The mid-20th Century was the high point of the much appreciated and much lamented in its passing "Mid-Brow"* culture: a set of societal expectations that a properly educated man or woman should know certain (respectable) things and behave in certain (respectable) ways. One of these things that people were expected to know was classical music. There were two great popularizers of mid-brow music: Leonard Bernstein, and Arthur Fiedler.
Bernstein was a musical genius, who wrote fabulous music. "West Side Story" is perhaps most famous, but "Candide" is perhaps his greatest composition. Of course he was a dirty commie bastard, but there's no denying his influence on the Mid-Brow public.
Arthur Fiedler was the long time conductor of the Boston Symphony and (more famously) the Boston Pops which became perhaps the most famous Mid-Brow orchestra ever. Fiedler joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1915 (!) and graduated to cunductor in 1930. He remained conductor of the Symphony and the Pops for the next half century.
His career was the apogee of Mid-Brow culture in America. All 3 networks plus PBS covered the July 4, 1976 Pops concert from Boston live. All of them. After all, people were expected to behave in particular (respectable) ways.
Alas for the America of my youth. Here's a delightful musical album of the 1959 Boston Pops Christmas. Sadly, Youtube tells me that this has only 173 views. Alas for the America of my youth, indeed.
* Not the hoity-toity High Brow set, and certainly not the Low Brow set. Mid-Brow, the sweet spot.
