The New York Pops: News

MUSIC LEGEND VISITS COUNTY
BY MICHELLE PITTMAN Staff Writer

It's not every month that guests to the Chamber of Commerce's breakfast meeting are greeted by a three-piece musical ensemble.

But the festivities were in full swing Wednesday as the chamber welcomed musical legend Skitch Henderson, founder and musical director of the New York Pops, the nonprofit popular music orchestra based out of New York City's Carnegie Hall.

Henderson was in town to promote next year's celebration in concert of Shenandoah native Thomas Dorsey, leader of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra.

Nov. 19, 2005 will mark Dorsey's 100th birthday. He died in 1956.

"When I worked for NBC West, we called it the Blue Network. I would sit in a 12-by-12-foot room filled with phones. We used to transmit the radio over the phone lines," Henderson said, beginning the tale of how he would meet Dorsey. "There was an upright piano, usually detuned, in the room and my job was to sit there, and if the lines went out, I was to play something on the piano that was unrecognizable. That way we didn't have to pay any royalties. The lawyers really liked that.

"A gentleman by the name of Bob Burns was managing the Dorsey Orchestra, who was playing up the street," he said. "Burns told me that the government was having a little chat with their pianist about some strange flowers he was growing in his hotel room. Long story short, they needed a pianist."

Henderson said that when he went to join the orchestra, none of the other musicians would speak with him, as he was considered a "lowly" studio musician.

"Tommy asked me if I could read music, and he handed me the sheet music for a number called Sleepy Lagoon," he said. "We played it, just the two of us. It was back in the days when the dancers stood in front of the band. And it was wonderful."

Henderson recalled other moments for the breakfast crowd, often provoking fits of laughter as he contemplated his "long life of confusion, disaster and joy."

"When I began television — well, I didn't begin television," he joked. "But I was there when television started. It was a strange time — the end of radio and the beginning of television."

Henderson was a contract player with NBC in New York in the early days of the Today and Tonight shows.

"There were two types of TV musicians — commercial and non-commercial, depending on if they had ads during their programs. The commercial musicians were paid more, on a scale."

"The Tonight Show was live from 11:15 to 1 a.m., and we had all the rejects of the music department," he said. "We had an alcoholic saxophone player who doubled on the oboe and two French horn players. Everybody thought it was going to be a disaster."

Henderson recalled some of his favorite memories, when the original Tonight Show host Steve Allen smashed "unbreakable furniture" with a stage hammer and later when Johnny Carson called Sara Lee a "wino."

"That's what this country is all about," he said. "I've been lucky to have been through most of the trenches and to come out unharmed. I want everyone to come out to the show Nov. 19. A great time will be had by all, and we can all have a beer afterward. We'll have Yuenglings."

©The REPUBLICAN & Herald 2004 • Originally published on November 11, 2004

GIANT OF MUSIC WILL DO IT AGAIN

Working for MGM out in Los Angeles as a rehearsal pianist for folks like, oh, Bing Crosby, Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson knew what keys most of the big-name performers of the time sang in.

And he was immediately able to transpose the music to the appropriate key.

So it was no surprise that singers, like Crosby, wanted to work with Henderson.

And if Henderson wasn't there, they'd inquire about him, as Crosby did on one fateful day: "Where's the sketch kid?" he asked about the guy who was able to sketch out the key.

It wasn't long before "sketch kid" became "Skitch," and British-born Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson forever became the music giant we know today as Skitch Henderson, former "Tonight" show music director and the founder and director of the New York Pops.

So word that Skitch Henderson was in Schuylkill County spurred the inevitable question: Why?

Schuylkill, as it turns out, doesn't have too shabby a heritage when it comes to music, boasting giants of its own like big band legends Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, natives of Shenandoah and Mahanoy Plane, and Reinerton's Les Brown, the "Sentimental Journey" guy whose Band of Renown often helped comedian Bob Hope entertain our troops.

And Barnesville's Lakewood and Lakeside ballrooms, in their heyday, hosted some of the biggest bands and musicians of the 20th century — including the Dorseys and Henderson.

Henderson, as it turns out, worked with all of the big-name performers and knew 'em all. In fact, he was brought in to replace the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra's pianist, who got himself into a little trouble.

So Henderson played on some of the most successful recordings for Dorsey's lead male vocalist at the time — Frank Sinatra.

Of course, that all came after Henderson had accompanied the young Judy Garland on one of her first tours.

Impressed yet? That's not the half of it.

During his brilliant career, Henderson, now 86, has also worked with the likes of Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Merrill, Roberta Peters, John Raitt, Bonnie Raitt, Rosemary Clooney . . .

Get the picture? Believe it or not, that's still not even the half of it.

Henderson, who came over to the "States" at the age of 12, studied at Juilliard and the school of music at UCLA and served as a pilot in WWII, truly is a giant in American music.

With Tommy Dorsey's 100th birthday just a year away, Sandra C. Coyle, executive director of the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts, contacted Henderson about the possibility of a concert to celebrate the lives and music of the Dorsey brothers.

The idea of bringing the 80-piece New York Pops in for such a celebration brightened the always present twinkle in Henderson's eyes. Of course, he would do it.

He was in the county this week to promote the concert and scout out possible sites, including Martz Hall in Pottsville and Lakeside.

If Henderson has his way, it'll be Lakeside, a site that opened a floodgate of memories for him Wednesday when he walked inside to look it over, even though his local performance back in 1947 was in the neighboring Lakewood Ballroom, which no longer exists.

During a meeting with The REPUBLICAN & Herald editorial board, Henderson mused that you can't often go back to times gone by, even though you might — in the lyrics of a modern tune — want to go back and do it all over again.

Henderson's peek into Lakeside was one of those magical — call it Brigadoon-like — moments when it was possible for him to go back.

And if all comes to fruition, he'll get to do it all over again next November, bringing the New York Pops to Schuylkill.