Very ahead of their time. I don't think they wrote their own songs, but they certainly did bring those very edgy lyrics to life in a way that demonstrates they might not have had the easiest of childhoods. The 60s started to get real much earlier than 1968....
I've been getting Shangri-Las related RU-vid clips and enjoy them all. Even though the adults were sending this up, Mary stayed in the song's character and was a pro.
Shutout to my Coworker Barry Brown, Mary's husband. When they first met Barry had no idea who she was. Now all he does is talk about her and loves sharing all video's of his true love. Still going strong Barry 💖 Mary.
Indeed. I had no idea where the clip came from. Strangely enough, I watched I've got a Secret quite often, even though I was maybe 10. I wonder if I saw this episode.
I must admit, the teens showed truly professional grace when SA and RG mugged-up their performance for a cheap laugh. Always loved the Shangri-Las: really, really sweet girls (oops! did I say that out loud?!)
@@aliceshaw8265 They didnt write the song, Shadow Morton, Ellie Greenwich and some others did...it was a finished song but without vocal track, they SLs added it. They made it their own, they are one of my very favorite groups ever and this is one of my favorite songs. I even have Mary Weiss's autograph.
I had only ever seen this from 5.12 onwards and thout it pathetic when the motorbike rolled on to stage. Now that I've seen the entire thing I think it's utterly humiliating to the Shangri-Las. However, they and the song were bigger and better than the disrespect they faced and this is still an amazing song today.
Cannot agree more, the host showing his disdain for R&R and his comedic talents. Few ever worked harder than both sets of twins on creating and perfecting the girl group sound. Screw the bit.
This was completely normal at the time...the group just showing up to lip-sync had little entertainment value to a game show audience of the mid 60's,...which were comprised of all ages and most were not fans of pop music aimed at teens.....Many in the audience seemed to be very amused.
This is Great!! Nice to see this old Vintage TV stuff!| Mary Weiss, the Lead Singer of The Shangri-Las died on 01/22/2024 at Age 75. Robert Goulet is my distant cousin via common French ancestry.
"Leader of the Pack" became Billboard Magazine's # 1 hit record the week of Nov. 28, 1964, bumping off the Supremes' "Baby Love" from the coveted position. "Pack", however, stayed at # 1 for only one week. The song spawned a parody, "Leader of the Laundromat", by the Detergents.
It was replaced At number one by “Ringo” by Lorne Greene. Of course, the Beatles and the Supremes (and to a certain extent the beach boys) were the dominant group in 1964, but in the fall of that year there were some great number ones like leader of the pack and Ringo, Mr. lonely by Bobby Vinton, And everybody loves somebody by Dean Martin.
That's right. It was a shame. The "adults" took advantage of a song that was no 1 in the country, something they could never do and made it all about them
Unfortunately, you are correct. The older generation (our parents) didn't get rock and roll. They had grown up with swing in the 30's-40's and the stream of song crooners that followed after. Not that Sinatra, Vaughn Monroe and Guy Michell (to name three) were bad. But every generation needs its own identity. Music is perhaps the strongest factor in that. Chances are their parents didn't get the music they listened to. The cycle just repeats over and over.
I had such a crush on adorable Betsy Palmer; she was so wonderful on this show. I was so heartbroken when we lost her earlier this year. I still am, of course
This is a prefect example of the chasm that used to exist between "serious" music and that rock and roll stuff the kids were into. Rock had its revenge by plowing over all those singers like Steve Allen and Robert Goulet that made fun of it. This reminds me of Elvis having to sing to an actual hound dog on Steve Allen's show. The Shangra-las show poise despite Goulet's stupid motorcycle stunt
This song is interesting--it seems goofy, and Steve Allen and Robert Goulet show it no respect, but Mary Weiss is mesmerizing and finds some serious depth. You can laugh, but it is tough to be a teenager.
I was very disappointed at how Steve Allen didn't even acknowledge the girls. Not a particularly well mannered host. I always liked him before. Now I'm a bit less of a fan. Mary was soulful and beautiful. Teenage angst at it's finest.
@@tonysantiago255 Agree. They had the number 1 record in the country and he ignores them. They sang the song on his show, giving him big ratings and he treats them like garbage.
I was six that year, Jennie L. My Mom, an high school director of choirs hired many of her girls to baby sit me. And yes, they had extensions and bee hive dos, too. Friday nights, they'd come set Mom's hair ... love back-atcha ! Viva AcquaNet ;)
I was "in vitro" at this time, as my mom figured out she was pregnant w/ me just a couple weeks after this show. I thought the Shangri-Las were a quartet. The lead singer's sister was also part of the group, at least for part of the time.
