Hoagy Carmichael: Happy Birthday to a Conservative American Patriot

Monday, November 22, marked the birth date of the great Hoagland Howard “Hoagy” Carmichael, 1899 – 1981. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Hoagy wrote, or co-wrote, among many other tunes, “Georgia on My Mind,” “(Up a) Lazy River,” “Skylark,” the perennial amateur piano duet favorite “Heart and Soul” and of course, with lyricist Mitchell Parish, the immortal “Stardust.”

Artists as diverse as Bing Crosby, Willie Nelson, and John Coltrane have recorded “Stardust.” The haunting, jazz-tinged melody is rightly regarded as one of the high water marks of American popular song. It’s been said that one sign of a truly great song is that it can be successfully interpreted in a variety of styles, and while there is certainly no need to prove that “Stardust” is one of the all-time great popular tunes, I’d like to invite you to check out a couple of examples. Here are links to snippets of two of my favorite versions of this tune, one by Louis Armstrong from 1931, and the other, from 1957, by Nat “King” Cole. The two arrangements are wildly different, and the performers themselves, of course, formidable, yet Hoagy’s melody is the real star of both versions.

It will be of interest to Big Hollywood readers to know that in addition to being a genius songwriter, Hoagy Carmichael was also politically lucid. He was, from the time of his Indiana upbringing, a conservative Republican. Carmichael’s son Hoagy Bix once said of his father’s political views:

“To Dad…FDR was a guy from a wealthy family who took other people’s money — particularly his — and just gave it away.”

Carmichael friend Helen Meinardi was even more blunt: “He hated Roosevelt.” After Hoagy’s raw-boned looks (Ian Fleming originally envisioned James Bond as resembling Hoagy) and endearing personality began to land him acting gigs in movies, Carmichael famously played his classic “Hong Kong Blues” in “To Have and Have Not” alongside Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall:

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At a party, after the reliably left-wing Bogart had shouted a “tirade of abuse” at Hoagy for Hoagy’s Republican politics, Hoagy heatedly invited Bogart, who Carmichael later wrote “was a bit confused politically” to step outside for a fight. According to Hoagy, Bogart had “A tendency…to be on the pink side in those days when it seemed fashionable to follow the far left line in Hollywood society.” (how little has changed…) Fortunately Hoagy’s wife, Ruth, broke up the fight.

During World War II the 40-something Carmichael, realizing that “there was little I could do but give the world something to hum,” went to work performing for the troops in over one hundred USO appearances at military installations. Hoagy was grateful to America, and to the troops, for giving him the chance to let his considerable talents blossom. This week, in honor of Hoagy’s birthday, we can take a moment to be grateful to Hoagy for giving America, and the world, something to hum.