Men Of Ivy - Pit-Hole City - Very Rare Record With A Historical Story (Titusville Pa) Video

The Men Of Ivy from Muskingum College in Ohio. This is an interesting record going into great detail in a clever way about Titusville Pa's oil boom. In 1859 Edward Drake hit oil which launched America's oil industry as we know it. In 1865, just as the civil war was ending, the "Pit-Hole Creek" oil field was discovered. I'm not sure who "Frasier" was that they talk about in this song. From the little bit of information I was able to find on the subject it seems that this song is accurate. This is a very rare 45 from around 1960.

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angelofbebop: Interesting barber-shop '60s Kingston Trio sound! Thanks PJ!

PJDooWop: You're welcome. I like the historical significance of the record. They told a rather intricate story in a matter of 3 minutes and they kept it pretty accurate.

sagrubb1: Would love to know where you found this old 45....I am one of the Men of Ivy

PJDooWop: I found my copy on Ebay. I first heard it in 2001 and I loved the record. Around 2003, a mint copy came up on Ebay but I was outbid right at the end. It went for something like $125. I found this copy a few weeks ago and was in a little bidding war for it. I ended up winning it for $47.00. That's a hell of a lot of money for a VG copy of a college group record. What seperates yours from the others is that this could easily have stood on it's own in the early 60's pop charts. Damn payola :(

sagrubb1: Its really cool that both sides are on You Tube......and thanks for letting us know where you found it.

PJDooWop: Thank you for recording the songs. I felt that it's a great record and both sides needed to be exposed.

tathawley: I've tried this a few times. Let's see if this one gets thru. It was fun doing the recording. What you paid on Ebay was probably the total net profit, not even enough to cover production. Still, there was a copy in our College Student Union juke box for several years, until it plum wore out!!!

PJDooWop: So you were in the group as well? I'm utterly amazed that in two weeks two of you found the post. I'm really happy that I posted the record. If you go through my videos you'll notice that I usually don't post both sides of a record. This record is unique enough, rare enough and good enough that I wanted to post both sides.

cob1965: Thanks PJ, great tune! Al

PJDooWop: You're welcome

pitholeman: Hello PJDooWop: I am David Barnes, writer of "Pithole City". Thank you so much for resurrecting the record! When I read that Ebay bids were running $45 - $175, I was amazed!! I may have several original copies in my basement somewhere. Just a bit on the background of the song - I am from Western PA and wrote this ballad, based on fact, for an Arts Class project. Buddy Morrow and his orchestra heard us perform "Pithole" at our Muskingum College Spring Formal and wanted us to record it.

PJDooWop: Very cool.. I'm glad to have some background on the record. I really like the way you delivered all of that information under the constraints of a little more than 3 minutes. I definitely absorbed much more information about the Pa oil boom from this song than any of the history classes I took. I presume you got an A+ on your project :) Goldie Records was owned by Fee Bee records in Pittsburgh, correct? Was that Buddy Morrow's orchestra behind you on this record?

pitholeman: Fee Bee records was owned by Joe Averbach of Pgh - he had recorded several groups such as The Skyliners and their hit "Pennies From Heaven". Buddy Morrow and his "Night Train Orchestra" was the name big band brought in for our college formal which was the bid event on campus. He inspired me to copyright the song - thru some connections, I ended up with Joe. That's our own instrumentation - Morrow had no connection with "Pithole" after my first conversation with him at Muskingum. Thanks PJ!

PJDooWop: Thanks for the info. I'd like to find out who owned Goldie. I believe the Star label, Fee Bee and Goldie were all sister labels. As a matter of fact, they shared artists such as The Diadems, Buddy Sharp and The Shakers, The Del Vikings (recorded as The Versatiles on Star), Chuck Jackson, etc. Another thing I noticed is the publishing company for most of these, including your record, is listed as FeBe music. I'm really happy you've all reached out to me. Is the 4th member still around?

pitholeman: Joe Averbach's son contacted me ~ 25 years ago to see if FeBe could arrange a re-cut of "Pithole" in our original folk style. It was my impression that the Averbachs owned the labels, studio and music to the groups they recorded. There were actually 6 guys did the Pithole vocal: Bob Jones - lead, Jim Woods, Jay Grubb, Bob Fleming, TomThawley and I. We're still kicking and have been back to Muskingum for a number of reunion concerts. We are the "Animals 8", not the "Men" as Joe re-named us.

PJDooWop: Very, very interesting.. I think you just cleared up my curiosity about Goldie / Fee Bee. Let me know the next time you guys do a concert. With enough advance notice, I'd be willing to drive out to Ohio to see you guys. I've been meaning to get to Pittsburgh for the longest, so I could make one big trip of it all.

cob1965: Hey thanks to pitholeman+tathawley great song, nice to hear from you guys!

Author: PJDooWop; Uploaded: Sep 12, 2009; Duration: 3:17; Views: 492

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