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CATHY CARR
“IVORY TOWER“
(Jack Fulton. Lois Steele)
Fraternity 734
No. 2 June 16, 1956
UPDATE & RE-WRITE, June 11, 2015
Cathy Carr was born Angela Helen Catherine Cordovano in the Bronx, New York, on June 28, 1938.
From the age of six, she took extensive dance and singing lessons, and appeared on the locally popular
“Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour,” a three-decade-plus run variety show, comprised of under-agers.
The radio, then TV show gave exposure to numerous later to-be noteables (as Frankie Avalon, Rosemary
Clooney, Eddie Fisher, Connie Francis, JOEY HEATHERTON, Kitty Kallen, BERNADETTE PETERS, Ann
Sherdian, Arnold Stang, and the Four Aces’ Al Alberts). “The Children’s Hour” was sponsored by Horn &
Hardart, an automated cafeteria present in New York & Philadelphia. The Automat utilized patented food
vending machines, the first to be transplanted from their origin in Berlin. Aside from their location
presenting the first chocolate bar vending machine, H & H became known for their kick-ass “gilt-edge”
coffee followed by retail stores selling the pre-packaged Automat favorites. Their moto: Less Work for
Mother.”
After graduating from Christopher Columbus High School, she joined a U.S.O. troupe as a singer and
dancer. On her return, Cathy got the call to front the orchestras of Johnny Dee (not the J. Dee of “Sittin’
in the Balcony” fame), Sammy Kaye (the self-claimed “Swing & Sway” guy), and Larry Fontaine. While
touring with Fontaine, she leveled with him: She wanted to be a single act, a songstress, a star.
Recognizing Cathy’s talent, Fontaine offered to become her manager. Coral Records signed the bubbly
blond to their roster in 1953; issuing three singles. Nothing Carr recorded moved the nation–or the vinyl
off the record-store shelves–until Cathy recorded her third single for Fraternity Records; a “White Gal”
cover of Otis Williams & The Charms’ R & B hit “Ivory Tower” (#11, 1956). Cathy’s sweetened and polished
cover cut into the chart success of the Charms’ hip’n’rockin’ original version, but not by much; Williams
and his group were already known to the ever-growing rock’n’roll audience for their big-time hits “Hearts
of Stone” (#15, 1954) and “Ling Ting Tong” (#26, 1955).
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For years, Cathy Carr continued recording pretty pop things in a Teresa Brewer/Patti Page vein, usually
with a mini-touch of rock’n’roll piano or a youthful vocal-group backing. In 1959, her teen tune “First
Anniversary”(#42) almost wormed its way into Top 40-land. An the initial Ivory Tower album cut in 1956
was re-issued by Dot Records in 1966.
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This was the last known Carr waxing. Only one other LP had been issued in the States (Shy, 1959) for
Roulette; with two Canadian-only releases for RCA.
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Cathy Carr died in November 22, 1988