December 30th

Happy Birthday to Monkees Michael Nesmith (25) and Davy Jones (22), "Capricorn" and "Jones" on their new #1 LP.  

LOOKING AHEAD:   

Here are the final TV Ratings for the period of September, 1967 – May, 1968):   

1.     The Andy Griffith Show  (CBS – 27.6) 

2.     The Lucy Show  (CBS – 27.0)

3.     Gomer Pyle, USMC  (CBS – 25.6)

4.    TIE:  Gunsmoke  (CBS 25.5)

    Family Affair  (CBS – 25.5)

    
   Bonanza  (NBC – 25.5)

7.     The Red Skelton Show  (CBS – 25.3)

8.     The Dean Martin Show  (NBC  24.8)

9.     The Jackie Gleason Show  (CBS – 23.9)

10.    Saturday Night At The Movies  (NBC – 23.6)

11.    Bewitched  (ABC – 23.5)

12.    The Beverly Hillbillies  (CBS – 23.3)

13.    The Ed Sullivan Show  (CBS – 23.2)

14.    The Virginian  (NBC – 22.9)

15.    TIE:  The Friday Night Movie  (CBS – 22.8)

      Green Acres  (CBS – 22.8)

17.  The Lawrence Welk Show  (ABC – 21.9)

18.  The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (CBS – 21.7)

19.  Gentle Ben  (CBS – 21.5)

20.  Tuesday Night At The Movies  (NBC – 21.4)

21.  Rowan And Martin’s Laugh-In  (NBC – 21.3)

22.  The FBI  (ABC – 21.2)

23.  The Thursday Night Movie  (CBS – 21.1)   

24.  My Three Sons  (CBS – 20.8)

25.  Walt Disney’s Wonderful World Of Color (NBC – 20.7)

26.  Ironside  (NBC – 20.5)

27.  TIE:  The Carol Burnett Show  (CBS – 20.1)

  
Dragnet ’67  (NBC – 20.1)

29.  Daniel Boone  (NBC – 20.0)

30.  TIE:  Lassie (CBS – 19.9)

 It Takes A Thief  (ABC – 19.9)

Recapping 1967's Biggest Films: 

Top-grossing films (US)

Rank	Title	Studio	Director	Actors	Gross
1.	The Graduate	AVCO Embassy /United Artists	Mike Nichols	Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft,Katharine Ross, William Daniels,Murray Hamilton, Elizabeth Wilson, Norman Fell	$104,901,839[2]
2.	The Jungle Book	Walt Disney Productions / Walt Disney Feature Animation	Wolfgang Reitherman	Bruce Reitherman, Phil Harris,Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders,Louis Prima, Darleen Carr, Verna Felton, J. Pat O'Malley	$73,741,048[3]
3.	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	Columbia Pictures	Stanley Kramer	Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier,Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Beah Richards, Roy Glenn, Cecil Kellaway, Isabel Sanford	$56,666,667[4]
4.	Bonnie and Clyde	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts	Arthur Penn	Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway,Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons,Michael J. Pollard, Gene Wilder	$50,700,000[5]
5.	The Dirty Dozen	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Robert Aldrich	Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker	$45,300,000[6]
6.	Valley of the Dolls	20th Century Fox	Mark Robson	Sharon Tate, Patty Duke, Barbara Parkins, Susan Hayward, Martin Milner, Paul Burke	$44,432,255[7]
7.	You Only Live Twice	United Artists	Lewis Gilbert	Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi,Mie Hama, Charles Gray, Bernard Lee	$43,084,787[8]
8.	To Sir, with Love	Columbia Pictures	James Clavell	Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Suzy Kendall	$42,432,803[9]
9.	The Born Losers	American International Pictures	T.C. Frank	Tom Laughlin, Elizabeth James,Jane Russell	$36,000,000[10]
10.	Thoroughly Modern Millie	Universal Pictures	George Roy Hill	Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore,James Fox, Carol Channing,Beatrice Lillie	$34,335,025[11]
11.	Camelot	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts	Joshua Logan	Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave,Franco Nero, David Hemmings,Lionel Jeffries	$31,102,578[12]
12.	In the Heat of the Night	United Artists	Norman Jewison	Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger,Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Beah Richards, Larry Gates	$24,379,978[13]
13.	Casino Royale	Columbia Pictures	Ken Hughes	David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles, Woody Allen	$22,744,718[14]
14.	I Am Curious (Yellow)	Janus Films	Vilgot Sjöman	Vilgot Sjöman, Lena Nyman	$20,238,100[15]
15.	Barefoot in the Park	Paramount Pictures	Gene Saks	Robert Redford, Jane Fonda,Charles Boyer	$19,994,515[16]
16.	Wait Until Dark	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts	Terrence Young	Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin,Richard Crenna, Jack Weston,Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.	$17,550,741[17]
17.	Cool Hand Luke	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts	Stuart Rosenberg	Paul Newman, George Kennedy,Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet,Clifton James	$16,217,773[18]
18.	In Cold Blood	Columbia Pictures	Richard Brooks	Robert Blake, John Forsythe, Scott Wilson, Paul Stewart, Jeff Corey,Charles McGraw	$13,000,000[19]
19.	Hombre	20th Century Fox	Martin Ritt	Paul Newman, Fredric March,Diane Cilento, Richard Boone,Martin Balsam, Barbara Rush	$12,000,000[20]
20.	Divorce American Style	Columbia Pictures	Bud Yorkin	Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds,Jean Simmons, Jason Robards,Van Johnson	$12,000,000[21]
21.	Two for the Road	20th Century Fox	Stanley Donen	Albert Finney, Audrey Hepburn	$12,000,000[22]
22.	In Like Flint	20th Century Fox	Gordon Douglas	James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, Jean Hale	$11,000,000[23]
23.	The Trip	American International Pictures	Roger Corman	Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper	$10,000,000[24]
24.	Doctor Dolittle	20th Century Fox	Richard Fleischer	Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar,Anthony Newley, Geoffrey Holder,Richard Attenborough	$9,000,000[25]
25.	The Taming of the Shrew	Columbia Pictures	Franco Zeffirelli	Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton	$8,000,000[26]

