Itsby Bitsy Polka Dot Bikini Songwriter Not Dead After All
The Associated Press has been reporting the death of songwriter Paul Vance, who wrote the classic pop song, "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini." But it turns out that the man who dies was not
the songwriter after all. He was an imposter who spent half his life telling everyone he wrote the song and sold the rights when he was young and foolish.
After being burned once, the AP had ASCAP confirm the identity of the (very much alive) Paul Vance who still recieves royalty checks from the song.
On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported on the death of a 68-year-old man named Paul Van Valkenburgh of Ormond Beach, Fla., who claimed to have written the song under the name Paul Vance. The story cited the man's wife as the source for that claim.
But the music industry's real Paul Vance, a 76-year-old man from Coral Springs, Fla., is alive and well, and says the other Paul Vance appears to have made the whole thing up.
The Paul Vance who wrote the songs — and provided proof with royalty payments he is still receiving for the hit — said he has been inundated with calls from people who think he died. An owner of racehorses, Vance said two of his horses were scratched from races Wednesday because people thought he had died.
"Do you know what it's like to have grandchildren calling you and say, 'Grandpa, you're still alive?'" he said in a telephone interview from Coral Springs. "This is not a game. I am who I am and I'm proud of who I am. But these phones don't stop with people calling thinking I'm dead."
Rose Leroux, the widow of the man who died, said she was surprised by the disclosure, and "kind of devastated." She said she had no reason to doubt that her husband — who apparently had some sort of music career when he was younger — was the writer of the famous tune.
She said her husband told her that he never got any royalties because he sold the rights when he was young, around 19. She said that by the time they met almost 40 years ago, he was making his living as a salesman. He later became a painting contractor.
"If this other man says he did it then my husband's a liar, or he's a liar," Leroux said.
The living Paul Vance estimated he has made several million dollars from the song, which was recorded by 16-year-old teen idol Brian Hyland, surged to No. 1 on the Billboard charts in August 1960 and has been pop culture staple ever since.
The song — about a bashful young woman in a skimpy bathing suit — has been used in such movies as "Sister Act 2" and "Revenge of the Nerds II" and was more recently revived in a yogurt commercial.
"It's a money machine," Vance said.
Vance said his first hit was "Catch a Falling Star," recorded by Perry Como, and he went on to write numerous million-sellers for Como, Johnny Mathis and others.
This reminds us one of our favorite silly movies: Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion which starred Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino as two young women who go back to their ten year high school reunion. Desperate to be seen as successful, they tell everyone that they invented Post-It notes. Unfortunately for them, Janine Garofolo's character (who has an MBA) blows their cover (and humiliates them in front of the entire class) by announcing that everyone knows that Art Fry invented Post-It Notes.
No doubt Paul Van Valkenburgh told everyone at his high school reunions that he was a famous songwriter. This just goes to show that these kinds of deceptions always get unveiled in the end. Although in this case, the imposter appears to have escaped any earthly comeuppance for his deception.
