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Margaret
Whiting:
Girl Singer Extraordinaire
By
Jerry Osterberg
Cabaret
Scenes March 2011
 When
Margaret Whiting died on January 10, 2011,
America lost one of its most iconic popular
singers, daughter of songwriter Richard
Whiting, and close friend of Johnny Mercer.
Margaret was the President of the Johnny
Mercer Foundation, chosen by Ginger
Mercer, Johnny’s widow, to help foster the
legacy of the famous American songwriter.
Jerry Osterberg, a staff reviewer for Cabaret
Scenes, has interviewed many people whose
careers Margaret supported and nurtured
and tells us how widespread and significant
that support of cabaret was.
Margaret Whiting visited songwriter Harry
Warren at Paramount in 1980. With him was
twenty-two-year-old Michael
Feinstein, who’d been apprenticing with
both Warren and Ira Gershwin. Margaret suggested
that Feinstein call her when he got to New
York, handing him a piece of paper with
contact information and the words “girl
singer.” When Feinstein arrived in New York
in 1983, Margaret brought him around to
the clubs, introducing him to the cabaret
community. “Margaret loved the fact that
I knew the old standards and classic movies
and could speak the language. I wasn’t such
a great singer back then, but she liked
my enthusiasm.”
Besides Feinstein, Whiting championed
KT Sullivan,
who recalls making her first appearance
at Danny’s Skylight Room in 1987. Donald
Schaffer, the longtime booker at Danny’s,
invited Margaret to hear Sullivan, who remembers,
“After that, she came to see me regularly
and encouraged me to keep at it. Margaret
supported me al the way and made me feel
confident.” At the time, Margaret who had
moved to New York City in 1968, was a major
presence in its cabaret life. “She told
us when something was good or not,” adds
Sullivan. “Margaret was always supportive
of young performers, agrees Jamie
deRoy. Donald Schaffer echoes that sentiment:
“I remember hearing Margaret often proclaim,
‘Wait till you hear this kid! She’s going
somewhere!”
Many singers whom Margaret promoted met
her at The O’Neill Symposium, of which she
was a founder. This ten-day summer workshop
for aspiring cabaret performers exposed
students to some of the best professionals
in the business, such as Carol Hall, Amanda
McBroom, Julie
Wilson and Tex
Arnold. Now called the Cabaret Conference
at Yale University, it’s directed by cabaret
producer Erv Raible. Singer and songwriter
Carol Hall recalls a “Teachers’ Night” at
which she performed a duet with Margaret.
“I was thrilled,” she says.
Singer and actor Sally Stark was in the
class of 2000 and when she returned to New
York, Margaret, her husband Jack Wrangler,
and Tex Arnold contributed their share of
ideas for a cabaret career, something that
Stark had always wanted to try. Stark performed
a cabaret act at Danny’s and recorded a
CD. Margaret heard her again and quickly
became a fan. And it was not just a question
of who was performing in front of her. One
night, when Margaret was at the Algonquin
Hotel’s Oak Room to hear Stacey Kent,
she grabbed the arm of Jonathan Schwartz
and insisted, “You’ve got to hear Sally
Stark.” Stark adds that her relationship
with Margaret became more personal than
professional. “We were good friends and
I often went to visit her.”
Another O’Neill graduate, Paul Bernhardt,
says that, “Margaret invited me to sing
in two shows that Jack put together. We
did a duet and a medley of Margaret’s hits.
She taught me to savor lyrics, give into
the emotions and let them happen, not be
afraid, to be in love. I loved her sincerity
and kindness.”
Songwriters Francesca Blumenthal and
John Meyer recall hearing Margaret when
they were thirteen--Blumenthal on the jukebox
and Meyer on the radio. Blumenthal remembers
listening to a radio interview with Margaret,
who had recently recorded her song “The
Lies of Handsome Men.” When asked about
the song, Margaret responded, “That’s one
of the best things that’s ever happened
to me! It fits my voice and the way I feel.”
Meyer, who clearly recalls hearing “The
End of a Love Affair” on the radio says,
“Even at that age, the way the story was
told made an impression on me. She made
lyrics land on me with amazing force.” Years
after his musical awakening, Meyer began
writing his own songs, some of which Margaret
performed, such as “Doesn’t Matter” and
“When Do The Words Come True?” They once
did an act together at Ted Hook’s Backstage,
Meyer & Whiting Sing Whiting &
Meyer. “Margaret was a vast help to
me as a composer. She was totally generous.”
