Jaye P. Morgan
Morgan in 1968
Born	Mary Margaret Morgan (1931-12-03)December 3, 1931 (age 93) Mancos, Colorado, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Singer, actress
Years active	1951–1984

Jaye P. Morgan (bornMary Margaret Morgan;^[1] December 3, 1931)^[2] is an Americansinger, actress, andgame show panelist.

Morgan was born inMancos^[3][4] inMontezuma County in far southwesternColorado. Her family moved toCalifornia by the time she was inhigh school. Morgan had six siblings; five brothers and one sister.^[3] In the late 1940s, atVerdugo Hills High School in theTujunga neighborhood ofLos Angeles, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname "Jaye P." after thebankerJ. P. Morgan) and sang at school assemblies, accompanied by her brother onguitar.^[3] She was married briefly to Michael Baiano from 1954-1955.^{[citation needed]}

In 1953, Morgan made arecording of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" issued byDerby Records,^[5] which made it to #26 on theU.S.Billboardrecord chart. Soon after, she received anRCA Victorrecording contract,^[6] and she had fivehits in one year, including her biggest hit "That's All I Want from You", which reached #3 on the chart.^[7] Other notable hits included "There's a Dream in My Heart" byRolande Maxwell Young, "The Longest Walk" and "Pepper Hot Baby". In 1954, she married Michael Baiano. She joinedMGM Records in 1959 after spending the previous six years with RCA Victor.^[3]

From 1954 to 1955, Morgan was a vocalist on theABCtelevision series showStop the Music. In November 1955, theBritish music magazine,NME, reported that Morgan was the top female vocalist in the U.S.Cash Box poll.^[8] Beginning January 11, 1954, she was a featured singer on theRobert Q. Lewis Show on CBS-TV.^[9]

In 1956, she had her own show,The Jaye P. Morgan Show, and made guest appearances on a number of othervariety shows.^[10] She was a charter member of theRobert Q. Lewis "gang" on Lewis's weekday program on CBS,^[3] and was featured on a special episode ofThe Jackie Gleason Show in which Lewis's entire company substituted for the vacationing Gleason. In 1958, Morgan appeared onABC'sThe Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred onNBC'sThe Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.

In 1961, Morgan was cast as Sally Dwight in the episode "Money and the Minister" of theCBSanthology series,General Electric Theater, hosted byRonald Reagan. In 1962, she played Patty Maxwell in "Patti's Tune" of the CBS military sitcom/dramaHennesey, starringJackie Cooper. That same year, she was cast as Kitty Flanders in "That's Showbiz" on NBC'sThe Joey Bishop Show. In 1964, she portrayed the character Ruth Evans in the episode "Sunday Father" of the NBCmedical dramaThe Eleventh Hour.

Although Morgan continued to spend considerable time in the 1960s and 1970s performing innightclubs, she made additional appearances on television as well as in films. In 1966, she guest-starred on CBS'sMy Three Sons in the episode "A Falling Star", playing the fading singer Claudia Farrell.^[11] Later, in 1973, Morgan played herself in the episode "The Songwriter" of the sitcomThe Odd Couple.^[11] That year she appeared too as Magda Valentine in the filmThe All-American Boy. She performed the theme song, "Coming into My Own," of the short-livedNBCsituation comedyFay, starringLee Grant, which aired in 1975–1976.^[12]

In 1978, Morgan guest-starred onThe Muppet Show and sang "That Old Black Magic" as aduet withDr. Teeth.^[11][13] Morgan made numerous appearances onThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during this period,^[14] and in the 1980s and into the early 1990s she performed again on thebig screen, working in supportive roles in films such asLoose Shoes (1980),Night Patrol (1984), andHome Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).^[11]

One of Morgan's first appearances as a game show panelist was on the 1970 pilot for "The Honeymoon Game" (a then re-working of earlier pilots forThe Joker's Wild). She represented the category of Music on the show, asking questions to the contestants in that category.

From 1976 to 1978, Morgan was a regular panelist onThe Gong Show,^[15] in which she achieved notoriety for flashing herbreasts while on live camera during aGene, Gene, the Dancing Machine performance.NBC banned her from the program for the flashing incident.^[16] The 1980 "behind-the-scenes"The Gong Show Movie features the breast-flashing footage.^[17]

Morgan also appeared on thePlayboy Channel game showEverything Goes, and with her formerGong Show partnerJamie Farr onHollywood Squares Game Show Week II in 2004.

Morgan appeared as herself inConfessions of a Dangerous Mind,^[18] a 2003 semi-biographical film about the life ofChuck Barris, creator ofThe Gong Show,The Dating Game, andThe Newlywed Game.^[11][19]

She also appeared onRhyme and Reason,Match Game,Make Me Laugh.

• Official website
• Jaye P. Morgan photos
• Jaye P. Morgan atAllMusic
• Jaye P. Morgan discography atDiscogs
• Jaye P. Morgan atIMDb

• Living people
• American women pop singers
• Traditional pop music singers
• RCA Victor artists
• MGM Records artists
• American film actresses
• American television actresses
• People from Montezuma County, Colorado
• Singers from Los Angeles
• Actresses from Los Angeles
• 21st-century American women
• Verdugo Hills High School alumni
• 1931 births

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from May 2019
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2023