PLAY IT AGAIN, HOAGY
The great Carmichael of the '30s is bridging the generation gap of the '70s
By Edith Efron

"Makes you think of clouds, doesn't it? Clouds with different shapes..."

A suave, ageless-looking man with classic features and an air of casual sophistication sits at the piano. He is improvising "cloud music" and singing a little song. Standing around him, two little boys and a little girl watch him, their faces intent with serious enjoyment. The melody is tranquil and sweet. The clouds float off into the distance... the man's hands fall quietly to his lap.

"Ah, I like that," he sighs.

A smile of sympathy lights up the young faces.

"Yeah," they breathe.

"That was pretty, says the little girl.

A new and unexpected Pied Piper has come to the air waves - or rather, to a small segment of them. Hoagy Carmichael, age 71, the composer of such beloved songs as "Stardust" and "Heart and Soul," has emerged from semiretirement to star in a children's musical series on WGBH, a public-TV station in Boston.

The series, consisting of 15 shows, is called Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop. It has been produced by Hoagy's son, Hoagy Bix, who dreamed it up - and it's a sort of musical Sesame Street, complete with films, slides, action and animation. It teaches children something about the basic elements of music, as they play simple instruments and learn 15 new songs - by Hoagy Carmichael. The cast of children is permanent: Eliza Mason, 9; Lee Stark, 7; Reed Dewey, 10 - Bostonians all. They learn as the shows progress.

The series was produced by "The 21-Inch Classroom" - the Massachusetts Executive Committee for Educational Television - and is being telecast in Boston during school hours this season. Eventually it's expected to go on some part or all of the PBS network.

Until his son persuaded him to leave sunny California for grimy Boston, at least briefly, to make this series, Hoagy was living quietly. He played golf at Palm Springs and worked on his coin collection. Money is no problem for the composer of "Stardust." Royalties from his big hit alone would support him comfortably but Hoagy also wrote a number of other still-popular tunes including "Georgia On My Mind," "Two Sleepy People" and "Lazy River."

Songs like those, these days, are better providers than blue-chip portfolios, a subject Hoagy Bix has some knowledge of. Until a few years ago, he was managing a Wall Street brokerage office. Then he decided that public television would be more fun and went off to Boston. Finding a way to put his father's songs to imaginative use has made the move rewarding if not enriching. Wall Street hasn't done too well since he left, anyway.

"I wrote those 15 children's songs in 1955," says Hoagy. "There's such a dearth of new children's songs in the world. At that time I thought they'd be used in the schools, but they weren't. I was so disappointed. This is a wonderful way to use them."

"Hoagy loves these songs so much," says executive producer Steve Gilford. "He's never had a chance to have them known. He's doing this show for the love of music - and for kids, for whom he wrote them."

The songs are lovely indeed. They're called by such names as "Shooting Stars," "The Old Prospector," "Grandfather Clock," "Merry-Go-Round," "Rocket Ship," "The Whale" and "Junkman's Song" - which gives you an idea of the variety of moods the show will encompass. "There are shows that make the children laugh and some that make them cry," says Gilford.

Hoagy, who only now is publishing the songs for the first time, is perfectly at ease communing with the very young. He talks to them with precisely the right combination of intellectual simplicity and emotional respect. Watching him, one forgets that one has ever heard of a "generation gap."

When the "star" and the "cast" first met, however, it was with a mutual awe that still makes both producers chuckle when they recall it.

"Dad didn't know how marvelous he'd be with kids," relates Hoagy Bix. "But I knew. He's a sensitive man, with imagination - and so are children. They don't have all the barriers. But he was scared to death before the show!"

"The kids were terribly impressed too," says Steve Gilford. "When they first met, two of the kids picked out "Chopsticks" for Hoagy and asked him how he liked it. He said he liked it very much. Then they played "Heart And Soul" and asked him how he liked it. He said he liked that very much, too. Then he told them, "I wrote that song." They looked at him disbelievingly. Hoagy insisted, "I really did." They couldn't believe it! "Heart And Soul" was just something that was there. Then one of the kids asked in an awestruck voice, "Did you write 'Chopsticks' too?"

The mutual awe was soon dissolved by music - and what comes over on the screen is a very unusual sight: a 7-year-old, a 9-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 71-year-old who are friends.

Most of what Hoagy does with the kids is classed as fun, not instruction. He sings his songs; they beat time on instruments and sing along with him. And from time to time they get spontaneous explanations from Hoagy of what is going on musically.

"The bass," he tells them on one show, "is the background. That's the substance of the music. If you just play the melody without any chord structure below, it loses something. It doesn't have that orchestra feeling!"

He plays certain chords for them, "It's an echo. Sounds distant, doesn't it?... That's substance, deep substance." He moves through a progression of complex chords, watching the children's rapt faces. He smiles slightly. "Makes you feel good, eh?"

Then he talk-sings: "Want-to-make-a-chord-change? Put-a-B-flat-in-there... Ha! Ha! See? Gives you a lift, doesn't it?"

And they grin - delighted with the sudden gaiety coming out of the piano.

The "hard" teaching, though, isn't done by Hoagy but by musical director Monty Stark, father of one of the children in the cast.

Monty is a minor Leonardo who conceived the details of this series with Hoagy Bix and operates as musical director, instrumentalist, singer, composer, and creator of the study guide that will be used in Boston schools that receive the show. His group, "The Stark Reality" - vibraphone, drums, electric bass and guitar - provides the rock element of the show. Monty creates a rock version of Hoagy's songs and sets it to film that captures the mood of each song. And he does the three one-minute spots which do the "hard" teaching. The spots consist of seven basic elements of music, taught by animation and accompanied by singable little rock jingles written by Monty.

"It's actually a course in the alphabet of music," says Monty. "We teach by repetition."

This aspect of the show, with its driving beat and dancing symbols, is strongly reminiscent of Sesame Street. "It's hard not to be influenced by Sesame Street." says Steve Gilford.

But the total show is by no means an imitation of Sesame Street or anything else. It has a core of remarkable originality, in fact, that will be hard for future children's shows to match. And that is because it is built around those original and marvelously melodic Carmichael songs.

"That's the emotional part of the show," says Hoagy Bix. "Monty wants to teach music. I want children to feel it's a friend."

And there is a strong emotional component to the show - both on the screen and behind the scenes. When Monty's son sings, and wiggles spontaneously in rhythm, the musical director's face glows with pleasure in the control room. And the more famous father-and-son team is very close too.

"They love each other," says Steve Gilford. "It means a tremendous amount to Hoagy Bix to bring his father's music to children."

"This show is one of the loves of my life," says Hoagy Bix.

The 15th and last show of the series is built on a sad, haunting little melody called "Comrades." We listen to it in the control room. Hoagy plays tenderly and sings: "See you tomorrow... see you tomorrow... Jack swore and I swore friendship for life... see you tomorrow..." It's a farewell song, and the little faces are solemn as they listen.

"Gee, I love that song," says Reed.

"It sounds like friendship," says Eliza.

In the control room Hoagy Bix, too, is listening to his father. "It's a beautiful song," he says. "It takes a very sensitive person to write such a song. This kind of music isn't being written on Seventh Avenue."

And Steve Gilford is humming quietly along with Hoagy: "See you tomorrow..." He turns and smiles. "At first the crew was embarrassed to be caught singing these children's songs. Now nobody's embarrassed any more. We just sing 'em."

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