Hully Gully - Modern Form

Modern Form

The Hully Gully was started by Frank Rocco at the Cadillac Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. In 1959 The Olympics sang the song "Hully Gully", which involved no physical contact at all. The same tune appeared a little over a year later in a song by the Marathons, entitled "Peanut Butter", which was later used for the Peter Pan Peanut Butter commercial during the 1980s. Tim Morgan sang different lyrics to the song "Peanut Butter" as well, however, only mentioning the Skippy" brand. There was another song about the dance by the Dovells, entitled "Hully Gully Baby." The Jive Five had a hit called "Hully Gully Callin' Time"; Ike & Tina Turner had a song in their repertoire known as "If You Can Hully Gully (I Can Hully Gully Too)." Ed Sullivan mentioned the Cadillac Hotel as "Home of the Hully Gully" on his weekly show, featuring some dancers from Frank Rocco's revue. Known as "Mr. Hully Gully", Rocco then toured America (including the 1964 New York World's Fair—he danced it with Goldie Hawn) and Europe, where over the next year he taught the dance at the NATO Base in Naples, Italy, in Rome, and all over Europe.