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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 17 december 2016
Want a hippo for Christmas? The story of a girl who got one

JOHN ROGERS promptly donated it to the
Associated Press Oklahoma City Zoo, where
LOS ANGELES (AP) — All a it lived to be nearly 50, a
cute, curly haired 10-year- ripe old age for hippos.
old girl named Gayla As for Peevey’s song, it may
Peevey wanted for Christ- never die.
mas in 1953 was a hippo- “That one just really took
potamus. off, and it’s still going
And amazingly enough, af- strong, stronger than ever.
ter “I Want a Hippopotamus Sixty-three years later! Hard
For Christmas” became the to believe,” Peevey, an
biggest hit song of that ebullient woman of 73, says
holiday season, she actu- during a recent phone in-
ally got one, a 700-pound terview from her San Diego-
baby named Matilda. She area home.

Gayla Peevey, singer of that enduring Christmas classic, “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas,”
sings in her home Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016, in La Mesa, Calif.
Associated Press

So much so that it’s used as suburban Southern Califor- television’s “Saturday Night
a cellphone ringtone these nia school. Revue” hosted by Hoagy
days, included on holiday Other songs come and Carmichael.
ornaments and Christmas go, says Caro, but “Hippo” But her hippo fame caught
cards, available for down- stays in the mix every year her off guard, and for
load on iTunes. It’s even at Arcadia’s Longley Way months afterward she
featured in a U.S. Postal Ser- Elementary School. couldn’t move around
vice commercial in which “Even in class today, we Oklahoma City without be-
the post office boasts it weren’t in rehearsal yet ing mobbed by fans. Her
ships more online gifts, hip- when one kid started sing- parents figured she’d blend
popotamuses included, ing it, and then they were in as just another “normal
than anybody. all singing it,” added the kid” in California while re-
Some people will tell you teacher, who says it has a cording a few more songs.
it’s an annoying ear worm, bounce and a cheeriness None would have the im-
a tune with such silly lyrics that kids love. pact of that first one, written
and a melody so madden- And who knows, sing- by John Rox and personally
ingly memorable that it will ing it may actually get a selected for Peevey by Co-
play endlessly in your head kid a hippo. Unlikely, per- lumbia Records’ legendary
every holiday season until haps, but it did get one for producer and A&R man
New Year’s Day. Peevey. Mitch Miller, who backed
But that’s part of its charm, Her hometown zoo, hippo- her with his orchestra.
says Tim Moore, iHeart Ra- less at the time, teamed She did resurface briefly
dio’s New Hampshire pro- with the local newspaper to in 1959 with “My Little Ma-
gramming director who encourage people to send rine,” an aching teen bal-
over the decades has in enough money to buy lad she’d written about her
played it plenty of times. her one after she debuted first crush. She recorded
“It’s got the sound of an the song on television’s
old-time recording,” Moore “The Ed Sullivan Show.” it under the name Jamie
says. “It sounds dated. It Three thousand dollars Horton, her manager not
sounds a little corny. But later, Matilda arrived on wanting people to dismiss
that’s the thing about it. Christmas Eve, a fitting gift it as another hippo song.
Also, not to be discounted for someone who would It peaked at No. 84 on Bill-
is its effect on children.” so enthusiastically declare, board’s Hot 100.
Yes, definitely don’t dis- “No crocodiles, no rhinoc- “A hit but not a big hit,” she
count that. eroses. I only like hippopot- says now. “Certainly not a
For years, Peevey has been amuses. And hippopota- hit as big as the hippopota-
hearing from schoolteach- muses like me too.” mus song.”
ers around the world who Soon after, however, Soon after, she was off to
tell her their students per- Peevey left her hippopota- college, then marriage
form the song and can’t mus behind, moving to Cal- and motherhood. Eventu-
get enough of it. ifornia. ally she founded her own
“Over 15 years now we’ve She had been singing pro- advertising agency, keep-
done it, and I don’t think fessionally for two years ing her hand in music writ-
we’re stopping,” laughs before recording “Hippo,” ing commercial jingles.
Dana Caro, who directs moving up from local wa- Retired and married for 53
the second-grade Christ- termelon festivals to radio years now, she still sings
mas music program at a shows and then a spot on regularly in church.q