Mitch Miller, a Rochester native who was born on the Fourth of July, 1911, one of five children of Abram Calmen Miller, an immigrant from Russia and a wrought-iron worker, and Hinda Rosenbaum Miller, a former seamstress. In the 1980s and '90s he was a frequent guest conductor of symphony orchestras. Miller was later involved in the production of several other Broadway shows, few of them hits. Miller brought in Gordon Cotler to doctor the script-book after McNally departed Philadelphia. Terrence McNally asked that his name be removed from the credits prior to opening night, with Alex Gordon as a pseudonym in the Playbill credits. Terrence McNally wrote the musical's book, but left the production during the out-of-town Philadelphia try out. The official opening on Broadway's Billy Rose Theatre was postponed from Februto March 2, 1968, after Broadway previews began performances on February 7, to allow time for rewrites to the book. The musical's out-of-town opening on Januat the Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia, PA., closing after 20 performances, moving to Broadway's Billy Rose Theater. Playbill credits listed, Book: Alex Gordon (Terrence McNally), Gordon Cotler Lyrics: Alfred Uhry Music: Robert Waldman Dance Music: Arnold Goland Musical Direction, Dance and Vocal Arrangements: Theodore Saidenberg (who had worked with Miller on his television "Sing Along" show). Mitch Miller involved himself with the creative writing and composing team, raising a Broadway production fund, getting United Artists to put up $500,000 to produce a musical version, an adaptation of the 1952 novel by John Steinbeck, "East of Eden," called "Here's Where I Belong," which closed after only one disastrous performance.
After departing Columbia Records in 1965. After rock came to dominate the record business and the singalong craze ran its course, Mitch Miller left Columbia and ventured into the Broadway theater, with limited success. In the early 1950s he was also musical director of Little Golden Records, which made widely popular recordings for children. In 1950, at the invitation of a former Eastman classmate, Goddard Lieberson, executive vice president of Columbia Records, Miller took the equivalent position there. Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Congo, Republic of the, Cook Islands, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Fiji, French Polynesia, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guam, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.S.Miller went to work for Mercury Records in the late '40s, initially as a producer of classical music and then head of artists and repertory in the pop division.