AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Susan Johnson and Shorty Long

Artist:Susan Johnson and Shorty Long

Song:Big D

Album:The Most Happy Fella: Original Broadway Cast

The Most Happy Fella was a popular 50s Broadway show mostly because the cast performed on a 1956 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. And I have a clip of that. The show was written by legendary songwriter Frank Loesser based on Sidney Howard's 1924 play They Knew What They Wanted. Wisely, Loesser decided to concentrate on the songs and that really paid off as it ran on Broadway for over a year. And it's been revived several times. It has never been turned into a film. Warner Bros. tried in 1962 and wanted Shirley Jones and Fred Astaire to star. But Shirley was busy filming The Music Man and Astaire simply refused to do it. The Most Happy Fella stars Robert Weede of the New York City Opera and Jo Sullivan, a Broadway performer who would go on to marry Frank Loesser. The song Big D is performed by Susan Johnson and Shorty Long. Susan was mainly a Broadway performer. She was born July 6, 1927 in Columbus, OH. She sang with the Columbus Opera & Symphony Company. She moved to New York in 1947 and appeared in several Broadway shows of the 50s, most notably The Most Happy Fella and Oh Captain!. A 1962 motor scooter accident affected her singing voice. After marrying baseball player Chet L. Kehn Jr. in 1965, they moved to California and she retired. But she returned and appeared in the two Sister Act films. I assume she played a nun. Susan died on Feb. 24, 2003 at age 75. This is not the Shorty Long that sang Here Comes the Judge. This Shorty Long was born Emidio Vagnoni in Oct. 31, 1923 in Reading, PA. Though he studied classical music in Rome, Long preferred country music and led the band Santa Fe Rangers. They appeared in the 1948 film Powder River Gunfire. That's when he met Frank Loesser. And when it came time to cast The Most Happy Fella, Loesser remembered Long. He also played on Elvis Presley's early recordings. And he played on Janis Martin's 1956 hit single My Boy Elvis. The Most Happy Fella was Long's only Broadway appearance. He preferred going home to Reading and performing with his wife. He died on Oct. 25, 1991 at age 67. From a 1956 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show, Here's Robert Weede and Jo Sullivan performing Happy to Make Your Acquaintance followed by Susan Johnson and Shorty Long performing Big D from the Broadway musical The Most Happy Fella.