THE BIG ITCH - Various Artists
MEMORIAL ALBUM for JOE E. ROSS
KOOKY TEEN ROCK FROM THE 1950s & 1960s.
Joe E. Ross was born in Manhattan. He left school at age 16 to become a
singing waiter at the Van Cortland Inn, in the Bronx. When the cafe' added
a girl dancer and singer Joe was promoted to announcer to which he added
some jokes and became a comedian. Joe then turned burlesque comic on the
Schuster circuit out of Chicago. In 1956, Joe worked at a night club in
Miami Beach called Club Ciro. It was there that he was spotted by Nat Hiken
and Phil Silvers. They were planning a show called "You'll Never Get Rich"
and immediately loved Joe's comedic talent. He was hired on the spot, and
cast as Mess Sgt. Rupert Ritzik. After the "Phil Silvers Show" ended, Nat
Hiken went on to produce "Car 54, Where Are You?" and cast Joe in his most
famous role as Patrolman Gunther Toody of New York's 53rd Precinct. On these
shows, when he got excited, he would always begin a sentence by saying "Ooh!
Ooh!", and when he was perturbed he'd exclaim "Do You Mind?". This proved
so catchy, that the next logical step was to have him make a pop teen recording
titled "Ooh Ooh", which he did. It didn't exactly burn up the pop charts,
and is impossibly hard to find today. Fortunately, this album leads off
with that priceless track, followed by THE ROCK-FELLERS- Orange Peel; BOB
LEE- Wanted For Questioning; JOHNNY LITRELL- A Hard Day's Night (Beatle-MANIA
from Ft. Worth, Texas with RONNIE DAWSON on drums); JIMMY KNIGHT- Crankshaft
Sid; VLADIMIR & THE GRAVE DIGGERS- Vladimir Twist; MIKE FERN (Fernandez)-
The Head Hunters; METROPOLITANS- Screaming Pt. 1; TOMMY HANCOCK- Tacos For
Two; THE TREMOLONS- Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (all-girl group from Michigan,
pictured on the back cover); BROTHER ZEE & THE DECADES- Sha Boom Bang; LARRY
& THE LOAFERS- Panama City Blues '62; GEORGE ROSS & THE RED TOPS- Weirdsville;
SLOUGH BOYS- Fried Chicken Baby (the flip side to "Surfin' On Cedar Lake");
TONY & THE RUNAWAYS- Komm' Mal Her; BILL JAMES & THE HEX-O-TONES- Voodoo
Queen & The Medicine Man; ARCHIE PIER & THE RHYTHM AIRES- Tamales And Rock
And Roll; and RON ROBBINS- Heartbreak Hotel (previously unissued version
of the Elvis Presley hit). WOW! 18 demented tracks in all, and each one
is more rare than the next. Not available on any CD, this rockin' LP ONLY
release will turn your turntable into a treasure chest! STILL FACTORY SEALED!
