British Cinema and Theatre Orchestras

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Click to enlargeThere was a short period when filmgoing was so profitable to cinema owners that they could afford to employ both organists and orchestras to entertain patrons between the films. This new CD in the Guild "Golden Age of Light Music" series captures those days … and much more.

British Cinema and Theatre Orchestras

1 The Juggler (G. Groitzsch)
COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT
2 Grasshoppers’ Dance (Ernest Bucalossi)
PARAMOUNT THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ARTHUR ANTON featuring AL BOLLINGTON, Organ
3 "Show Boat" – Selection : Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man; Why Do I Love You; Ol’ Man River (Jerome Kern)
COVENTRY NEW HIPPODROME ORCHESTRA Conducted by WILLIAM PETHERS
4 Nola (Felix Arndt)
REGAL CINEMA ORCHESTRA Conducted by EMANUEL STARKEY
5 Doll Medley: Dainty Doll (Barnes), Lonesome Little Doll (Phil Boutelje), Rag Doll (Nacio Herb Brown), Little Dutch Doll (Ravel), Doll Dance (Nacio Herb Brown), Wedding Of The Painted Doll (Nacio Herb Brown), China Doll Parade (John S. Zamecnik).
PARAMOUNT THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ARTHUR ANTON featuring AL BOLLINGTON, Organ
6 Bal Masque – Valse Caprice (from Two Parisian Sketches) (Percy Fletcher)
PLAZA THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK TOURS
7 "Conversation Piece" – Selection : Brighton Parade; Danser, Danser; I’ll Follow My Secret Heart; There’s Always Something Fishy About The French; Regency Rakes; Nevermore; Dear Little Soldiers; English Lesson; Lady Julia’s Theme; Melanie’s Aria (Finale Act II); I’ll Follow My Secret Heart (Noel Coward) Recorded 17th January 1934
HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by REGINALD BURSTON
8 Speakeasy (Lewis Gensler)
TROXY BROADCASTING ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT
9 Ye Merry Blacksmiths (John Belton)
GRANADA WALTHAMSTOW ORCHESTRA Conducted by CHARLES MANNING
10 "The Cat And The Fiddle" – Selection : Entr’acte; She Didn’t Day "Yes"; Dance; Try To Forget (Jerome Kern)
PALACE THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by HYAM GREENBAUM
11 Bells Across The Meadow (Albert W. Ketèlbey)
LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by RICHARD CREAN
12 Babylonian Nights (John S. Zamecnik)
GAUMONT STATE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ALFRED VAN DAM
13 "The Vagabond King" – Selection : Only A Rose; Huguette Valse; Song Of The Vagabonds (Brian Hooker / Rudolf Friml)
COVENTRY NEW HIPPODROME ORCHESTRA Conducted by WILLIAM PETHERS
14 Fifinette – Intermezzo Gavotte (Three Light Pieces Suite) (Percy Fletcher)
PRINCE OF WALES PLAYHOUSE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK WESTFIELD
15 Fairies In The Moon – Intermezzo Entr’acte (Montague Ewing)
TROXY BROADCASTING ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT
16 "The Fleet’s Lit Up" – Selection: They’ve A Way Of Doing It In The Navy, Guess It Must Be The Spring, Little Miss Go-As-You-Please, How Do You Do Mr. Right?, It’s d’Lovely*, Change Of Address, I’m A Dictator, Hide And Seek, The Fleet’s Lit Up (composed by Vivian Ellis, except ‘It’s d’Lovely’* by Cole Porter)
GERALDO AND HIS LONDON HIPPODROME ORCHESTRA
17 Scarf Dance (Cecile Chaminade)
PLAZA THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK TOURS
18 In The Sudan (Gabriel Sebek)
GAUMONT STATE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ALFRED VAN DAM
19 "King Of Jazz" – Selection : Ragamuffin Romeo (Harry de Costa/Mabel Wayne), It Happened In Monterey (Billy Rose/Mabel Wayne), I Like To Do Things For You, Happy Feet, A Bench In The Park, Song Of The Dawn (all by Milton Ager/Jack Yellen)
REGAL CINEMA ORCHESTRA Conducted by EMANUEL STARKEY with QUENTIN MACLEAN, Organ

Guild Music GLCD5108  

Considerable research has revealed that, although cinema and theatre orchestras undoubtedly existed in various countries around the world, it was only in Britain that record companies seemed to consider them worthy of inclusion in their catalogues.

Possibly this is because the owners of major cinemas and theatres in Britain wanted to engage conductors ‘of note’ to front their orchestras, thus adding some additional prestige. This, in turn, resulted in radio broadcasts, which further added to their status in the eyes (and ears) of the general public. Whatever the reasons, these ensembles offered record buyers a wide choice of light music from leading composers in Europe and America, as well as nearer home.

