The most famous recording of the song, however, was that created on December 12, 1955. by Bill Haley & His Comets at a recording session for Decca Records. Unlike most of Haley's recordings for Decca, which were created at the Pythian Temple studio in New York City, "Alligator" and its flip-side, "The Paper Boy (On Main Street U.S.A.)", were recorded at the Decca Building in New York. The song was featured in "Rock Around the Clock", a musical film Haley and the Comets began shooting in January 1956. Regarding the claim that Decca records released this disk on February 1, 1956, in both 45 and 78 formats, "Billboard" had already listed the song as debuting on January 14, 1956, on the Best Sellers in Stores chart at no. 25 and on the Top 100 at no. 56. The Decca single peaked at no. 6 on the "Billboard" and "CashBox" pop singles chart in 1956.