Talk:Mitch Miller

State of health

Two 'state' questions: Does anyone know the current state of Mitch Miller's health or what state he currently resides in?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.163.100.5 (talk • contribs) 14:46, 4 July 2005

Found some links that seem to answer the first question; I suggest putting something like "Mitch Miller birth" or some other word that's likely to bring up a bio into Google or AskJeeves or some other search engine(s).

• Dead or alive?
• Biography with some current notes

Elf | Talk 5 July 2005 01:29 (UTC)

Mitch Miller appeared in the Bob Dylan documentary miniseries. steelbeard1 11:51, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

He wrote to me last week after I sent him a letter. His handwriting was fairly legible, so he can't be too ill. Which Bob Dylan docu was it?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.132.144.254 (talk • contribs) 03:28, 19 February 2006

Mitch Miller wrote to you? Then you know where he is and how he is? Eeksypeeksy 14:15, 21 February 2006 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Eeksypeeksy (talk • contribs) 14:15, 21 February 2006

He lives in New York - not far from the old Columbia studios. All he really wrote was some answers to my questions about artists he recorded with, and sent a signed photo. I don't know what state his health is in, but I hope it's good!—Preceding unsigned comment added by TheoMorgan (talk • contribs) 10:40, 2 April 2006

Bouncing ball

[8-Aug-08 Art Smith] I've heard a story (I seem to remember reading it in a playbill once) that the "follow the bouncing ball" of his television show was a reference to an event while he was a student at Eastmann. He was said to have rigged a net above the stage for one of the school orchestra's performances and filled it with ping-pong balls. At some point during the concert, he cut loose the net, dropping hundreds of ping-pong balls on the stage to the consternation of the conductor. I recall it saying he was almost thrown out of Eastmann over this evet. I have no idea if this is a true story or not. Does anyone else know about this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Art Smith 208.141.109.66 (talk) 15:39, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Edit summary

I didn't complete an edit summary for removing "infamous" from before the mention of the film Major Dundee. The adjective is self-evidently POV, and there are plenty of serious critics who find at least some merit in it. Sensei48 (talk) 06:54, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Karaoke - not

that should be pulled, some relation but more like MM was the end of something and karoke the start of something else both in the class of singing phenomena 72.228.177.92 (talk) 20:35, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Where's your citation? This just sounds like more opinion, and the section is already filled with unsourced opinion.—Quicksilver^{T @} 16:52, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

That's right, the text linking Miller to karaoke should be removed if not sourced. --Beirne (talk) 18:45, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Photo needed!

We need a photo for this article. Or better yet, several! --98.232.176.109 (talk) 01:28, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

I'd like to see some from his Sing Along days. 38.178.209.17 (talk) 16:18, 18 March 2024 (UTC)

Dubious bouncing ball claims

The article currently claims in the Sing Along with Mitch section that "the "bouncing ball" concept had been in use for 35 years prior to Miller's show". Where? Most certainly not on broadcast television. Back up 35 years from 1961, and that puts it around 1926. The first regular television broadcasts began in Germany in 1929, and if the bouncing ball was used in movies, it was probably not until the 1930s at the earliest, as the Movietone sound system was still in in its infancy and too primitive to provide synchronized audio-on-film, so there would not have been any "sing along with anything".—Quicksilver^{T @} 18:17, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

35 years? Impossible. But there had recently been some cartoons (Harveytoons) that had sing-along sections in some of their mock documentaries. Those cartoons are now much out of style, and unlikely to be revived. Funny things often happened to the visible lyrics (very different from Sing Along With Mitch).

