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Mitch Miller, Music Executive and TV Host, Dies
nytimes.com ^ | August 2, 2010 | RICHARD SEVERO

Posted on 08/02/2010 10:17:06 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

Mitch Miller, an influential record producer who became a hugely popular recording artist and an unlikely television star a half century ago by leading a choral group in familiar old songs and inviting people to sing along, died Saturday in Manhattan. He was 99.

His daughter Margaret Miller Reuther confirmed the death Monday morning, saying her father had died after a short illness at Lenox Hill Hospital. Mr. Miller lived in Manhattan.

Mr. Miller, a Rochester native who was born on the Fourth of July, had been an accomplished oboist and was still a force in the recording industry when he came up with the idea of recording old standards with a chorus of some two dozen male voices and printing the lyrics on album covers.

The “Sing Along With Mitch” album series, which began in 1958, was an immense success, finding an eager audience among older listeners looking for an alternative to rock ’n’ roll. Mitch Miller and the Gang serenaded them with chestnuts like “Home on the Range,” “That Old Gang of Mine,” “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” and “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: mitchmiller; music; obituary
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To: PLMerite

My husband has every song he ever did. At the family parties, his dad would get sloshed and put on the Mitch Miller. It was really funny to see all those drunks singing harmony.


41 posted on 08/02/2010 10:47:37 AM PDT by KYGrandma (The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home......)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

May God bless you and keep you, Mitch!

As a little kid, I remember watching your TV show and singing along with the bouncing ball. A calmer, more family friendly time in this world and you helped make it so.


42 posted on 08/02/2010 10:48:38 AM PDT by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

ap thread here

Conductor Mitch (”Sing Along With Mitch”) Miller dies at age 99
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2563278/posts


43 posted on 08/02/2010 10:52:32 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed .. Monthly Donor Onboard)
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To: WestwardHo

I bet there are many audience members waiting for the first sing-a-long in heaven. my folks among them


44 posted on 08/02/2010 10:53:15 AM PDT by RebelTXRose
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To: windcliff; onedoug

ping


45 posted on 08/02/2010 10:53:23 AM PDT by stylecouncilor (What Would Jim Thompson Do?)
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To: massgopguy

Accordians, harmonicas, marimbas, new age hippy drums .....words fail.
Many decades ago, my Aunt Arlene owned the most fantastic used furniture store, ever, in LA. When I was a young child she gifted me with one of the original electric guitars...oh the sound created by sliding a metal bar up and down the strings. Of course, I was compelled to take lessons and forced to practise. At the time, I thought I was hated by my family, consigned to a back bedroom with the door shut. Later, of course, I knew they hated the thing as much as I did. Oh, the memories!


46 posted on 08/02/2010 10:55:18 AM PDT by WestwardHo (Whom the god would destroy, they first drive mad.)
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To: Scythian
It’s really a shame when TV people or Musicians die, I’m just grateful he this wasn’t another nameless, faceless midwesterner responsible for making this country what it is ...

?

47 posted on 08/02/2010 10:56:07 AM PDT by nutmeg (Another "smartass" for lower taxes)
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To: TruthHound
LOL, the fourth part of the episode had a very young JOhnny Carson.
48 posted on 08/02/2010 10:56:11 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, Free Republic.com baby.)
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To: WestwardHo
I am sure Mitch made the cut, but he sure did have the look of the devil with that mustash and lightbaub head of his.

RIP Mitch.

For years one of the traditions of our family was to sing along with that Christmas Album he did.

49 posted on 08/02/2010 11:00:55 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, Free Republic.com baby.)
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To: mware
One minute into that video is the guy who was on Sesame St.

I saw him... "Bob" from Sesame Street! Who knew? ;-)

50 posted on 08/02/2010 11:02:41 AM PDT by nutmeg (Another "smartass" for lower taxes)
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To: JennysCool; Free ThinkerNY; who knows what evil?; donna; mware

Oh, wow! I was going through the episodes posted on Youtube (Digging those commercials and promos) and found an easter egg. Look who shows up at the 3:30 mark of this show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ5GwzvkN-k


51 posted on 08/02/2010 11:04:56 AM PDT by TruthHound ("He who does not punish evil commands it to be done." --Leonardo da Vinci)
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To: TennTuxedo
"That old man, he played 7.

He played Nick Nack up to Heaven."

52 posted on 08/02/2010 11:05:47 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, Free Republic.com baby.)
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To: nutmeg
I checked it out. Seems he was a replacement for an Irish tenor who couldn't perform that night.

They liked him so much that he remained a regular for another 3 years.

53 posted on 08/02/2010 11:07:57 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, Free Republic.com baby.)
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To: Frantzie
The impression I got from the article was that Sinatra was trying to tell her to just keep her mouth shut. Frank was supposedly still fond of her and he knew that people wanted her “taken care of.”

Your impression is likely correct.

54 posted on 08/02/2010 11:08:12 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: TruthHound

Ithink people made guest appearances on his show, Kind of like Laugh In cameoes.


55 posted on 08/02/2010 11:09:52 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free, Free Republic.com baby.)
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To: mware

Brings back a lot of lovely, warm, and very corny memories!


56 posted on 08/02/2010 11:10:17 AM PDT by WestwardHo (Whom the god would destroy, they first drive mad.)
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To: TruthHound

Cool...thanks for the ping!


57 posted on 08/02/2010 11:15:25 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: fatnotlazy

I agree with you in every respect.


58 posted on 08/02/2010 11:18:55 AM PDT by verity
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To: napscoordinator
Anyone ever heard of him before?

He was one of the best known entertainment personalities in the US in the sixties. Then it seems as if no one ever heard from him since.

Your question indicates that you are young. (LOL!!!)

59 posted on 08/02/2010 11:23:47 AM PDT by justiceseeker93
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To: TruthHound

LOL, I wonder if there are others that we don’t recognize because they are so young.

I sure do like all those males voices.


60 posted on 08/02/2010 11:27:51 AM PDT by donna (Why did John McCain let it get so bad?)
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