Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 3

I hope everyone's enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend, but that's coming to a close today and it's time to start getting serious about the upcoming holidays. Only 27 shopping days left until Christmas!

Let's get back to our ongoing effort to provide a little bit of this and that concerning the 42 tracks on my latest holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!

Track 8

Holiday Greetings, Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Malcolm-Jamal Warner

I'm not sure when this short holiday greeting was recorded, but I'm guessing it was sometime after the final episode of The Cosby Show aired on April 30, 1992. The first 20 or so years that followed the closing of this renowned series were pretty good ones for the cast and others associated with the show, as the respect they had earned opened countless doors in the entertainment industry. But after the show's principal was unmasked as a serial sexual abuser, the program lost some t of its luster. Among the consequences of Cosby's unforgiveable behavior was the devaluation of his hit program and the harm this caused to the many talented people who made the program successful. I can't be the only one who still sees Malcolm-Jamal Warner and thinks of Theo Huxtable, and wrong as it is this association is a little unsettling.

Happily, Warner's resume includes far more than his excellent work on The Cosby Show. Born in 1970, Warner was named for Malcolm X and jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. Like his name, his career includes components that are both diverse and impressive. For one thing, he's had a variety of other great acting roles on TV. For example, he played Malcolm McGee on the hit UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, and Dr. Alex Reed in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines on BET. He also served as executive producer for the PBS children’s series The Magic School Bus. He has appeared in numerous films and acted in and directed a variety of other television shows. Warner is also a respected performance poet and plays bass guitar.

I was pleased to run across his recorded holiday greeting and am glad to include it on my 2022 mix. 

Hear Malcolm-Jamal Warner Discuss His Life as a Black Actor in Hollywood

Track 7

Get Off of My Roof, Jerry and the Landslides (1965)

The title track of this year's mix is, of course, a novelty adaptation of the classic Rolling Stones song "Get Off of My Cloud," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in November 1965. The song was featured on the group's album December's Children (And Everybody's), which was released the following month. The adaptation I've included on my mix is a holiday novelty record that was put together by Jerry Worsham, a Connecticut-based DJ who apparently intended to use it primarily to spice up his own show. According to Captain Wayne's Mad Music website, the Landslides were a group of Long Island musicians assembled by producer Ed Chalpin to record the music behind Worsham's lead vocals. According to the Mad Music site, Worsham laid down the lead vocal track by himself and never met the hired musicians who recorded the balance of the song. It doesn't appear that Jerry and the Landslides ever recorded a follow-up, or anything else for that matter, but luckily their holiday version of this 1965 hit was pressed and released by PPX Records so we can still enjoy it today.

Listen to the Rolling Stones' single "Get Off of My Cloud"

Listen to "Green Fire," the B-Side of "Get Off of My Roof" 

Track 6

I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas, Betty Johnson (1954)

The oldest song on this year's mix was recorded 68 years ago by Betty Johnson, a 25-year-old North Carolina native who'd already been singing professionally for 16 years by the time she cut this record. Remarkably, she's still going strong today; in fact, her most recent album, a collaboration with two of her daughters and a granddaughter, was just released in 2018.

Johnson started singing with her parents and two brothers as The Johnson Family Singers in 1938. After winning a local talent competition, the group was signed by a popular AM radio station in Charlotte and before long Betty was given her own 15-minute show. As a teenager she was signed by Columbia Records but does not appear to have released any material for that label. In 1954, after releasing a children's album with country singer Eddie Arnold, Johnson recorded "I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas," which was written by Joan Javits and Phil Springer, who previously wrote the hit "Santa Baby."

I suspect that many folks reading this today will be unfamiliar with the object of Betty's desire. Well, at the time this record was recorded, Eddie Fisher was among the country's biggest pop stars — earning fame as a singer, initially, and later starring in a number of hit movies. During the first half of the 1950s, 17 of Fisher's single records made Billboard's Top 10 with an additional 25 hitting the Top 40. Johnson was hardly the only woman to express an interest in the young Hollywood star. In 1955, Fisher married "America's sweetheart," actress Debbie Reynolds. Several years later Fisher divorced Reynolds and married actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Johnson remained active in show business for many years, juggling her recording and singing appearances with her family activities. She lived in New York City for a time and appeared on such programs as The Arthur Godfrey Show and The Tonight Show with Jack Parr.  

She continued to make records through the 1960s and beyond, although her biggest hits were released in the '50s, including "I Dreamed" from 1956; "Dream," released in 1958, and "You Can't Get to Heaven," from 1959.

Johnson was married three times and recently released "Four Shades of Gray," with her daughters and granddaughter.

Hear Betty Johnson sing "I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas"

Visit Betty Johnson's Website

I'll be back in a day or two with more holiday music information. Be sure to enjoy all of your leftover holiday turkey!