#22: Belonging To Someone by Patti Page

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: March 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #13
YouTube: “Belonging To Someone”
Lyrics: “Belonging To Someone”

Patti Page was born on November 8, 1927. The New York Times writes “She was born Clara Ann Fowler in Claremore, Oklahoma, the second youngest of 11 children of a railroad laborer. Her mother and older sisters picked cotton. She often went without shoes. Because the family saved money on electricity, the only radio shows Miss Page heard as a child were Grand Old Opry, The Eddie Cantor Show and Chicago Barn Dance.”

When she was 13-years-old, Fowler won a scholarship to study art, and got work in a radio station art department in Tulsa. But someone at the station had heard her sing at a school assembly. Clara Ann Fowler was asked her to audition to replace a singer on a show called ”The Meet Patti Page Show” sponsored by the Page Milk Company. She got the job, becoming the fictional Patti Page of the airwaves.

She sang traditional pop music in a style common in the pre-rock ‘n roll era. In the 1950s the 5’4″ Patti Page was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female artist. In a six decade span she sold in excess of 100 million records as a recording artist. At her live performances she was introduced as  “the Singin’ Rage, Miss Patti Page.” In 1947 she signed with Mercury Records, and became Mercury’s first successful female artist charting several Top 20 hits in the late 1940s. Her first hit single was “Confess” in 1947, which climbed to #12. In 1948 she recorded the Cole Porter song “So In Love” from the Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate. The single peaked at #13 on the Billboard pop chart. In early 1950, Page had a #11 hit with “With My Eyes Wide Open, I’m Dreaming”. The song was a cover of a 1934 pop standard recorded by Ruth Etting.

As well, in 1950, Page had her first Top Ten hit, “I Don’t Care If the Sun Don’t Shine” and two number one hits, “All My Love (Bolero)”, and her signature song, “Tennessee Waltz”. The latter became the fourth official song of Tennessee in 1965. She had two more number one singles, “I Went To Your Wedding” (1952) and “(How Much Is That) Doggie In The Window” (1953). She charted 14 additional million-selling singles between 1950 and 1965.

The string of Top Ten hits between 1950 and 1958 released by Patti Page included “Mockin’ Bird Hill”, “Detour”, “Changing Partners”, and “Cross Over The Bridge”. Unlike most pop music singers, Page drew from country music styles and infused them into many of her songs. This led to her crossover appeal.

However by the mid-50s on the pop charts it was a different story. With the coming of Elvis Presley and rock ‘n roll music saturating the airwaves, Patti Page struggled to succeed from 1955 onward. In 1956 “Allegheny Moon” peaked at #2 on the Billboard pop chart, but “Go On With The Wedding” and “Mama From The Train” were kept out of the Top Ten (the latter at #11 on Billboard and #14 on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart). In 1957 she had a #3 song on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Old Cape Cod”. In addition, the B-side to “Old Cape Cod” titled “Wondering” climbed to #17 on CKWX’s Fabulous Fifty.

Also in 1957 Page’s recording of “A Poor Man’s Roses (or a Rich Man’s Gold)” stalled at #27 on the Billboard pop chart. In 1958 Patti Page had one more Top Ten “Left Right Out Of Your Heart”, followed by a 7-year drought.

“Belonging To Someone” was cowritten by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning. Al Hoffman was born in 1902 in Minsk, Russian Empire. At the age of six, his Jewish family moved to Seattle. After high school, Hoffman formed a band and learned drums, moving to New York City in 1928. In addition to playing in clubs, Hoffman sold bagels door-to-door on Broadway. The first hit he penned was with a Top 20 hit in 1930 titled”On A Blue and Moonless Night” by Wayne King and His Orchestra. This was followed by a #12 hit in 1931 for Guy Lombardo titled “Heartaches”, which was later a #1 hit in 1947 for Ted Weems, and a Top Ten hit in 1961 for The Marcels.

Hoffman penned numerous Top Ten hits including “I Apologize” by Bing Crosby, and “Auf Wiedersehen, My Dear” by Jack Denny (1931); “Fit As A Fiddle” by Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians (1932); “I Saw Stars” a number-one hit with Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, and “Little Man, You’ve Had A Busy Day” by Emil Coleman & His Orchestra (1934); “She Shall Have Music” by Bud Gluskin & His Orchestra (1936); “I’m In A Dancing Mood” by both Russ Morgan, and Tommy Dorsey (1936); “I Ups to Her and She Ups to Me” by Guy Lombardo (1939); “Close To You” by Frank Sinatra (1943); “Mairzy Doats” by The Merry Macs, and the Pied Pipers (1944); “I’m A Big Girl Now” which was a number-one hit in 1945 for Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye; “Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba” which was a number-one hit for Perry Como in 1946; “There’s No Tomorrow” by Tony Martin (1949); “If I Knew You Were Coming (I’d’ve baked a cake)” which was a number-one hit for Eileen Barton in 1950; and “One Finger Melody” for Frank Sinatra in 1951. Hoffman also wrote the novelty tune, “Everything Stops For Tea”, sung by Jack Buchanan in the 1935 British film Come Out of the Pantry. He also wrote the ear-worm novelty tune in “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” for the animated 1950 movie Cinderella. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1951.