@ Jon H. - I have just discovered that the girls had several good songs that charted,but nothing as successful as 'Leader of the Pack '. Betty(19), was lead singer Mary's(15) older sister and had to step off the stage for a time, when she became in a 'family way '. If course,they made other excuses at time. My how they(the times) have changed.
I didn't think they were mocking the song. It was just an attempt at humor. What I didn't understand was why they were referring to it as "a rock and roll hit", rather than just to refer to it by its title. Rock and roll was actually a bad description. This is not "rock and roll". It seems to indicate that adults back then considered anything popular at the time as "rock and roll' without understanding what the term meant.
it is a rock and roll song, very rocking, (the engine revving is almost like Hendrix's feedback in a few yrs) very intense, sung passionately, a person DIES in the song, we hear him die!
Ain't true, he featured young Jerry Lee Lewis on his first nation wide tv appearance and praised him, which made JLL become famous. He even named his son Steve Allen. I doubt, he "hated" Rock and Roll. In his own words he loved "excellence" in music, wether it may be polka, country or rock...
@@markusr7421 Totally agree, Markus. I was a big Steve Allen fan as a kid, my dad was a Jazz musician and Steve did celebrate a variety of musics on his own late night show, as well as his playing own piano Jazz. I think the producers of this quiz show made them do this corny bit.
I used to watch this show (originally developed by Allen Sherman, remember him?). And none of the panelists had any knowledge of the lines they were reading. We used to say things like "Squaresville"
Sorry, that's no Honda--I enlarged the photo but still can't identify it--if its not a Yamaha then its something unusual like a Bridgestone or maybe a Kawasaki.
Yes, I read that just the other day, that Billy Joel is the perpetrator of those fabulous piano chords in "Walking in the Sand". Wow. Did he play on their other songs too? Makes sense, these young ladies were teenagers from Queens and Billy Joel would have been about 15 years old, from Long Island, just starting to play school dances. Maybe they had an associate in common? He claims he never got paid for the gig. I'll bet these young ladies were not paid fairly for their amazing work either. I know they didn't write their own songs, but they certainly brought these rather dark edgy songs to life. Listening to a lot of their stuff now, it really holds up even today. No wonder Amy Winehouse liked them. 🎶🎵🎶
@@girlfromthebronxbywayofelb7288 I don't actually know if Billy Joel got onto other commercial recordings. And if he did, they probably weren't hits. Another odd bit of trivia, is that all of them - the Shangri-Las, Billy Joel, Mort Shuman, and Amy Winehouse - were Jewish.
I thought this was a pretty good mid '60s TV skit. The group was a bit marginalized, but that was the going fare for that era. People still regarded rock n roll, and especially girl groups, as nothing more than a joke. The ladies handled themselves very professionally and seemed to take any perceived slight in stride.
Ya had to have an organ in a rock band in the 60's....Check out the Animals, the Raiders,Procol Harum, the Monkeys. Percy sledge, Iron Butterfly., Doors, sir Douglas Booker T. etc, etc...
(Cont.from below) Then then there was Betsy Palmer, whose career can best be summed up by this wiki blurb: "Betsy Palmer...best known as a regular panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret...got her first acting job when she joined the cast of a 15 minute long, daily soap opera, Miss Susan. She was 'discovered' for this role while enjoying a party in the apartment of actor Frank Sutton (Sgt. Carter of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C) She had been in New York City less than one week." Well, Golllly.
@JayBBluejay I think it was felt those outfits were a little too much for the audience watching this show, as opposed to AMERICAN BANDSTAND or SHINDIG!
Everybody in the Free World at that point new that song. I cannot believe that the panelists on this game show had no clue what they were reading. It just seems a little Bazaar. Seriously come on now
Yeah, it was kinda dickish of them to mock the performers and the song. But this music must have been treated like I view rap, today. I would be equally dismissive of a rap group. I knew all about it - my parents would have been clueless. And I was a teen when this came out. The girls were lucky to get a spot on a nationwide show, like this. The comedy is the price they paid.
Steve Allen WAS a Douche Bag He was about as funny as a broken leg and he always seemed to rip the rock stars of the day.They will be long remembered after people think "Steve Who"?
One of his routines was the reading instead of singing of "Who put the bomp in the bomp she bomp she bomp." That passed for hilarious comedy at the time.
