July 7: "The Stripper"

On this date in History ... July 7, 1962:

David Rose’s composition “The Stripper” became a #1 hit. 

Rose wrote the 1 minute 55 second tune as a throwaway background piece while working on a short-lived TV show, “Burlesque”.  He pressed a few vinyl copies as gag gifts for orchestra members and then forgot about it.  

Four years later, MGM records pulled it out of archives for a “B” side of another or Rose’s musical pieces. A Los Angeles DJ discovered the “B” side song and thought it so funny, he played it all day.  It quickly became a regional, then national hit.  

(Many of us never knew the actual name of this song ….. we thought of it as “The Noxema Song” because of its use on Noxema shaving commercials, as seen in this clip!)