Your Hit Parade - May 2, 1951

Like most men in their 30s, I spent a good chunk of my Saturday morning watching a cheesy and kind of awesome variety show from 1951.

Your Hit Parade, a popular American radio and television music program, was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or groups. Many listeners and viewers casually referred to the show with the incorrect title The Hit Parade.

When the show debuted, there was no agreement as to what it should be called. The press referred to it in a variety of ways, with the most common being "Hit Parade," "The Hit Parade," and even "The Lucky Strike Hit Parade" (see for example "Lucky Strike Hit Parade is Popular," Laredo (Texas) Times, May 21, 1935, p 7). The program's title was not officially changed to "Your Hit Parade" until November 9, 1935 ("Al Goodman to Be Maestro on Radio Series," Oakland Tribune, November 9, 1935, p. 14.)

Each Saturday evening, the program offered the most popular and bestselling songs of the week. The earliest format involved a presentation of the top 15 songs. Later, a countdown with fanfares led to the top three finalists, with the number one song for the finale. Occasional performances of standards and other favorite songs from the past were known as "Lucky Strike Extras."

Listeners were informed that the "Your Hit Parade survey checks the best sellers on sheet music and phonograph records, the songs most heard on the air and most played on the automatic coin machines, an accurate, authentic tabulation of America's taste in popular music." However, the exact procedure of this "authentic tabulation" remained a secret. Some believe song choices were often arbitrary due to various performance and production factors. The show's ad agencies—initially Lord and Thomas and later Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne—never revealed the specific sources or the methods that were used to determine top hits. They made a general statement that it was based mainly on "readings of radio requests, sheet music sales, dance-hall favorites and jukebox tabulations"; Radio Guide claimed "an endless popularity poll on a nationwide scale."

"Mockin' Bird Hill" is a song was written by Vaughn Horton and published in 1951. It was popularized by Patti Page and by Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1951, and for both of them following on to their big hit of "The Tennessee Waltz" the previous year.

"Sparrow in the Treetop" is a popular song.

It was written by Bob Merrill. The song was published in 1951.

"Be My Love" is a popular song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Nicholas Brodzsky. It was published in 1950 and featured in the 1950 movie The Toast of New Orleans, where it was sung by Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza. The Lanza recording of the song (released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-1561) was a million-seller and a Billboard #1 charting hit. Ray Anthony's cover version made the top 30 and a 1967 remake by Mel Carter was played primarily by easy listening stations. Luis Mariano, a great Spanish tenor, sang it in French. Broadway singer Jason Danieley also covered the song on his 2008 record, Jason Danieley and the Frontier Heroes. Also Vytautas Juozapaitis, a soloist of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre recorded a Lithuanian version entitled "Atminimu Bangos" on his debut album Negaliu Nemyleti (Can't Help Falling In Love) released in 2004.

"How High the Moon" is a jazz standard with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis. It was first featured in the 1940 Broadway revue Two for the Show, where it was sung by Alfred Drake and Frances Comstock.

In "Two for the Show", this was a rare (and unforgettable) serious moment in an otherwise humorous revue. The song was sung, in a slow fox trot tempo, by a group of evening-dressed people walking along a London street. At the end, they all looked at the sky, and cowered, obviously terrified: quick curtain. It was 1940, and the time of the London blitz: a clear night meant "bomber's moon"

Special thanks to thefilmarchive for the description and uploading this video.