Thursday 11 June 2015

Dorothy Shay born 11 June 1921


Dorothy Shay (April 11, 1921 – October 22, 1978) was a popular comedic recording artist in the late 1940s and early 1950s who later became a character actress. She was known as the "Park Avenue Hillbillie."

Shay was born Dorothy Sims in Jacksonville, Florida. When she began her career as a 'straight' singer, she took vocal lessons to lose her Southern accent. She sang for the USO during World War II. Dorothy changed her name to "Shay" in order to not be confused with Ginny Simms, another performer of the day, choosing "Shay" to honour her mentor Betty Shay (Betty Shay later became Betty Corday when she married Ted Corday, producer of Days of our Lives) While performing with Morton Gould and his orchestra, she performed an encore, "Uncle Fud," a hayseed novelty number that became very popular and launched her solo singing career.

                                   

She signed with Columbia Records and recorded a series of hit records. Her biggest hit was "Feudin' And Fightin'" in 1947. With the chart success of her record Dorothy Shay was destined to continue to perform songs in a similar style and found it difficult to escape the association with country music for the remainder of her professional life. In her singing engagements, she performed dressed as a sophisticated urbanite while talking like a rural Southerner.
She was popular in clubs, radio and television. She also played a nightclub singer, also named Dorothy, in the 1951 Abbott and Costello movie Comin' Round The Mountain. She performed at Dwight D. Eisenhower's Inaugural Ball in 1953. When long playing records came into being Shay recorded a couple of ten inch LPs. One long player which had titles such as Sagebrush Sadie and Howlinest, Hootinest Gal stayed in the familiar country music territory.
However the second Capitol LP had the advantage of that creative genius Billy May in charge of the music and these sessions, mainly show songs, gave her the opportunity to divert from the cornfields and show the more sophisticated style she was so obviously capable of portraying. Although the 'Western' theme is present with music from Annie Get Your Gun and Oklahoma!, Shay proves a versatile and confident performer of Broadway standards such as Take Back Your Mink and Always True To You In My Fashion. She also recorded for Imperial Records where she recorded a rockabilly song titled "Hunky Dory".
She was married briefly to Dick Looman in 1958. After a period of inactivity in the 1960s, she returned to show business as a character actress in the 1970s. She had a recurring role as Thelma in the TV series The Waltons.

She died of a heart attack on October 22, 1978 in Santa Monica, California. Upon her death, the writers of The Waltons wrote her character off, with the mention that she sold the Dew Drop Inn and moved to California. (info mainlyWikipedia)

5 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Here’s Dorothy Shay” go here: -

http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/mlYAtaai/file.html

1. TWO-GUN HARRY FROM TUCUMCARI 2:57
2. THE SAMPLE SONG 2:24
3. FEUDIN’ AND FIGHTIN’ 2:40
4. MAKIN’ LOVE, MOUNTAIN STYLE 2:46
5. FINISHING SCHOOL WAS THE FINISH OF ME 2:29
6. MR. SEARS AND MR. ROEBUCK 2:45
7. YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE 2:26
8. HOME COOKIN’ 2:23
9. MR. BERLITZ 3:13
10. OH THEM DUDES 2:23
11. A LITTLE GIRL FROM LITTLE ROCK 2:45
12. DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND 2:40
13. WHY SHORE 2:38
14. TELEVISION’S TOUGH ON LOVE 3:30
15. DON’T YOU THINK YOU SHOULD’VE MENTIONED IT BEFORE ? 2:40
16. SAGE BRUSH SADIE 2:20
17. A LITTLE WESTERN TOWN CALLED BEVERLY HILLS 2:45
18. IF IT WASN’T FOR YOUR FATHER 2:56
19. HOWLINEST, HOOTINEST GAL 2:21
20. SUGAR PLUM KISSES AND VINEGAR TEARS 2:42
21. BLAH - BLAH - BLAH 2:34
22. YOU CAN’T GET A MAN WITH A GUN 2:49
23. NOBODY’S CHASING ME 2:26
24. TAKE BACK YOUR MINK 2:28
25. DOIN’ WHAT COMES NATURALLY 2:28
26. I WANNA GET MARRIED 3:24
27. I CAIN’T SAY NO 3:20
28. ALWAYS TRUE TO YOU IN MY FASHION 2:05

This surprisingly versatile "Park Avenue Hillbilly" sang show tunes as well as country songs on her LPs Sagebrush Sadie and Howlinest, Hootinest Gal . These 28 tracks include songs from both, many arranged by Billy May: Feudin' and Fightin'; Home Cookin'; Oh Them Dudes; Nobody's Chasing Me; Take Back Your Mink; I Wanna Get Married; Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend , and more!

Bakeliedjes said...

Thank you Bob. Nice album
Rgerads Theo

RiCK SAUNDERS said...

Howdy Bob, any chance of a re-up on Dorothy Shay, please?

Thanks!
-Rick

boppinbob said...

Hello Rick, Just had enough time to post this before retiring for the night.
Couldn't find the original CD but did find all the mp3's from various digital albums also front and back scans. (back one a tad blurry but best I could muster)
https://krakenfiles.com/view/GLZSc63cT7/file.html

RiCK SAUNDERS said...

Thank you, Bob! You're the best.
-Rick