“Mobile” (1955) – Julius LaRosa * Written by Robert Wells and David Holt * Orchestra conducted by Joe Reisman * 45: “Mobile” / “I Hate to Say Hello” * Billboard Territorial Best Sellers: #9 (Kansas City)
Julius LaRosa was an Italian-American singer from Brooklyn who, fresh out of the Navy, became a TV darling on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. His popular run as a regular on “the old redhead” Godfrey’s show started in 1951 and ended in 1953 when, after an on-air performance, Godfrey announced to the audience that that was the last they’d be hearing of LaRosa. Nevermore to be known, after this surprising incident, as quite so affable a fellow, the host had apparently felt his protégé was getting too big for his bowtie. Here was a precedent, then, of an orange-hued entertainment figure attaching himself to the catchphrase “you’re fired.” (Hear Stan Freberg lampoon him on “That’s Right, Arthur,” an unreleased track that aired only once on the radio in 1956.) After the firing, LaRosa had a #2 hit with “Eh Cumpari,” one of the era’s great red sauce celebrazione records. In late ’54, LaRosa offered up a track called “Mobile,” a title that certainly roused anticipation for a pop canzone treatment of Verdi’s famous “La donna è mobile.” It turns out, though, that the song didn’t salute Italia so much as Alabama. Nifty enough tune, but unexpected. The chart placements fizzled out by 1962, and you have to wonder if a little topical discipline could have prevented that.