SING ALONG WITH MITCH
Sing Along with Mitch was a weekly series in 1961-1964 as a community sing-along program hosted by Mitch Miller and featuring a male chorus. Initially airing as a one-shot episode of the NBC television show Startime (season 1, episode 32) on 24 May 1960, Sing Along with Mitch went on to become, basically, an extension of his series of Columbia record albums of the same name. In keeping with the show’s title, viewers were presented with lyrics at the bottom of the television screen. Singer Leslie Uggams, pianist Dick Hyman, and the singing Quinto Sisters were regularly featured on Sing Along with Mitch. One of the singers in Miller’s chorale, Bob McGrath, later went on to a long and successful career on the PBS children’s show Sesame Street (he was a founding member of the “human” cast in 1969 and became its longest-serving cast member until his enforced retirement in 2016). (More from Wikipedia)
Rosemary Clooney had a long singing career in the years leading up to the rock and roll revolution. Though she preferred performing big-band swing numbers, her breakthrough hit, “Come on-a My House” in 1951 was one of several dialect-flavored novelty songs that she recorded at the insistence of Mitch Miller (later famous for his television show in the early 1960’s, Sing Along with Mitch).
(June 2013/1)
