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Judy Garland's performance at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, April 23, 1961 was recorded live and released as a two-record album. It was #1 on the Billboard album chart all of September and 13 weeks total. Her performance was dubbed "the greatest night in show business history." It would receive the Grammy for Best Album.

Billboard Top 40 for 9/16/1961
Rank..Previous .. # Weeks .. Title .. Artist

#1 .. 2 / 7 Take Good CAre of My Baby---------------Bobby Vee
#2 .. 1 / 11 Michael----------------The Highwaymen
#3 .. 3 / 12 My True Story----------------The Jive Five
#4 .. 22 / 4 His Latest Flame----------------Elvis Presley
#5 .. 11 / 6 Crying----------------Roy Orbison
#6 .. 7 / 7 Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor---Lonnie Donegan
#7 .. 14 / 7 Without You----------------Johnny Tillotson
#8 .. 6 / 13 Wooden Heart----------------Joe Dowell
#9 .. 29 / 4 One Track Mind----------------Bobby Lewis
#10 .. 13 / 8 When We Get Married----------------The Dreamlovers
#11 .. 5 / 11 You Don't Know What You've Got----------Ral Donner
#12 .. 19 / 7 A Little Bit of Soap----------------The Jarmels
#13 .. 9 / 5 Little Sister----------------Elvis Presley
#14 .. 31 / 8 It’s Gonna Work Out Fine----------------Ike & Tina Turner
#15 .. 12 / 8 The Mountain's High----------------Dick & Dee Dee
#16 .. 15 / 22 Tossin' and Turnin'----------------Bobby Lewis
#17 .. 8 / 7 Who Put the Bomp----------------Barry Mann
#18 .. 4 / 9 Hurt----------------Timi Yuro
#19 .. 23 / 5 Big Cold wind----------------Pat Boone
#20 .. 20 / 5 FRANKIE & JOHNNY----------------Brook Benton
#21 .. 24 / 6 More Money For You And Me Medley--------The Four Preps
#22 .. 33 / 6 Mexico----------------Bob Moore & His Orchestra
#23 .. 34 / 3 You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby-----Bobby Darin
#24 .. 21 / 18 I Fall To Pieces----------------Patsy Cline
#25 .. 28 / 10 Nag----------------The Halos
#26 .. 18 / 12 Don't Bet Money Honey----------------Linda Scott
#27 .. 55 / 2 Hit The Road Jack----------------Ray Charles
#28 .. 26 / 12 Last Night----------------The Mar-Keys
#29 .. 16 / 9 School Is Out----------------Gary U.S. Bonds
#30 .. 17 / 9 I Just Don't Understand----------------Ann-Margaret
#31 .. 36 / 6 Lover's Island----------------The Blue Jays
#32 .. 10 / 9 As If I Didn't Know----------------Adam Wade
#33 .. 48 / 5 The Astronaut----------------Jose Jimenez
#34 .. 27 / 8 Amor----------------Ben E. King
#35 .. 46 / 5 Jeremiah Peabody's Pills----------------Ray Stevens
#36 .. 37 / 4 Look In My Eyes----------------The Chantels
#37 .. 40 / 5 Years From Now----------------Jackie Wilson
#38 .. 32 / 7 Let Me Belong To You----------------Brian Hyland
#39 .. 74 / 2 Bristol Stomp----------------The Dovells
#40 .. 69 / 3 Let's Get Together----------------Hayley Mills

On September 19th, 1961, Bobby Vee’s “Take Good Care of My Baby” was in its second week of a three week run at #1.  The song was a product of Brill Building writers Carole King and Gerry Goffin and would be Vee’s biggest hit.  It was part of the “teen idol” trend of the early 1960’s, as was other top ten entries, Johnny Tillotson’s “Without You” and Joe Dowell’s version of Elvis Presley’s “Wooden Heart” (featured on the “G.I. Blues” album).  Ral Donner sounded a lot like Presley and had his first success with a cover of Elvis’s “The Girl of My Best Friend” (from the album “Elvis is Back”).  “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got” would be his biggest hit.

The biggest teen idol of all, Elvis Presley had two records in the top twenty.  “His Latest Flame” was peaking that week and “Little Sister” would reach as high as #5 in a couple of weeks.  Although neither reached the top of the charts as so many other Elvis post army releases had done, both were probably closer to his pre-army style.

Another artist with double entries in the top twenty was Bobby Lewis.  “Tossin’ and Turnin’” had occupied the top spot for 7 weeks earlier in the summer and “One Track Mind” was peaking at #9.

While Barry Mann payed homage to the doo-wop strain of rock and roll with “Who Put the Bomp,” the genre itself was well represented by The Jive Five’s “My True Story” which was peaking at #3, The Jarmels’ “A Little Bit of Soap” and The Dreamlovers’ “When We Get Married.”  Although it didn’t get any higher than #3, “My True Story” was popular enough to make Billboard’s top ten for 1961 (#6).

The rising influence of folk music was illustrated by The Highwaymen’s “Michael”  which was an adaptation of an African-American work song that purportedly was sung by slaves living on islands off the shore of Georgia. 

Perhaps one of the most unique of the top ten was Lonnie Donegan’s “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor.”  Donegan was very popular in the U.K. and it was a rarity for British imports to make it on the U.S. chart.  In a few years that would change as a young group of Brit’s who idolized Donegan was appearing frequently at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

 
 

In other news:

Russia exploded a nuclear bomb ending a 34 month moratorium on nuclear testing

Hurricane Carla struck in Texas resulting in what was called at the time, “the greatest evacuation in U.S. history.”

Hans Boehm crashed through the Brandenburg Gate in a daring escape through the Berlin wall

Richard Nixon registered his candidacy for Governor of California

South Vietnam President Diem asked for more military aid from the U.S.

It was reported that service stations were adding services other than gas and oil,  such as self-service counter displays

Grandma Moses turned 101

Chrysler announced that it would be dropping fins from its 1962 line

Timothy Leary founded the International Foundation for Internal Freedom to promote LSD research

The minimum wage was raised to $1.15 an hour

Jack Parr recorded “The Tonight Show” in Berlin

President Kennedy signed the bill creating the Peace Corps.

Scott Baio was born

NBC premiered “Saturday Night at the Movies” breaking the long-standing feud between television and movies by showing films made after 1948.

The sale of color television sets doubled as NBC debuted “Walt Disney’s wonderful World of Color.”

French President de Gaulle was unharmed by a car bomb assassination attempt

The New York Times published a glowing review of a new folk singer, Bob Dylan.

TWA flight 529 crashed at Chicago’s Midway airport killing all 78 persons on board

U.N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in the Congo

Fidel Castro closed the last casinos in Cuba
"The Parent Trap" was the #1 movie at the box office in September of 1961. Haley Mills played the twin sisters -- can you identify who played the parents?
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