Several tracks in this collection feature the short-lived phenomenon of a theatre organ accompanying a light orchestra. In the early years of the last century, silent films were often shown to the accompaniment of music provided by a pianist or a small group of musicians. The larger cinemas gradually engaged bigger musical ensembles, until by the 1920s a decent-sized orchestra would often perform music specially composed to accompany the film being screened. However the arrival of talking pictures towards the end of the 1920s heralded the gradual demise of the orchestras, but the general public had become accustomed to an element of live musical entertainment on their frequent visits to the cinema. Partly as a cost-cutting exercise, most orchestras were replaced by theatre organs, but in some cases the change-over was gradual, and for a few years both organs and orchestras co-existed. Some of the tracks on this CD reflect this temporary transformation.

Things were different in theatres (not to be confused with movie theatres, where films were screened): technology was not the enemy of musicians – the culprit was changing tastes in entertainment. The once ubiquitous variety theatres in provincial towns and cities have become just a memory, and today it is noteworthy when more than a handful of players support a musical stage performance.

It may be of interest to mention a few of the cinemas and theatres where some of the orchestras featured in this collection were based. The stories of some are unfortunately typical of most: from being wonderful escapist venues for the masses in the 1930s, they eventually became too large to sustain financially, with very few exceptions. Many names are now just memories, although others are still very familiar.

‘Paramount’ still crops up at the start of films, and the original Paramount Pictures opened their third London movie theatre (after the Plaza, Lower Regent Street, and the Carlton in the Haymarket) in Tottenham Court Road in 1936, with a capacity of 2,568 seats. The organ installed was a Compton with ten units of pipes, together with one of the recently developed Melotone units, which produced a variety of voices together with carillon, chimes and other effects produced by electrostatic tone generation. The first resident organist, Reginald Foort (heard on Guild’s 1930s CD with the BBC Variety Orchestra – GLCD5106) was keen to exploit this new feature, and it was used to even greater effect by his successor, Al Bollington (1904-1991). The cinema was taken over by Odeon in 1942, and eventually closed by the Rank Organisation in 1960 and largely demolished. Four years later the site was used as a ‘temporary’ car park, and the lower sections of the auditorium’s walls could be seen, still showing traces of the original peeling and crumbling plasterwork. Sadly the final remains of the Paramount were being obliterated in mid-2004 as this CD was nearing completion.

Russian-born Joseph Muscant is credited with making the Commodore Grand Orchestra into one of the finest ensembles playing light music at that time. It was formed when the Hammersmith cinema opened on 14 September 1929, and soon became popular throughout Britain thanks to its regular BBC radio broadcasts. The resident pianist was Louis Mordish, who is probably featured on our opening track The Juggler. Long after the second World War, Mordish was still broadcasting regularly on the BBC with his own ensemble in programmes such as ‘Music While You Work’.

The Regal Cinema Orchestra, under its conductor Emanuel Starkey gained a fine reputation, and is remembered today partly through its early recordings of Eric Coates’ music. That great light music composer Sidney Torch (1908-1990) was at one time a pianist in Starkey’s orchestra at this famous Marble Arch movie theatre, and for a while he served as assistant to the first resident organist, Quentin Maclean (1896-1962), who is featured in the superb "King of Jazz" selection which closes this CD. This scintillating 78 is reputed to be the very first orchestral arrangement by Sidney Torch, and gives an exciting foretaste of the wonderful sounds he would create for his own orchestra in the years to come. The Regal Cinema opened in November 1928, and the organ was the largest in Europe, with an amazing 36 ranks. It was eventually removed from the cinema in 1964, and today it is apparently rotting away in a barn in Cornwall, and it is highly unlikely that it will ever play again.

Probably the best known British theatre orchestra was that of the world famous London Palladium. In recording terms it was also the most prolific, with almost 150 recordings made between 1927 and the early 1940s, most of them conducted by Richard Crean who was in charge from 1930 to 1937. Bells Across The Meadow, one of Albert Ketèlbey’s descriptive pieces which formed a staple part of the British musical scene in those days, clearly demonstrates what a fine orchestra this was. Crean’s deputy was William Pethers who moved on to conduct The Coventry Hippodrome Orchestra, featured on tracks 3 & 13 and one of the few provincial theatre orchestras to make recordings.

Many of the orchestra leaders and soloists in this collection were ‘household names’ in their day. Arthur Anton (who died in 1980) conducted for many light music broadcasts over the years, and he later made some recordings of library music for London publishers Boosey & Hawkes. In 1959 he conducted the orchestra at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, London, during the run of Mike Todd’s epic "Around The World In 80 Days". Frank E. Tours (1877-1963) combined his conducting and arranging with occasional compositions for the musical stage, although his most successful work was not a show number but his setting of Rudyard Kipling’s Mother o’ Mine. Geraldo (Gerald Bright, 1904-1974) was a major figure on the British entertainment scene for four decades, having fronted just about every kind of ensemble and influenced the successful careers of numerous top singers.

