Artist:Frank Gallop
Song:The Ballad of Irving
Album:Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection: The Greatest Novelty Records of All Time
The Ballad of Irving was a novelty record that reached the top 40 in 1966. It was from the comedy album When You're in Love, The Whole World Is Jewish. Frank Gallop was a radio and TV announcer. This was his only hit single. He was born June 30, 1900 in Boston. He took singing lessons but by his own admission, he couldn't sing. After graduating from high school, he worked as an investment broker. One of his clients owned a radio station and asked Gallop to replace his current announcer. Though the job didn't last long, it convinced Gallop that he had a future in radio. So he worked for radio station WEEI for a year and then he moved to New York with his buddy and fellow announcer Ed Herlihy. Gallop worked for CBS and NBC. He announced on plenty of soap operas along with New York Philharmonic broadcasts and Orson Welles' Mercury Theater of the Air. He was also on The Milton Berle Show. When TV got going, Gallop was the announcer on The Perry Como Show. Among his other TV shows were Kraft Mystery Theatre, The Colgate Comedy Hour and the Dean Martin Summer Show hosted by future Laugh in stars Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. When Gallop was on the Como show, he worked with writers Bob Booker and George Foster. They wrote and produced the 1962 hit comedy album The First Family which spoofed the Kennedys. That ended with the assassination so they decided to go with the 1964 album You Don't Have to Be Jewish. Gallop was one of the performers on that album along with Lou Jacobi, Frank Gilford and Arlene Golonka. When the album was a hit, Booker and Foster produced the 1966 album When You're in Love, the Whole World Is Jewish. Both albums were on Kapp Records. Though the second album wasn't as successful, Gallop's recording The Ballad of Irving reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. The record was a spoof of Lorne Greene's 1963 hit Ringo. The song was written by Dick Williams, Frank Peppiatt and John Aylesworth. Peppiatt and Aylesworth would go on to create Hee Haw. Williams was Andy Williams' brother and one of the musical directors of the album along with Patrick Williams, a jazz trumpeter who went on to lead big bands and compose music for TV and films. The Ballad of Irving got Gallop a record deal with Musicor and the 1966 album Would You Believe Frank Gallop Sings? and the single Son of Irving. That was the end of Gallop's music career. The Ballad of Irving is a Dr. Demento favorite and you can get it on this 2CD various artists comp. Gallop returned to announcing and moved to Florida after retirement. He died on May 17, 1988 at age 87. Here's a video for The Ballad of Irving by Frank Gallop.
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