Robert Hunter MacGimsey (1898 – 1979) was an American composer. His most famous song was " Sweet Little Jesus Boy" (1934), a well-known

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...

written in the style of an

African-American spiritual Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a Music genre, genre of Christian music that is associated with African Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences ...

Biography

Born Robert Hunter MacGimsey in Pineville, Louisiana, of white parents, MacGimsey spent most of his formative years in the company of blacks who lived with and worked for and with his family. Due to their influence he wrote in an "African American" style,. and he is often mistakenly assumed to be a black composer. When he was young, MacGimsey sang in the church choir that his mother directed. She ensured that he received training in music, eventually studying under

Frank Damrosch Frank Heino Damrosch (June 22, 1859 – October 22, 1937) was a German-born American music conductor and educator. In 1905, Damrosch founded the New York Institute of Musical Art, a predecessor of the Juilliard School. Life and career Damrosch ...

at the

Institute of Musical Art The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

in New York.

Law and politics

Before he became known for his musical accomplishments, MacGimsey was an attorney in

Lake Providence, Louisiana Lake Providence is a town in, and the parish seat of, East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, East Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana. The population was 5,104 at the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census and declined by 21.8 percent to 3,991 in 2 ...

, in addition to being an adviser to United States Senator Joseph E. Ransdell from Louisiana. In 1960, MacGimsey said that he was giving up music to dedicate the remainder of his life to good government.

Composing

MacGimsey is also known for the song "How Do You Do?" which was originally written for the

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

live-action musical drama ''

Song of the South ''Song of the South'' is a 1946 American Live-action animated film, live-action/animated musical film, musical comedy-drama film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, produced by Walt Disney, and released by RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pi ...

''. The song is also featured in the theme-park attraction

Splash Mountain Splash Mountain is a log flume ride at Tokyo Disneyland. Other versions, which have since been rethemed, were formerly located at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. The attraction is based on the animated sequences of Disney's 1946 film ''Song of th ...

located in

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

, and

Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney park t ...

. MacGimsey also composed " Shadrack," which was a 1962 hit for

Brook Benton Benjamin Franklin Peay (September 19, 1931 – April 9, 1988), known professionally as Brook Benton, was an American singer and songwriter whose music transcended rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music genres in the 1950s and 1960s, with ...

that was also recorded by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

and many others. In 1947,

Robert Merrill Robert Merrill (June 4, 1917 – October 23, 2004) was an American operatic baritone and actor, who was also active in the musical theatre circuit. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1993. Early life Merrill was born Moishe Miller, late ...

recorded a disc (Victor 10-1303) with MacGimsey's songs ("Sweet Little Jesus Boy" and "To My Mother") on both sides. MacGimsey worked with singer

John Gary John Gary (born John Gary Strader; November 29, 1932 – January 4, 1998) was an American singer, recording artist, television host, and performer on the musical stage. Early life From Watertown, New York, Gary started singing at the age of 5. ...

, beginning with their first meeting after Gary had left the Marines. Gary made a demonstration record with four new songs by MacGimsey, and a friendship developed thereafter. MacGimsey was also famous for double whistling, or whistling duets.

Legacy

MacGimsey's library, letters and works can be found in the library archives at

Louisiana College Louisiana Christian University (LC) is a private Baptist university in Pineville, Louisiana. It enrolls 1,100 to 1,200 students. It is affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). Louisiana Christian Univer ...

, Pineville, Louisiana.

References

External links

*List of recordings of Robert MacGimsey songs at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

.com (

link 1 Link 1 is a computer network standard developed by NATO to provide information exchange for air defence. General description Link 1 is a point-to-point, duplex, non-encrypted, digital NATO Tactical Data Link (TDL) Standard for the automatic e ...

link 2 *List of Robert MacGimsey songs at

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

.com
link
20th-century American male composers 1898 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American composers {{US-composer-19thC-stub