HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SMILEY LEWIS! (AND A HAT TIP TO THE TWO-PIECE)

 Overton Amos Lemons (1913-1966), a.k.a. Smiley Lewis, was "the unluckiest many in New Orleans.  He hit on a formula for slow-rocking small-band numbers like 'The Bells Are Ringing' and 'I Hear You Knocking' only to have Fats Domino come up behind him with similar music and a more ingratiating delivery.  Lewis was practically drowned in Domino's backwash."  Other songs Lewis recorded were "The Bells Are Ringing," "Blue Monday," "One Night," and "Shame, Shame, Shame"  -- most of these became hits for other artists.

"I Hear You Knockin' "

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIeY7J9kjg0

"Shame, Shame, Shame"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctLKz-ZLbMU

"Blue Monday"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHxdRFTa0sg

"The Bells Are Ringing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKsnw0ZH7gY

"Tee-Nah-Nah"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIu6fnUNP0U

"Can't Stop Loving You"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnAckkJ-ncI

"One Night"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yks0vvhF9c

"I Love You for Sentimental Reasons"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tN8UY2P_sw

"She's Got Me Hook, Line, and Sinker"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg2VtGYyXHE

"Bumpity Bump"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-vwQMi6lsY

"Someday You'll Want Me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIEmHdQmnSE

"Go On Fool"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlPTzS38c_E

BONUS:  Did you really think I would let the 80th anniversary of the two-piece swim suit -- the bikini -- got unnoticed?  When runway models refused to model the revealing swim suit, designer Louis Reard hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year-old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, to model the 30 square inches of cloth at a press conference at a public pool in Paris on July 5, 1946.  Thus was history made.  Bernardini, bless her, is still alive at age 98.

In tribute, here's Bryan Hyland with "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge9Ou3-YyqU&t=3s