The Whiffenpoofs
Encyclopedia
The Yale Whiffenpoofs are the oldest collegiate a cappella
group in the United States, established in 1909. Best known for "The Whiffenpoof Song", based on a tune written by Tod Galloway (Amherst 1895) and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode
(Yale
1910) & George S Pomeroy (Yale 1910) (though in fact a parody of Rudyard Kipling
's Gentlemen Rankers
), the group comprises college senior men who compete in the spring of their junior year for 14 spots. The business manager and musical director of the group, known in Whiff tradition respectively as the "Popocatepetl
" and "Pitchpipe
," are chosen by members of the previous year's group, although an alumni organization maintains close ties with the group.
The Whiffenpoofs have performed for generations at a number of venues, including Lincoln Center, the White House
, the Salt Lake Tabernacle
, Oakland Coliseum, Carnegie Hall
and the Rose Bowl
. The group has also appeared on television shows such as Jeopardy!
, The Today Show, Saturday Night Live
, 60 Minutes
, Gilmore Girls
, and The West Wing. In December 2010, the group was featured on NBC's a cappella competition The Sing-Off
.
Throughout the school year, the Whiffenpoofs traditionally perform Monday nights at Mory's
, known more formally as "Mory's Temple Bar," circulating from room to room singing. Beginning in 2010, the group has carried the same tradition to New Haven's Union League Café, where they appear weekly on Wednesday evenings.
The Whiffs' best-known alumnus may be Cole Porter
, who sang in the 1913 lineup of the Whiffenpoofs when he was a student at Yale. Today the group often performs Porter songs in tribute.
The Whiffenpoofs donate part of their proceeds each year to the Whiffenpoof Children's Literacy Initiative, which aims to create 15 literacy centers in 12 countries, including the United States. They travel extensively during the school year and take a three-month world tour during the summer. At one time most members were full-time students, but today many members take all or part of the year off and are effectively full-time professional Whiffenpoofs.
The word whiffenpoof originated in the 1908 opera Little Nemo by Victor Herbert
, based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay
.
form in 1909
. It became a hit first for Rudy Vallee
in 1927
and later in 1947
for Bing Crosby
. It has also been recorded by Elvis Presley
, Count Basie
, Perry Como
, the Statler Brothers
and countless others.
Mory's refers to Mory's Temple Bar and Louis to a former owner of Mory's, Louis Linder. The chorus is derived from the poem "Gentlemen Rankers" by Rudyard Kipling
, which was set to music by Guy H. Scull (Harvard 1898) and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode
(Yale 1910) & George S Pomeroy (Yale 1910).
The chorus was used in the 1949 movie 12 O'Clock High with Gregory Peck
. It can be heard in the background after the unit receives its first unit commendation.
It was used in the 1952 movie Monkey Business
. When the tune comes on the radio, Cary Grant
starts singing it to Marilyn Monroe
, who declares it "a silly song". Later Ginger Rogers
sings it to Cary Grant and describes it as "our song". And later still, Cary Grant sings it to Ginger Rogers when he is locked out of the hotel room.
The intro and a parody of the first verse are sung by Betty Grable
during the graduation scene in How to Be Very, Very Popular
(1955).
The melody is the opening theme of the 1975 television series Baa Baa Black Sheep
, a fictionalization of the World War II wartime exploits of the United States Marine Corps Marine Fighter Squadron No. 214, forerunner of the Corps's present-day VMA-214 "Black Sheep" Squadron
. One of the actual squadron's real-life members, Paul "Moon" Mullen, adapted "The Whiffenpoof Song" for the squadron's use.
The Whiffenpoofs can be heard singing it in the 2006 movie The Good Shepherd
, in the scene where Matt Damon's son tells him he wants to join the CIA.
In the play Serenading Louie by Lanford Wilson, performed at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 2010, the song is sung by the cast and by Bing Crosby.
