Jukebox Saturday Nite-Margaret Whiting

I first met song star Margaret Whiting in 1985 at Westbury Music Fair,  now called Capital One Theater.  When radio station WNEW showcased their Make Believe Ballroom show that starred famed disc jockey William B. Williams, practically a one man institution known to all as William B. His catch-phrase was always, "Hello, World!"

Margaret loved William B. and agreed to sing on the show along with balladeer Billy Eckstine, both backed by one of my old friends in this business, Larry O'Brien,  music director of the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra. Margaret and I sat down and had a long talk about her famous dad, Tin Pan Alley songwriter Richard Whiting, who wrote some pretty good tunes: " My Ideal," " Til We Meet Again," "Breezin'Along with the Breeze,"

" She's Funny That Way," The Japanese Sandman," and "Ain't We Got Fun," and many more. Margaret often recorded the songs her father wrote.

We also recounted her own career up to that time, her great recording claim to fame being her 1952 endearing version of "A Tree in the Meadow," although her first big hit was "That Old Black Magic," written by Johnny Mercer, the prolific songwriter who helped her grow up, acting as surrogate father, after her dad died in 1938 when she was still just a young girl.  Her recordings of "Moonlight in Vermont" and "It Might as Well Be Spring" are also signature songs. The latter title is also the title of her biography. Margaret is undoubtedly one of the best singers of the golden age of music, classed with the excellence of Helen Forrest, Connie Haines and Rosemary Clooney.

Well, bringing you up-to-speed, Margaret and I will were guests at the 2009 Al Jolson convention in Lynbrook, New York where she  received A Lifetime Appreciation Award from the International Al Jolson Society. I introduced her to the guests.  Margaret once appeared with Al Jolson on a major radio show Alexander's Ragtime Band.  She loved Jolson. Today, I received a letter  from Margaret:


"My aunt, Margaret Young, was in vaudeville with Jolson and my mother and father were two of his biggest fans. He always said that he loved my mother, Eleanor, and sang songs to her in the audience when she was watching him,  and, of course, my father wrote some songs for him, too. Then, when he came back strong after they released his film The Jolson Story in 1947,  I went to Hillcrest ( Country Club in California) to have lunch with him and I did a show with him on the air and saw him quite a few times in different places during his comeback success. Jolson was one of the most magnetic personalities that I ever can remember seeing and I think he earned the title of the World's Greatest Entertainer."

Margaret lives in Manhattan. Her work today consists of her efforts on behalf of the John Mercer Foundation which she leads. The Foundation is committed to preserving the music of Johnny Mercer and his fellow songwriters of the Great American Songbook.


Well, Margaret and I picked up where we left off, although we have talked and exchanged letters over the years.   During lunch, we continued our talks about her experiences with my next book subject, Frank Sinatra, the Chairman of the Board, as William B. once dubbed him. The book will be entitled SINATRA SINGING.  In my book STAR*DUST-The Bible of the Big Bands, my wife Madeline photographed Magaret and I in the same pose we did in 1984 at Westbury and she placed the photos side-by-side. We hadn't changed a drop. Check it out. Richard