Tony Orlando and Dawn

Airdate: January 7, 1976 (CBS)

Cast: Tony Orlando, Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson, Danny Thomas, Georgia Engel, the Dapper Dans (John Sherburn, Jerry Siggins, Doug Scott and Tony Orlando - subbing for Creighton Hogan.) Directed by Jeff Margolis. Written by Al Gordon, Hal Goldman, Douglas Arango, Phil Doran, George Tricker, Neil Rosen, Jerry Winnick, Ilson and Chambers, Rod Warren, Barry Blitzen and Jack Kaplan.

Each week on the show, Tony would get to live out some fantasy. In this episode his fantasy was to sing in that slice of Americana, the barbershop quartet. Tony took Creighton Hogan’s place (and his costume, with a few adjustments) in the segment as the producers felt it would be novel to have Tony sing lead with the guys. The Dapper Dans had a really positive and lengthy feature on the show, over 10 minutes, which is forever for a barbershop quartet on national television! They worked on the show for an entire week up in Hollywood. The quartet remembers Tony Orlando as being a wonderful guy and a great performer. When he met them, he said, "I’m not a singer, I’m an entertainer." Doug remembers meeting Carol Burnett in make-up (she shared the same studio) and Freddie Prinz who was hanging out backstage.

Here is how to identify the men in the images below:
John Sherburn (in green, sings tenor), Tony Orlando (in red, sings lead),
Jerry Siggins (in blue, sings baritone and lead), Doug Scott (in yellow, sings bass)

Click here to here the first part of the Dapper Dans’ segment of the show:

"Shine On, Harvest Moon" - 1908, words and music by Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, public domain, arranged by the Dapper Dans.

Doug: "Hummm…" Jerry: "Hummm…"
John: "Hummm…"

Tony: "Hummm!"

"Shine on, shine on harvest moon
up in the sky…"

"Snow time, ain’t no time to stay outdoors and spoon, so shine on,
shine on harvest moon…"

"…for me and my gal."
They really ring the last chord!

The guys grab Tony as he asks them to save his place, singing to the tune of Good Night Ladies … "Okay Tony, okay Tony, okay Tony, we’ll save your place for you!"

Tony is proud of the quartet as Telma and Joyce applaud.

"Don’t you realize what a unique musical form that is -the barbershop quartet – that’s how music sounded at the turn-of-the-century." Telma: "You should know, the last time you were at a barbershop it was the turn-of-the-century."

Singing to the tune "Hello, My Baby," they greet Telma and Joyce and the audience with a bit of silliness.

Joyce and Telma ask Tony how the quartet met each other, and they respond by singing a phrase of "While Strolling Through the Park One Day."