What’s new with your favorites from coast-to-coast!!
While DAVY JONES was on his four-week vacation in January, a fan (who prefers to remain un-named) baby-sat his new puppy “Susie” and his pussycat “Tibsey”. Lucky fan! Lucky DAVY! . . . Speaking of Susies, sweet SUSIE COWSILL had her Christmas wish granted when she was given an adorable black mini-poodle. She named it “Spot” cos “… that’s what it looks like.” . . . Hope you caught HERMAN & THE HERMITS’ wow-ee performance early this month on The Jackie Gleason Show. PETER will star as “Pinocchio” in an ABC-TV color spec late this coming fall. . . . TERRY MELCHER popped up in England and sold the publishing rights to all his American copyright songs to the BEATLES’ new music company, Apple. TERRY’s tunes include just about every hit that MARK LINDSAY has sung on the Raider recordings. Clever fella, that TERRY. P.S.: At press time, TERRY says he and his steady girl CANDY BERGEN are not wed—yet!
. . . Mark Lindsay, by the by, will speed no more. In his new contract with Dick Clark Productions there is a clause preventing him from sky-diving or driving motorbikes or racing cars. . . . DICK CLARK sure knows how to pick winners. After signing MARK & PAUL to co-host his Saturday afternoon TV series Happening ’68, DICK promptly went into a huddle with teendom’s newest idol, gorgeous CHRIS CROSBY. DICK is trying to sign CHRIS to solo-host a brand new, glitzy, network evening (prime-time) TV variety show! . . . Addenda: Stars fell on FRED SEGAL’s clothing store in Hollywood recently when both MARK and CHRIS bumped into each other there. They introduced themselves and have become good friends.
. . . A special GeeGee Award for the Best Television Teen Variety Show is being sent to groovy DON WEBSTER of Cleveland’s Upbeat variety program. DON’s show features live music and reaches 50 cities all over America. Congratulations, DON! . . . Oh, yes—and congratulations to BARRY WHITWAM (of HERMAN’S HERMITS) and his lovely new bride DALE LECKEY, 22. BARRY met DALE four years ago at a club in Manchester and they were married in that city on December 16 last year. . . . The STONES calling their new record company Mother Earth—the BEATLES calling theirs Apple. . . . DEANA MARTIN’s new group, the CHROMIUM PLATED STREAMLINED BABY, went kerplunk. . . . So did JOE MARRA’s famous Nite Owl Cafe in Greenwich Villageso he reopened the Nite Owl as a groovy new poster, button and card shop. It’s at 118 W. 3rd St., if you wanta drop by. While you’re down in the Village, of course, you must, must MUST stop at DAVY JONES’ fab boutique—Zilch! That’s at 217 Thompson St.
The RASCALS (who sold out the old Madison Square Garden—18,000 seats—on its closing night) have included a song on their fourth LP Once Upon A Dream called Hawaii. EDDIE and FELIX wrote it and they have dedicated it to the fantastic 50th state, where they just finished a super-sellout concert for TOM MOFFAT of Station K-poi. . . . GeeGee recommended LPs this month included Cowsill’s I Can Fly on MGM; the Fifth Dimension’s The Magic Garden on Soul City; Forever Changes by the Love on Elektra; Dave Clark 5’s Everybody Knows on Epic; the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Everything Playing on Kama Sutra; the Kaleidoscope’s Beacon From Mars and Side Trips on Epic; Van Dyke Parks’ Song Cycle on Reprise and my own personal fave—Jerry Moore’s Life Is A Constant Journey Home on ESP. . . . The Who’s great new LP on Decca was released under the title The Who Sell Out, and they get the GeeGee Award for zaniest album covers of the century! . . . Soul Survivors, Philly’s hottest group, got a gold record for selling a million copies of their swinging single Expressway To Your Heart. Jerry Blavatt (pictured here holding the gold LP) of WFIL-TV made the presentation.
Groupdom’s greatest new sound, the NAZZ, is having a film scripted for them by BOB THOM (he wrote the Chris Jones star-er Wild In The Streets). NAZZ’s first single went on sale as this issue hit the stands—be sure to find yourself a copy. . . . Another new group, the ILLUSION, features an ultrastunning lead singer—JOHNNY VINCI, 20. The ILLUSION’s first single, Party, is on Dyno Voice Records and you can write to the group in care of New Beat, 1674 Broadway, New York City. . . . Elektra recording star TIM BUCKLEY was selected by the MONKEES to be among their “interview” guests at the end of one of their forthcoming TV segments. . . . JIM MORRISON is being sought by dynamic young film producer ROGER CORMAN to play the starring role in ROGER’s forthcoming big budget movie David And Goliath. Well, who looks more like the beautiful biblical DAVID than our “little shepherd boy” JIM?
