Puttin’ the L.A. in Laffs…
(8 downloads)Thursday, Feb 14, 2008
I don’t know about you but it sounds to me like Vernon Green is about to crack up on every line of his delivery of the open love letter, spoken at the middle of this song. “Edna” is the Medallions’ predictable love ballad backing their single “Speedin’”. Hey, these guys clearly like a good laugh and it’s nice to hear that someone like Green maintained a lifelong sense of humor though as a child he was stricken by polio which left him crippled. Their record label, DooTone, was no stranger to the lighter side of things since the bulk of their output by the end of the 1950s was comedy acts.The most notable artist from their catalog was a young “Chitlin' Circuit” comedian from the Watts neighborhood of LA, named Redd Foxx (DooTone records’ headquarters was also located in Watts). DooTone put out a ton Foxx records, many of which were repackaged versions of earlier releases and this more or less kept the label going in its later years. Redd Foxx, real name John Elroy Sanford, specialized in a raunchy party style of of humor that catered to a black audience. As we all know, he would later portray the character Fred Sanford in the 70s sitcom “Sanford and Son”. Fred Sanford was in fact the name of both Foxx’s father and his older brother. Though his records were a cash cow for DooTone records up until the early 70s when the label went out of business, Foxx and DooTone owner, Dootsie Williams, had a falling out in 1963 which led to Frank Sinatra buying out his contract in 1967.
Another DooTone claim to fame was its discovery of another legendary Los Angeles doo-wop act, the Penguins, releasing their eternal classic, Earth Angel, in 1954.
DooTone 364, 1955
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitlin'_circuit