Wikipedia

Jaye P. Morgan

For the financier, see J. P. Morgan. For other people named Mary Morgan, see Mary Morgan (disambiguation).

Jaye P. Morgan (born Mary Margaret Morgan;[1] December 3, 1931[2]) is an American singer, actress, and game show panelist.

Jaye P. Morgan
Jaye P. Morgan
Morgan in 1968
Born
Mary Margaret Morgan

(1931-12-03) December 3, 1931 (age 92)
Mancos, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
Years active1951–1984

Early life

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Morgan was born in Mancos[3][4] in Montezuma County in far southwestern Colorado. Her family moved to California by the time she was in high school. Morgan had six siblings; five brothers and one sister.[3] In the late 1940s, at Verdugo Hills High School in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname "Jaye P." after the banker J. P. Morgan) and sang at school assemblies, accompanied by her brother on guitar.[3] She was married briefly to Michael Baiano from 1954-1955.[citation needed]

Career

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Morgan was not the only vocalist in her family. Three of her brothers were also singers. From top: Duke, Dick, and Charlie with Jaye P., for a 1959 appearance on The Jimmy Dean Show.

In 1953, Morgan made a recording of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" issued by Derby Records,[5] which made it to #26 on the U.S. Billboard record chart. Soon after, she received an RCA Victor recording contract,[6] and she had five hits in one year, including her biggest hit "That's All I Want from You", which reached #3 on the chart.[7] Other notable hits included "There's a Dream in My Heart" by Rolande Maxwell Young, "The Longest Walk" and "Pepper Hot Baby". In 1954, she married Michael Baiano. She joined MGM Records in 1959 after spending the previous six years with RCA Victor.[3]

From 1954 to 1955, Morgan was a vocalist on the ABC television series show Stop the Music. In November 1955, the British music magazine, NME, reported that Morgan was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll.[8] Beginning January 11, 1954, she was a featured singer on the Robert Q. Lewis Show on CBS-TV.[9]

In 1956, she had her own show, The Jaye P. Morgan Show, and made guest appearances on a number of other variety shows.[10] She was a charter member of the Robert Q. Lewis "gang" on Lewis's weekday program on CBS,[3] and was featured on a special episode of The Jackie Gleason Show in which Lewis's entire company substituted for the vacationing Gleason. In 1958, Morgan appeared on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.

In 1961, Morgan was cast as Sally Dwight in the episode "Money and the Minister" of the CBS anthology series, General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan. In 1962, she played Patty Maxwell in "Patti's Tune" of the CBS military sitcom/drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper. That same year, she was cast as Kitty Flanders in "That's Showbiz" on NBC's The Joey Bishop Show. In 1964, she portrayed the character Ruth Evans in the episode "Sunday Father" of the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour.

Although Morgan continued to spend considerable time in the 1960s and 1970s performing in nightclubs, she made additional appearances on television as well as in films. In 1966, she guest-starred on CBS's My Three Sons in the episode "A Falling Star", playing the fading singer Claudia Farrell.[11] Later, in 1973, Morgan played herself in the episode "The Songwriter" of the sitcom The Odd Couple.[11] That year she appeared too as Magda Valentine in the film The All-American Boy. She performed the theme song, "Coming into My Own," of the short-lived NBC situation comedy Fay, starring Lee Grant, which aired in 1975–1976.[12]

In 1978, Morgan guest-starred on The Muppet Show and sang "That Old Black Magic" as a duet with Dr. Teeth.[11][13] Morgan made numerous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during this period,[14] and in the 1980s and into the early 1990s she performed again on the big screen, working in supportive roles in films such as Loose Shoes (1980), Night Patrol (1984), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).[11]

Game show panelist

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One of Morgan's first appearances as a game show panelist was on the 1970 pilot for "The Honeymoon Game" (a then re-working of earlier pilots for The Joker's Wild). She represented the category of Music on the show, asking questions to the contestants in that category.

