The 1950s – Volume 2 : Midnight Matinee

Two more CDs have been added to the GUILD "Golden Age of Light Music" series. The first is a scintillating collection of recordings, mainly from 1954. The second concentrates on quiet, reflective melodies for enjoying during the less hectic times of the day.

The 1950s – Volume 2 : Midnight Matinee

1 Midnight Matinee (Len Stevens)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
2 Postman’s Knock (Leslie Julian Jones)
WALLY STOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA
3 The Magic Touch (Bernie Wayne)
HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
4 Moonlight Fiesta (Cyril Ornadel)
WINIFRED ATWELL, piano with CYRIL ORNADEL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
5 Simonetta (Belle Fenstock, Irving Caesar)
RICHARD HAYMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
6 Tales of Munich (Münchner G’Schichten) (Theo Mackeben)
HAMBURG RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by HARRY HERMANN
7 Holiday Funfair (Jack Beaver)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
8 Shadow Waltz (Paul Dubois)
NELSON RIDDLE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
9 Veradero (Bernie Wayne)
GEOFF LOVE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
10 On Fifth Avenue (Ronnie Pleydell)
RONNIE PLEYDELL AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
11 BOULEVARD WALTZ (Hillier, Hillier, Newman)
REG TILSLEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
12 Frenchman’s Creek (Laurie Johnson)
LAURIE JOHNSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA
13 Ecstasy (Jose Belmonte)
EDMUNDO ROS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
14 Bahama Buggy Ride (Steggerda)
HUGO WINTERHALTER AND HIS ORCHESTRA
15 Poodle Parade (Robert Farnon)
DANISH STATE RADIO ORCHESTRA Conducted by ROBERT FARNON
16 Ballet of the Bells (Ray Martin)
JOHNNY DOUGLAS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
17 A Girl Called Linda (David Greer)
JEFF MORLEY AND HIS ORCHESTRA
18 Park Plaza (from the film) (Philip Green)
PHILIP GREEN and THE CAMEO PLAYERS
19 Ditto (Charles Strouse)
MICHAEL FREDERICKS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
20 Follow Me Around (Philip Green)
DOLF VAN DER LINDEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA
21 Panoramic Splendour (Trevor Duncan)
NEW CONCERT ORCHESTRA Conducted by R. de PORTEN
22 Carefree (Charles E. Henderson, Edward Heyman)
AXEL STORDAHL AND HIS ORCHESTRA
23 Palsy Walsy (George Siravo)
GEORGE SIRAVO AND HIS ORCHESTRA
24 Midnight Blue (Eric Spear)
RON GOODWIN AND HIS CONCERT ORCHESTRA
25 With Emma To Town (Anthony Collins)
LONDON PROMENADE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ANTHONY COLLINS
26 Limelight – Theme and Incidental Music (Charles Chaplin)
WALLY STOTT AND HIS ORCHESTRA

GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5111

Names such as Wally Stott, Laurie Johnson, Ron Goodwin, Trevor Duncan, Dolf van der Linden and, of course, Robert Farnon, will immediately alert readers to the fact that this is a very special collection. 1954 seems to have been a vintage year for light music on 78s & 45s, and LPs were gradually starting to make a real impact, although their high prices did tend to make collectors think twice before buying. As well as the commercial discs, the mood music companies were releasing numerous pieces that have since become miniature masterpieces of light music. It all represents a far off period when light music seemed to be so plentiful, yet you could not always purchase what you really wanted.

The first track in this collection is a case in point. Midnight Matinee was heard countless times in cinema newsreels, and its sheer exuberance sums up the carefree atmosphere of the mid-1950s, when people were finally starting to believe that the days of wartime austerity were behind them at last. The composer, Len Stevens (d. 1989), was a master at composing this kind of music; in this instance his work was recorded by Chappell & Co. but he also contributed to many other leading publishers’ mood music catalogues. Essentially a ‘backroom boy’ of the music business, Len rarely came to the public’s attention, yet he was highly regarded by his colleagues and arranged (usually anonymously) for the biggest names, including many stage musicals.

Other prime examples of quality mood music on this CD include Holiday Funfair by Jack Beaver (1900-1963) and Follow Me Around by Philip Green (1910-1982) – both played by Dolf van der Linden and his Metropole Orchestra based in Hilversum, The Netherlands. Another Chappell 78 features a catchy cameo Poodle Parade by Robert Farnon (b. 1917), who also conducts the Danish State Radio Orchestra in this, and the afore-mentioned Midnight Matinee.

The other piece of production music comes from the pen of Trevor Duncan (real name Leonard Trebilco b. 1924) who was also responsible for The Girl From Corsica and the theme for BBC TV’s "Dr. Finlay’s Casebook" – his March from A Little Suite. According to the composer himself, Panoramic Splendour was one of his most successful pieces for his publishers, Boosey & Hawkes, but it is believed that this is the first time that it has been available on a commercial recording. RFS members still recall, with great pleasure, meeting Trevor at the Bonnington Hotel last April.

