We turn our attention yet again to Mitch Miller, this time for a British perspective on the late musician/talent scout/record producer. As the English news outlet The Independent said in its obituary of Mitch…
Miller loved coming to London. One of his slogans was “Thank God for the British” because he always felt that a record that had failed in America might get a second chance when it was released here. “Cool Water” (Laine), “Christopher Columbus” (Mitchell) and “Where Will the Dimple Be” (Clooney) had been overlooked in the US, but became successful in the UK. “I like the British,” he told the New Musical Express in 1955. “They are not in as much a hurry as we Americans are. They take time out to really listen.”
Russell Davies on BBC Radio 2 (who isn’t BBC TV’s Russell T. Davies) spent fifteen minutes of his Sunday programme talking about Mitch, and he played Rosemary Clooney singing a very odd novelty song, “Where Will the Dimple Be?” which was a #7 hit in England.
[Audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2010/AUG/RussellDavies.mp3]
Davies points out that Thurl “Tony the Tiger” Ravenscroft (“You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch”) is credited for singing bass, and thanks to 78s4FR on YouTube we can see the original record label as it appeared in England in 1955.