The Five Dollar Record Collection

     Gary Lewis and the Playboys was my favorite singing group when I was a young teen. People nowadays immediately think of the song, This Diamond Ring, if I mention Gary Lewis and the Playboys. But actually, it was the heartfelt rendition of, Everybody Loves a Clown, that caught my ear and endeared the group to me forever. Gary Lewis was the main singer of the group, and he is the son of Jerry Lewis, the famous comic of the 50's and beyond.

     In 8^th grade I got a record player for Christmas. Santa brought the record player (almost all gifts from Mom and Dad were signed Santa – they still are), and the first album I got was Gary Lewis and the Playboys Greatest Hits. The year was 1966.

     For the rest of junior high and high school, I did not collect a lot of albums, nor did I purchase more than a few 45s. On the rare occasion I had money to spend on an album, I had trouble deciding which one to buy. I recall getting the Monkees, of course, and Hermans Hermits, The Sonny Side of Cher and Dark Lady by Cher, and another Gary Lewis and the Playboys album called You Don't Have to Paint Me a Picture – I can't remember any others.

     Twelve years later I was living in my own apartment in Buffalo, and a few months after moving in, I was able to afford a stereo. My brothers helped set it up for me. It had a turn-table, receiver and speakers – a system my brother, Clark, referred to as a $500 stereo for a $5 record collection. At that time I still played the Cher albums, but I no longer had the Monkees or Hermans Hermits. Since college I had acquired some Moody Blues, Melanie, Harry Chapin, and some jazz. And of course I could never have parted with Gary Lewis and the Playboys Greatest Hits. I still have it. Everybody Loves a Clown skips in a certain spot – and that makes it just mine – if the song were to play on the radio today, it would not sound right, without the skip.

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