The “Golden Hits Of The 50s” 

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PRISCILLA WRIGHT

“THE MAN IN THE RAINCOAT”

Warwick, Webster

Unique 303

No. 16    August 6, 1955

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Not many people have heard this ode to a shadowy being in shiny, squeaky, pitch-black plastic.  While

the title suggests a song about a flasher, the Wright reading is period-appropriate and quite innocuous.

At the time of her mini-moment, Cilia was only 14 and had a face full of braces.  Her father was Don

Wright, the leader of a choir in London, Ontario.  Priscilla fooled around with her dad’s tape machine,

leaving some rough vocal tracks.  On a chance listen, Don Knight heard Priscilla’s moody and broody

singing–here was a young voice with the sting of a worldly Eartha Kitt.  Wright excitedly raced about for

weeks in search of the right vehicle for his daughter, sifting through more than 120 numbers before

choos­ing “The Man in the Raincoat.”  Spartan Records released the disk in Canada; the Unique label

picked up the platter’s distribution, and “The Man in the Rain­ coat”successfully crossed the border.

MARION MARLOWE, known for her “Whither Thou Goest” (#27, 1954}, also worked up a version of this

musical mystery.  Marion was a “friend” on the popular boob-tube bonanza “Arthur Godfrey and His

Friends.”  Her “Raincoat” waxing (#14, 1955) competed with Cilia’s, and likewise placed in the nation’s

Top 40.  Vinyl voyeurs note that Cilia was last captured, cloaked, and disseminated by 20th Century Fox

Records in 1959.