The Merry Macs

The first swing-era singing group to include four-part vocal harmony, the revolutionary Merry Macs, who would go on to influence other such tight-harmony acts as The Modernaires, were originally made up of three singing brothers, baritone Ted McMichael (1908-2001), tenor Judd McMichael (1910-1989) and youngest brother tenor Joe McMichael (1916-1944) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The three boys, who grew up singing backup harmony along with their mother, attended West High School in the mid-1920s and became a local favorite at school proms and college dances. In 1926 they were discovered for local radio by band leader and organist Eddie Dunsteder (WCCO) with the gimmick of disguising their faces and calling themselves "The Mystery Trio". Bandleader Joe Haymes quickly took a strong interest (1930) and renamed them "The Personality Boys", having them tour with him throughout the country. In 1933 the trio added a girl, Cheri McKay, to join in singing the melody and decided to call themselves "The Merry Macs" as all of their last names began with "Mc". They became the first close harmony group to include a woman. Signed to Victor Records, their first song of notice was the tight-harmony-sounding "The Little White Church on the Hill." They also performed live at the Chicago Theatre and an NBC Radio contract. Cheri was eventually replaced by Helen Carroll (1914-2011) in 1936. The new foursome soon became a "must" group to hire for such popular radio shows as "Lucky Strike Hit Parade" and "Fred Allen's Town Hall Tonight, the latter becoming a 3-year gig (1937-1940). The group soon had included films to their list of accomplishments, a first for harmony groups. They sang a swing version of "Down by the Old Mill Stream" in the Vitaphone musical Seeing Red (1939), Red Skelton's first film. That same year they appeared in Love Thy Neighbor (1940) starring Jack Benny and Fred Allen. In the meantime they continued performing headlining with the top orchestras of the time, headed by Glenn Miller, Ray Noble, Glen Gray and Paul Whiteman, among others. Signing with Decca Records in 1938, they recorded their hit single "Pop Goes the Weasel" and also signed a 10-year contract with Universal before California born-and-bred Mary Lou Cook (nee Dunckley) (1908-1944) (who was married at the time to actor Elisha Cook Jr.) took over for Carroll the following year when the group made a career move from New York City to Los Angeles. This contract led to their most popular film, the comedy Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello and Ella Fitzgerald, as well as the musical short Fits and Benefits (1938), Leon Errol and feature film San Antonio Rose (1941), Moonlight in Hawaii (1941), Melody Lane (1941) and Mr. Music (1950), the last in which they backed up Bing Crosby. Recording hits during this busy time included "Ta Ha Wa Nu Wa (Hawaiian War Chant)" (1939, "The Hut Sut Song" (1941), "(I Got Spurs That) Jingle jangle Jingle (1942), "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" (1942), and their biggest hit "Mairzy Doats" (1944), which reached #1 on the Billboard List for five weeks. Guest TV spots included the programs "Texaco Star Theatre," "The Ed Wynn Show" and "The Nat King Cole Show." Marjorie Garland (1923-1991) replaced Mary Lou Cook in 1942 and wound up marrying Judd from the group. She stayed with the act until the end. Known for their bouncy pop tunes and jazzy style, Around this time singer Joe, who had joined the military, died in WWII action in 1944. He was replaced by Britisher Clive Erard (1903-1985) for about a year before Dick Baldwin took over. Post-war hits included "Sentimental Journey" (1945), "Laughing on the Outside" (1946), and the last of their 12 charted hits "Ashby De La Zooch" (1946). The group stayed with Decca until 1949 and then moved over to Capitol Records, and later to the smaller Era Records. In 1954, Vern Rowe took over for Dick Baldwin, remaining with the group until 1964 when the act retired. Their last American performance was a 1968 reunion at the Hollywood Bowl. The Merry Macs were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.