Alumni Gazette An Unlikely ‘Prince of Pop’ Mitch Miller ’32E, who died in July at the age of 99, helped shape the sound of American popular music.
By Karen McCally ’02 (PhD) timately emerged from the stu- dio. A pioneer of multitracking An acclaimed classical oboist, a pio- and the echo chamber effect, he neering producer of popular music, a was among the first to see the shrewd businessman, and the infectiously potential crossover of coun- upbeat host of the early 1960s television try and pop. Artists such as show Sing Along with Mitch, Mitch Miller Rosemary Clooney and Tony ’32E “had so many facets that his soul must Bennett, both of whom Miller resemble one of his productions,” the mu- signed, were initially skeptical, sic critic Will Friedwald once wrote. “Only but later credited Miller with by multitracking could he superimpose all making their careers. these identities on top of each other.” Miller was often maligned In a 1999 interview in the studios of as the peddler of gimmickry— Rochester’s National Public Radio affiliate, a claim he didn’t deny, com- WXXI, classical music host Julia Figueras menting once, “You’ve got to asked Miller to comment on the striking work out a gimmick that’ll get breadth of his musical career. “Whatever people’s attention and hold it.” I’m doing at the time, I love!” he respond- But one person’s gimmick is ed, with a touch of incredulity. another’s innovation, and Mill- At one time he was considered one of the er’s introduction of unortho- finest oboists in the world, creating a sound dox instruments—an electrified the composer and critic Virgil Thomson harpsichord, French horns, and called “round without being oily, warm bagpipes, for example—earned and laughing and sensuous, fawnlike and him admiration over time. wholly without acidity.” And according to Ultimately it was the televi- Eastman School dean Douglas Lowry, “his sion program Sing Along with recordings of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue Mitch that clinched his celeb- and American in Paris are still widely re- rity. Miller earned a spot for the show on eral observers recalled that Miller’s show garded as the best ever.” NBC in 1961, after he had produced several was among the first to include a black wom- But as Miller told Time magazine in 1951, bestselling Sing Along with Mitch albums, an as a regular—solo singer Leslie Uggams. he grew tired of playing to “blank faces,” with a Columbia house orchestra he con- In 1995, the civil rights group Congress of and longed for a more visceral connection ducted and called Mitch Miller and the Racial Equality honored Miller with a life- with his audience. A serendipitous move Gang. The show, which ran for three sea- time achievement award for promoting to Mercury Records convinced Miller to sons, featured Miller leading a chorus of Uggams over the protests of many network switch genres, as well as audiences. middle-aged men in familiar tunes such executives and Southern stations. In a few short years, the oboe virtuoso as The Yellow Rose of Texas and Song for a Perhaps Miller was adept at melding art- would become an icon in the popular music Summer Night, inviting the audience to sing ists into the American mainstream in part recording industry. When Eastman class- along to the lyrics as they appeared at the because he was an outsider himself. The mate Goddard Lieberson ’35E, ’74 (Hon- bottom of the television screen. son of Jewish immigrants and the man orary), then the executive vice president As the news of Miller’s death in July Time called “a jolly Shylock” specializing of Columbia Records and head of its clas- spread, columnists as well as visitors to on- in “schmalted milk,” Miller understood the sical division, hired Miller as head of arts line stories in the New York Times, National American mainstream through listening, and repertoire for the label in 1950, Mill- Public Radio, and elsewhere recounted the observing, and insight. er “transformed himself into the prince of ways in which Miller’s show had become A life trustee of the University, Miller pop,” according to Friedwald. an integral part of their family lives, uniting As the “A & R man,” Miller selected the grandparents and grandkids in festive and uuSING ALONG: Perhaps best known for the songs as well as the artists, often match- unself-conscious singing. That was the case TV show Sing Along with Mitch, Miller was ing the two. But to a degree unheard of at for a broader cross-section of America than an influential music producer and business that time, Miller crafted the sound that ul- its old fogey reputation would suggest. Sev- executive as well as a noted oboist.
34 ROCHESTER REVIEW September–October 2010
5_RochRev_Sept2010_Gazette.indd 34 9/1/10 4:26 PM Alumni Gazette
In the News Stacey Plummer ’94 Wins National Mathematics Teaching Award Stacey Plummer ’94, a math teacher at Hollis Brookline High School in Hollis, N.H., has received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Only two teachers from each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories, are selected for the award each year. Winners are determined by a panel of distinguished mathematicians, scientists, and educa- tors. Plummer, who has been at Hollis Brookline for 11 years, teaches calculus, geometry, and consumer math.
Simon School Alumni Honored for Research Patricia DeChow ’93S (PhD), Richard Sloan ’92S (PhD), and Amy Hutton ’86S (MBA), ’92S (PhD) have received the American Accounting Association’s first Distinguished Contribution to Accounting Literature Award for their influential paper, “Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the S.E.C.,” published in the journal Contemporary Accounting Research. DeChow is the Donald H. and Ruth F. Seiler Professor of Public Accounting and Sloan is the L. H. Penney Professor of Accounting, both at the University of California at Berkeley. Hutton is a profes- was born in 1911 in a crowded immigrant His father taught him how to make his own sor of accounting at Boston College. neighborhood near present-day Upper Falls reed, saving the family $2. Boulevard. He was the third of what would Only once in his career did Miller appear Isaac Collins ’94 Named Widener eventually be the five children of Abra- to miss the beat. A lover of many forms of University’s Head Football Coach ham, an ironworker, and Hinda Rosenblum music, Miller hated rock, and he either Isaac Collins ’94 is the new head football Miller, a seamstress. The family would be didn’t see, or actively resisted, its increasing coach at Widener University in Chester, an integral part of the community and the hold on public taste. By 1964, he had been Pa. Previously the defensive coordina- University for decades. Miller’s brother, eased out of his role at Columbia and NBC tor at the Citadel in Charleston, S.C., he’s Leon, is a professor emeritus of biochem- had cancelled his show. also served on the coaching staffs at the istry and biophysics at the Medical Center. In his later years, Miller returned to University of Delaware, Lehigh, Hobart, And an Eastman building at 25 Gibbs Street classical music as a guest conductor. But Columbia, and the College of the Holy was renamed the Miller Center, in honor of the irony remained, as Friedwald said on Cross in Worcester, Mass. As a running Miller’s parents, in 2004. a recent radio tribute to Miller, that “what back for the Yellowjackets, Collins was As a student in Rochester city schools, Mitch had done as a producer was essen- conference offensive player of the year Miller benefitted from the first public mu- tially to create the precedent for rock ’n’ roll in 1992. After graduation, he completed sic education in the country, courtesy of production. All the techniques that Mitch coaching internships with the New York George Eastman, who, before he estab- used were used by Berry Gordy, by Quincy Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles as part lished the Eastman School, had provided Jones, by Phil Spector,” he said, referring to of the National Football League’s Minority free musical instruments for city school- three “superstar producers” in rock music. Fellowship Program. As Widener’s head children. Miller took up the oboe because As Tony Bennett said, “He was the coach, he’s one of only five minority head it was the only instrument still available one who showed everybody how to be a football coaches in the NCAA’s Division III. when he showed up late for the program. producer.”r
Getty Images September–October 2010 ROCHESTER REVIEW 35
5_RochRev_Sept2010_Gazette.indd 35 9/1/10 4:26 PM