Dorothy Shay (April 11, 1921 – October 22, 1978) was an American popular comedic recording artist in the late 1940s and early 1950s, who later became a character actress. She was known as the "

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...

Hillbillie".

Early life

Shay was born Dorothy Sims in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

. When she began her career as a 'straight' singer, she took vocal lessons to lose her Southern accent. She sang for the USO during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Dorothy changed her name to "Shay" in order to not be confused with

Ginny Simms Virginia Ellen SimmsSleeve notes from ''Ginny Simms – I'd Like To Set You To Music'', Jasmine JASCD 118, 2001. (May 25, 1913 – April 4, 1994) was an American popular singer and film actress. Simms sang with big bands and with Dinah Shore, ...

, another performer of the day, choosing "Shay" to honor her mentor Betty Shay (later

Betty Corday Betty Corday (born Elizabeth Shay; March 21, 1912 – November 17, 1987) was a Broadway dramatic actress and long-time American television producer. She co-created and executive produced the long running NBC drama ''Days of Our Lives'' from 1966 ...

). While performing with Morton Gould and his orchestra, she performed an encore, "Uncle Fud", a hayseed novelty number that became popular and launched her solo singing career.

"The Park Avenue Hillbillie"

She signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

and recorded a series of hit records. Her biggest hit was " Feudin' and Fightin'" in 1947, the year she joined

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

' radio show as their female vocalist. In that same year, her album, "Dorothy Shay (The Park Avenue Hillbillie) Sings", was rated number 1 in Billboard magazine's Best-Selling Popular Albums. She was the first female artist to have a number 1 album on the Billboard chart. In her singing engagements, she performed dressed as a sophisticated urbanite while talking like a rural Southerner. She was popular in clubs, radio and television. She played a

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

, also named Dorothy, in the 1951

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People * Abbott (surname) *Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist * Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansas ...

movie '' Comin' Round The Mountain''. Shay was the musical guest on the second (television) season premiere of ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

'' in November 1951. She performed at Dwight D. Eisenhower's Inaugural Ball in 1953. She recorded for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

and

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

where she recorded a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and b ...

song titled "Hunky Dory". In 1970 she appeared as Widow Krebs in the TV Western '' The Virginian'' in the episode titled "You Can Lead a Horse to Water."

Personal life

She was married briefly to Dick Looman from 1958 to 1959. After a period of inactivity in the 1960s, she returned to show business as a character actress in the 1970s. She had a recurring role as Thelma, first owner of the Dew Drop Inn, in the TV series ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

''.

Death

Shay died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on October 22, 1978, in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

. Upon her death, the writers of ''The Waltons'' wrote her character off, with the mention that she sold the Dew Drop Inn and moved to California.Profile
tv.com; accessed March 19, 2015.

Discography

References

External links

The Dorothy Shay Fan Pages
no longer functional Nov 23, 2019.

Bigbandsandbignames.com; accessed March 19, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shay, Dorothy 1921 births 1978 deaths Imperial Records artists Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery Musicians from Jacksonville, Florida Actresses from Jacksonville, Florida 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers