Re: Trivia Question 2

John W. Kennedy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> Who was it Merrick had body-miked previously? Was that a situation of
>> stationary mikes being strategically placed [which I have no doubt had been
>> done for a long while before 1961], or body-miking?

>The first singer to be miked was Helen Traubel in "Pipe Dream".  So it's 
>a relatively narrow window.

Sorry, but Traubel can't be the first. The practice goes back into the
1930s, from what I was told by Don Walker and others. (Revues in which
radio and screen personalities appeared onstage created a problem that had
to be solved somehow.) Not as a matter of course, but it goes back further 
than people may think.

Just as one pre-Traubel example, there's the casual statement in the 
Blitzstein biography that because of the casting of Jane Pickins in the 
title role of REGINA, the show would have to be miked -- which kind of 
implies that such a decision was not unprecedented at the time.

There was also a THEATER ARTS article around 1958 about the new, subtle 
amplification system set up for FLOWER DRUM SONG (implying that there were 
old-style unsubtle systems around). And the Playbill enclosed with the 
original issue of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA proudly proclaimed that its cast 
didn't use microphones: "they don't need to." Which again implies that 
there was a general culture of other casts that did need the help.

Yes, it's all subtext and implication. I hope someone collects all the
evidence and writes an accurate history of the practice sometime; I sure
would love to know more. Much of the time, it seems to have been regarded
like sex (if you do it, for heaven's sake don't talk about it).

Jon Alan Conrad
Department of Music
University of Delaware
[EMAIL PROTECTED]