# Sing Along with Mitch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132 "2015-05-15T19:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/21 "2015-05-16T01:56:39Z")
But he did get Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, who didn’t do badly. And he owned the 50s. He had to go once rock took over, true. But everybody else wished they could be Columbia until then. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/22 "2015-05-16T02:12:38Z")
> [@NuclearBombPop](#): > > Wow, I wasn’t aware of the TV show, but for some reason, _Sing Along with Mitch_ records are ubiquitous in thrift store record bins. I’m not sure if that means the records were extremely popular and only disposed of when the owners got rid of their turntable, or that they were bought for a laugh, played once, then sat around for 40 years until they were found again and promptly put in a bag to donate. I think I have my folks “Sing Along With Mitch” albums somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/23 "2015-05-16T06:38:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Mitch Miller was a VP at one of the big record companies in the 50s. He _hated_ rock music, and started putting out his “Sing Along with Mitch” albums in the early 60s, with a lyric book included. They were extremely popular, most likely hitting the top of the charts for albums and singles (“The Yellow Rose of Texas,” IIRC). Not just any VP - he was head of A&R, and had a lot of say on who got signed. My parents had a lot of the records, but never watched the TV show at least. And in their defense they also owned Rock Around the Clock. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/24 "2015-05-16T07:08:50Z")
I used to watch it with my parents when I was a kid in the 50s. It was a particular favorite of my grandmother. Like others, I particularly remember _The Yellow Rose of Texas_. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/25 "2015-05-16T12:10:56Z")
I remember the show and the bouncing ball over the lyrics, which got parodied in “Woodstock” in the “Feel-like-I’m-fixing-to-die rag”. Miller didn’t like rock music but similar sentiments were expressed by Frank Sinatra and Steve Allen. Of course you can find similar expressions by rock fans, with large amounts of racism and homophobia, towards disco in the late 1970s. “Disco Demolition” night in Chicago in 1979 got 50,000 rock fans to gather to destroy disco records. Miller didn’t sign many rock acts but lots of labels were the same, so he had company in his stupidity. One interesting fact about Miller (who lived to be 99). He was part of the orchestra on the Orson Welles “War of the Worlds” broadcast ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/26 "2015-05-16T13:51:56Z")
Yeah, I remember my parents used to watch Sing Along With Mitch. I think I had the opinion then it was a show for parents to sing the songs they used to sing during WWII. If nothing else, from that show I learned the lyrics to “The 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 dawmp. Well you may think that this is the end, Well it is. \* ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/27 "2015-05-17T21:49:44Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m 54, and barely remember Mitch Miller. I know future \*\*\*Sesame Street \*\*\*star Bob McGrath was one of his singers. 1:10 on BubbaDog’s link. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/28 "2015-05-18T01:19:27Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But he did get Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel, who didn’t do badly. And he owned the 50s. But Dylan was signed by John Hammond, despite the resistance of everyone at Columbia, and S&G by Tom Wilson. That was during the folk song era, and both handled folk (and jazz), so Miller probably didn’t pay attention until after they were making too much money to drop. Actually, Columbia’s biggest success in the 50s was _My Fair Lady_; they put money into the show in exchange for doing the soundtrack. The smash hit musical did a lot for their bottom line. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/29 "2015-05-18T01:51:38Z")
I just watched all four parts of this. My god what a pot shit chowder. And everyone is white on that show. When they said that there was going to be a minstrel show, I held my breath but thankfully there wasn’t any black face. Of note: In the middle of Part 4 during the rail road number, part of it is the same melody as Monty Python’s Lumberjack song. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/30 "2015-05-18T06:27:26Z")
The songs may be old-fashioned and corny, but you gotta admit those are some mighty fine orchestrations and vocals! :o I guess it’s true that good singing never goes out of fashion, no matter how long it’s been. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/31 "2015-05-18T07:08:56Z")
