BARRY LEVINE: ‘Short Shorts’ ignited career for Four Seasons’ Bob Gaudio

There’s a funny thing about being a “goldies” lover. When a song became a smash hit 50, 55 or even 60 years ago, you would hear it so often on Top 40 radio stations that you memorized the words because of repetition.

You and your contemporaries would walk through the halls of school between classes singing the songs.

Some of the hits from that era seemed to fade; songs that you seemed to completely forget were ever recorded.

My memory was recently jogged when I heard “Short Shorts,” a Top 5 hit by The Royals Teens in 1958.

The Royal Teens were a New Jersey rock and roll band that formed in 1956, consisting of Bob Gaudio on piano, Tom Austin on drums, Billy Dalton on guitar, and Billy Crandall on sax.

The term “Short Shorts” was a description Gaudio and Austin gave to the cutoff jeans teen girls were wearing during the summer of 1957.

One afternoon, Gaudio and Austin were driving in Bergenfield, N.J., in Austin’s 1957 Ford Fairlane 500. At that point, two girls were seen walking down the street wearing cutoff jeans that were so short they were almost illegal. At that moment, the song “Short Shorts” was born.

In the original recording, Austin did the opening whistle, Dalton mimicked the whistle on guitar, and Crandall said, “Man, dig those crazy chicks.”

Before the first rock and roll tour was launched which included The Royal Teens, Crandall, 14, had to leave the group because his parents would not allow him to leave Dumont High School. Austin had just graduated from Fort Lee High School. Gaudio’s parents let their son “temporarily” leave school to pursue his dream. Dalton took a leave of absence from All Hallows High in Manhattan.

Larry Qualiano, 17, of North Bergen, N.J., replaced Crandall.

The Royal Teens then made the one-night tour in 1958 with rock superstars Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddle and Chuck Berry.

The Royal Teens had one other Top 40 hit when “Believe Me” climbed to 28 in 1959.

Interest in the Royal Teens was reignited during the 1970s when “Short Shorts” was used in commercials for Nair, a hair removal cream.

Although the original Royal Teens disbanded in 1961, two of their members made major contributions in the music industry.

Gaudio became a member of The Four Seasons and combined with lead singer Frankie Valli to write many of the group’s major hits. Gaudio’s character also played a major role in the Broadway Show “Jersey Boys,” which later became a hit movie.

Al Kooper, 14, sometimes appeared with the Royal Teens on the road in 1959, and helped organize The Blues Project and Blood Sweat & Tears. However, he was not with Blood, Sweat & Tears when the pop-jazz group, led by singer David Clayton Thomas, had its string of hits from 1969 to 1971 including “You Made Me So Very Happy,” Spinning Wheel,” “And When I Die,” “Hi-De-Ho,” “Lucretia Mac Evil” and “Go Down Gambling.”

Kooper also performed as a session musician on several of Bob Dylan’s albums during the mid-1960’s.

This week in rock history – Perry Como, the singing barber, had his ninth No. 1 hit since 1945 and his only one in the modern rock ‘n’ roll era when “Round and Round” climbed to the top on April 6, 1957. … Shelly Fabares, 19, who was appearing on “The Donna Reed Show” as Mary Stone had the nation’s No. 1 hit on April 7, 1962, with “Johnny Angel.” … The Supremes recorded “Where Did Our Love Go” on April 8, 1964. It was to become the first of their five consecutive No. 1 hits.

Paul McCartney announced on April 9, 1970, a “temporary break with The Beatles.” He claimed “personal differences” and added that he would no longer record with Beatle John Lennon. … Dick Clark devoted an hour of “American Bandstand” on April 10, 1958, to the memory of Chuck Willis, who had died earlier in the day at age 30 . The Atlanta native had such hits as “C.C. Rider,” “What Am I Living For” and “Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes.”

Barry Levine is an entertainment writer for The Albany Herald. He can be reached at [email protected]