July 18, 1964: "Rag Doll" to Riches

Left to right: Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Nick Massi

July 18, 1964: "Rag Doll" by The Four Seasons becomes the Number 1 song on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 list, making it the biggest hit song in America.

Bob Crewe grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, next-door to Newark. You might not know his name, his face, or his voice, but you know his work. With Frank Slay, he wrote "Silhouettes" for The Rays, "Lah Dee Dah" and "Lucky Ladybug" for Billy and Lillie, and "Navy Blue" for Diane Renay.

In 1962, he began working with The Four Seasons. With them, or with lead singer Frankie Valli as a soloist, he produced most of their hits, and co-wrote a lot of them, including "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Cant Take My Eyes Off You," Frankie’s 1975 comeback single "My Eyes Adored You," and a pair of songs that became better known by other performers, "Silence Is Golden" (The Tremeloes) and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (The Walker Brothers).

The Four Seasons had gone through several name changes, before being fired by a bowling alley of that name, where they'd been performing. They consisted of Valli, from Newark, born in 1934 as Francis Castelluccio, and naming himself after singer June Valli; keyboard player Bob Gaudio, born in 1942 in The Bronx and raised in Bergenfield; guitarist Gateano "Tommy" DeVito, born in 1928 in Belleville; and bass guitarist and bass singer Nick Massi, born in 1927 in Newark as Nicolas Macioci. DeVito, Massi and DeVito's brother Nick had been members of a group called The Variety Trio.

One of their early versions had been called The Four Lovers, and they had a minor hit in 1956 with "My Mother's Eyes," a 1929 song made famous by George Jessel, even getting to sing it on The Ed Sullivan Show. But this version didn't make it. One member was Charles Calello, born in 1938 in Newark. When the Seasons did hit it big, he became their musical arranger.

Gaudio had been in The Royal Teens, who had a big hit in 1958 with the near-instrumental "Short Shorts." The Goodfellas character played by Belleville native Joe Pesci was named after DeVito. Pesci, a guitarist and not yet an actor, introduced Gaudio to the other members. After a few years of struggle, in 1962, the hits started coming, with Valli's falsetto and Massi's bass voice providing counterpoints to superb orchestration directed by Crewe.

"Sherry" hit Number 1 at the end of Summer 1962. It was followed by "Big Girls Don't Cry," which hit Number 1. "Walk Like a Man" hit Number 1, and the only thing stopping the seasons from having 3 straight Number 1 hits was the seasonal release of a version of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." In Frankie's falsetto, it became, "You betta watch out, you betta not cry-yi, bay-be, tellin' you why." "Candy Girl" hit Number 3 later in 1963. Their 1st 2 hits in 1964 were "Dawn (Go Away)" at 3 and "Ronnie" at 6.

As rock historian Dave Marsh put it, these songs had "drums that sounded like they were played by God, though Buddy Saltzman is a better guess." Along with Gary Chester, Saltzman was the top session drummer in New York, while Hal Blaine of Phil Spector's "Wrecking Crew" and New Orleans transplant Earl Palmer were the top drummers in Los Angeles.

Gaudio had written some of the early Seasons hits with Crewe. One day in early 1964, he drove from his home in Bergen County over the George Washington Bridge, and down the West Side Highway. When he stopped at a light, a girl in a raggedy dress came up to his car and cleaned his windshield. The smallest thing he had in his pocket was a $5 bill -- about $48 in 2022 money. Years later, he told an interviewer he was thinking, "I can't give her a five-dollar bill, but I can't give her nothing, either." So he gave her the bill: "The look on her face was worth a million."

He may have been right: He could well have made over one million dollars in royalties from the song he wrote, based on her, turning her into a rich boy's poor teenage girlfriend -- although Saltzman's drumming was a bit of a swipe from Blaine's on the Ronettes' "Be My Baby."

By the time Gaudio got to the recording studio, he had the first two verses of "Rag Doll" in his head, but he couldn't think of a good close for the song. So it became just, "I love you just the way you are." A 15-year-old Long Islander named Billy Joel must have taken note. As he showed in "Uptown Girl," he's the biggest Seasons fan there is.