From 1976 to 1978, Morgan was a regular panelist on The Gong Show,[15] in which she achieved notoriety for flashing her breasts while on live camera during a Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine performance. NBC banned her from the program for the flashing incident.[16] The 1980 "behind-the-scenes" The Gong Show Movie features the breast-flashing footage.[17]

Morgan also appeared on the Playboy Channel game show Everything Goes, and with her former Gong Show partner Jamie Farr on Hollywood Squares Game Show Week II in 2004.

Morgan appeared as herself in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,[18] a 2003 semi-biographical film about the life of Chuck Barris, creator of The Gong Show, The Dating Game, and The Newlywed Game.[11][19]

She also appeared on Rhyme and Reason, Match Game, Make Me Laugh.

Discography

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Albums

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Year Title Label and Number
1953 Jaye P. Morgan and Orchestra (10") Royale 18122
1954 Jaye P. Morgan and Orchestra (10") Royale 18147
1954 Jaye P. Morgan and Orchestra (10") Royale 18162
1955 Jaye P. Morgan sings with Frank DeVol’s Orchestra Allegro Royale 1604
1956 Jaye P. Morgan RCA Victor LPM-1155
1958 Just You, Just Me RCA Victor LPM-1682
1959 Slow & Easy MGM E3774
1960 Up North MGM E3830
1960 Down South MGM E3867
1961 That Country Sound MGM E3940
1962 Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries Tops Mayfair 9739
1970 What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life Beverly Hills BHS-24
1976 Jaye P. Morgan Candor C-1001
1983 Lately! Palace PLP-S6540
1995 Jaye P. Morgan & Kaye Ballard – Long Time Friends AVL-95320

Singles

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Year Single (A-side, B-side)
Both sides from same album except where indicated 		Chart positions Album
U.S. US
Cashbox 		U.S.
AC
1953 "Just a Gigolo"
b/w "Wasted Tears" 		22 Jaye P. Morgan (Rondo-Lette label)
1954 "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries"
b/w "Operator 299" 		26 45
"Ring Telephone Ring"
b/w "Don't Tell Him"
"Nobody Met the Train"
b/w "Life Was Made for Living"
"I Ain't Got the Man"
b/w "Baby Don't Do It"
"That's All I Want from You"
b/w "Dawn" 		3 6 Non-album tracks
1955 "Danger! Heartbreak Ahead" / 12 14
"Softly Softly" flip 42
"Have You Ever Been Lonely"
b/w "Life Was Made for Living" 		The House Of Jaye P. Morgan
"Chee Chee-oo Chee" (with Perry Como) / 12 17 Non-album tracks
"Two Lost Souls" (with Perry Como) 18 26
"The Longest Walk" / 6 12
"Swanee" flip 48
"Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries"
b/w "Just a Gigolo" 		The House of Jaye P. Morgan
"Baby Don't Do It"
b/w "Nobody Met the Train"
"If You Don't Want My Love" / 12 33 Non-album tracks
"Pepper Hot Baby" 14 19
"Not One Goodbye" / 48
"My Bewildered Heart" 47
1956 "Get Up! Get Up!" / 83
"Sweet Lips" 85
"Lost in the Shuffle" / 69
"Play for Keeps" 79
"Johnny Casanova"
b/w "The West Point Dress Parade" 		81
"Just Love Me"
b/w "The Call of the Wild" 		97
"Mutual Admiration Society"
b/w "If'n"
Both sides with Eddy Arnold 		47 24
1957 "I Thought It Was Over"
b/w "Pledge Allegiance to Your Heart"
"Graduation Ring"
b/w "You, You Romeo"
"There's a Dream in My Heart"
b/w "Take a Chance"
1958 "Tell Me More"
b/w "My Blind Date"
"I Know, I Know, I Know"
b/w "I Love You So Much It Hurts"
Both sides with The Morgan Brothers
"Star Dust" (with The Morgan Brothers)
b/w "Easy Does It"
1959 "Are You Lonesome Tonight" / 65 67
"Miss You" 78 63
"(It Took) One Kiss"
b/w "My Reputation" 		70
"Somebody Else Is Taking My Place"
b/w "Somebody Loses, Somebody Wins"
"That Funny Feeling"
b/w "Left My Gal in the Mountains" 		112
"My Darling, My Darling"
b/w "Thoughts of Love"
1960 "Half As Much"
b/w "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" 		That Country Sound
"I Wish I Didn't Love You So"
b/w "I Understand" 		Non-album tracks
"I Walk the Line"
b/w "Wondering Where You Are" (Non-album track) 		66 55 That Country Sound
"When You Get What You Want"
b/w "A World I Can't Live In"
1961 "Catch Me a Kiss"
b/w "Close Your Eyes" 		Non-album tracks
1962 "A Heartache Named Johnny"
b/w "He Thinks I Still Care" 		119
1965 "Put a Ring on My Finger"
b/w "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries"
1970 "Love of a Gentle Man"
b/w "Billy Sunshine" 		37 What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life
"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life"
b/w "Applause" 		40
"I've Got an Awful Lot of Losing You to Do"
b/w "He's Too Good For Me"
1971 "A Song for You"
b/w "Do You Really Have a Heart" (from What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life) 		105 108 Non-album track

