Bigger in Oz: tracks that were more popular in Australia than in their countries of origin.
See also: Only in Melbourne.
Oliver Cool - Oliver Cool (Paul Vance - Lee Pockriss)
Roulette single (USA) #R-4292 September 1960
London single (Australia) #R-4292 November 1960
US charts: did not chart
Australian charts: #15 Sydney #24 Melbourne #24 Brisbane #16 Perth | #17 Australia
Co-charting cover version: Rock Martin - Oliver Cool
Rex single (Australia) RS-042 November 1960
Australian charts: #16 Perth
We are deep into novelty record territory here.
Who's the most swingingest boy in school?
You are!
And what's my name?
Oliver Cool!
That's right!
To me and my circle as 10-year-olds this was hilarious.
Australians had a soft spot for jokey, gimmicky records, and Lee Pockriss often appeared in the writer credits. He and Bob Hilliard wrote Jo Ann Campbell's A Kookie Little Paradise (1960), with its Tarzan calls and ice cream loaded with bananas in the jungle. They also wrote Paul Evans's whimsical (Seven Little Girls) Sitting In The Back Seat (1959).
Pockriss and his Oliver Cool co-writer Paul Vance wrote Bryan Hyland's Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini. The title is the gimmick - almost the main event - just as it would be three years later in Little Pattie's He’s My Blonde-Headed Stompie-Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy which I suspect it inspired.
Unsurprisingly, Oliver Cool is a name adopted for the performance. You can find strong views online about whether this was dancer-choreographor-actor-director Tony Mordente (1935-2024) or singer and skater Lawrence Sarapochiello (1933-2024). It appears that each used the pseudonym Larry Ellis at some stage in their career, which could explain why there is confusion, but I don't feel confident in calling it either way.
I was surprised to discover an Australian cover version of Oliver Cool that co-charted in Perth with the original. Not only that, but there is no doubt that the artist, Rock Martin, was the famous West Australian-born stage hypnotist Martin St James (1924-2015) who had an early career as a cowboy singer in a circus.
Chart positions for this post:
Australian capital cities: Gavin Ryan's chart books.
Australia: Grant Dawe's Top 100 Singles site.
Oliver Cool - Oliver Cool (1960)
Rock Martin - Oliver Cool (1960)
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