The late composer Meredith Willson wrote "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and all the songs in The Music Man and The Unsinkable Molly Brown — tunes like "76 Trombones" and "Til There Was You" and "I Ain't Down Yet." But for some, his most memorable tune was one that was drilled into them in their school gym classes in the early sixties.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy launched something called The President's Council on Physical Fitness and asked Willson to compose an exercise-oriented theme song. Willson responded with "Chicken Fat," a record sung by Robert Preston and distributed by the zillions to physical education classes across the country. In some schools, it was played every day and when students from that era hear it, they reflexively drop and begin cranking out push-ups.
Our link today is to a clip of the song as performed on The Dinah Shore Show on October 6, 1961. Dinah and Nanette Fabray give it their all, along with Dinah's dancers and brief appearance by Al Hirt and George Montgomery. It's an odd presentation of an odd song, and for the full effect, you might want to do a couple of sit-ups as you watch. Thanks to Shelly Goldstein for recommending this one.