hajario writes: \> And everyone is white on that show. Say what? Around 7:25 in Part 4 they do a close-up on a black woman in the front of the stage. I assume that that’s Leslie Uggams, who is one of the lead singers on the show. Yes, other than her, there doesn’t appear to be anyone who isn’t white. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/32 "2015-05-18T07:14:50Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > And everyone is white on that show. When they said that there was going to be a minstrel show, I held my breath but thankfully there wasn’t any black face. This was what, 1964 or '65, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement? I doubt they had the balls to pull a stunt like that, given the atmosphere in the US at the time! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/33 "2015-05-18T07:16:48Z")
The tenor in the bow tie reminds me of Pee-Wee Herman! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/34 "2015-05-18T13:05:27Z")
It was 1961-64. Using Leslie Uggams as a regular was considered a great leap forward for Civil Rights. She was one of the few Black women on network TV at the time, and wasn’t playing a menial role – she was a lead singer. Admittedly, racists were often willing to accept Blacks who sang and danced rather than acted, but Uggams was an important step forward. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/35 "2015-05-18T13:26:40Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > When I was in college, a guy took me to an open-air venue concert that turned out to be a “Sing Along with Mitch” event with Mitch Miller and Rosemary Clooney. It wasn’t bad, because I enjoy that type of music, but he was pretty embarassed because he had somehow assumed that this was going to be a rock concert. To be fair, it would have been worth going just to hear Rosemary Clooney. She was fab. > [@terentii](#): > > This was what, 1964 or '65, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement? I doubt they had the balls to pull a stunt like that, given the atmosphere in the US at the time! :eek: Time to pull out one of my favorite fun facts: the BBC had a program called [The Black and White Minstrel Show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_and_White_Minstrel_Show)which featured white performers in blackface…which ran until _ **1978** _. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/36 "2015-05-18T14:43:11Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Mitch Miller was the TV equivalent of old Harvey Toons I used to see, in which a bouncing ball would guide us through the lyrics of old standards from the 19th century (Stephen Foster, “Bicycle Built for Two,” et al.), and invite us to sing along. The bouncing ball sing-along device was invented by the Fleischer brothers studios, best known for Betty Boop and Popeye. Fun fact, the bouncing ball was originally a real ball on a stick that was filmed moving over the song lyrics typography. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/37 "2015-05-18T21:47:59Z")
I definitely remember the Mitch Miller shows on tv. I come from a very musical family and Mitch and Lawrence were popular fare for the grandparents. I can remember sitting on my grandmother’s lap as a small child and singing along with the tv. I’m fairly sure that was one of the reasons I read so early is from watching and singing with Mitch. Years later, when my grandmother was 89, Lawrence Welk did a show near her town. I took her to the show and she was thrilled. I was 20-ish and uninterested, but seeing her delight made me enjoy it too. She was chosen out of the audience to go up on stage and Lawrence danced with her. She talked about that for the rest of her life (she passed at 95). She had lost a lot of her memories, but she never forgot seeing Lawrence and getting that dance. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/38 "2015-05-18T21:58:59Z")
Good memories of our family singing along . . . ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/39 "2015-05-19T02:02:26Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I’m 54, and barely remember Mitch Miller. I know future \*\*\*Sesame Street \*\*\*star Bob McGrath was one of his singers. Bob is front-and-center at the 1:10 mark. After the Mitch Miller Singers did a tour of Japan, Bob decided to come back and became a relatively successful performer there, recording several albums of Japanese songs and English songs translated to Japanese. Bob singing “Kaze no Yurete Oka de (On the Windy Hill)” Here he is as the guest on “I’ve Got a Secret” after which he performs a couple of songs. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RjPYeloMx7s/hqdefault.jpg "Bob McGrath on "I've Got a Secret"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjPYeloMx7s) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132/40 "2015-05-19T22:11:46Z")
Better than Lucy and Desi Better than Route 66 Better than Huntley and Brinkley Better than quiz shows all fixed Better than Kildare and Casey Sing it With Mitch Better than Hitchcock and Karloff Better than clicking the switch Better than movies at night Or watching Emil Griffith fight Better than anything Except being in love… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sing-along-with-mitch/720132.md?page=1)