Yale Whiffenpoofs Celebrate 100th Birthday – America’s Oldest and Most Famous Collegiate A Cappella Singing Group Holds Massive Reunion
NEW HAVEN, Conn.-(Business Wire)-September 29, 2009 - To celebrate their milestone, all living Whiffenpoofs, from the 1930’s to the present, will gather together back in the ivy-covered halls of Yale in New Haven, CT, October 2-4 for a great Centennial Reunion of reunited camaraderie, story-telling, football-halftime tomfoolery, feasting, and much, much singing!
About The Whiffenpoofs
While the American public is going wild over Fox’s new TV show GLEE—close-harmony singing in the U.S. can trace much of its history back to the founding of the Yale Whiffenpoofs—one hundred years ago. As new college students on other university campuses participate in the American college tradition of “rushing” to join fraternities and sororities, in New Haven there’s a Rush to be part of one of 18 Yale Singing Groups. At the apex of this tradition, each year 14 men entering their senior year are selected to be in the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the school’s most exclusive a cappella group.
The “Whiffs” began as a senior sextet in 1909 that met for concerts at Mory’s Temple Bar, the renowned Yale tavern that dates back to 1849. Cole Porter, Yale Class of 1913, highlights the list of noteworthy Whiffs, as well as U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, Yale ‘17, father of the first President Bush and grandfather of the second (both are Honorary Whiffenpoofs). Senator Bush famously sang with three fellow Whiff alumni, dubbed the Silver Dollar Quartet, for the rest of his life.
Recent Whiff alumni include popular internet singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton and actor Ron Livingston. And, Honorary Whiffenpoofs have stretched from Ella Fitzgerald to cartoonist Garry Trudeau to funny-man John Hodgman. The Whiffenpoof Song, the group’s signature ballad, gained nationwide recognition when one of America’s first radio and recording stars Rudy Vallee (Yale Class of 1927) recorded a solo version with his band in the 1930s. But America would truly embrace The Whiffenpoof Song when it became one of the favorite tunes of World War II. Adopted as their theme song by the fabled “Black Sheep Squadron” of the US Army Air Force, it would be heard in soldier canteens all over Europe, and on the same radio shows heard by servicemen near danger and their loved ones at home. In 1944 famed playwright Moss Hart incorporated The Whiffenpoof Song as a crucial part of the legendary production “Winged Victory,” a patriotic tribute to American servicemen featuring the largest cast ever assembled in both its stage and screen versions, a cast made up of actors and singers actually enlisted in the war.
After WWII, The Whiffenpoof Song would become one of Bing Crosby’s biggest hits, as well as being recorded by Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Roy Rogers, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley, and many others. Today, the group has become one of Yale’s most celebrated and hallowed traditions. Singing over 200 concerts annually, in recent years Whiffenpoof audiences have included Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush again, Mother Theresa, and the Dalai Lama, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Rose Bowl…at events such as the Opening Game of the World Series, Saturday Night Live, Jeopardy and The West Wing.
Most significantly, each class of Whiffenpoofs embarks upon a grand World Tour each summer covering as many as 20 countries in 13 weeks. Serving as goodwill ambassadors on behalf of Yale University, American college students everywhere, and the American musical legacy they represent, the Whiffs sing in embassies, palaces, and 5 star hotels…as well as in rural churches, tiny pubs, one room schools, and the smallest of villages across six continents. The Whiffenpoofs are a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that supports a worldwide children’s literacy campaign and educates students about music and a cappella singing.
More on The Whiffenpoofs including song downloads at:
http://www.whiffenpoofs.com/
Download supporting Multimedia (Group photos, logos, etc.) at:
http://www.yale.edu/whiffenpoofs/downloads/
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6059911&lang=en
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