In Memory of Mitch Miller RIP 1911~2010 - I Want to be Happy

This is a Genuine G-Shot in memory of Mitch Miller.

By Suzanne Cloud of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Remembering Mitch Miller.
A genius of gimmicky songs and family fun


is a jazz singer and executive director of Jazz Bridge, a nonprofit that assists Philadelphia-area jazz and blues musicians in crisis

Mitch Miller and the Sing Along Gang blew onto American TV sets in January 1961, unabashedly celebrating that the family that sings together clings together.

To this 9-year-old, there wasn't anything so mesmerizing as that devilishly smiling, goateed gentleman, staring right into my eyes in front of an army of singing men whose voices were enveloped in an echo that seemed to bounce around our living room. The show was an instant hit with my family and we never missed it. We would throw open the windows when the weather got warm so the neighbors could hear us singing along with Mitch: "Five-foot-two, eyes of blue . . . could she, could she, could she coo?"

I didn't know then that Miller had been the terror of some of the most popular singers of the day just a few years before his TV debut.

Miraculously, Miller consistently turned the schlocky songs he forced these singers to record for Columbia into instant hits - think "Come on-a My House" by Rosemary Clooney or "Mule Train" by Frankie Laine. OK, so Frank Sinatra's "Mama Will Bark" was a dog of a recording (with strategically placed canine howls in the mix), for which the singer never forgave Miller.

I also didn't know that Miller had played oboe in the pit band of the original production of Porgy and Bess and organized the landmark 1949 recording sessions that resulted in one of jazzman Charlie Parker's most commercially successful recordings - Charlie Parker with Strings. To me, he just seemed like a guy incredibly pleased with some inside knowledge that his viewers, young and old, were going to soak up the corniest songs he had to offer and beg for more. And we did.

Most folks over 55 know that Miller, son of a Russian immigrant father, died at 99 on July 31. The news shocked those who assumed he was already long dead, but his brief reemergence in death sparked a flurry of remembrances on the Internet. It also offered a peek into the record business as the popularity of big bands waned, creating a vacuum before the British invasion of the Beatles. Miller was an innovative and pioneering music producer when, in 1950, he soared to the top of the production line at Columbia Records.

Miller once told Time magazine the secret of cranking out hits: "You've got to work out a gimmick that'll get people's attention and hold it." So it wasn't unusual to see him innovating in the studio as he went along, pioneering the technique of overdubbing that made Patti Page such a chart-topper as she sang harmony with herself on numerous recordings, and developing his trademark "halo" effect, which became his signature echo chamber years later on his TV show.

The catchy novelty tunes just kept coming: "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (sung by a preteen Jimmy Boyd); "Bim Bam Baby" (another Sinatra embarrassment); "She Wears Red Feathers" (with Guy Mitchell, a huge hit in England), "Too Old to Cut the Mustard" (a Rosemary Clooney and Marlene Dietrich duet); and "(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window?" (a Patti Page classic with more cute dog yips to get listeners' juices going). Yes, Miller made Columbia an awful lot of money with an awful lot of gimmickry.

Some of the obituary writers called Miller the father of karaoke, but I wouldn't tuck him into that hereditary line of sing-a-long Svengalis. Karaoke is more solitary and competitive, whereas Miller's show brought to American living rooms a wholesome, piano-bar atmosphere that got the whole family - grandmothers to toddlers - up on their feet singing together as they followed the words on the screen.

Another thing that the obituary writers missed completely - Leslie Uggams - a dynamite voice Miller snatched off another popular show of the time, Name That Tune. She was among the earliest African Americans to have recurring spots on weekly TV and I absolutely went nuts over her and her swirling chiffon skirts. Plus, she outsang all those guys without dropping an eyelash or mussing up her elegant, long, white gloves.

So bravo, maestro, for a life well lived - a toast, and one last goofy tune to ferry you on your way. Your favorite sign-off at the end of a show was sung to the melody of "Stars and Stripes Forever":

"Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebody's mother. Be kind to your friends in the swamp where the weather is very, very damp. Now you may think that is the end . . . well, it is!"


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[ForPatti]

hehe He was an old guy by then. He gave us a lecture about the dangers of hitchhiking. And let us know he was on the board of directors at the U.of R. I thought for sure we were going to be reported,but he just dropped us off at the dorm.RIP Mitch Miller.'t recognise him. He was a little insulted. He mentioned his bouncing crystal ball show. And remembering that a little I said well you do have that Mitch Miller beard going on. hehe

[ForPatti]

Aww. When I was a college freshman Mitch Miller picked me and my college roomate up hitchhiking from the airport.I didnAww. When I was a college freshman Mitch Miller picked me and my college roomate up hitchhiking from the airport.I didn't recognise him. He was a little insulted. He mentioned his bouncing crystal ball show. And remembering that a little I said well you do have that Mitch Miller beard going on.

[eeeeeeclapclap]

Happy (Belated) 100th...Mitch!

Be Nice to Sinatra in Heaven!

[epgrove1961]

Great tribute to a wonderful musical maestro. Mitch Miller and his music will live on forever.

[malcolmcog]

Cowabonga, Dude !

[dickintexas]

Love it. Thanks for posting

[epgrove1961]

This is a wonderful tribute to a very special musical genius.

[epgrove1961]

Mitch Miller was "The Magical Maestro" of The Gang. Holiday Sing ALong With Mitch will be a heard forever as long as there is Christmas on earth.

[MrPEIcanada]

very nice video, thanks

[DreamsCumTrue469]

excellent observations and commentary on miller...your rounds were on target. BTW, Tony Bennett has spoken at length about why in his fledgling years at Columbia he had to transition to jazz-based pop singing to breakfree of miller's limited gimmick-based approach to looking for hits. This led Tony to hook up with Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton and the other jazz musicians on his pivotal "Beat of My Heart" Columbia LP, which best represented this change.