Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Snuggle up kiddies, it's time for the last batch of Christmas albums. Fred Waring was a pretty interesting dude. He's most famous as a bandleader and radio personality, but his actual contribution to humanity is moderately important in its own right.

I told you the story about how vaudville composer Michael Brown coincidentally funded one of the classics of American literature. Fred Waring also funded a thing that turned out to be special. He funded the production and promotion of the first electric blender, called the Waring Blendor. It not surprisingly became a big deal in hospitals across the country for preparing special meals for patients. Thus, Jonas Salk used it while developing his vaccine for polio.

Yes, Fred Waring eradicated Polio for about $25,000 (a big sum in the 30s, but an inconsequential fraction of his fortune). Sure, someone would have invested in it eventually, and Salk would have succeeded regardless, but coincidence is the name of the game and this particular musician made the world objectively better by throwing a little bit of his fortune around.

The record? Oh yeah, it's good old 50s slap-happy radio music. My copy is so scratchy and skippy that it's pretty unlistenable even by physically holding the needle down, but i actually like Masterseal's Merry Christmas much more anyway. This is a classic though, so you can easily find the Pennsylvanians' enthusiastic versions of classic Christmas songs on line, should you want to do so.

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