According to author Dave Hoekstra, "Hernando's Hideaway" was based on Hilltop, an establishment in East Dubuque, Illinois, that had been a speakeasy in the 1920s (where Al Capone once hid out from the Chicago police) before turning into a supper club.[1]
Recordings
The most successful recording of the song was done by Archie Bleyer, the record reaching No. 2 on the Billboard chart in 1954.
A version by Johnnie Ray hit number 11 on the UK Singles Chart in October 1955.[2] It also reached the Billboard charts at #14.
A live recording (from Carnegie Hall in 1954) by Ella Fitzgerald[5] can be found on the Verve/Polygram release Jazz at the Philharmonic, the Ella Fitzgerald Set, with Ray Brown on bass and Buddy Rich on drums.
There are at least 15 Finnish versions, titled Hernandon salaisuus, by different artists of the song,[6] the first and most popular by Olavi Virta, in 1956.
The 2000 hit song "Dance With Me" by R&B singer Debelah Morgan used the melody of "Hernando's Hideaway" in its chorus, with different lyrics. Morgan paid homage to the song by naming the club in her song's video Hernando's Hideaway.
In movies and television
The instrumental section of the Johnston Brothers rendition was used as the theme for Brick Top Polford in the 2000 movie Snatch.
Music used for Anthony Dexter and Patricia Medina in Valentino (1951).
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Legacy
A number of places around the world today are named Hernando's Hideaway, evidently based on the popularity of the song.
"Hernando's Hideaway" also became a nickname for the smoking room for Britishparliamentarians in the House of Commons. The Labour Member of Parliament, Stephen Pound, told the House during a smoking debate on February 14, 2006: "I refer the House to the dystopic hell – 'Hernando's Hideaway' – that is the Smoking Room on the Library Corridor. It is like the Raft of the Medusa most nights, with great groups of people crammed into it."[8]
