Throwing back to the week of March 8, 1955, we find The McGuire Sisters atop the Billboard singles chart with ‘Sincerely,’ its sixth straight (and last) week at #1.

In the #2 spot was an instrumental ragtime recording called ‘The Crazy Otto Medley,’ performed by pianist Johnny Maddox. What a different world it was 70 years ago, when a song like this could be a major hit, spending seven weeks at #2.

The song was composed by Fritz Schulz-Reichel, a German pianist whose jazz and pop recordings were a hit in Europe in the 50s. He adopted the alter ego Crazy Otto, so when Maddox played a medley of his tunes, it was dubbed ‘The Crazy Otto Medley.’