Robert Degen, credited with writing famed "Hokey Pokey" dies at 104
Rob Cibik
By Roger DuPuis II
Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune
November 27, 2009
A Scranton native credited with having his right hand in - penning the
famed "Hokey Pokey" - died this week at the age of 104.
Robert Degen died Monday at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Ky.,
where he had lived for many years. According to his obituary, he wrote
the song in 1944 with the late Joe Briar.
"He was very proud that he wrote that song," Mr. Degen's son, jazz
pianist Bob Degen, told The Times-Tribune on Thursday night in a phone
interview from his home in Frankfurt, Germany.
The origins of the popular tune - and its namesake dance - are
surrounded by a bit of mystery and controversy.
Some sources suggest the dance was born in Great Britain. Often dubbed
"The Hokey Cokey" there, its dance motions have been criticized in
recent years as deriving from a Protestant "hocus pocus" parody of the
Roman Catholic Mass in the 17th or 18th century.
Critics of that theory point out that the popularity of the combined
song and dance is clearly a 20th century phenomenon, and they seem to
have been a hit with Allied soldiers in England during World War II -
though historians still debate whether the fad started over here or
over there. Either way, it took off in the postwar years and the tune
was recorded by several artists.
At least two other musicians claimed authorship of the music. One was
Anglo-Irishman Jimmy Kennedy; the other was Detroit-born Larry
LaPrise, both now deceased.
But Mr. Degen held a 1944 copyright for "The Hokey-Pokey Dance,"
issued five years before Mr. LaPrise recorded the song. Reports
indicate Mr. Degen filed suit against Mr. LaPrise in the 1950s and
settled out of court.
Whatever its origins, "The Hokey Pokey" took on a life of its own, and
not just in English-speaking countries.
"A lot of people here in Europe know it and were influenced by it,"
said the younger Mr. Degen, who went on to become a noted name on the
Frankfurt jazz scene.
A 1957 Scranton Times feature story and photo showed 13-year-old
"Bobby Degen of South Scranton" posed at the keyboard, noting that
"veteran musicians consider him a pianist of unusual promise," and
that he already was a dues-paying member of the American Federation of
Musicians. Having played the piano since age 4, the Prospect Avenue
youth also composed his own arrangement of his father's famous song,
the story added.
Speaking from Germany Thursday, the younger Mr. Degen said his father
had been a musician since the 1920s and continued until he was in his
60s. "As far as I know he played up until about 1969," Bob Degen said.
Mr. Degen met his wife of 74 years, Vivian Elaine Gibson Degen, when
the two were touring with a Country and Western band, their son said.
Mrs. Degen, an Arkansas native, still lives in Kentucky, as does their
younger son, Bill.
Bob Degen - who has lived in Germany since 1965 but has made frequent
return visits to the U.S. - said he started playing gigs with his
father as early as age 10, recalling jobs in Scranton and Carbondale,
and later, to visit the jazz clubs of New York.
"He was wonderful to me," Bob Degen said. "He was just a great dad.
That's what it's all about.
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/news/1.447701
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Degan "Bob"
Robert "Bob" Degan, 104, of Scranton, died Monday at St. Joseph
Hospital, Lexington, Ky. His wife of 74 years is Vivian Elaine Gibson
Degen.
Born in Scranton, he was the son of the late William W. and Augusta
Rautenberg Degen. He wrote the famous song "Hokey Pokey" with the late
Joe Briar in 1944. He was a member of Southern Hills United Methodist
Church.
Also surviving are two sons, Bill and Bob Degen; a grandson, Chris
Degen; and two great-grandchildren.
He was also preceded in death by four brothers and two sisters.
A private family gathering will be held Saturday at Kerr Brothers
Funeral Home, Harrodsburg Road, Lexington.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-tribune/obituary.aspx?n=robert-degan-bob&pid=136523957
Matthew Kruk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9vEcesi3H8
R H Draney
>
>Scranton native credited with writing famed "Hokey Pokey" dies at 104
>
>By Roger DuPuis II
>Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune
>
>November 27, 2009
>
>A Scranton native credited with having his right hand in - penning the
>famed "Hokey Pokey" - died this week at the age of 104.
>
>Robert Degen died Monday at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Ky.,
>where he had lived for many years. According to his obituary, he wrote
>the song in 1944 with the late Joe Briar.
>
>"He was very proud that he wrote that song," Mr. Degen's son, jazz
>pianist Bob Degen, told The Times-Tribune on Thursday night in a phone
>interview from his home in Frankfurt, Germany.
Oh, *please* tell me somebody had him in the pool!...r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Bill Schenley
> "Hokey Pokey" dies at 104
>
> Hospital in Lexington, Ky., where he had
> lived for many years. According to his
> obituary, he wrote the song in 1944 with the
> late Joe Briar.
I remember the other guy (Larry LaPrise) who
claimed to have written "The Hokey Pokey" was
sued by Robert Degen.
And then there was the coffin jokes after LaPrise
died ...
"They put his right foot in ..."
Bo Bielefeldt AKA The Fireball
>
> Oh, *please* tell me somebody had him in the pool!...r
At one time, I had Degen in one of my deadpools, but not this year.
I'm regretting that decision now.
Kris Baker
"Bo Bielefeldt AKA The Fireball" <NellyLun...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:93bb2fdf-edfd-4801...@m13g2000vbf.googlegroups.com...
