Just Follow The Bouncing Ball

[filkertom]

Sadness from my childhood. Mitch Miller has passed away at the age of 99. Dude basically invented karaoke, among many, many other things.

So please, don't just sit there -- come on and sing!

Comments

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Oh, gods, this just yoinked me abruptly back to the 60's and Sing Along with Mitch

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

And now it is time to bring our show to an end, so Come One, Everyone, and SING!

Be kind to our web-footed friends,
For a duck may be somebody's mother.
Be kind to our friends in the swamp,
Where its cold and rather dank and rather damp.

Well you might think that this is the end.
... Well it is

[maiac.livejournal.com]

You beat me to it.

I cannot hear "The Stars and Stripes Forever" without singing those lyrics.

[pbrim.livejournal.com]

Beat me to it, but I remember it as slightly different:

Be kind to our fine feathered friends
For a duck may be somebody's mother.
Be kind to our friends in the swamp,
Where the weather is very, very damp.

Now you may think that this is the end:
WELL IT IS!

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Just in case you have know idea what we're talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dY9gtYeHhk

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

..."know" idea... Dave! LOL

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

He did, didn't he? He was part of my childhood soundtrack.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

Awww.

We had one of his records in he house when I was a kid. I can still sing "Yellow Ribbon" and "Be Kind To Your Web-Footed Friend", fifty years later.

[sdelmonte]

While I know of his legacy, I know it mainly from the Flintstones spoof, "Hum Along with Herman."

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I remember watching his TV show, and especially remember Leslie Uggams on it.

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

oh.... Mitch Miller's Christmas album was a staple in my house when I was a kid. I can still sing all of "Must be Santa."

sniffle...

[pbrim.livejournal.com]

We used to watch "Sing along with Mitch" religiously every week. Mom, Dad and 4 kids sitting in the living room, all singing together as we "Follow[ed] the Bouncing Ball!" Loved that show and the message that even if you can't sing well, you can still sing and enjoy it.

[sveethot.livejournal.com]

Oh, heavens, how I loved that beard. He left a gift of a love of music that is hard to equal.

[phecda.livejournal.com]

Add another one to the "holy crap, he was still alive?" list.

[laurel-potter.livejournal.com]

I just heard about this on the ABC Evening News. I was surprised; I thought he was dead already. I do remember his show, vaguley.

And the cartoon versions

[capplor.livejournal.com]

You just don't see "follow the bouncing ball & sing" cartoons anymore, but I used to love them. I still remember "I got spurs" as a round with TWO bouncing balls.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Oh, so he's the person responsible for that abomination? I'll send him an air conditioner, he'll need one.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

I met him once, about 1970. I went with a school group to a young people's concert he gave & somehow our group got to talk to him backstage. I said something about his conducting, I forget exactly what, & he looked surprised & told me I was very perceptive.

The other thing I remember was that during the program, he spoke with pride about the high number of young women musicians in his traveling orchestra & said that ever since he started auditioning instrumentalists from behind a screen, he ended up hiring women & men 50-50. At the time, that was a radical notion, but now many orchestras conduct auditions that way.

[maya-a.livejournal.com]

That is very interesting indeed. I didn't realized that he was ahead of the curve on that. Also to be noted, alas, is that the screen was and still is needed.

[capt-video.livejournal.com]

Tom Makkiewicz, the screenwriter for "Diamonds are Forever", "Live and Let Die" and "The Man With the Golden Gun" also passed away. He was 68.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Damn, I didn't think he was still alive.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Omigod, I thought he'd died ages ago. We watched his show religiously when I was little. Let me sing a melody, a simple - singing song... sing along... etc. etc.

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

I watched a couple hours of youTube video this morning. My first reaction on again seeing him, was thoughts of The Ghoul and Sir Graves Ghastley, thanks to the beard and moustache. Second thought was that *they* were singing along also. The microphones opened only for narrative and soloists, else they were singing along with their audio work done earlier under much better controlled/conditioned for audio sessions.

He knew how to make hit records, and become the one to match new song to label artist.