Jaye P. Morgan, Singer and Bawdy ‘Gong Show’ Panelist, Dies at 94

Jaye P. Morgan, the husky-voiced, hit-making singer of the 1950s whose bad behavior on The Gong Show made her a fan favorite before she went a bit too far, has passed away. She was 94.

Morgan lived in Castle Rock, Washington, and passed away Monday, her family confirmed .

In 1955, she found success with “That’s All I Want From You” (it made it to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100), “The Longest Walk” (No. 6), “Danger!

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Heartbreak Ahead,” Don’T Want Updates

Heartbreak Ahead,” “If You Don’t Want My Love” and “Pepper-Hot Baby.” Related Stories Critic’s Appreciation Dolly Parton, a Hollywood Treasure Who Lit Up the Screen With Her Authentic Self Music Dolly Parton Tributes Pour in From Taylor Swift, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jane Fonda, Reba McEntire, Kacey Musgraves and More She also served as a vocalist on the ABC quiz show Pause the Music in 1954-55; toplined her own twice-weekly NBC variety program in 1956 in which she performed with brothers Duke, Bob, Charlie and Dick; and was a regular on Robert Q.

Lewis’ CBS daytime show. Morgan appeared often on The Tonight Show — she shared she was Johnny Carson ‘s guest about 150 times in New York and L.A. — and it was on the late-night show that she honed her naughty reputation.

“Johnny is very raunchy,” she told The New York Times in 1981.

“We used to send each other the filthiest telegrams and get them delivered because we cast them in unusual words. It was fun to put anything over on any network. You have to make them worry constantly.” In one notable segment, she ripped the host for giving his cigarette more attention than she was getting.

Morgan Made Impression Gong Updates

Morgan also made an impression on The Gong Show , the zany NBC game show hosted and created The program gave amateurs a chance to display their so-called talent in front of three celebrity judges. One act featured two young women sitting on the stage and licking orange Popsicles (yes, that was the whole act).

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Phyllis Diller gave them a zero and Jamie Farr gave them a 2, but Morgan gave them the highest score possible, a 10. “Don’t you know that’s the way I started?” she shared with a smile.

Morgan, who was very fond of double entendres, was eventually fired from The Gong Show after she took off her jacket and tie, unbuttoned her blouse and bared her breasts during a Mean Gene Dancing Machine routine.

Many say the show was never the same after she was banished. She was born Mary Margaret Morgan on Dec. 3, 1931, in a log cabin in Mancos, Colorado.

At age 3, she took to the road in a vaudeville act with her father, mother, five brothers and a sister, and The Morgan Family appeared in the 1935 Pat O’Brien movie musical Stars Over Broadway . They all moved to California, and while serving as class treasurer as a junior at Verdugo Hills High School outside Los Angeles, she was nicknamed “Jaye P.” after the banker J.P.

(John Pierpoint) Morgan. “When I left school at 17 and began working with [orchestra leader] Frank DeVol, he liked [the name], so it stuck,” she shared in a 1992 interview with the Los Angeles Times . They recorded her first hit, a version of “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries,” in 1951.

After marrying pianist-composer Artie Kane and leaving show business, she returned in the 1960s as an actress and appeared on General Electric Theater ; The Danny Thomas Show ; My Three Sons ; Love, American Style ; The Odd Couple; and The Muppet Show and in the movies Coming Attractions (1978), Night Patrol (1984) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

She sang the theme songs to John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965), starring Shirley MacLaine, and the 1975 NBC sitcom Fay , starring Lee Grant. She also recorded a 1976 pop-R&B album produced Her association with Barris continued with appearances on the game shows The Chuck Barris Rah Rah Show and The $1.98 Beauty Show, in The Gong Show Movie (1980) and in the biopic Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), directed Survivors include her son, Paul.

Rhett Bartlett contributed to this report.