Tales of Waring: that man's sitting out there and is gold

[1] The musical women in the chorus or band Fred would always refer to, whether directly or indirectly, as ‘the girls’. And – as the ‘Credits’ section of the ‘Year 56’ program booklet (Fall 1972 to Spring 1973) reveals – there were only two positions for women, ‘Assisting’, and ‘Costume Design/Supervision’. All of the rest of Waring’s world was a man’s world, as the cartoons given to Fred reveal too, except that wives and children would appear in the wings sometimes, and beautiful young women were alluded to often. Dr. Lorenzo said he decided not to photograph 90% of the lovely drawn nudes the cartoonists had given Fred as thank-you for his hospitality at the Inn, and most of the 10% he did photograph were not appropriate for the present work either, even though they were ‘a little less salacious’ than the 90%. As the present cartoon suggests, as well as several others included in the present work, beautiful scantily clad women were a frequent item of discussion among the ‘Old Boys’ of Waring’s world, including artists, musicians, guests, golfers, etc. The present cartoon, not surprisingly, therefore, in keeping with the ‘Old Boys’ theme of the present chapter, suggests a wardrobe and chair and movie camera for the hosts of a (fantasy?) poolside bathing suit beauty parade at Shawnee Inn. It reads: “June 3: Megaphone, Norfolk jacket, Turtleneck sweater, Riding pants and Puttees – Crop, etc.,...”... “Fred – Suggestion for Gag Cameraman and Old-Time Director to be ‘Covering’ our Bathing Suit Parade around the pool... Best Wishes – Milton” (Caniff). Caniff’s name is at the top of his own formal letterhead (or drawing paper) on which he has rapidly sketched this ‘gag’, for Fred’s amusement. Caniff (born in 1907) was only 7 years younger than Fred, so they were of the same generation and seemed to understand each other well, judging from the cartoons Caniff gave Fred. They both were Eagle Scouts. Caniff won the ‘Distinguished Eagle Scout Award’ from the Boy Scouts. In his birth town Hillsboro, Ohio, on an Ohio Historical Marker he is remembered as ‘The Rembrandt of Comics’. His most famous comics were ‘Terry and the Pirates’, ‘Dickie Dare’, and ‘Steve Canyon’, the first being his most popular, the last continuing until his death in 1988. Fred would have liked the fact that Caniff did a lot of cartoon work for and about the U.S. Military. Ike Eisenhower, Fred Waring and Milton Caniff were all cut from the same cloth. For more on Caniff, see also 'a note regarding the Waring Collection cartoons'.

[2] Castaneda, The Fire from Within, p. 12.

[3] Excerpted from Bill Blackburn's 'Fred Waring Press Book', a promotional kit he mailed to USA radio stations in any town where a live Fred Waring road-show concert was about to occur, to be read over the air to help drum up enthusiasm and sell tickets.

[4] Castaneda, loc cit.

[5] Ibid. The Mexican Yaqui-tribe shaman/seer don Juan is instructing Carlos Castaneda in how to master the ‘warrior’ technique of ‘awareness’, in “Petty Tyrants,” Chapter 2 of The Fire from Within.

[6] "The Whiffenpoof Song," by George S. Pomeroy, Meade Minnigerode, and Fred B. Galloway, revised lyric by Rudy Vallee (these are the credits given on the record by Decca: The Best of Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians). In 2018 Dr. Lorenzo wrote to the editorial board of the present work: “For anyone who loves the memories evoked by college male glee club singing, this is the ultimate recording of the ultimate song, ‘The Whiffenpoof Song’, which originated from the ultimate glee club school, Yale, sung by the ultimate male tippler crooner, Bing Crosby, and delivered to perfection by the ultimate 20^th century glee club, Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians. The song itself is about tippling in a bar, while glee-club singing: IN A BAR, called Mory’s. Two traditional men’s glee club songs are named in the song: ‘Shall I Wasting’, from a poem written in England in 1615 by George Wither, and ‘Mavourneen’, or ‘Kathleen Mavourneen’, from 1837, which became a Civil War song. ‘Lou-ee’, or Louis, was a real owner of the real bar in Yale’s town of New Haven, Mory’s Temple Bar. The lyrics of the chorus are from a poem by Rudyard Kipling. As of 2018, Mory’s still exists in New Haven, Connecticut, near Yale’s campus, and retains many of the ancient traditions involving glee singing, including the Whiffenpoofs themselves, who still sing this song there, at times, their membership changing from school year to school year.”

[7] Castaneda, loc cit. See footnote 5 above.

[8] This ‘press release’ of Bill’s may have been a preliminary draft, as yet unedited and uncorrected for errors. The dates for question 14 do not jive with our dates in the present work. But in truth, it is very difficult to keep track of just exactly which year was the fiftieth, which the fifty-eighth, etc. So we do not claim to have nailed such dates with perfection, and will stick to our schema only as a likely approximation. According to our schema, the answer to question 14, “How many years has Fred Waring been in show business?” if asked during the “1972-73 season,” should be "55" or “56.” See Bibliography for notes on the 50^th Anniversary Program.