Remembering Phil Chess and Chess Records, Eddie Applegate

Phil Chess and his brother Leonard were Polish/Jewish immigrants who founded a record company on the South Side of Chicago in the early 1950’s. Their company featured many blues musicians from the Delta South including Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, and the music they created went on to have a tremendous influence on rock and roll. It also exposed white audiences to black musicians they might not have otherwise heard, a significant step in changing race relations in the mid-20th Century. Eddie Applegate played the memorably goofy boyfriend on the “Patty Duke Show” (1963-1966).