Snooky Lanson

Roy Landman (March 27, 1914–July 2, 1990), better known as Snooky Lanson, was an American singer known for co-starring on the NBC television series Your Hit Parade.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Lanson was a band singer with Francis Craig's dance band in the late 1930s. He became a singing star when major bandleader Ray Noble hired him as his orchestra's "boy singer"; Noble and Lanson appear together in three Soundies musical films produced in 1941. Lanson made additional Soundies as a solo artist in 1944.

NBC's popular Your Hit Parade radio programs featured Frank Sinatra, who left the series in 1950. Snooky Lanson was chosen to replace him, and Lanson became one of America's first TV stars when Your Hit Parade came to television in July 1950. Lanson remained with the series through 1957. Floor manager (and future children's television host) Fred Rogers said that Lanson often played craps behind the set with the stagehands until it was his turn to perform.

After Hit Parade ended, he performed in nightclubs and on local television shows in Atlanta and Shreveport. He guest-starred in 1958 on The Gisele MacKenzie Show, MacKenzie having been a co-star with Lanson on Hit Parade. In 1961, he was one of five rotating hosts on the NBC-TV program Five Star Jubilee.

Hit parade

A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined by sales and/or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936. It has also been used by broadcast programs which featured hit (sheet music and record) tunes such as Your Hit Parade, which aired on radio and television in the United States from 1935 through the 1950s.

Early history

Hit tunes were originally published in sheet music format, so many artists were encouraged to introduce or promote the tune in different styles, formats or areas of popularity. Up through the late 1940s, the term hit parade referred to a list of compositions, not a list of records. In those times, when a tune became a hit, it was typically recorded by several different artists. Each record company often promoted its own product through the airtime it purchased on commercial stations, as in Europe's Radio Luxembourg. Most non-commercial stations, like the BBC, were required by national regulations to promote local talent, and were also limited in the amount of needle time given to recorded popular music.

Your Hit Parade

Your Hit Parade is an American radio and television music program that 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."

Lucky Strike

Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco groups. Often referred to as "Luckies", Lucky Strike was the top-selling cigarette brand in the United States during the 1930s. Lucky Strikes now have developed a "cult" following, with many people who smoked Lucky Strikes in their youth continuing to seek them out.

Name

Lucky Strike brand was introduced in 1871 by the company R.A. Patterson in the USA as chewing tobacco (many sources mention Matt Tellman as the founder of Luckies, but significant information about him does not exist). The founder of Luckies was inspired by the era's rush for gold searching. Only some of the gold diggers (about four out of 1000) were fortunate enough to find gold and this was often referred to as a lucky strike. By choosing this expression as the product's name, it meant consumers who were choosing the brand were lucky, as they were choosing a top-quality blend. Lucky Strike was a brand of chewing tobacco, and by the early 1900s, it had evolved into a cigarette.

Hit

Hit is a verb meaning to strike someone or something.

Hit or HIT may also refer to:

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