"Rag Doll" was one of several rich/poor love songs in the 1960s. In "Patches" by Dickie Lee, it was also rich guy, poor girl. In "Down in the Boondocks" by Billy Joe Royal and "Wolverton Mountain" by Claude King, it was poor guy, rich girl: In the former, "her daddy is my boss-man"; in the latter, the girl's father practically ran the whole town.

Through 1964, '65 and '66, and into early '67, the Seasons proved to be durable hitmakers, competing with The Beach Boys and the various Motown groups as an American counterweight to The Beatles and the rest of the "British Invasion" groups. Crewe's arrangements made him the New York version of Los Angeles' Spector, without the bullying of either his performers or his wife. (Crewe was gay. His friends knew, but it was kept quiet, and his career was never in danger.)

Massi left the group in 1965, and was replaced by Joe Long, born in 1932 as Joseph Louis LaBracio in Elizabeth. This gave the Seasons something The Beatles had: A lefthanded bass guitarist. By this point, they were having hits like "Let's Hang On!" and "Working My Way Back to You," written by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer, who had also taken "Minuet in G," a song written in 1725 by Christian Petzold (not by Johann Sebastian Bach, as was long believed), and turned it into "A Lover's Concerto," a doo-wop hit for a black female trio, The Toys.

Left to right: Bob Gaudio, Joe Long, Frankie Valli. Tommy DeVito

was to the right in this 1965 Ed Sullivan Show appearance.

By 1968, rock music had changed too much, and the attempt by Crewe and Gaudio to switch to concept albums and a more psychedelic sound put an end to their first run of success. DeVito left the group in 1970, and was replaced by Bob Grimm, a guitarist from New York's Capital Region, which includes Albany.

On February 25, 1971, they appeared on Top of the Pops, Britain's version of American Bandstand, and switched to producing. They had remained popular in Britain, which came to consider them "Northern Soul." (Newark is certainly Northern, and Frankie was from its North Ward.) Gaudio and Grimm left the touring lineup shortly thereafter, replaced, respectively, by Lee Shapiro, from Passaic, New Jersey; Demetri Callas, a Washington, D.C. native. When the Seasons made their comeback in 1975, Gaudio was still working with them, but only in the recording studio.

Valli's second run of success began with "My Eyes Adored You," hitting Number 1 in early 1975. It was replaced at Number 1 with another song Crewe wrote with Kenny Nolan, "Lady Marmalade" by Patti LaBelle. That song was brought back in 2001 by Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya and Pink.

This second run of success included the Seasons having Number 3 hit with "Who Loves You" in 1975, possibly boosted by Telly Savalas' title character on Kojak having the catchphrase, "Who loves ya, baby?"; a Number 1 hit in 1976 with "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)," with Valli trading lead vocals with new drummer Gerry Polci; and a solo hit for Valli, a theme for the movie version of the musical Grease, not in the original show, written by Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees, with Frankie showing Barry that a man can sing falsetto and still sound like a man (and "Walk Like a Man").

Supposedly, the couple meeting in "December 1963" was Gaudio and Judy Parker, a songwriter, introduced by Massi at a Christmas party. Together, Bob and Judy wrote the song, and her writing style was part of the group's change of direction. Unfortunately, this caused Long to leave the group, replaced by Don Ciccone, formerly of The Critters, who had a hit in 1966 with "Mr. Dieingly Sad." Polci was briefly married to Frankie's daughter, Antonia Valli.

In 1987, Aerosmith had a Top 5 hit with a very different song titled "Rag Doll." In 2007, former Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie had a Number 1 hit with a song titled "Big Girls Don't Cry." In 2020, during the COVID pandemic, at the age of 86, Valli remotely/online got together with younger musicians to do new versions of his old hits.

For years, Valli and Gaudio wanted to do a "life story" of the band, but they felt that the offers they were getting wouldn't do the group justice. Massi died during the project's early stages, but had given his blessing to go forward.

