WWSC countdown to 75 — Lindsay McPhail
This is the latest in an occasional series of posts leading up to the 75th anniversary of Glens Falls radio station WWSC on Dec. 18, 2021.
As the Washington Senators were chasing the American League pennant in 1943, composer Lindsay McPhail pitched a new song to the team’s owner.
The Senators, with an 84–69 record, finished the season in second place, and McPhail’s tune made it into print, dedicated to Clark Griffith, the team president.
“I have given my Okay to publish this song as the official song of the Washington Senators,” Griffith wrote McPhail on July 14, 1943. “Thanking you for your kind interest in this matter.”
The tune never reached the popularity of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” but you can find sheet music of “Hail to the Senators” preserved at the Library of Congress.
McPhail, who spent much of his latter adult years in the Adirondacks, had a varied career in music composition, performance and education, including a weekly piano performance program “Lindsay McPhail at the Piano” at 3 p.m. Sundays on WWSC radio in Glens Falls in the early 1950s.
On June 10, 1951, he performed over the air “Waltz in E Minor” by Brahms, “Natchstucke” by Schumann, “Papillon” by Grieg, and “Waltz in A Flat” by Chopin.
On June 17, he performed “Minuet” by Paderewski, “Arabesque” by Schumann, and “Two-part Inventions in F Major” by Bach.
McPhail’s routine was just the opposite of the typical Adirondack seasonal resident.
He spent fall, winter and spring at Indian Lake, where he was a school music teacher.
McPhail’s work was still regarded locally after he retired.
In 1959, Thomas Farrell, winner of the Indian Lake Central School John Philip Sousa award, joined Zilda Virgil to perform the McPhail composition “Duetto,” as a vocal duet at the school spring concert.
Summers McPhail spent in New York City, performing and composing music for radio and motion pictures.
He composed or wrote lyrics to more than 30 songs on major jazz and popular labels, recorded by musicians such as the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, Fred Hamm, Ray Miller Orchestra and Art Kahn Orchestra.
McPhail’s published sheet music included “The Danbury Fair,” “There’s a New Gang on the Corner,” and “Om.”
McPhail grew up in the Chicago area, and graduated Columbia School of Music.
In World War I he received a Silver Star after he was wounded on the front lines, serving with the Army Expeditionary Force in France.
He recovered and toured military hospitals with the AEF musical show “The Front Line Review.”
McPhail died March 3, 1965 at age 69.
Sources: The Post-Star, June 9, 26, 1951; March 5, 1965; Glens Falls Times, June 9, 12, 1951; May 12, 1959; Free-Trade Journal, Ottawa, Ill., The Washington Post, May 6, 2013; Jan. 31, 1919; Library of Congress
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