Once when I was teaching an ElderHostel (now RoadScholar) course at Watson Homestead, one participant told us a story.
*She had been on the island of Corfu, looking across the sea toward Greece, when a voice behind her said, “Now there’s someone from Rochester, New York.”
*She turned around, and it was Mitch Miller.
*They chatted a little, and she asked how he knew she was from Rochester. “I could tell by the accent,” he replied.
*Well, Mitch no doubt had a very good ear, but he came by his knowledge of Rochester accents honestly, having been born in the Flower City in 1911.
*He took up the oboe in junior high, and by age 15 was playing with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from East High he went on to Eastman School of Music, and finished there with honors, then signed on with the Rochester Philharmonic.
*By the late 1940s he was a record producer, charged with finding, developing, and directing talent. He gave Aretha Franklin her start, and worked with dozens of top vocal stars.
*He despised rock-and-roll, and so missed the boat on a lucrative new field. (More to the point, his company also missed the boat.)
*All of this was more or less “insider baseball,” but as a sideline he created a men’s choral group, performing as Mitch Miller and the Gang. In 1961 NBC brought forth a weekly show, “Sing Along With Mitch.” Families crowded around the sets to sing, and suddenly Mitch, along with what was now called the Sing-Along Gang, were household names.
*They were popular enough to be parodied by Steve Allen, Alan Sherman, MAD, the Chipmunks, and even the Flintstones.
*The songs were old-time hits of previous generations, all the way back to the Civil War. In my case, it was my first exposure to Gilbert and Sullivan. But if the music was staid, some of the values were cutting edge. Even a male choir needs a few female singers, and Leslie Uggams was one of the first African Americans to have a weekly TV appearance outside of playing a traditionally black role. She got death threats.
*In line at the old Borders Books and Records store in Rochester once, I saw that I was likely to be waited on by someone who appeared to be a Serious Music Person. Great, I said to myself. Here I am looking for two copies of “Holiday Sing Along With Mitch.” But another clerk stepped into the breach.
*The show ended in ’64 but Mitch kept working and performing, at least until the late 1990s. He was married to Florence Alexander for 65 years, and died at the age of 99.
*Each week as the show ended Mitch and his Gang sang, “Let me hear a melody, a simple singin’ song… loud and strong… I love to sing along! Let me hear a melody, a simple singin’ song, and I’ll sing along.” Words to live by!