Another especially grateful composer
is Larry
Kerchner. Laurel Massé, one of the original
members of Manhattan Transfer, asked Tex
Arnold to pass on demos of Kerchner’s music
to Margaret and Jack Wrangler. They liked
his work well enough to invite him to their
apartment on West 58th Street, where they
had arranged a “chance” meeting with Michael
Feinstein. Margaret was especially fond
of Kerchner’s “Winter in Manhattan.” Happily,
Feinstein like the song, too, and subsequently
performed it a Feinstein’s at Loews Regency
during his holiday show.
Of this near-Cinderella experience Larry
Kerchner says, “To have Margaret Whiting
think my songs were worthy of her attention
-- well, it just doesn’t get any better
than that! Her affirmation meant everything
to me. She was a friend to composers, lyricists,
arrangers and musicians, and selflessly
helped many a singer who sought her sage
advice.”
Long before Whiting became a member of
New York’s entertainment community, she
was a major recording star. Her influence
on cabaret could not have been as significant
as it was had she not really become a star.
Her father, Richard Whiting, who died when
Margaret was only thirteen, wrote some of
the most beloved songs of the golden age
of popular music, such as “My Ideal” and
“Too Marvelous for Words.” In a 1987 radio
interview with NPR’s Terry Gross, Margaret
recounted a legendary story of how she inspired
“On the Good Ship Lollipop.” Ten years old,
she arrived home one afternoon licking an
all-day sucker, greeting her father with
sticky lips and sticky fingers while he
fretted over what tune he and his writing
partner, Sidney Clare, could pen for Shirley
Temple, then a major Hollywood star. After
telling his daughter to get her hands and
lollipop away from the piano, he suddenly
yelled, “That’s it--lollipop!"” The song
practically wrote itself. Margaret also
told Gross that she knew many songs by the
age of three, but didn’t make her debut
until six. The home audience included her
father’s collaborator and friend Johnny
Mercer, one of the many singers and songwriters
who frequented the Whiting household. He
took a special interest in young Margaret
after Richard died. Among Margaret’s early
tutors were Harold Arlen and Frank Loesser
who, like Mercer, instructed her to “sing
the songs as we wrote them.”
When Mercer formed Capitol Records in
1942, Margaret’s first recording was “My
Ideal,” followed by “That Old Black Magic.”
“Moonlight in Vermont” sold two million
copies in the first year, and “A Tree in
the Meadow” was her second million-seller.
Her only duet with Mercer was “Baby, It’s
Cold Outside” in 1949. During her long career
she recorded more than five hundred songs.
Although Margaret continued to record after
she moved to New York, she concentrated
more and more on live performances--at Arci’s
Place, The Ballroom, Michael’s Pub, Danny’s
Skylight Room and other venues. This period
included special productions, such as her
tribute to Johnny Mercer at the 92nd Street
Y in the early 1980s. Whiting assembled
an exceptional cast--Julius LaRosa, Marlene
VerPlanck, Carol Woods and Tex Arnold. 4
Girls 4 toured for eighteen years and
at various times included Rosemary
Clooney, Kay Starr, Helen O’Connell,
Rose
Marie, Martha Raye, Kaye
Ballard and Margaret herself. Dream,
which played on Broadway, was Margaret’s
musical love letter to Johnny Mercer.
As for cabaret owners, performers, and
musicians, Margaret inspires strong feelings.
John Miller of Arci’s Place says, “If she
liked you she’d do anything for you,” a
sentiment shared by musical director Don
Rebic, who adds, “Margaret had a great sense
of humor. She wasn’t a joke teller; her
wit was natural, genuine. She was just funny!
Margaret was a great dame and selfless to
a fault.”
Performer Carol
Woods says that it was “her nature to
reach out and pull you in. She was easy
to love.” Tex Arnold, her accompanist for
over twenty-five years, adds, “She was always
up, never depressed, and wakes up singing.
Margaret had a straightforward approach
to life. Margaret was a central part of
my professional and personal life for a
very long time. She was a kind and generous
person who always tried to help singers
and writers whose talent she believed in
because she knew how difficult the music
business could be.” Michael Estwanik,
who heads The American Songbook Project,
which brings seasoned singers to New York
City schools in order to educate students
about the rich heritage of America’s popular
music, credits Margaret with being a loyal
supporter and willing participant.”
Margaret Whiting has said much of value
for those striving to become part of the
community known as cabaret. “The most important
thing for a singer, or an actress--which
is what a singer should be--is to know who
you are, to not be afraid to stand naked
in front of an audience. Nothing beats the
moment when you step forward for bows and
the roar of the audience is like a tangible
thing, a force. It surrounds you, envelops
you, carries you with it. It is a totally
personal kind of communication.”
Margaret Whiting didn’t like being called
“cabaret royalty.” As John Hoglund of Cabaret
Scenes recalls, “She once told me, ‘Queen
Elizabeth is royalty. I’m just a girl singer.’
That is how Margaret would want to be remembered.”
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