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| “Follow the Boys” | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Connie Francis | ||||
| from the album Follow the Boys | ||||
| A-side | “Follow the Boys” | |||
| B-side | “Waiting For Billy” | |||
| Released | 1963 | |||
| Recorded | 27 September 1962 | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Length | 2:40 | |||
| Label | MGM Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Benny Davis/Murray Mencher | |||
| Producer(s) | Danny Davis | |||
| Connie Francis US singles chronology | ||||
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“Follow the Boys” is a 1963 romantic ballad written to serve as the theme song for the 1963 comedy film of the same name: the song was introduced in the film by its top billed star: Connie Francis, for whom “Follow the Boys” would become a Top 20 hit single.
Stylistically reminiscent of the hit theme song from Connie Francis’ prior film Where the Boys Are, which song had been a Neil Sedaka/ Howard Greenfield co-write, “Follow the Boys” was in fact written by Benny Davis and Murray Mencher (using the pseudonym Ted Murry), veteran songwriters who had been signed to Francis’ own music publishing firm Francon Music since 1961, notably writing Francis’ 1962 #1 “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You“.
Francis made the first recording of “Follow the Boys” in a 30 June 1962 session in Europe during the preproduction of its parent film which would shortly begin shooting on the Riviera, Francis overdubbing her vocals on an instrumental track prepped at Abbey Road Studios in London under the auspices of producer Norman Newell and conductor Geoff Love: this version would play under the film’s opening and closing credits. However, on 27 September 1962 Francis recorded a second version for the song’s single release in a New York City recording session conducted by LeRoy Holmes, a veteran of the classic MGM musicals: although by 1963 Holmes had left MGM for United Artists film division he returned to MGM to work again with Francis whose 1958 hit “Stupid Cupid” he’d conducted. The Follow the Boys soundtrack album – which comprised the five songs Francis sung in the film plus five new songs (four of them Davis/Mencher co-writes) judged to have a European flavor – featured a third version of the title song, as in a 10 January 1963 Francis had overdubbed a new vocal on the single version’s instrumental track.
“Follow the Boys” had its single release the third week of 23 February 1963 parallel with the song’s parent film’s first screenings, Francis having premiered the song on the 19 February 1963 broadcast of The Jack Benny Program (taped 4 January 1963). Ranked in local hit parades across the US typically peaking in the Top 20, “Follow the Boys” would achieve Top Ten status in Dallas and Philadelphia along with some smaller markets. Nationally “Follow the Boys” peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1963 where it would be Francis’ final showing in the Top 20. The single was markedly more successful as ranked by Cash Box spending two weeks at No.11.
The B-side of “Follow the Boys”, “Waiting For Billy”, was also from the film and also a Davis/Mencher co-write, with Dramato Palumbo as additional songwriter: “Billy” refers to the film’s character Billy Pulaski, a naval officer (played by Roger Perry) unexpectedly called to Mediterranean duty two hours after his marriage to Francis’ character Bonnie, whose yen to share her husband’s shore leaves – felt by three other women in regard to their respective mates – formed the film’s central plot. “Waiting For Billy” received enough airplay to “bubble under” the Billboard Hot 100 at No.127.
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| Follow the Boys | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Richard Thorpe |
| Produced by | Lawrence Bachmann |
| Written by | David T. Chantler David D. Osborne |
| Starring | Paula Prentiss Connie Francis Janis Paige |
| Music by | Ron Goodwin Alexander Courage |
| Cinematography | Ted Scaife |
| Edited by | John Victor-Smith |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Running time
|
95 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Follow the Boys (1963) is a comedy film starring Connie Francis, Paula Prentiss, and Janis Paige, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Richard Thorpe and shot on location on the French and Italian Riviera, Follow the Boys was MGM’s second film vehicle for top recording artist Francis following Where the Boys Are (1960). While Francis’ role in the earlier film had been somewhat secondary, she had a distinctly central role in Follow the Boys playing Bonnie Pulaski, a newlywed travelling the Riviera.
MGM producer-writer Lawrence Bachman had a vacation home in the south of France. While staying there, he met several Navy wives who lived in Villefranche and spent a lot of their time following their husbands from port to port.
The cast originally announced was Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton, and Connie Stevens. Ron Randell was cast off the back of his success in MGM’s King of Kings.
The film was shot in the south of France and at London’s Elstree Studios.
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