In 2004, having been hired by Gaudio, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice wrote Jersey Boys, a "jukebox musical" using the Seasons' songs to tell their story. Seeing the final product, Valli and Gaudio offered minor changes, to reflect real-life personalities, but otherwise left the show alone. The musical has a Rashomon effect: Each member of the group tells part of the story in turn, with some differences in the story: DeVito, Gaudio, Massi, and finally Valli.

John Lloyd Young played Valli, Daniel Richard played Gaudio, J. Robert Spencer played Massi, Christian Hoff played DeVito, Michael Longoria played Pesci, Peter Gregus played Crewe, and Mark Lotito played Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo, the most powerful organized crime figure in New Jersey in the 1960s, who helped the group out from time to time.

It ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2017, and was nominated for 8 Tony Awards, winning 4, including Best Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for Young, and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (the Tony's equivalent of the Oscars' "Best Supporting Actor") for Hoff.

A film version was released in 2014, directed by Clint Eastwood. Young reprised his role as Valli, Erich Bergen played Gaudio, Michael Lomenda played Massi, Vincent Piazza played DeVito, Mike Doyle played Crewe, Rob Marnell played Long, Joey Russo played Pesci, and Christopher Walken played DeCarlo. Clint's daughter, Francesca Eastwood, played a waitress.

The Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Angelo DeCarlo died in 1973, Nick Massi in 2000, Buddy Saltzman in 2012, Bob Crewe in 2014, Don Ciccone in 2016, Judy Parker in 2017, Tommy DeVito and Demetri Callas in 2020, and Joe Long in 2021. (Long died from COVID, but DeVito and Callas did not.) As of July 18, 2022, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Charles Calello, Denny Randell, Sandy Linzer, Lee Shapiro, Bob Grimm and Gerry Polci are still alive.

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July 18, 1964 was a Saturday. Talk-show host Wendy Williams was born. And this was the day that a race riot broke out in Harlem, starting an unfortunate urban trend that lasted through the 1960s. I have a separate entry for that event.

The NFL, the NBA and the NHL were in their off-seasons. But there were Major League Baseball games played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians, 6-4 at Yankee Stadium. Bob Chance won the game with a triple in the top of the 15th inning. Tony Kubek hit a home run, and Mickey Mantle went 1-for-5 with a walk and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 15-7 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. The Mets led 6-4 going to the bottom of the 8th inning, but the Cards scored 11 runs. Future Met Ken Boyer, and future New York broadcasters Bill White (Yankees) and Tim McCarver (Mets, then Yankees) homered for the Cards. Charley Smith hit one for the Mets.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 12-6 at Fenway Park in Boston. Earl Wilson was the starting and winning pitcher, and helped his own cause with a home run. Bob Tillman hit 2 home runs for the BoSox, while Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-5.

* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles won the 1st game, 6-1. The Detroit Tigers won the 2nd game, 3-0. Mickey Lolich pitched a 5-hit shutout. Brooks Robinson had 3 of those hits. Gates Brown also went 3-for-4, but for the Tigers, and had 3 RBIs. He had 3 hits in the 1st game, too. Over the 2 games, Al Kaline went 1-for-8.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 14-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Frank Robinson went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Pete Rose went 4-for-4 with a home run and 6 RBIs.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Braves, 8-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bob Veale went the distance for the win, while Warren Spahn was knocked out of the box in the 4th inning. Roberto Clemente went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Hank Aaron went 2-for-4. Joe Torre went 1-for-3 with a walk. Eddie Mathews went 0-for-2, and was replaced with a pinch-hitter.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Jim Fregosi won it with a home run in the top of the 13th inning.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Sandy Koufax outpitched Larry Jackson. Ernie Banks went 0-for-4.

* The Houston Colt .45s (they became the Astros the next season) beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Ken Johnson outpitched Billy O'Dell. Willie Mays went 1-for-4.

* And the Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Athletics were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on October 2. The ChiSox swept, 3-2 and 5-4, winning the nightcap in the bottom of the 9th, on a single by former Yankee 1st baseman Bill "Moose" Skowron.