Carlton Jackson - P.S. I Love You: The Story of the Singing Hilltoppers

P.S. I Love You

The Story of the
Singing Hilltoppers

Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Copyright 2007 by The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jackson, Carlton.
P.S. I love you : the story of the singing Hilltoppers / Carlton Jackson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references, discography, and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-2436-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8131-2436-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Hilltoppers (Musical group) 2. SingersUnited StatesBiography. I. Title.
ML421.H54J33 2007
782.421640922dc22

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

To Hilltoppers,
whoever and wherever you may be.

Doc Livingston and Lee Robertson

I was pleased to be asked by Carlton Jackson to write an introduction about Billy Vaughn and the Hilltoppers. I knew each of them personally, and we were classmates at Western Kentucky University together. I had known Billy Vaughn and played with his group before I met the other guys. Billy was an older musician who played with Ace Dinnings band at the Boots and Saddle nightclub on the edge of Bowling Green. Billys daytime job was cutting hair to support his family. Billys big talent was arranging and composing.

At Western in my sophomore year (1948), I reorganized the Red and Grey dance band and this group played for many parties, dances, and other functions on and off campus. In my last year at Western (1951), Jimmy Sacca came in as a freshman music major on a football scholarship. I hired him to sing in the Red and Grey Band, but I had to replace him because he would not learn any new songs. Seymour Spiegelman was also a music major. Don McGuire played on Westerns basketball team.

After I graduated in 1951, I moved to the University of Kentucky, Frankfort, the states capital, and Ohio State University and then back to Western to be on its music faculty. My relationship resumed with Billy Vaughn as before, doing many gigs, including tours to Japan with his Hollywood band in 1986 and 1987.

The Hilltoppers recorded their first song with a portable tape recorder in Van Meter Auditorium. The song was Trying, a ballad that made them famous. It was just my luck to have missed out on their early years, but I kept up with the group and was very proud of their making the hit parade numerous times. Their beautiful and original songs and arrangements made them a national hit. I still have a dance orchestra and I still get requests for Hilltoppers songs.

The author, Carlton Jackson, wanted me to try to compare the contemporary popular music of today to yesterdays Hilltoppers. To me, there is no comparison. Ive found that the older generations (myself included) still like the tunes that the Hilltoppers sang back then.

Doc Livingston

Jimmy Sacca, Lockport, New York; Don McGuire, Hazard, Kentucky; Billy Vaughn, Glasgow, Kentucky; and Seymour Spiegelman, Seneca Falls, New York. How did four guys with such diverse backgrounds get together to begin singing? The common ground, of course, was Western Kentucky University, where they were students.

It was easy for the four to get acquainted on Westerns campus. In 1952, there were about fifteen hundred students, and since two of the four were scholarship athletes (Jimmy Sacca, football, end; and Don McGuire, basketball, guard), everybody knew them from the beginning. Because of Westerns rich tradition in athletics, especially basketball, students, faculty, and staff alike attended all the games.

Western had some great moments and outstanding accomplishments through its evolution from 1906, when it was founded as Western Kentucky State Normal School, to 1966, when it became Western Kentucky University, and beyond. Let me mention a few that are my favorites: number one in the world in debate; number one in the world in journalism; more than $100 million contributed in the very first capital campaign, Investing in the Spirit; national champion female gymnast; an astronaut (Terry Wilcutt) with a red towel (recalling basketball coach Ed Diddles waving a red towel during games) in the cockpit on his trips into space; national champion football team in 2002; NCAA Final Four in mens basketball in 1971; and the NCAA championship game in womens basketball in 1992. (This is a random listing and certainly not necessarily in order of importance.)

None of these ranks any higher than the Hilltoppers appearance that Sunday evening in 1952 in New York City on Toast of the Town, hosted by Ed Sullivan. It was with great anticipation that the student body and Westerners everywhere waited for the four guys with their striped beanies crowning youthful faces to appear onstage.

Television was in its infancy, and black and white ruled the screen. Very few homes were blessed with television sets, and sets were really scarce around campus, so groups assembled to watch the Sullivan broadcast. Simultaneous roars echoed across the Hill as our heroes appeared from behind the stage curtains. It was a sound not unlike the roar of the crowd that I heard at my one and only bullfight when the matador entered the ring or when Western hit a basket at the horn to win by one.

This feeling of pride lasted for the next few years as the Hilltoppers soared on the music charts, including the million-sellers chart, and as they entertained live from London to Tokyo with stops in New York, Las Vegas, and other cities throughout the United States.

The author, my friend Carlton Jackson, one of the most published faculty members at Western and in the southeastern United States, has books on a wide range of subjects. He has not limited his writings to his specialized discipline, history, but has covered the waterfront. The only common thread is that all his books are so readable. This book about the Hilltoppers is no exception.

Lee Robertson