The Billy Bragg song, "Island of No Return" featured on the Brewing Up With Billy Bragg album features the lyrics, "I wish Kipling and the Captain were here, to record our pursuits for posterity. Me and the corporal out on a spree, damned from here to eternity."
spoofed "The Whiffenpoof Song" as part of his song "Bright College Days." Lehrer, a professor at Yale's traditional rival Harvard University
, sings of "glasses raised on high" (at which point he removes his eyeglasses and holds them up) and of drinking a toast "to those we love the best," to rhyme with "we'll pass [which may mean 'pass the final exams' or 'die'] and be forgotten with the rest." He also sings "to the tables down at Mory's, wherever that may be...," evoking a laugh from the Harvard auditorium crowd at the live recording, who have a traditional rivalry with Yale.
In 1973, the Harvard Krokodiloes first performed the group's own spoof of the song, known as "The Krokenpoof Song," with Harvard-specific lyrics, tongue-in-cheek references, bawdy variations involving references to Whiffenpoofs and sheep, rhymes such as "We'll drink lemonade Drambuie" in place of "We will serenade our Louis," and ending with "Baa, baa, humbug!"
Mad
produced parody lyrics of it that were reprinted in the 1973 book The Mad Sampler. Titled "The Hundred-Proofs Song", it suggested that rich students forgot about their studies and resorted to getting drunk at the bar, "...earning the grades we deserve, we know; - F - F - F!"
Collegiate a cappella
Collegiate a cappella ensembles are student-run and -directed singing groups that perform entirely without instruments. Such groups can be found at many colleges and universities in the United States, and increasingly worldwide....
group in the United States, established in 1909. Best known for "The Whiffenpoof Song", based on a tune written by Tod Galloway (Amherst 1895) and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode
Meade Minnigerode
Meade Minnigerode was an American writer, born in London. He graduated from Yale in 1910 and for several years was associated with publishers in New York. He represented the United States Shipping Board in France in 1917–1918 and in the year following was first lieutenant with the American Red...
(Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
1910) & George S Pomeroy (Yale 1910) (though in fact a parody of Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's Gentlemen Rankers
Gentleman ranker
A Gentleman ranker is an enlisted soldier who may have been a former officer or a gentleman qualified through education and background to be a commissioned officer but elects to remain a common soldier...
), the group comprises college senior men who compete in the spring of their junior year for 14 spots. The business manager and musical director of the group, known in Whiff tradition respectively as the "Popocatepetl
Popocatépetl
Popocatépetl also known as "Popochowa" by the local population is an active volcano and, at , the second highest peak in Mexico after the Pico de Orizaba...
" and "Pitchpipe
Pitchpipe
A pitch pipe is a small device used to provide a pitch reference for musicians without absolute pitch. Although it may be described as a musical instrument, it is not typically used to play music as such.- Origins :...
," are chosen by members of the previous year's group, although an alumni organization maintains close ties with the group.
The Whiffenpoofs have performed for generations at a number of venues, including Lincoln Center, the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, the Salt Lake Tabernacle
Salt Lake Tabernacle
The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah along with the Salt Lake Assembly Hall and Salt Lake Temple.-History:...
, Oakland Coliseum, Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...
. The group has also appeared on television shows such as Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, The Today Show, Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls
Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
, and The West Wing. In December 2010, the group was featured on NBC's a cappella competition The Sing-Off
The Sing-Off
The Sing-Off is an American television singing competition featuring a cappella groups. It premiered on NBC on December 14, 2009, and is produced by Sony Pictures Television....
.
Throughout the school year, the Whiffenpoofs traditionally perform Monday nights at Mory's
Mory's
Mory’s, known also as Mory’s Temple Bar, is a private club adjacent to the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1849 and housed in a clubhouse that was originally a private home built some time before 1817...
, known more formally as "Mory's Temple Bar," circulating from room to room singing. Beginning in 2010, the group has carried the same tradition to New Haven's Union League Café, where they appear weekly on Wednesday evenings.
The Whiffs' best-known alumnus may be Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, who sang in the 1913 lineup of the Whiffenpoofs when he was a student at Yale. Today the group often performs Porter songs in tribute.
The Whiffenpoofs donate part of their proceeds each year to the Whiffenpoof Children's Literacy Initiative, which aims to create 15 literacy centers in 12 countries, including the United States. They travel extensively during the school year and take a three-month world tour during the summer. At one time most members were full-time students, but today many members take all or part of the year off and are effectively full-time professional Whiffenpoofs.
