Tops in Pops; plus, A Rock 'n' Roll Roundup

New York: Macfadden Books (50-114). Very Good+. 1961. First Edition. Softcover. [a nice tight copy, minor handling wear, tiny abrasion at top edge of rear cover]. Mass Market PB (B&W photographs) After a brief introduction ("This Thing Called Rock 'n' Roll"), the book contains individual chapters (mostly 5-8 pages in length, although Bobby Darin rates a whopping 18 pages, more than double that of Elvis!) on each of the following teen idols of the day: Paul Anka, Annette Funicello, Frankie Avalon, Anita Bryant (oy!), Johnny Burnette, Dick Clark ("the only personality profiled in this book who cannot sing a note, [but] is acknowledged to be the 'single most influential person' in the popular-music business"), Bobby Darin, Fabian, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, and Bobby Rydell. There's an additional chapter, entitled "The Contenders," devoted to brief blurbs about 25 additional performers, most of which you will at least have heard of (Ann-Margaret [sic], Sam Cooke, Connie Stevens, et al.), but a few that will probably have you scratching your heads (Bob Suman? Timi Yuro?). Oh, well -- some make it, some just contend. As with many books of this nature, it's rather hard to find copies today, especially in decent condition: most libraries didn't bother with them (OCLC records just seven institutional copies of this title), and their target audience (teenagers) mostly read them until they fell apart. .