Here’s Dinah Shore with a jingle everyone knows—despite the fact that Chevrolet hasn’t used it in over 50 years: “See the USA in Your Chevrolet.”
Created in 1949 by pop tunesmiths Leon Carr and Leo Corday, “See the USA” was first made famous on radio by Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, the husband-and-wife musical comedy team. In 1952, Dinah Shore adopted it on her variety show for NBC Television, which was, of course, sponsored by Chevrolet. The song has been identified with her ever since.
Repackaged as the Dinah Shore Chevy Show in 1956, the program was wildly popular throughout the ’50s, establishing Shore as television’s prime-time sweetheart and burning the jingle into the minds of the American consciousness forever. Of course you know the tune. You’re already humming it.
The jingle had such resonance because “see the USA in your Chevrolet” was no empty catchphrase. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pushed through the Interstate Highway bill, and seeing the USA in their Chevrolets (and Fords and Plymouths and Studebakers) was exactly what Americans intended to do. This simple little song represented nothing less than the country’s prime directive in these years. Watch and Listen.
The most insidious ear worm ever and, now, I’ve been infected. Curse you, MCG!
I like the more obscure verses–real Broadway doggerel. I hope you have those all memorized as well.
Hands down one of the best jingles from the 50’s, and perhaps one of the best All-American jingles ever produced. For me, it’s the tune that secured Leon Carr’s and Leo Corday’s place as two of the best jingle writers of all time. Thanks for sharing!