Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (Music in American Life) [Hardcover]

Virginia Waring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997 | Series: Music in American Life

Famous American, chorus leader, showman, glee club pioneer, golf tournament host, entrepreneur--the man who taught America how to sing. Fred Waring was all of these and more, an enigma who held together a major musical organization for 67 years. The CD features 28 selections recorded by the Pennsylvanians over a 40-year period. 6 cartoons.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book made me miss Fred all over again. His music, his fun, his personality, his adventures ... It's a fascinating story of show business from the early days to the present. I love it!" Mort Walker, creator of Beetle Bailey --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description

Famous American, chorus leader, showman, glee club pioneer, golf tournament host, and  entrepreneur. Fred Waring was all of these and more, an enigma who held together a major musical organization for sixty-seven years, a man at ease on stage but loathe to sit through meetings, a man so earnest in his patriotism that by the 1980s he was considered almost an endangered species.

 

Virginia Waring, his wife of thirty years, chronicles both his many achievements and his shortcomings with candor and affection in Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians. Her gracefully written biography traces Waring's childhood in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, his rise to fame as a bandleader, development and promotion of the Waring Blendor®, leadership of Shawnee Press, concert tours, radio and television programs, and his legacy of the highest possible standards in music as in life.

 

This intimate portrait of an American legend is accompanied by a compact disc with twenty-eight selections recorded by the Pennsylvanians over a forty-year period. They range from Adam Geibel and Tom Waring's "Sleep," recorded in 1928, through Cole Porter's "Love for Sale," Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," the traditional "Sometimes I Feel like a Motherless Child" and "Dry Bones," to Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's "September Song" and Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's "Some Enchanted Evening."

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252022955
• ISBN-13: 978-0252022951
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,146,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but one sided view of the man, September 18, 1998

By 

Scott Loftesness ([e-mail]) (Bellevue, Nebraska) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

This book is a facinating read about the famous choral conductor and his Pennsylvanians, during the early days of radio, television and film. Many amusing and interesting anectdotes punctuate the book throughout. Written by his wife, so it is a rather one-sided (positive) view of the man who many saw as a cold task master....but in whom no one could argue with the fine product he produced. This man truly "taught America how to sing".

5.0 out of 5 stars Fred Waring's Gatehouse, November 6, 2010

By 

The Gatehouse - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

Over the last 8 years, we have purchased numerous books about Fred Waring. Our favorite is Virginia's book, which offers many wonderful photographs and information about the village of Shawnee on Delaware, Pa. We own their home in Shawnee on Delaware and run it as a Bed and Breakfast. Each of the guest rooms at The Gatehouse Country Inn BnB hosts one of Virginia's books so our guests can read about the man, his life and his music. Fred Waring was a "star" and he turned this tiny village situated on The Delaware River into a mecca for movie stars, political figures, golf professionals, musicians and singers. This is your opportunity to read about it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating inside look, November 9, 2006

By 

Richard Huggins (East Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (Music in American Life) (Hardcover)

This account can't help but be a little one-sided, but on the other hand who more than Virginia Waring could give us the glimpses of Fred Waring "unplugged"? I studied under a former Pennsylvanian, and was fascinated to see his stories come alive, especially in reference to the Chesterfield Hour. If you buy a used version, be sure and ask if the CD comes with it--you'll enjoy hearing for yourself this group's unique sound and how they did their radio broadcasts. Also included, fascinating accounts of the "non-musical" Fred Waring--the Waring Blender, his involvement in the Boy Scouts, his interest in new inventions, his own tinkering with products and ideas.