Judy Johnson obit

 

Betty Bonney, 100, Dies; Her Paean to Joe DiMaggio Was a Big-Band Hit

Singing with the Les Brown band, she celebrated the Yankee star’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941. She also performed on Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.”

She was not on the list.

Judy Johnson (born Betty Bonney) was an American pop singer most notable for her regular appearances on the NBC television series Your Show of Shows in the 1950s. Early in her career, she was billed under her birth name.

Judy Johnson was born Betty Bonney on March 8, 1924 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the late 1930s, Johnson and her family moved to Nutley, New Jersey, and while there she learned tap dancing. After two years, they moved back to Norfolk. There she began singing on a radio station and began singing with a band at age 11. She performed at age 14 as a dancer and singer in a tent show headed by Gene Austin. When she was 18, she moved to New York to study musical comedy. In addition to studying, she traveled on USO tours and appeared in night clubs, including the Copacabana in New York.

In the early 1940s, she sang with the Les Brown Orchestra. In 1941, she had a hit of "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" with Brown's group. She later sang with Frankie Carle and his orchestra. Her biggest hit was "How Little We Know", written by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer for the character played by Lauren Bacall in the film To Have and Have Not.

Johnson's television appearances included singing on the syndicated game show Hidden Treasure, the NBC game show Judge for Yourself,: 546  and the NBC variety show Tonight! America After Dark.: 1094  On old-time radio, she was a regular on The Robert Q. Lewis Show.

Most of the kinescopes of Your Show of Shows were discarded by NBC, so few video appearances of Johnson remain. In one remaining film clip Johnson sings a cover of the Four Lads song "No, Not Much!". Her last television singing appearance was on The Arthur Murray Party in 1959.

In 1950, Johnson joined Sammy Kaye as a singer with his orchestra. In 1952, she signed a contract with MGM Records to join Bill Hayes, with whom she sang on Your Show of Shows, to record duets. In 1955, she performed on Broadway as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls.

Johnson married composer and conductor Mort Lindsey in 1954. She died at a retirement home in Calabasas, California, on January 29, 2025, at the age of 100.

 

Actress

The Red Buttons Show (1952)

The Red Buttons Show

7.9

TV Series

1954

1 episode

 

Walking on Air

1946

 

Soundtrack

Judge for Yourself (1953)

Judge for Yourself

6.2

TV Series

performer: "I Understand (Just How You Feel)", "Happy Habit"

1954

1 episode

 

Your Show of Shows (1950)

Your Show of Shows

8.6

TV Series

performer: "Another Kiss"

1950

1 episode