November 28, 1964: The Shangri-Las Lead the Pack

Left to right: Betty Weiss, Mary Ann Ganser,

Marge Ganser and Mary Weiss

November 28, 1964: The Shangri-Las hit Number 1 with "Leader of the Pack," making it the most successful "teenage lament" song of all time. The group, out of Cambria Heights, Queens, New York City, was 2 pairs of sisters: Mary and Betty Weiss, and twins Marge and Mary Ann Ganser. Like The Four Seasons, they named themselves after a nearby restaurant.
 
Their 1st hit was "Remember (Walking in the Sand)." You've heard it appropriated for about a gazillion TikTok videos: "Oh no! Oh no! Oh no no no no no…" "Leader of the Pack" was the follow-up, and their biggest hit. They had a few other hits, some of them "teenage laments," but "Give Him a Great Big Kiss" was a happy tune, and you can almost hear them snapping their fingers, and their chewing gum.

Betty sang lead on "Leader of the Pack," but, only 18, she got pregnant, and had to leave the group in October 1964, just before the song hit Number 1 and they went on a promotional tour of Britain. So while the lead character is addressed as "Betty," it was Mary who sang lead on tour, and in all the surviving TV clips.
 
Betty rejoined the group in mid-1965, but each of the Ganser twins dropped out at various times, with one replacing the other. Since they were identical twins, most people couldn't tell the difference. Among the acts who opened for them were The Animals, The Young Rascals, Vanilla Fudge, and The Iguanas, whose lead singer became Iggy Pop.
 
They were the original "bad girls of rock and roll." Well, them and The Ronettes. Both groups tended to wear outfits that were too tight for the 1960s. A rumor got around that Mary packed a gun on tour and got busted for it. It worked in their favor, as they had to fend off fewer advances from rotten guys.
 
After the group broke up, Mary Ann Ganser died of a barbiturate overdose (often incorrectly listed as encephalitis) in 1970. She was only 22 years old. The other 3 all got married, moved to Long Island, and had a reunion tour in 1976.

I saw a trio calling themselves The Shangri-Las at an oldies show at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia in 1988, but I got close enough to the stage to see that all 3 singers were in their 30s, and no 2 of the 3 looked like sisters, much less twins. They were not the real thing. The 3 surviving members last performed together in 1989, at the Meadowlands, at a show hosted by legendary New York disc jockey Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow.
 
Marge Ganser worked for the phone company until she was stricken with cancer, and died in 1998, at 50. Mary Weiss became an accountant, and Betty held several jobs. Both Weiss sisters are still alive, but only Mary remains on the oldies circuit.
 

The song was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, one of many hits songs they wrote while married to each other. In 1984, one of the first "jukebox musicals" on Broadway told Ellie's story, and it was titled Leader of the Pack. Ellie died in 2009. George "Shadow" Morton, who produced the song and wrote most of their other hits, died in 2013. As of November 28, 2022, Jeff Barry is still alive.

UPDATE: Mary Weiss died in 2024, leaving Betty as the last survivor.

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November 28, 1964 was a Saturday. A pair of star athletes, baseball's John Burkett and basketball's Roy Tarpley, were born.

It was the end of college football rivalry week, including USC upsetting Number 1 Notre Dame, 20-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I have a separate entry for that event. Among the other college football games played that day:

* Army beat Navy, 11-8 at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.

* Boston College beat Holy Cross, 10-8 at Alumni Stadium outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

* Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 7-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Florida beat Miami, 12-10 at Florida Field (now Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) in Gainesville, Florida.

* Vanderbilt beat Tennessee, 7-0 at Dudley Field (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.

* Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, 21-16 at Lewis Field (now Pickens Stadium) in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

* Texas Christian University (TCU) beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 17-6 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* Arizona beat Arizona State, 30-6 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.

Two days earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, Number 2 Alabama beat Auburn, 21-14 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama, winning 'Bama the Southeastern Conference title; and Number 5 Texas beat Texas A&M, 26-7 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.

* Idle: Number 3 Arkansas, who had beaten Texas, and won the Southwest Conference title; Number 6 Michigan, who had won the Big Ten Conference title; Number 7 Nebraska, who, despite losing the week before to arch-rival Oklahoma, had won the Big Eight Conference title; Number 8 Louisiana State University (LSU); Number 9 Oregon State, who had won the title in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), the league that became the Pacific-Eight (or Pac-8) the next year; Number 10 Ohio State, which had blown the Big 10 title by losing their finale to Michigan; and New Jersey teams Rutgers and Princeton.

And so, at a time when the National Championship was awarded by the Associated Press' sportswriters' poll after the regular season, with Notre Dame's loss, Alabama, coached by Bear Bryant and quarterbacked by Joe Namath, rose to Number 1.

But Texas beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl, and Arkansas beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, to earn a share of the National Championship with Alabama. Michigan beat Oregon State in the Rose Bowl, and LSU beat Syracuse in the Sugar Bowl.

Both the NFL and the AFL played the next day, plus games 2 days earlier, on Thanksgiving. The CFL played its championship game, the Grey Cup, and the BC Lions beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 34-24 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. It was the 1st Grey Cup for the Vancouver-based team. I have a separate entry for this event.

Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the St. Louis Hawks, 106-91 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 129-98 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia76ers beat the Detroit Pistons, 101-93 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers, 109-106 at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Just another day at the office for Wilt Chamberlain: 40 points and 30 rebounds, and blocked shots were not recorded. Jerry West led the Lakers with 33 points.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Montreal Forum. The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.

And in English soccer, Manchester United beat Arsenal, 3-2 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.