More than a year after its first reached No. 1 (September 19, 1960), Chubby Checker's "The Twist" returns to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 music charts. The reason for the resurgence: the dance's popularity among adults as well as teenagers. In New York, the place for celebrities to be -- and to be seen -- was the Peppermint Lounge. (Joey Dee and the Starliters' "Peppermint Twist," a tribute to the nightclub, would itself go to No. 1 after Checker's two-week run).
Photo from Corbis Images dated October 28, 1961. Caption reads, "Patrons and limousines line up in front of the Pepprermint Lounge, home of the dance craze the 'Twist' in New York, New York."
The photo below, of first lady Jackie Kennedy doing the Twist with fashion designer Oleg Cassini, was taken at her sister Lee's home in London in the spring of 1962 (photo from www.digigraphie.com). The New York Times wrote in February, "It was Mr. Cassini who introduced the twist to the White House at a dinner dance last fall for Mrs. Kennedy's sister..."
* "Let's Twist Again" (The Guardian newspaper, June 2011): @
* "A Pulsating, Gyrating, Hip-Swinging Mania Sweeps the U.S. and Europe / And Now Everybody is Doing It; The Twist" (Life magazine, November 24, 1961): @
* Entry from "The Billboard Book of No. 1 Hits": @
* Earlier blog post on "The Twist" (August 6, 1960): @
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