Dorothy Shay in Old Time Radio

Dorothy Shay
(1921 – 1978)

Many elements of the Pre-War and Wartime Big Band Sound carried over into the immediate Post-War boom. An important draw was the popularity of Girl Singers. Stars like Deanna Durbin, Dinah Shore, Connie Boswell, Ginny Simms, and others often gained more attraction than the Bands they were fronting.

The Boom-times were also a period when the Advertising Agencies were recognizing that "Sex Sells", so a Girl Singer was able to further her appeal by being attractive and appearing available. The recent Wartime experience left a desire for sentimental tunes, and if they were delivered by someone who looked good in an evening dress, so much the better. The Florida-native who is the subject of this notice made Park Avenue evening wear a part of her persona, but she was not the Girl Singer people expected.

Dorothy Shay was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1921, she began taking singing lessons to help overcome her Southern accent. When America joined the War, she began touring with the USO to help boost troop morale. Dottie began singing with the Morton Gould Orchestra in 1945, and during an encore one night, dressed in a fine evening gown, the band convinced her to perform the country-novelty song, "Uncle Fud".

The irony of a sophisticated and attractively dressed urbanite singing and speaking like a hayseed was a hit with audiences, and set Ms. Shay's reputation as the "Park Avenue Hillbillie". Columbia Records signed her in 1947, and she cut her biggest hit, "Feudin' and Fightin'" for the label, who included it on the album "Dorothy Shay (The Park Avenue Hillbillie) Sings). The album made Dorothy the first female artist to top the album charts.

Coca-Cola hired Dorothy for the 1947/48 season to be a foil for the raucous Spike Jones who led his City Slicker Orchestra on CBS's Spotlight Revue. Hollywood called in the new decade when she starred in Comin' Round the Mountain (1951, Universal Pictures). Dorothy attracted fans from all over, including Dwight Eisenhower, who invited her to perform at his 1953 Inauguration.

TV Guest roles took up Dorothy's career in the Seventies, including character appearances on The Virginian, Adam-12, The Brady Bunch, Police Woman, and nine appearances on The Waltons as "Thelma", owner of the Dew Drop Inn (when Ms. Shay passed in 1978, The Waltons writers injected that Thelma had sold the Dew Drop and moved to California).

At the age of 57, Dorothy Shay suffered a fatal heart attack on October 22, 1978, in Santa Monica, California.