The word whiffenpoof originated in the 1908 opera Little Nemo by Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
, based on the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator.A prolific artist, McCay's pioneering early animated films far outshone the work of his contemporaries, and set a standard followed by Walt Disney and others in later decades...
.
"The Whiffenpoof Song"
"The Whiffenpoof Song", the group's traditional closing number, was published in sheet musicSheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
form in 1909
1909 in music
-Events:*November 28 - Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 is premièred in New York City-Albums Released:*Tchailkovsky's Nutcracker Suite - Mark Hamburg And The Royal Albert Hall Orchestra-Published popular music:...
. It became a hit first for Rudy Vallee
Rudy Vallée
Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.-Early life:Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée...
in 1927
1927 in music
-Events:* January 8 - Alban Berg's Lyric Suite is premiered in Vienna.* April 21 - Electric re-recording of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra directed by Nathaniel Shilkret, with Gershwin at the piano....
and later in 1947
1947 in music
-Events:*August 7 – Carlo Bergonzi makes his professional debut as Schaunard in La Bohème at the Arena Argentina in Catania.*October – Enrico De Angelis leaves Quartetto Cetra to join the army...
for Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
. It has also been recorded by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Perry Como
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...
, the Statler Brothers
Statler Brothers
The Statler Brothers were an American country music vocal group founded in 1955 in Staunton, Virginia.Originally performing gospel music at local churches, the group billed themselves as The Four Star Quartet, and later The Kingsmen...
and countless others.
Mory's refers to Mory's Temple Bar and Louis to a former owner of Mory's, Louis Linder. The chorus is derived from the poem "Gentlemen Rankers" by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, which was set to music by Guy H. Scull (Harvard 1898) and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode
Meade Minnigerode
Meade Minnigerode was an American writer, born in London. He graduated from Yale in 1910 and for several years was associated with publishers in New York. He represented the United States Shipping Board in France in 1917–1918 and in the year following was first lieutenant with the American Red...
(Yale 1910) & George S Pomeroy (Yale 1910).
The chorus was used in the 1949 movie 12 O'Clock High with Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
. It can be heard in the background after the unit receives its first unit commendation.
It was used in the 1952 movie Monkey Business
Monkey Business (1952 film)
Monkey Business is a screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, Marilyn Monroe, and Hugh Marlowe. To avoid confusion with the famous Marx Brothers movie of the same name, this film is sometimes referred to as Howard Hawks' Monkey...
. When the tune comes on the radio, Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
starts singing it to Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, who declares it "a silly song". Later Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
sings it to Cary Grant and describes it as "our song". And later still, Cary Grant sings it to Ginger Rogers when he is locked out of the hotel room.
The intro and a parody of the first verse are sung by Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
during the graduation scene in How to Be Very, Very Popular
How to Be Very, Very Popular
How to Be Very, Very Popular is a 1955 comedy film written, produced and directed by Nunnally Johnson and starring Betty Grable in her final film role, and, introduced newcomer, Sheree North to the public.-Plot:...
(1955).
The melody is the opening theme of the 1975 television series Baa Baa Black Sheep
Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series)
Baa Baa Black Sheep is a television series that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. Its premise was based on the experiences of United States Marine Corps aviator Pappy Boyington and his World War II "Black Sheep Squadron". The series was created and produced by Stephen J. Cannell...
, a fictionalization of the World War II wartime exploits of the United States Marine Corps Marine Fighter Squadron No. 214, forerunner of the Corps's present-day VMA-214 "Black Sheep" Squadron
VMA-214
Marine Attack Squadron 214 is a United States Marine Corps fighter squadron consisting of AV-8B Harrier jets. The squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona and is under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 13 and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing .The squadron is best known as the...
. One of the actual squadron's real-life members, Paul "Moon" Mullen, adapted "The Whiffenpoof Song" for the squadron's use.
The Whiffenpoofs can be heard singing it in the 2006 movie The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd (film)
The Good Shepherd is a 2006 spy film directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, with an extensive supporting cast. Although it is a fictional film loosely based on real events, it is advertised as telling the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the...
, in the scene where Matt Damon's son tells him he wants to join the CIA.
