The “Golden Hits Of The 50s” 

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JAN & ARNIE  

“JENNIE LEE“

(Jan Berry, Arnie Ginsburg)

Arwin 108

No, 8    June 30, 1958

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Jan Berry (b. Apr.3, 1941, Los Angeles) and Arnie Ginsburg (b. early ’40s) were members of the Barons,

an informal all-male club based at L.A.s’ University High–the sehool that spawned the Beach Boys Bruce

Johnston, “Teen Beat” creator Sandy Nelson, and producer Phil Spector.  One night, for kicks, the fellows

treklcd down to the New Follies Theatre at Fifth and Main.  It seems that the feature of the evening–an

overly endowed stripper named Jennie “The Bazoom Girl” Lee.  Arnie and Jan were especially impressed.

All the way home, they gestured and sang freely of the miss’ mammoth mammaries.

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“I was the predominant writer on that piece,” Arnie told Time Borrier Express’ Stuart Hersh.  “I had

the melody, and I think about two thirds of the words, before going up to Jan’s house and working out

the rest.”  The boys were determined not to let their feelings go unexpressed.  In order to create an echoey

shower room effect, two tape players were set up in Berry’s garage.  “The track was actually recorded

there in the garage on an old sort of out-of-tune piano; [the other parts] were overdubbed in one of the

recording studios in Hollywood.”  Musicians heard on the disk include ERNIE FREEMAN (piano), Rene

Hall (guitar), and Jackie Kelso (sax).

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A couple of Berry’s buddies, the then–unknown duo of Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, successfully managed

to get the disk placed on the Arwin label, reportedly then owned by Doris Day.  All parties were surprised

when the 45, with Arnie beating a cardboard box and singing nearly indecipherable lyrics, penetrated the

nation’s sacred Top 10.  But, according to Artie, He began to get disenchanted very quickly with

entertainment … with the busi­ness and with the people.  It didn’t seem worth it….It wasn’t enough fun.

Jan was a difficult person to deal with, and the people in the industry were not very ‘neat.’  They didn’t

seem very stable…  And it’s hard to be an entertainer, a really hard thing.”

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Despite the tensions and Arnie’s disenchantment, the duo did manage to tape enough for two more singles

before their break-up:  “Gas Money” (#81, 1958) b/w “Bonnie Lou” and “I Love Linda” b/w “The Beat That

Can’t Be Beat.”

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Arnie had one waxing issued by Arwin under the name the Rituals (“Girl From Zanzibar” b/w “Guitmo”)

before leaving the music business for a career in commercial art and graphic design.  Jan Berry found

Dean Torrence, and with the help of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean cre­ated almost the entire cross-

fertilized genre of surfing/hot rod music.