Academy Awards:

Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night - Mirisch, United Artists

Best Director: Mike Nichols - The Graduate

Best Actor: Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the Night

Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Best Supporting Actor: George Kennedy - Cool Hand Luke

Best Supporting Actress: Estelle Parsons - Bonnie and Clyde

Here is how WLS and WCFL recapped their Year-End Charts:

Be sure to check back with us on Tuesday, January 2nd, and we'll show you what we came up with using The Super Charts provided by Randy Price ...

It's the official 

Forgotten Hits Countdown 

of  

The Top 67 of 1967!!!

December 29th

Dave Mason quits Traffic to forge a solo career.  (He'll rejoin … and quit … two more times in the future!)

The Doors performed at The Family Dog in Denver, Colorado. 

Bandleader Paul Whiteman, often referred to as "The King Of Jazz" back in the 1920's and 1930's, passes away.  In 1924, Whiteman was commissioned to perform (for the very first time) George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue".  In later years he hosted his own television series, an amateur hour during which a ten year old Bobby Rydell won the grand prize.  Rydell then became a regular on the program (filmed in the same studio that would later be home to American Bandstand).  When the show was cancelled a year later, Bobby was an eleven year old out of work.  Whiteman had 21 #1 Records during the 1920's, and 32 in his career overall.

Read Bobby Rydell's memories of this early part of his career right here:

http://forgottenhits.com/bobby_rydell

Notice that the weekly WLS Survey has been renamed "The Hit Parade" this week.  This is during the time when Program Director John Rook took over the station.  Soon he would take on that same role at crosstown rival WCFL.  Years later, John founded The Hit Parade Hall Of Fame.  He also became a good friend and supporter of our efforts here in Forgotten Hits.  Sadly, we lost him on March 1st of last year.

  

December 28th

The top debut on this week's chart belongs to The Rolling Stones, who premier at #64 with "She's A Rainbow".  Other new ones of note include "To Give", another solo hit for Frankie Valli, which debuts at #72, "Tomorrow" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock, their follow-up to their #1 Hit "Incense And Peppermints", "Foxey Lady" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, new at #88 and "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat, a song that will enjoy HUGE success in 1968, new this week at #96.  

(You're probably not going to hear Paul Mauriat and Jimi Hendrix played back to back very often these days ... but, believe it or not, back in 1967 / 1968, you DID ... and nobody ever even gave it a second thought!  The incredibly amazing hey-day of Top 40, unsegregated rock and roll music!!!)

Boyce and Hart return to the recording studio today for more tweaking on the new arrangement of "Valleri".  Again, none of The Monkees are present.

December 27th

The Lettermen jump 16 places as their medley of "Goin' Out Of My Head / Can't Take My Eyes Off You" moves from #58 to #42.  Meanwhile, Engelbert Humperdinck climbs from #72 to #47 with "Am I That Easy To Forget."  The Marvelettes have a brand new hit as "My Baby Must Be A Magician" jumps from #67 to #50 and The Hollies and Wilson Pickett also show strong upward movement with "Dear Eloise" (#60 to #51) and "I'm In Love" (#64 to #52) respectively.  

The Dave Clark Five move from #65 to #56 with "Everybody Knows" and the follow-up hit to "Expressway To Your Heart," "Explosion In Your Soul" by The Soul Survivors, climbs from #82 to #60, a jump of 22 places.  "Little Becky's Christmas Wish" by Becky Lamb (I don't even KNOW this one!!!) climbs from #90 to #67 just in time for the holiday celebration and several of my personal favorites are also on the upswing this week:  "Baby, Now That I've Found You" by The Foundations (#85 to #75), "Skip A Rope" by Henson Cargill (#87 to #76), "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (#95 to #80) and "Spooky" by The Classics IV, which moves from #92 to #81.  

Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album is released.  

Paul McCartney appears on The David Frost Programme, filmed before a live audience in Wembley, to answer some of the criticism levied at their holiday television special "Magical Mystery Tour".

The Doors performed "Light My Fire" on The Jonathan Winters Show on CBS