Though piano was Dad’s forte, he always had a soft spot in his heart for mainstream pop singers.  In episode 7 of Pop Music, U.S.A., we get biographical snippets of everyone from Al Jolson to the Mills Brothers to Ethel Merman to Frank Sinatra.  The cold opening features Dad as Bing Crosby, complete with fedora and pipe.  (The costume department must have been on vacation that week; the Hawaiian shirt wasn’t a look for which “Der Bingle” was famous.)  At the 19-minute mark, Dad moves from straight biography to academic overviews, including an interesting conversation with musician Al Morgan, who recounts the effort he personally took to see the song for which he is best remembered, “Jealous Heart,” become a worldwide hit.

Episodes 8 and 9, forthcoming, Lord willing, will look at rock.  I haven’t watched these in a while, so I’m interested to see how, in the early 70s, Dad looked at an art form still very much evolving.  Will he have any prescient notions of punk or disco or rap or grunge, none of which was known by those monikers in 1973-74?  We’ll find out soon.  In the meantime, please enjoy this look at mainstream American pop singers.