O-P. “Merry Twist-mas,” to this writer, is a desperate Tin Pan Alley concoction combining Christmas with a dance craze, and hoping for some fast cash. If the Marcels seem embarrassed by the material, I think they are – they mime to the record in Columbia’s B-musical movie Twist Around the Clock, and they don’t look comfortable. Anyyay, all the push didn’t help “Merry Twist-mas,” which didn’t hit the charts at all.

 

[Jeff Westover]

Duke, it's been a great hour

 

[Jeff Westover]

Thank you for the great entertainment

 

[e_xander]

(understatement!)

 

[Jeff Westover]

And outstanding information

 

[MerryCarey]

Gosh, it flew ...

 

[Jeff Westover]

Well done!!