The Playmates earned their greatest renown through the Top 40 smash “Beep Beep,” one among several charting singles they placed during their career. Formed and co-owned by Morris Levy, Joe Kolsky, and George Goldner, the New York-based Roulette Records roster included the group among its earliest rock & roll signings. Before adopting their professional name, the ensemble had worked locally as the Nitwits; they spent five years performing throughout the Waterbury, Connecticut vicinity and finally joined Roulette in 1958. Although the label had already registered several rock & roll successes, the Playmates specialized in novelty material rather than that style.
Their lighthearted pop numbers, despite frequently whimsical lyrics, produced immediate results when both “Jo Ann” and “Beep Beep” became hits. The latter track, composed by members Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps, featured a refrain in which the singers repeatedly intoned a sequence of automobile horn sounds. Even with its playful tone, the single rose to the number-four position nationwide during December 1958, prompting the release of their debut long-player, At Play With the Playmates.
Further success arrived in 1959 with the number-fifteen entry “What Is Love?” and again in 1960 when “Wait for Me” reached number 37. Three more Roulette albums followed—Cuttin’ Capers, Wait for Me, and Broadway Showstoppers—while an additional collection, The Playmates Visit West of the Indies, appeared on Forum Records, a budget reissue subsidiary that Roulette operated in the early to middle 1960s. The ensemble ceased activity in 1964.
