Can we finally put this one to bed?
I could not run down LaPrise's army service records, mainly due to the amazing number of hits you get on the coffin joke, but I gather that he was a GI in England during WWII.
When the Associated Press ran LaPrise's actual obituary in 1996, several World War II veterans stated they had danced the Hokey-Pokey in England in 1943, although the song was called the Okey Cokey. Of course, this would probably have been in London, where the "H" is not pronounced. "Oh, 'okey, Cokey, Cokey!"
LaPrise supposedly wrote the song in the late 1940's and recorded it in 1949 with the Ram Trio. The rights were bought by Ray Anthony who recorded it as the 'B' side to "The Bunny Hop" in 1953.
In 1953, in rural Scotland, I remember doing the Hokey-Cokey (my dad led the kids in the dance) but we never heard of "The Bunny Hop" or the "Hokey-Pokey". We did not own the record (it would have been a 78rpm). My mother, now 90, remembers doing the Hokey-Cokey when she was a young girl in the 1920's.
So it seems that Larry just ripped off an old British folk song/dance and made it his own in America. Bob Dylan and Paul Simon are only recent converts to the steal.
From another website a likely source of the song (like the black plague-inspired "Ring-a-ring-of-rosies"):
Back in 17th century Puritan England anything 'popish' or Roman Catholic was viewed with great suspicion and open to, at best, ridicule. The Hokey-Cokey, with its song and actions, is a mimicry of the Roman Catholic Mass.
In those days the priest faced the altar (not the people) and performed several actions as he consecrated the bread and wine at Holy Communion. The words of the service were in Latin. You put your left arm in ......etc was ridiculing the priest as he lifted his arms heavenward during the rite. You do the Hokey- Cokey and you turn around............ was when the priest turned to face the congregation with the host (consecrated bread) to offer it to them.
Ooooh, the Hokey-Cokey......... hokey-cokey is a corruption of the Latin words of consecration - Hoc est corpus: 'This is my body' (Note: many of the strange words and phrases of our language are corruptions of other languages introduced to our country over the years and few were educated enough to speak or understand Latin). Knees bend, arm stretch, ra-ra-ra....... knees bend is a ridicule of the genuflection (a kind of religious curtsey to the altar) of the priest, arm stretch is when he holds up his hands at the point of consecration in the service, and ra-ra-ra is just a mimicry of the Latin words and prayers they didn't understand.
Today, many people do not know the origin of the song/dance and just do it for fun, especially to teach children co-ordination (and their right from their left). Today, in England, the Roman Catholic Mass is said in English and is so similar to the Holy Communion of the Church of England that, sometimes, if you didn't know what church you were in............