(Of course, that would change as singers began to run out of ideas about dealing with an unseen person.)

At the beginning of the craze, we didn't see Richard, we knew nothing about him (other than he wouldn't get up), and it didn't matter. In fiction, Richard himself is what's termed a 'McGuffin', a motivator (object, person, or idea) that drives the plot without being terribly important in itself (think of the statue in 'The Maltese Falcon'). (This was two years after things had seemingly quieted down.) Yosemite Sam pounds and demands that Bugs 'open up that door !' before turning to the audience and saying : 'You'll notice, I didn't say 'Richard'.'Īnd, a year before any of the recordings appeared, here's an ad for the grand opening of Detroit's Club Three Sixes (sometimes also billed as Club Three 666). When Henery starts stumbling around, unable to see, Foghorn tells him : 'Open the window, Richard, that's what it's there for.' Then there was 'High Diving Hare', a 1949 Bugs Bunny film. In it, Foghorn Leghorn has just stuffed Henery Hawk into a phony egg. The first was 'Crowing Pains', released in July 1947. And, because Warner Brothers cartoons were always looking for popular culture icons to demolish, Richard made it to two of them. It was also featured in political cartoons, unrelated advertisements, and even an announcement for a Sunday church sermon. In fact, that line was heard on countless comedy programs for years. My first memory of the song is hearing my Aunt Jennie singing the 'open the door, Richard' line around the house. I'm sure I heard them on the radio, but I was kind of young at the time. I have to be honest, I don't remember a single version of 'Open The Door, Richard' from 1947. (Note that I'll constantly be referring to that chorus as the ' Vocal Refrain' and 'Open the door, Richard' as the ' catchphrase'.) With the staccato 'open the door' (which mimics someone knocking furiously), a catchphrase was born. Amazingly, artists are still recording the song 70 years later and the phrase 'open the door, Richard' is still understood (or at least used) by millions. It's had a long journey and I'll be documenting the first 25 years of recordings, as well as its history prior to those.

'Open The Door Richard' was a true phenomenon. Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks - Open The Door, Richard

Happy Talk by Richard Melo