References

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  1. ^ "Artists' Biographies for Jockey Programming: Jaye P. Morgan Debuted at Three". The Billboard. February 23, 1959. p. 6. ProQuest 1040459012. Jaye P. (born Mary Margaret) Morgan comes from a show business family. She debuted at age three with a bouncer called 'I May Be Little, But I'm Loud.' The Morgan Family broke up with the death of their father in 1945. When the blond songstress was 18, she won an audition at the Hollywood Palladium to sing with the Frank De Vol's band. She sang with him for three years. Her first national recognition came when she was with the Robert Q. Lewis show on New York's WCBS.
  2. ^ "Today's Birthdays". The Tennessean. December 3, 2022. p. 2A. ProQuest 2746414577. Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 91. Rock singer Ozzy Osborne is 74. See also:
    • "Today in History: Today's Birthdays". Asbury Park Press. December 3, 1992. p. 22. ProQuest 2014108215. Singer Jaye P. Morgan is 61. Rock singer Ozzy Osborne is 44.
  3. ^ a b c d e Ovington, Reg (August 22, 1954). "TV is Banking on Jaye P. Morgan". Reading Eagle. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  4. ^ Feather, Leonard (December 20, 1992). "Next Role For Jaye P. Morgan: A Jazz Singer". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ^ "Jaye P. Morgan - Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries". Discogs. August 6, 2023.
  6. ^ Guinan Family (2009). Lakewood Park. Arcadia Publishing. p. 83. ISBN 978-0738565781.
  7. ^ Cusack, Bob (2005). Nostalgia Is What It Was. iUniverse. p. 155. ISBN 978-0595361793.
  8. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Hamlyn. p. 20. ISBN 978-0600576020.
  9. ^ "Monday (11)" (PDF). Ross Reports on Television. January 11, 1954. p. 1. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  10. ^ Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786486410.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Jaye P. Morgan". TV Guide. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  12. ^ McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 281.
  13. ^ Garlen, Jennifer C.; Graham, Anissa M. (January 10, 2014). Kermit Culture: Critical Perspectives on Jim Henson's Muppets. McFarland & Company. p. 218. ISBN 978-0786453757.
  14. ^
  15. ^ "Jaye P. Morgan". October 23, 2017.
  16. ^ Eakin, Marah; Teti, John; Adams, Erik (June 16, 2014). "Bonus round stars: 9 celebrities who found their greatest fame on game shows". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  17. ^
  18. ^ "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". movies.com. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  19. ^ Phillips, Jevon (March 22, 2017). "Chuck Barris, creator of 'The Gong Show' and 'The Dating Game,' dies at 87". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
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