Only Yesterday: Farewell To David Nelson And Margaret Whiting

OTR is perfectly content to be a first-year baby boomer growing up as part of the television generation. He's also quite pleased to have big band and jazz music of the Swing Era as one of the bookends of his life. Earlier this week, two important personalities, one from each of these significant periods of the American experience, passed into history.

It's very likely that OTR's readers heard the news of the passing of David Nelson, shown on the right in the photo. He was the last surviving member of one of radio and television's most entertaining families, headed by mom and pop, Harriet and Ozzie, and also staring younger brother, Rick. Early boomers grew up with David and Rick on radio until 1952 when the "adventures" of the Nelsons moved to television for the next twelve years. Nelson directed several episodes in the program's last year and went on to a career in production The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet still survives in syndication after fifty years.

There was another significant passage into entertainment history this week with the death of Margaret Whiting. Unlike Nelson, she literally spent her entire life on stage and in the spot light, much of it without the broad and persistent exposure of television. Unless you danced at the Avalon during the Swing Era, got your Army stripes in World War II or enjoyed the urban club scene after that war, you're likely unaware of her, but OTR knows you have heard her voice. Her father was Richard Whiting, a leading composer of popular songs during that era who collaborated with lyricist, Johnny Mercer. When Whiting died unexpectedly in 1938, Mercer became a father figure for Margaret, 13, and guided her career on Capitol Records--co-founded by Mercer--well into the 1950s.

OTR didn't know much about Margaret Whiting until he moved to Savannah in 1977 and developed an interest in that historic city and Johnny Mercer, its favorite son. Mercer died in the summer of 1976, and OTR was stunned at the depth of grief evident a year later. He was fortunate to meet two people who knew Mercer personally and talk with many others who claimed Mercer as a friend [Seems that every Savannahian claimed to know him] Margaret Whiting was occasionally mentioned in conversations. Soon, it became clear that she was a close family friend, a leading interpreter of Mercer's music, and a robust supporter of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, co-founded by Mercer in 1969. Since OTR's departure from Savannah in 1988, Whiting also became known as a valuable source for Mercer biographers.

In the mid-1995, the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, focused millions of readers on Savannah and the Mercer name. When the book was turned into a film in 1997, the soundtrack featured fourteen Mercer songs. That same year, Whiting was a force behind Dream, a Broadway musical featuring Mercer's "bread and butter" songs. For the next decade, she was at the forefront of the revival of Mercer's popularity and played a leading role in planning for the Mercer centennial in 2009. For more on her most interesting life here is a link to her New York Times obituary.

For those who want a taste of the music these two could make together, here is Whiting and Mercer performing a 1949 Frank Loesser classic that is simply perfect for the season.