In the play Serenading Louie by Lanford Wilson, performed at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 2010, the song is sung by the cast and by Bing Crosby.
The Billy Bragg song, "Island of No Return" featured on the Brewing Up With Billy Bragg album features the lyrics, "I wish Kipling and the Captain were here, to record our pursuits for posterity. Me and the corporal out on a spree, damned from here to eternity."
Variations
Musical satirist Tom LehrerTom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
spoofed "The Whiffenpoof Song" as part of his song "Bright College Days." Lehrer, a professor at Yale's traditional rival Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, sings of "glasses raised on high" (at which point he removes his eyeglasses and holds them up) and of drinking a toast "to those we love the best," to rhyme with "we'll pass [which may mean 'pass the final exams' or 'die'] and be forgotten with the rest." He also sings "to the tables down at Mory's, wherever that may be...," evoking a laugh from the Harvard auditorium crowd at the live recording, who have a traditional rivalry with Yale.
In 1973, the Harvard Krokodiloes first performed the group's own spoof of the song, known as "The Krokenpoof Song," with Harvard-specific lyrics, tongue-in-cheek references, bawdy variations involving references to Whiffenpoofs and sheep, rhymes such as "We'll drink lemonade Drambuie" in place of "We will serenade our Louis," and ending with "Baa, baa, humbug!"
Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
produced parody lyrics of it that were reprinted in the 1973 book The Mad Sampler. Titled "The Hundred-Proofs Song", it suggested that rich students forgot about their studies and resorted to getting drunk at the bar, "...earning the grades we deserve, we know; - F - F - F!"
Cultural references
- In the Mel Brooks musical Young FrankensteinYoung Frankenstein (musical)Young Frankenstein, officially known as The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, is a musical with a book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks. It is based on the 1974 comedy film of the same name written by Brooks and Gene Wilder and directed by Brooks, who has...
, Doctor Frederick FrankensteinFrederick FrankensteinFrederick Frankenstein is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the 1974 comedy film Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks and the 2007 Broadway musical of the same name.-1974 film:...
states to Igor during the song "Together Again": "I happen to be the dean of anatomy at a world renowned school of medicine ... although I do sing a bit and was, in fact, a Whiffenpoof at Yale ... " - The television show Gilmore GirlsGilmore GirlsGilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...
referenced the Whiffenpoofs many times throughout the series. Richard Gilmore was a Whiffenpoof and a seventh season episode featured an appearance by the Whiffenpoofs singing "Living on a Prayer" by Bon JoviBon JoviBon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
. - The Whiffenpoofs are mentioned several times and perform in the "Holy Night" episode of the television program The West Wing.
- The Whiffenpoofs are mentioned in the young adult Gossip GirlGossip GirlGossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
fiction series book, You're The One That I WantYou're the One That I Want"You're the One That I Want" is a song written by John Farrar for the 1978 film version of the musical Grease. It was performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John....
. In that book, Serena van der WoodsenSerena van der WoodsenSerena Celia van der Woodsen is a fictional character in the young adult novel series Gossip Girl and its television adaptation. Serena is featured on the blog of the novel series' mysterious "Gossip Girl" narrator...
meets the Whiffenpoofs on a campus tour, and becomes enamored of them. Alas, they all like men exclusively. - The character Mark in the 1999 gay-themed film TrickTrickTrick may refer to:* Trick , a 2009 album by Kumi Koda* Trick , a 1999 American film* Tricks , a 2007 Polish film by Andrzej Jakimowski* Trick , a comedic Japanese television drama...
is revealed to be a former Whiffenpoof following an argument with the protagonist (a frustrated spectator asks "What the hell is a Whiffenpoof?!").
Notable members
- John StewartJohn Stewart (tenor)John Harger Stewart is an American tenor, conductor, and voice teacher who had an active international singing career in concerts and operas from 1964 to 1990. He began his career singing regularly with the Santa Fe Opera from the mid 1960s through the early 1970s; after which he appeared only...
, operatic tenor - Cole PorterCole PorterCole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
, composer, songwriter - Richard C. Gregory '56, a cappella composer, director, teacher
- Jonathan CoultonJonathan CoultonJonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans...
, singer-songwriter