The death of 97-year-old Page Morton Black — the singer whose “Chock Full o’Nuts” jingle is embedded in the brains of anyone living in or around New York in the 1960s and ’70s — on Sunday led to a nostalgia-filled obituary in today’s New York Times.
It also led to memories about her ties to Westport.
Page Morton Black and her husband, William Black — the founder of Chock Full o’Nuts — lived for many years on Bluewater Hill. The Mediterranean-style mansion was easily spotted from Hillspoint Road.
Longtime Westporter Wally Meyer recalls that she hosted “fabulous dinner parties.”
He does not say whether she sang at them.
But I’m sure the coffee was very, very good.
Page Morton Black and her husband, William Black, in the early 1960s. (Photo/New York Times)
My contacts in Advertising MANY years ago told that she was as tough as they come. When she first suggested the musical bit, her husband did not support her, She got her way thought the first run was “not perfect”.
The song in its original form said “Better coffee Rockefeller’s money can’t buy” but they had to change it to “a millionaire’s money” (which in those days was not peanuts).