ABSTRACT
January , , Hal Zeiger presented Ray and company at the Hollywood Palladium,
Ray’s “Exclusive Los Angeles Engagement,” said the ads-exclusive, that is, except for
another Zeiger date (“By Irresistible Demand!”), January in nearby Pasadena. As
“Ruby” fell off the charts and “Them That Got” replaced it, the Flex rolled up the Pa-
cific coast, Ray city-hopping in the Cessna. Jazz writer Ralph J. Gleason caught the gang
at Longshoreman’s Hall in San Francisco and raved in Downbeat that Ray was a “con-
temporary giant . . . the finest singer of the pop commercial ballad since Louis Arm-
strong.” Gleason also flipped for “fiery” Margie Hendricks and the band’s “first-rate
soloists,” Fathead, Cooper, Guilbeau, and Crawford. From San Francisco the Cessna
and Flex continued north to Vancouver, then looped back to Seattle. There cracks
began to appear in the golden surface.
