[78-L] Patsy Montana's "Million Seller"

[Mark Bardenwerper]

On 5/24/2011 2:33, Cary Ginell wrote:
> Got this from Jay Orr of the Country Music Hall of Fame:
>
> Regarding your Patsy Montana / Cowboy’s Sweetheart
> question, I have this from our senior historian, John Rumble. He refers
> to Robert K. Oermann and Mary Bufwack, authors of
> Finding Her Voice: Women in Country Music. They make the
> assertion that I Wanna Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart was “the first record by
>   a woman in country music to pass the million mark in sales.”:
>
>
> We have not referred to
>   it as a million-seller, because sales of this magnitude seem
> implausible during the midst of the Great Depression. I seem to remember
>   seeing one source, possibly one of our interviews
>   with Art Satherley, who stated that it sold in the hundreds of
> thousands, but not 1 million. If Cary wants to contact Oermann and
> Bufwack, they may have obtained hard data to back their claim. But I
> don’t think so. I think the million-seller designation probably
>   bent the truth for promotion purposes. I suppose it’s possible that
> cumulative sales over a good many years reached 1 million, but to reach a
>   million within a year or even two years just doesn’t ring true, to me.
> I’ll check some of the Art Satherley interviews
>   and see what I find, as this won’t take long and may turn up some
> evidence. Of course, Uncle Art was reflecting after many decades, and
> his memory might not be accurate.
>
>
> Another thing to
> consider is that the Carter Family—enormously popular and with the
> support of 500,000-watt Border Radio, never sold that many copies of a
> single. Considering that 30,000 to 40,000 was considered
>   a decent, profit-making country sale in the prosperous late 1940s and
> 1950s, I just find it hard to believe that “Cowboy’s Sweetheart” sold 1
> million units.
>
So, in other words, the truth was a lie.

-- 
Mark L. Bardenwerper, Sr. #:?)
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