#1: Rockabilly Party by Hugo and Luigi

City: Saint-Jerome, PQ
Radio Station: CKJL
Peak Month: July 1957
Peak Position in Saint-Jerome ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Rockabilly Party”
Lyrics: N/A

Hugo Peretti was born in New York City in 1916 in an Italian-American family. Peretti began his music career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Borscht Belt in update New York. He graduated to playing with orchestras, then partnered with his cousin Luigi Creatore. Luigi Creatore was born in New York City in 1921, also to an Italian-American family. His father, Giuseppe Creatore, was an orchestra bandleader. Luigi was drafted into the United States military in WWII. Once the pair teamed up, they cowrote “Wimoweh” (along with four other cowriters) which was a #4 hit for The Weavers in 1952. They also cowrote Sarah Vaughan’s #14 hit in 1955 “Experience Unnecessary”. They also produced a number of hits for Jimmie Rodgers including “Honeycomb”, “Oh-Oh, I’m Falling In Love Again”, “Secretly”, “Bombombey”, “Are You Really Mine” and other hits for .

In 1955, Hugo & Luigi released a single “The Crazy Otto Rag”. Later that year they released “Young Abe Lincoln” which peaked at #90 on the Billboard pop chart. In 1956, they released the single “Our Melody (The Phonograph Song)” Next up, they switched to rock ‘n roll by releasing “Rockabilly Party”.

“Rockabilly Party” 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.

As a recording, “Rockabilly Party” was a hybrid of traditional pop with some rockabilly guitar riffs. The song opens with spoken word invitation from the fellas to some girlfriends: “Hello baby… There’s a rockabilly party on Saturday night.” She asks, “You gonna bring your records?” He replies, “Will do.” What follows is the guy and the gal share what records they are bringing to the Rockabilly Party. She says “I’ll bring Perry (Como),” to which he replies “I’ll bring Ella (Fitzgerald).” They also mention records they’ll bring by Frank Sinatra, Fats Domino, Pat Boone, Elvis Presley, Andy Williams, “and some new cuts by the Crew Cuts will come in handy.” The gals add, “Don’t forget Theresa (Brewer) and a big supply of Nat “King” Cole and that (Guy) Mitchell guy.” Hugo & Luigi chime in to add not to forget to bring records by Dinah (Shore), Sarah (Vaughan) and Georgia (Gibbs). The list making goes on, as they remember to bring 78 RPM records by Patti (Page), Bill Haley, (Harry) Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Johnnie (Ray), Tommy (Edwards), The Diamonds, The (Four) Aces, and The Platters.

From the above list, you may note that none of the recording artists known as rockabilly performers appear among the records being brought to the Rockabilly Party on Saturday night. Those categorized as rockabilly acts included Jimmy Bowen, Johnny Burnette, Johnny Cash, Sanford Clark, Eddie Cochran, Crash Craddock, Duane Eddy, Bill Haley, Dale Hawkins, Ronnie Hawkins, Buddy Holly, George Hamilton IV, Wanda Jackson, Buddy Knox, Brenda Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jim Lowe, Janis Martin, Carl Mann, (early) Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Marvin Rainwater, Jody Reynolds, Billy Lee Riley, Jack Scott, Ray Smith, Conway Twitty, Gene Vincent, and possibly Link Wray. Of these, many variously crossed over in time to country, pop or rock ‘n roll. But in 1956-57, the new music was very fluid and DJs were attempting to peg some of the discs they were spinning as new rockabilly records. They may have even promoted “Rockabilly Party” by Hugo & Luigi as a ‘rockabilly’ record over in Saint-Jerome, Quebec. But the single was more like a song you’d hear performed on Your Hit Parade than anything Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran, or Buddy Holly were recording. Perhaps, given both Al Hoffman (age 55 in 1957) and Dick Manning (age 45 in 1957) were raised on traditional pop music, they didn’t consider naming actual rockabilly artists in the “Rockabilly Party” lyrics.

“Rockabilly Party” reached #2 in Saint-Jerome (PQ), and #7 in Barbourville (KY).

In 1959, Hugo & Luigi recorded “La Plume de ma tante” which reached the Top 30 in the UK. Their final hit as a singing duo was later that year with “Just Come Home”, which peaked at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Among the records Peretti and Creatore produced are “Party Doll” by Buddy Knox, “I’m Sticking With You” by Jimmy Bowen, “Beep Beep” by the Playmates, “Don’t You Know” by Della Reese, “Shout” by the Isley Brothers, “Chain Gang”. “Having A Party”, “Twisting The Night Away”, “Another Saturday Night”, “Cupid” and “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke, “Tell Laura I Love Her” by Ray Peterson, “My Coloring Book” by Kitty Kallen, and “I Will Follow Him” by Little Peggy March.

During the 60s Peretti, Creatore and Weiss co-wrote “A Walkin’ Miracle” for the Essex (#12 in 1963); “Snoopy’s Christmas” for the Royal Guardsmen, and the music for the 1968 Broadway production Maggie Flynn. They wrote “Let’s Put It All Together” which became a Top Ten hit for the Stylistics in the UK in 1974. Subsequently, they wrote “Can’t Give You Anything But My Love” for the Stylistics which was a number-one hit in the UK in 1975.

Later the pair worked with Van McCoy on his single, “The Hustle”, which became a #1 hit in 1975. And in 1977 Peretti and Creatore won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album with Bubbling Brown Sugar.

Hugo Peretti died in 1986 at age 69. George David Weiss died at age 89 in 2010. Days before his 94th birthday, Luigi Creatore died of Pneumonia in 2015.

March 16, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Sam Roberts, “Luigi Creatore, 93; was Songwriter, Producer,” Boston Globe, December 19, 2015.
“Hugo Peretti,” Wikipedia.org.
“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.

CKJL 900-AM Saint-Jerome (PQ) | July 20, 1957