13th December

The Steven Sondheim musical Gypsy, starring Ethel Merman, is performed on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 702 performances.

The musical Irma La Douce is running at The Plymouth Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA. It runs at The Plymouth for more than a year before transferring to The Alvin Theatre.

The Noel Coward-composed musical Sail Away is presented at The Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 167 performances.

The musical Milk And Honey, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, is playing at The Martin Beck Theater on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 543 performances.

The stage musical Do-Re-Mi, starring Max Bygraves, with music by Jule Styne, is playing at the Prince Of Wales Theatre, London, England, Europe, during a run of 169 performances.

The stage musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, starring Rudy Vallee, is playing at the 46th Street Theater on Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 1,417 performances.

The musical Irma La Douce is presented at The Alvin Theatre, Broadway, New York City, USA during a total of 524 Broadway performances.

The musical Kean, based on the life of 18th Century Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean, is playing at The Broadway Theater, New York City, USA, during a run of 92 performances.

Barbra Streisand is playing during a one-month engagement at The Blue Angel, New York City, USA.

Musical comedy The Gay Life is presented at The Shubert Theater, Broadway, New York City, USA, during a run of 113 performances.

Elvis Presley is filming scenes for his tenth movie Kid Galahad in Culver Studios, Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Santo And Johnny are playing during a long engagement at The El Cortez Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

George Jones and Georgie Riddle are playing during six days at The Flame Club, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

Duke Ellington And His Orchestra are playing during a 17-night engagement at Basin Street East, New York City, USA. Also on the bill is Gloria Lynne, with her trio led by Earl May.

Bob Scobey And His Frisco Band are playing at Bourbon Street, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Stan Getz is playing at The Birdhouse, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Hank Thompson, with producer Ken Nelson, records Blue Skirt Waltz, I Cast A Lonesome Shadow and That's The Recipe For A Heartache in Capitol Recording Studio, 1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. The players on the session include Billy Gray and Merle Travis [gtrs], Bobby Garrett [steel], Billy Stewart [bass], Bernard Young [drums], Harold Hensley, Billy Jack Saucer and Billy Wright [fiddles] and Jimmy Pruett [piano].

The Dynamics play at Little Moon Lake dance hall, Nebraska, USA. Their bass player/singer Randy Meisner, will in due course join The Eagles.

Kentucky-born country singer and banjo picker George 'Shortbuckle' Roark, who recorded for the Library Of Congress in 1938, and for Victor Records and Columbia Records in earlier years, dies.

Erroll Garner plays a charity show at the Hudson Guild Community Center, New York City, USA, to raise funds for local children and buy a Christmas tree for the center.

Johnny Cash, The Tennessee Three, June Carter, Roger Miller, Gordon Terry and Johnny Western play in The Checkerboard Ballroom, Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, USA.

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Earl King records Trick Bag for Imperial Records in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Roy Acuff is undertaking a one-month tour of Spain, Europe, and Morocco, Africa, where he is performing for American troops, sponsored by the United Service Organizations.

Jimmy Dean's album, Big Bad John, becomes the first country music record to receive a gold disc certification (signifying sales of US$1m) from the Recording Industry Association of America.

Brenda Lee plays the ninth night of a pre-Christmas season in The Congo Room of The Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The Willis Jackson Quintet records a jazzy version of the Hank Williams country song Jambalaya, plus Shake Crawl and other tracks for Prestige Records in Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.

Cliff Richard's third movie, The Young Ones, has its premiere in the West End of London, England, UK, Europe.

The Flamingos are playing at The Vogue Terrace club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

The Drifters play the third of six nights at Sciolla's, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.