Patty Duke’s Billboard Chart History, ‘Don’t Just Stand There’ & Beyond
Patty Duke, who died Tuesday (March 29) at age 69, had a celebrated career on Broadway and in films and television, winning an Oscar and three Emmys. While most people think of her as an actor, she also had a recording career that began in 1965 with a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100: “Don’t Just Stand There” peaked at No. 8 in August of that year.
The single was released just as the second season of The Patty Duke Show was signing off for the summer. The sitcom, which starred Duke as identical cousins Patty and Cathy, started its run on ABC on Sept. 18, 1963, and ended after three seasons, with the final first-run episode airing on April 27, 1966.
By having concurrent careers in acting and recording, Duke joined a number of other artists from the 1960s who were mostly known for their thespian work, including Shelley Fabares (“Johnny Angel”), Richard Chamberlain (“Three Stars Will Shine Tonight”), Lorne Greene (“Ringo”) and Ann-Margret (“I Just Don’t Understand”).
“Don’t Just Stand There,” written by Lor Crane and Bernice Ross, was musically reminiscent of Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me,” a No. 2 hit on the Hot 100 a year and a half earlier (and now nearing Billboard‘s Pop Songs airplay chart as reimagined by Grace, featuring G-Eazy).
Duke followed that first hit with three more Hot 100 entries, all during the run of The Patty Duke Show. “Say Something Funny,” also written by Crane and Ross, peaked at No. 22 in the fall of 1965. The B-side, “Funny Little Butterflies,” also charted, rising to No. 77. Composed by Crane and Ross with Jack Gold, the flip was from the film Billie, which starred Duke as a high school co-ed who jeopardized her conservative father’s political career because she was a girl who excelled in sports. Duke’s final Hot 100 entry was “Whenever She Holds You,” a gender-switch remake of Bobby Goldsboro’s No. 34 hit from 1964, “Whenever He Holds You.” Duke’s version landed at No. 64.
Signed to the United Artists label, Duke recorded several albums, but only one appeared on the Billboard 200. Named for her first hit single, Don’t Just Stand There spent 12 weeks on the chart and peaked at No. 90 in 1965.
All four of Duke’s charted singles appear on a greatest-hits collection, Just Patty, issued by EMI in 1996. Her albums Don’t Just Stand There and Patty were combined on a CD released by Real Gone Music in 2013, as were subsequent albums Sings Songs from Valley of the Dolls and Sings Folk Songs – Time to Move On.
