It all started with  a series of TV commercials for Southern California Dodge Dealers that featured elderly actress Kathryn Minner speeding down a street or dragstrip. She would stop, look out the window and say “Put a Dodge in your garage, Honey!” 

It became a cultural catchphrase–not just in Southern California, but throughout the US.

This was not lost on Jan Berry, who sat down with songwriters Don Altfeld and Roger Christian to write a surf-style song with the sense of humor that Jan and Dean were known for.

I For the record, The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson were not directly involved in the creation of the song–although Roger co-wrote songs like “Little Deuce  Coupe” the background  vocals were sung by The Honeys, a group that included Brian’s first wife, Marilyn, and The backing band was th legendary wrecking Crew–who also played on many Beach Boys songs.

In fact, even Dean Torrence was barely involved. P.F. Sloan sang the falsetto part, while Dean was buried in the mix.

“The Little Old Lady  From Pasadena” was released just when the commercials were at their most popular, and the song itself raced up the Hot 100 to #3 and became a cultural icon of its own, as well as a Great Song of 1964!

Mike Cook