Audience participation is an old trick on stage and on film to win applause. Who is going to criticize one's own performance? Sing Along With Mitch brought it to television. I know of nobody else doing so so consistently and so frequently.Pbrower2a (talk) 23:00, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Between the unsourced claim that Miller created what would become karaoke and the unsourced and difficult to verify statement on the creation of the bouncing ball, the whole sentence and the part about karaoke in the intro should be removed from the article. --Beirne (talk) 23:29, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Removed material about "karaoke" and "bouncing balls"

I've taken out all this material from the article, as it's all totally unsourced and smells an awful lot like original research. Please do not add it back in without a confirming citation from a reliable source. Just as a reminder, a reliable source would be a published book, newspaper or magazine article or something of that sort -- a personal blog entry is not acceptable, nor the reminiscences of relatives. Beyond My Ken (talk) 06:47, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps this will satisfy you: "Home viewers were able to participate in this hour-long musical series, as the lyrics to the songs were superimposed at the bottom of their screens; viewers were invited to 'follow the bouncing ball' as it moved from one lyric to the next." From "Total Television" by Alex McNeil, Penguin Books, 1991, ISBN 0-14-015736-0. Richard K. Carson (talk) 05:53, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Mitch Miller was also the oboe (or english horn) player on some famous Charlie Parker records: "Parker With Strings", for instance - Just Friends, April In Paris and Summertime, recorded in 1949. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ruudbergamin (talk • contribs) 21:37, 29 August 2010 (UTC)

The article correctly states that Miller played the cor anglais (English horn) in Stokowski's 1947 recording of Dvorak's New World Symphony (Cala Records CACD0550). That same year he also played the cor anglais solo on another Stokowski recording, namely Sibelius's The Swan of Tuonela (Cala Records CACD0522). Philipson55 (talk) 07:26, 15 October 2011 (UTC)

Mitch still had a great impact on the music world.

Regardless of some of the criticism about the way Mr. Miller went about his A&R duties at Columbia records, he created many great albums with some beautiful arrangements. Also, unlike many in the business who self destruct after their fall from popularity, Mitch Miller continued with his love for music until he died at 99 years old. 3 cheers for the man!!!! Renfru (talk) 05:12, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Freberg/Yellow Rose of Texas

Stan Freberg did a parody of Mitch's "The Yellow Rose of Texas" which ends with the singer calling on Mitch Miller to control the overloud snare drummer. MBG 119.11.14.173 (talk) 11:46, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Australian Singer

I recall that there was an Australian lady on Sing Along with Mitch, who, if memory serves, joined at the same time as Leslie Uggams. Anyone remember her name? Kostaki mou (talk) 20:42, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

I believe that was Diana Trask. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:44, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Right you are! (I just found it myself!) Kostaki mou (talk) 20:46, 25 September 2013 (UTC)

Time in prison for tax evasion?

Why no reference to Miller's prison sentence? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.120.178.241 (talk) 12:22, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Mitch Miller photo

Dear Whoever you are who wrote this article: Most of what you have to say is perfectly fine. Mitch was in no way a solo singer, so I have removed that. More importantly, that photo you keep posting is quite obviously not of Mitch, whom I knew personally. I have at least one photo of him as a young man in his pre-moustache and goatee days, and he does not resemble the man in the picture in the slightest. That is why I have been removing it. Have I made myself clear on this matter now? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.251.142.90 (talk) 18:57, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Yes, that seems clear. I do wish you'd taken the time to say this in the first place; if it had been apparent that you had reasons, and weren't just arbitrarily removing a chunk of the article (which, I'm sad to say, is a frequent recreation for anonymous visitors to Wikipedia), we all could have saved some effort.

The "background" field is mandatory, so deleting it outright isn't the answer, but on consideration I can see that there are other values more appropriate than 'solo singer'. Given that the field is expected to contain one, and only one, of the options listed at Template:Infobox musical artist/doc#background, would you say that 'non vocal instrumentalist' or 'non performing personnel' is the most prominent aspect of Mitch Miller's career? — Paul A (talk) 06:46, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

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Satire?

The parodies of Sing Along with Mitch are here described as "satires." Wouldn't it be more accurate to describe them as "spoofs"? I don't believe they were intended to denigrate the show. (I saw Stan Freberg's version. It didn't seem to me to be hostile. (I didn't think it was especially good either.)) Kostaki mou (talk) 22:52, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Christmas Album?

Hard to believe there’s no information on this work. It’s the one recording of his that has endured in my household. Such a great collection of songs, with a really “big” choral sound, and a fun style. Nothing transports us back to the Christmas seasons of yore like Mitch’s holiday soundtrack. If anyone has any background on it I’d love to see it represented here. Soul schizm (talk) 21:08, 5 December 2020 (UTC)