by Michael D. Wynne
Robert Hunter MacGimsey (1898-1979), born in Pineville, was at one time the world’s most famous performing whistler, a man who also wrote many famous hymns including “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” and “Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.” He worked
hard to preserve and record enslaved peoples’ spirituals and other what has been referred to in the past as “black music.” MacGimsey may be best known for having performed the whistling for Walt Disney’s classic “Song of the South” movie.
He started his career as an attorney, but quit law to become a professional whistler and performed shows all over North America. He even performed for President Lyndon Johnson at the White House.
One of the piano teachers in Pineville during those early years was Mrs. Alice E. MacGimsey, Robert’s mother. She was educated at the Blue Mountain College in Mississippi. Robert MacGimsey said that his mother was the first music teacher in Pineville and taught many students over the decades.
In Elaine Brister’s history of Pineville, it says (excerpt): “…One of the members (of the “Colored Glee Club”) may well have been Henry Olmstead of Pineville to whom the famous American composer and whistler, Robert H. MacGimsey, gives credit for his early interest in whistling and in collecting and writing folk songs.”
When MacGimsey was young, he sang in the church choir that his mother directed. After graduating from Bolton High School, his mother ensured that he would receive advance training in music, eventually studying at the Julliard Music School in New York.
MacGimsey spent most of his formative years in the company of African-Americans who lived and worked for his family. Due to their influence on him, he began writing in what has been called an “African-American” style, and for that reason, he is often mistakenly assumed to be a black composer. He became a renown collector and preserver of former enslave peoples’ spirituals.
Before he became known for his musical accomplishments, MacGimsey practiced as an attorney in Lake Providence, Louisiana, in addition to being an adviser to United States Senator, Joseph E. Ransdell.
In 1927, he signed his first record contract to make 10 records of his singing and whistling. As a whistler and singer, MacGimsey received international acclaim before he finally retired to live in Phoenix, Arizona where he would live for the rest of his life. Fred
Waring, the orchestra leader, once said, Robert MacGimsey is the only person that I have ever heard who could whistle two or three notes in perfect harmony.” Lawrence Tibbet said MacGimsey had “the most perfect trill I have ever heard.”
Regarding whistling, MacGimsey was famous for what is called “double whistling,” or whistling duets by himself, an extremely difficult skill.
Regarding composing, MacGimsey is also known for the song “How Do You Do?” which he originally wrote for the Walt Disney live-action musical drama, “Song of the South.” The song is also featured in the theme-park attraction Splash Mountain located in Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland. MacGimsey later composed “Shadrack,” which was a 1962 hit for Brook Benton and was also recorded by Louis Armstrong and many others. In 1947, Robert Merrill recorded a record
with MacGimsey’s songs including “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” and “To My Mother” on both sides. MacGimsey also worked with singer John Gary. Gary made a demonstration record with four new songs by MacGimsey and a friendship developed thereafter.
In his middle years, MacGimsey owned a large home in Lake Providence that he named Olivedell. There he recorded every enslaved spiritual song that he could find, at first using a hand-cranked phonorecorder until better equipment would be developed.
MacGimsey and Charles Frederick Page were the most famous persons to have ever come from Pineville and both are remembered around the world today.