Maybe because there's about 300 people claiming to
have written the Hokey Pokey.....and the acknowledged
writer (Larry La Prise) died in 1996, but still pops up in
urban legend emails.
It was even discussed here:
http://snurl.com/tg1z4 [groups_google_com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokey_Cokey
Known as the Hokey Pokey, it became popular in the USA in the 1950s. Larry
LaPrise, Charles Macak and Tafit Baker were granted the copyright for the
song in 1950. According to popular legend they created this novelty dance in
1949 as entertainment for the ski crowd at Idaho's Sun Valley resort.
There is another contrary belief that states that Robert P. Degan and Joseph
P. Brier, both natives of Scranton, Pennsylvania, wrote the original song as
confirmed by the U.S. Copyright Office in 1946, thus giving two groups of
musicians the rights.
A competing authorship claim is made by or on behalf of British bandleader
Gerry Hoey from around 1940, under the title "the Hoey Oka".[citation
needed]
AndrewJ
> > At one time, I had Degen in one of my deadpools, but
> > not this year. I'm regretting that decision now.
>
> Maybe because there's about 300 people claiming to
> have written the Hokey Pokey.....and the acknowledged
> writer (Larry La Prise) died in 1996, but still pops up in
> urban legend emails.
Authorship of "The Hokey Pokey" is the musical equivalent of the
couple photographed kissing in Times Square on V-J Day -- EVERYONE
wants to take credit...
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Bill Schenley <stra...@neo.rr.com>
wrote:
> I remember the other guy (Larry LaPrise) who
> claimed to have written "The Hokey Pokey" was
> sued by Robert Degen.
>
> And then there was the coffin jokes after LaPrise
> died ...
>
> "They put his right foot in ..."
The joke about LaPrise got turned into one of those emails that gets
forwarded endlessly. It was still making the rounds in about 2003.
(The premise of the joke was how the funeral was going to take three
hours, what with all the putting in and putting out etc.)
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer
***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Miller - A Famous Rock Star!
really invented the Hokey Pokey. This from the April, 2006 iss of
GoodBye! magazine:
Hokey Pokey Dance Founder Dies. The Mystery Lives On.
Larry LaPrise put his right foot, as well as the rest of himself, in the grave April 4, age 83. Those who
remember the exquisite torture that is the Hokey Pokey will find bittersweet news of its inventor's death.
While most may remember the dance as a staple of grade-school music class, La Prise actually invented it for
the "après-ski" crowd at an Idaho resort in the 40s. The scandalous part of the story is that he
almost certainly stole it. But from whom?
The song was recorded as a novelty a couple of times but it didn't become a source of steady income for
LaPrise until Roy Acuff bought the rights to it in the 60s.
Alas, the Hokey Pokey turned out to be the high-water mark of LaPrise's musical career–in fact,
the only water mark. LaPrise, by then a father of six, was working for the post office in Ketchum, Idaho.
There followed a steady succession of recordings: Jack Johnson and the Hickory Dickory Singers, Warren
Covington with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Cliffie Stone, Jerry Marks, Chubby Checker, Annette Funicello,
the Champs. In no time, the Hokey Pokey was everywhere. Other versions include, "Hokey Pokey Cow Bell
Blues," "Hokey Pokey Mama," and "Hokey Pokey Polka."
By the early 1990s, it had even turned up on a heavy metal album by the band Haunted Garage, alongside such
classics as "Party in the Graveyard" and "Torture Dungeon".
"The Hokey Pokey' is like a square dance, really,'' LaPrise said in 1992. "You turn around. You shake it all
about. Everyone is in a circle, and it gets them all involved.''
The tune became the official victory dance for the Iowa State Football team. ''''I guarantee you we never
had a big victory where we were the underdog or won a championship game or had a bowl victory that we didn't
do the Hokey Pokey and celebrate,'' Coach Hayden Fry said. I would have sent him a note. I'm sure he never
dreamed that he made a contribution in athletics.'''
But the really shocking part is that the song may have been stolen.
Lexington, KY resident Bob Degen claims the folk song is his.
Degen, 90, owns a 1944 copyright for "The Hokey-Pokey Dance," and claims to have written the words and
music. His copyright predates LaPrise's by six years.
"He's a faker," Degen said of LaPrise. In fact, Degen sued LaPrise in 1956 in U.S. District Court in
California. According to Degen, the two parties settled out of court to split 40 percent of the royalties.
Degen is adamant that he wrote the song without any influences. The truth, unusually, seems to lie not in
between but without: Pure Invention is rare.
A December 1945 issue of Dance magazine contains an article about an English novelty song called "the Okey
Cokey," which American GIs were said to have danced to in England during WWII.
You put your left arm in.
You put your left arm out,
And shake it all about.
You do the okey-cokey
And you turn about.
And that's what it's all about."
In his 1940 book, The Gift to be Simple, Edward Deming Andrews described a song called "The Hinkum-Booby"
that was sung by Shakers in Kentucky:
"I put my right hand in,
I put my right hand out,
I give my right hand a shake,
And I turn it all about."
So everybody in the copyright dispute was stealing from the great well of traditional folksong. As are all
who try to be original with materials we hope will find resonance.
In article <e9f2729c-3823-40d5...@v30g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
--
Steve Miller
Serial obituarist