It was a shame. The "adults" took advantage of a song that was no 1 in the country, something they could never do and made it all about them. Even now I am annoyed because I love the song just as it was done when it was number 1 and not used for comedy. They propped up the ratings of the show and Steve Allen and Robert Goulet just made fun of them and ignored them. Sickening
There were four original shangri-las. However almost every video you can find on RU-vid of the shingle laws is only three. What happened to the fourth wall?
She just performed with them on and off -- Mary's sister Betty. Tall and very sweet looking, but always looked a little out of it when she did perform with them, out of practice I assume.
Wow all these rude comments toward Betsy Palmer, Steve Allen and Robert Goulet. Betsy Palmer had a featured role in the 1955 film Mister Roberts starring Henry Fonda, certainly a well respected film. Steve Allen was a prolific composer (hundreds of popular songs), an accomplished TV personality, film actor and author of several books. Robert Goulet was instar the successful Broadway show Camelot (music by Lerner and Lowe). When you people accomplish as much, then make your critical comments.
@111sienna You're totally right Sienna, and the fact that Steve Allen and Robert Goulet were successful only makes it more shocking that they couldn't show these girls the respect that their talent and success deserved.
@@vincentalonzo4351 I hate to tell you this but speaking as someone who was three months older than the twins and a junior in high school at the time of the show, everyone over the age of 12 thought the song was ridiculous and I would bet the girls in the group felt the same way. My bet is that all of the panelists knew of the song and the whole thing was just a put on that the girls were happy to go along with to get the additional exposure. They were extremely talented and professional and grown up enough to realize that there was no disrespect intended toward them at all.
@@dennisgallagher There was a lot of disrespect toward them and to the audience who liked the song being done seriously, not as a stupid joke. It was the number 1 song in the country done exactly as it was and not being made a laughing stock.
@@dennisgallagher I agree, Dennis, I was in junior high when this came out and it really was a joke. Remember the sequel: The Leader of the Laundromat?
@@rickrick5041 Actually Steve Allen was already famous for ridiculing Rock and Roll, having already done a dramatic recitation of "Who PutThe Bomp In The Bomp Bomp Bomp She Bomp" (itself a parody) and he was hardly the only one to do that kind of stuff. Mad Magazine also satirized the genre and there was much to do made of the fact that, just as in this case, almost all television performances were lip-synched and many records were actually sung by artists whose names were not on the record. However, none of the above demonstrates any disrespect toward the artists performing the song here.
True, it is a shame. But just a different time over all. Rock music and teen pop was considered silly and child like to the WWII generation; they appreciated easy listening and jazz, not to mention classical. Eh... What can ya do?
If someone would play out the lyrics of the current top 1 billboard hit right now, I would have no fucking clue as to what song it would be. And I am saying that as someone who quite enjoy that artist and song.. (looked it up who is number 1 as I am writing this)
The Shangri-Las had a helluva lot more grace and talent on that stage than the mugging Steve Allen and Robert Goulet could muster. It was a bit insulting to them but still obvious to anyone who maintained the real artistry.
Why is everyone so uptight?.......The Rutles mocked the Beatles for laughs and it was widely appreciated....Even Harrison joined in.......People who were alive then get it.
GREG Hubbard It was the number one song for a reason. All the great songs except novelty songs are sung with meaning as if the person singing is living it and believing it. Then you have a guy acting like an idiot smiling and mocking the whole thing. Have him playing like a joker when Dion sings Teenager in Love or anyone sings any great song. What did Goulet sing, What Kind of Fool I am or something like that, a serious song. Bring in some fools while he is singing and see how he likes it.
Condescending? Yes, and similar to making Elvis sing "Hound Dog" to a bassett in a tuxedo on Steve Allen Show. Hi, ho Steverino! Loved his shows, Don Knotts, Louis Nye, et al. And Steve even did a serious reading of "Eleanor Rigby". I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company or whatever way back (70s) and actors did a "serious" reading of "Satisfaction" lyrics by the Rollings . 'Twas funny. Spoofs are all right, but be nice and don't be cruel. I love Mary's voice. When I was 12, a Beatlemaniac, I thought the Shangri-las' music was a bit avant-garde. It was; it is.
Here's a little fact I bet most of you are unaware of. The lead singer went on to play an iconic role in a flim franchise that spawned 13 sequels and spanned 2 decades. She was the mother of Jason Vorhees in the original cult classic Friday the 13th. Boom mind blown right. Lol