It is slightly surprising (given the technical problems that must have been involved) that many recordings from this period proudly state that the orchestra was actually recorded in the theatre or cinema where it usually performed. Of course, this was necessary if the organ was to be featured, but in other cases it would have been a simple matter to get the orchestra into a studio, and in fact there are instances where a studio-based orchestra and a cinema organ were recorded together via what used to be known as a land line.

One of the most famous to have been recorded on-site was the afore-mentioned Commodore Grand Orchestra (also known as the Commodore Gold Medal Orchestra) at Hammersmith, conducted by Joseph Muscant. He then moved to Stepney, in East London, where the Troxy Cinema’s orchestra was labelled the ‘Troxy Broadcasting Orchestra’ to reflect its national importance. Another example of the kudos attached to these orchestras is evident on the label of Ye Merry Blacksmiths by the Granada, Walthamstow Orchestra. Sidney Bernstein, creator of the Granada chain of cinemas, was obviously very proud of his orchestra, as the top line above the title proclaims: ‘The Bernstein Theatres Present’. The name ‘Granada’ still lives on: Sidney Bernstein used it when he formed one of Britain’s leading commercial television companies in the 1950s.

The Gaumont State in Kilburn opened on 20 December 1937, and it was the largest cinema ever built in England, with a capacity of over 4,000 seats. As well as screening films, the cinema also mounted lavish stage shows featuring the top stars and bands of the time, and Sidney Torch appeared on the opening night playing the Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ which had been designed by Quentin Maclean. The Gaumont State’s own orchestra soon began making records, under its London-born conductor Alfred Van Dam (1902-1973) who embarked upon a twelve-year association with the Gaumont-British organisation when aged only nineteen. He made his first broadcast in 1931, and immediately prior to his appointment at the flagship State cinema he had been musical director at the Trocadero, Elephant & Castle in south London. During his later career he contributed no less than 140 broadcasts to the BBC’s famous ‘Music While You Work’ programme, his last broadcast taking place in 1958 at a time when so many small light orchestras were disbanding.

Turning to the composers, keen collectors will recognise several distinguished names. Jerome Kern (1885-1945), Cole Porter (1891-1964), Noel Coward (1899-1973), Vivian Ellis (1903-1996), Albert W. Ketèlbey (1875-1959) and Rudolf Friml (1879-1972) are all among the finest from the 20th century, with their achievements well documented. Space only permits brief notes on some of the others, but pride of place must surely go to Ernest Bucalossi (1859-1933). His greatest success (indeed, one of the most memorable pieces of light music from the last century) was The Grasshoppers’ Dance which he composed in 1905, and it has since been performed and recorded by numerous ensembles of every kind throughout the world. Ernest followed in the footsteps of his father, Procida, conducting in various establishments (including leading West End theatres) as well as composing.

Felix Arndt (1889-1918) was an American pianist and composer who is reputed to have once given the young George Gershwin a job. Nola was his best-known piece, dedicated to his sweetheart, Nola Locke, whom he married ten months after he wrote it. Sadly he did not live long enough to enjoy the fruits of his talents, having died while still a young man during an influenza epidemic in New York.

The American John S. Zamecnik (1872-1953) appears to have been a very prolific composer, but his name means very little today. The same comment almost applies equally to Lewis E. Gensler (1896-1978), although during a long career he collaborated with some of the best writers and lyricists in the USA. Speakeasy was the name coined for the illegal drinking clubs that sprang up in response to prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, and succeeded in spawning a breed of world-famous gangsters.

Percy Eastman Fletcher (1879-1932) is probably best remembered today for his Bal Masque, although he was also active as a writer of band music. ‘John Belton’ hides the true identities of Tony Lowry and Douglas Brownsmith. Their biggest early success as Down The Mall, but each went on to compose independently for some years. Lowry was also one half of ‘Four Hands in Harmony’ with celebrated composer Clive Richardson.

Herbert Carrington was a prolific British composer, who used several different pseudonyms, his preferred ones being Sherman Myers and Montague Ewing. As the latter he is featured in this collection with Fairies in the Moon – apparently one of his popular subjects because he also had considerable success with Fairy on the Clock.

Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944) is reputed to have started composing when only eight, although her first public performance as a pianist took place ten years later. She became very popular in her native France, and in 1908 she repeated her success in the USA. Her Scarf Dance (Pas des Echarpes) was one of her best-known works, which included numerous songs as well as instrumental pieces.

Hopefully this collection of memorable selections from films and shows, plus a good helping of novelty pieces and popular tunes of the day, will serve as a fitting tribute to the high standard of musicianship displayed by all of the once-famous orchestras featured here.

David Ades  

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