May 9, 2014

Friday Flashback: Late ’60s Video Interview with Frankie Valli & Bob Gaudio!

May 9th, 2014

Have any of you seen this fabulous interview with Frankie Valli & Bob Gaudio before? Wow! Any details on this TV program? Hope we can find the “To Give” performance!

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8 Comments »

  1. Frankie mentions that “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” was #1, which it was on Cash Box for 2 weeks.
    It was #1 on July 15th, then “Windy” by the Association went back to #1 on July 22nd. And then “CTMEOY” went back to # 1 again on July 29th.

    “CTMEOY” went as high as #2 on Billboard.

    It was then followed on Cash Box by “Light My Fire” – the Doors as #1 on August 5th….

    Comment by Jerry — May 10, 2014 @ 11:18 am

  2. I love this interview!! I’m not sure if it is online, but I know the performance of “To Give” is in the CD/DVD box set Jersey Beat: The Sound of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons!!

    Comment by Olivia T~ — May 10, 2014 @ 1:55 pm

  3. I wonder if Frankie is referring “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” being #1 on Cash Box, or on the scores of local charts natiionwide upon which it was #1, beginning with CKLW Windsor Detroit, which is alluded to but not named in JB. I nice touch would be to throw CKLW into the script explicitly when it returns to Michigan. They made many songs hits nationwide, kind of like viral videos on youtube today. Joel Whitburn has a new book from the Cash Box Surveys where CTMEOY reached #1, BTW, along with “Let’s Hang On”, which reached #2 and #3 respectively on the Hot 100.

    Comment by Ted — May 11, 2014 @ 11:14 am

  4. I have seen the performance of To Give that follows this interview, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the interview itself. Just from memory, I think it may have been a performance from a club called The Bitter End. I have an old set of VHS music performances from that venue, and it may have been included there. I’m not familiar with the interviewer or the name of the person that Frankie and Bob reference in the interview.

    Comment by Johnny Hornsby — May 12, 2014 @ 3:47 pm

  5. The owner, interviewer and founder of the “Bitter End”
    here is Fred Weintraub.

    Comment by Ray — May 13, 2014 @ 7:10 am

  6. Who is Billy Fields?

    Comment by stubbleyou — May 15, 2014 @ 3:16 am

  7. Billy Fields was their manager around this time. He was famous for co-sponsoring the first Rolling Stones concert in America.

    Fred Weintraub (interviewer)was also a promoter and has quite a history of discovering acts and suggesting
    people getting together to form bands etc. (Worth a look on Wiki).

    The Bitter End was quite a hang out for hundreds of known artists, producers, promoters and up and coming stars.

    It was here that Gaudio met Jake Holmes that subsequently led to their collaboration on Genuine Imitation Life Gazette and Sinatra’s Watertown.

    I guess it was the place to be!

    Comment by Ray — May 15, 2014 @ 3:16 pm

  8. Thanks, Ray – very interesting!

    Comment by stubbleyou — May 17, 2014 @ 9:05 am

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