Samuel Medoff was born in 1912 in Gomel, Russian Empire, (currently located in Belarus). He left Russia with his Jewish family when he was six years old, in 1918. His family moved to New York City and he studied at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1938, Medoff and his band were regulars on “Yiddish Melodies in Swing”, which was broadcast on WHN. The 15 minute weekly radio show, which blended traditional Yiddish folk music with swing and jazz. In the early 1940s, he had a radio show on WHN radio in New York called Sam Medoff and His Yiddish Swing Orchestra. He performed with his band, The Yiddish Swingtet. In 1945, he wrote “I’ll Be Walkin’ With My Honey (Soon, Soon, Soon)” for Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye. The record peaked at #10. In 1945, he changed his name to Dick Manning. His first credit under his adopted name was “One More Dream (And She’s Mine)” by Johnnie Johnston, which peaked at #13 in 1946.

Manning wrote songs recorded by Bob Crosby, Georgia Gibbs, Vic Damone, and Frank Sinatra. In 1951, he penned “Morning Side of the Mountain”, a Top 30 hit for Tommy Edwards in 1951. It was also a Top Ten hit for Donny & Marie Osmond in 1974. Manning also wrote “Jilted”, a #6 hit for Teresa Brewer in 1954. While in 1957, his English version of “Fascination” was a #7 hit for Jane Morgan.

Al Hoffman and Dick Manning started working together, and 1952 wrote a #7 hit for Pearl Bailey titled “Takes Two to Tango”. There other notable hits the songwriting team wrote include “Papa Loves Mambo” by Perry Como (1954); “Santo Natale (Merry Christmas)” by David Whitfield (UK – 1954); “Gilly Gill Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea” by Max Bygraves (UK – 1954); “Hot Diggity” by Perry Como (1956); “Allegheny Moon” by Patti Page (1956); “Oh-Oh! I’m Falling In Love Again” by Jimmie Rodgers (1958); “Secretly” by Jimmie Rodgers (1958); “Are You Mine” by Jimmie Rodgers (1958); “The Hawaiian Wedding Song” by Andy Williams (1959); and “O Dio Mio” by Annette (1960).

Al Hoffman died at the age of 57 in 1960 of prostate cancer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984. Dick Manning died at the age of 78 in 1991 of diabetes.

“Belonging To Someone” is a song about how wonderful it is to have “someone who cares” and makes your heart sing. It can be “worth more than silver or gold.”

“Belonging To Someone” peaked at #1 in Hull (QC), Chicago, Washington DC, and New Orleans, #3 in Colorado Springs (CO), #4 in Pittsburgh, #5 in Boston, and #8 in Smiths Falls (ON) and St. Louis.

Patti Page hosted her own TV show in the 1950’s and starred in the 1960 film Elmer Gantry, and in 1961 in the film Dondi, adapted from a comic strip. In 1962 Patti Page got picked to record the title song for the film Boys’ Night Out. Page was also an actor in the film. In 1965 she had her final Top Ten hit on the pop charts with “Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte”. She released over 130 singles between 1947 and 1982. Of these 110 appeared on either the Billboard pop, country or adult contemporary charts. Between 1970 and 1982 Page had 13 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. In a 2003 article in the New York Times, it was reported that at age 75 Patti Page was appearing in 50 concerts a year. In 2012 Patti Page stopped touring. She died in 2013 of heart and lung disease.

October 9, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Patti Page Obituary: Multimillion-selling Vocalist Dubbed the ‘Singing Rage’,” Guardian, London, January 3, 2013.
Bernard Weinraub, “Patti Page, Proving That Simple Songs Endure,” New York Times, August 12, 2003.
“Al Hoffman – His “Mairzy Doats” was a national craze,” Songwriters Hall of Fame, 1984.
“Dick Manning, 79, Composer and Lyricist,” New York Times, April 13, 1991.

CKCH 970-AM Hull (QC) Top Ten | March 29, 1958