[Oasfaa] Happy Holidays!

[Mc Conahay, Pamela K.]

I realize that OU and OSU may be the only state schools still open, but
if anybody else is out there, I hope you have a safe & happy holiday
season.  
 
And, just in case you need to listen to something besides Mariah Carey
singing "All I Want for Christmas is You" every 10 minutes, here's a
song (and a singer) I just love that has roots in Oklahoma:
 
http://www.minibite.com/christmas/hippo.htm  
 
I found this information online: 

Great song titles aren't all that common, more's the pity, but here's
one that's just top-notch. Gayla Peevey, according to legend, was a
regional child star of the Oklahoma City area, and this 1953 hit was
recorded as a fund-raiser to bring the city zoo a hippo. The song raised
$3,000 and the hippo was procured. Unfortunately, Matilda, the hippo,
was scheduled to be transferred to Walt Disney World but died instead in
March 1998. The song is campy as all get-out, but it never fails to
raise eyebrows and perk up ears upon first hearing. Gayla Peevey herself
writes in to add: "The record was released nationally by Columbia
Records and because the Oklahoma City Zoo needed a hippo at the time,
the song gave them the idea of putting together a major media blitz
asking kids to send in nickels and dimes to raise money to buy Gayla a
hippopotamus for Christmas. Matilda, a baby hippo, was presented to me,
and I donated her to the zoo. In a roundabout way the song indeed helped
the zoo acquire a hippo, but the song was not recorded for that
purpose." 

 

Pam McConahay 
Assoc. Dir., Compliance, Training & Lender Relations 
University of Oklahoma Financial Aid Services 
1000 Asp Avenue, Room 216 Norman OK 73019-4078
(405) 325-4617  Fax (405) 325-7608 
pmcconahay at ou.edu 

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