From Betty Lou Davis' scrapbook:
Remember listening to Tommy Van Sant's Tommy's Turntable on WJOI on Saturday morning? The Florence advertisers in the newspaper ad bring back memories: The Bootery and The Pig Trail Drive Inn.
Jo Ann Blackmon and I sent a post card for a drawing on Tommy' Saturday morning show. We won a case of Cokes and made the drive to Florence to claim them. Still, we didn't get to meet Tommy. Incidentally, the drawn hearts are mine.
This newspaper clipping is dated April 1955. Does anyone remember what year he quit doing the Saturday morning show? BLD
Another newspaper ad for Tommy's Turntable. Note the white buckskin shoes. A fashion statement for our times.
Remember these 1955 hits? We were there for the musical transition from the gentle ballads of Perry Como to the Rock and Roll of Bill Haley. How many of the melodies can you hum. Better yet, which first lines do you remember?
Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets
Learnin' The Blues by Frank Sinatra
A Blossom Fell by Nat King Cole
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White by Perez Prado
Unchained Melody by both Roy Hamilton, and June Valli
Yellow Rose of Texas by Mitch Miller
Maybellene by Chuck Berry
The Longest Walk by Jaye P. Morgan
Ain't That A Shame by Fats Domino
Wake the Town and Tell the People by Les Baxter
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing by The Four Aces
Seventeen by The Fontane Sisters
Tina Marie by Perry Como
Autumn Leaves by Roger Williams
Moments to Remember by Four Lads
Only You by The Platters
Sixteen Tons by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford
The Shifting Whispering Sands by Rusty Drape
Love and Marriage by Frank Sinatra
I Hear You Knocking by Gale Storm
He by Al Hibbler
White Christmas by Bing Crosby
Only You by Hilltoppers
Earth Angel by The Penguins
Ballad of Davey Crockett by Bill Hayes
Sincerely by The McGuire Sisters
Hearts of Stone by The Fontane Sisters
Let Me Go Lover by Joan Weber
Dance With Me Henry by Georgia GibbsOh yes, Elvis was known only to us at this point. How about this newspaper ad for a show in January 1955. Later that year, in August, Jo Ann Blackmon and I bought our tickets at the Smoke Shop Drug and went to the Sheffield Community Center to see Elvis. Yep. We did our part in the cheering and moving the chairs closer to the stage. How little we knew the impact "our" Elvis would make on the world of entertainment. Look at the price of those tickets!!!!!
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