Angela Morley (b. 1924) is today regarded as one of the finest arrangers and film composers. In more recent she has worked on several big budget movies (one example is the "Star Wars" series assisting John Williams), but in her early career she made numerous recordings under her former name, Wally Stott, also providing the priceless musical backings for "The Goon Show". Actually Angela appears on three tracks in this collection: she conducts Postman’s Knock, and her own arrangement of Charlie Chaplin’s music for his film "Limelight" – and using the pseudonym ‘Jeff Morley’ she arranges and conducts A Girl Called Linda by David Greer. The composer of Postman’s Knock, Leslie Julian Jones (b. 1910), does not appear to have been a prolific writer, although he is credited with having composed songs (You’ll Never Know a Love Like Mine is one example) and a revue.

The 1950s seems to have been a very busy period for the American Bernie Wayne (1919-1993). In the USA he is best known for his "Miss America" Beauty Pageant theme, and the hit song Blue Velvet. His string of instrumental successes included Vanessa, Port-au-Prince and Veradero (played on this CD by Geoff Love). The Magic Touch didn’t attract quite the same attention, maybe because there were so many good tunes around at that time. Hugo Winterhalter (1909-1973) started out writing arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Claude Thornhill, Will Bradley and others. His prestigious appointments included a spell as Musical Director at MGM in 1948, followed by similar positions with Columbia, RCA and Kapp Records. During his spell at RCA he arranged hits for Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore and The Ames Bros. He also made his own instrumental recordings, and his disc of Canadian Sunset (with its composer Eddie Heywood on piano) sold two million copies in 1956. Another of his hits was the American version of Ray Martin’s Blue Violins (included on Guild GLCD5105 – Great American Light Orchestras). Another Winterhalter 78 is featured here – the catchy Bahama Buggy Ride, composed by Johannes Steggerda who appears to be a Belgian writer; the American Bob Mellin added a lyric and also published the tune.

Cyril Ornadel (b. 1924) rose to prominence in Britain during the 1950s, largely due to his weekly appearances conducting the orchestra for the popular television series "Sunday Night at the London Palladium". He was MD for numerous top musicals in London’s West End, and his composing credits include the hit show "Pickwick" and the song Portrait of my Love which gave Matt Monro an international hit. Moonlight Fiesta provided pianist Winifred Atwell (1914-1983) with a fine showcase for her talents, this time on the concert grand, rather than her better known "other piano". She hailed from Trinidad and enjoyed tremendous success, topping variety bills with her records regularly reaching the top twenty. Readers are reminded that Cyril Ornadel looked back on his career in a special article in our last issue.

Belle Fenstock (b. 1914) has no less than 28 compositions listed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), yet very few seem to be remembered today. Simonetta was very popular during the 1950s, with recordings by several top orchestras. Irving Caesar added lyrics for the vocal version. Another Fenstock creation – Safari – is featured on the Guild collection "Reflections of Tranquility" GLCD 5112. Conductor Richard Hayman (b. 1920) started at the age of 18 as a harmonica player in Borrah Minevitch’s Harmonica Rascals, but he wisely decided to concentrate more on arranging and conducting. He worked on the MGM musical "Meet Me In St. Louis" and was put under contract by Mercury Records in 1950, for whom he made many singles and albums, the best-seller being his version of Ruby from the film "Ruby Gentry". He also arranged for the Boston Pops, serving as back-up conductor for Arthur Fiedler.

Britain and America certainly did not have a monopoly of superb light orchestras during the 1950s. Germany was also blessed with many, usually tied to regional radio stations, and Harry Hermann (1899-1961) at Nord-West Deutsche Rundfunk in Hamburg fronted a large concert orchestra – as heard on the Philips 78 in this collection. At times the orchestra personnel included players of the calibre of ‘Toots’ Thielemans, Helmut Zacharias and James Last. Unfortunately it has not proved possible to identify who was responsible for the superb arrangement of Theo Mackeben’s delightful waltz Münchner G’schichten. Harry Hermann (full name Harry Hermann Spitz) often used Ulrich Sommerlatte during this period, but other strong candidates include Rudolf Kühn, Rudolf Maluck and Kurt Wege. RFS member Alexander Schatte kindly provided this information on the arrangers who were working with Harry Hermann at that time.

Clive Richardson (1909-1998) has already been featured on previous Guild Light Music CDs (his Melody on the Move from Guild GLCD 5102 is one of the finest pieces of light music ever written) but he also composed under the pseudonym ‘Paul Dubois’. Partly due to its use by the BBC as the theme for the television series "The Teckman Biography" in 1953-54, it quickly caught the public’s attention, and even achieved fame in the USA, where Nelson Riddle (1921-1985) made it one of his earliest singles for Capitol.

During the post-war years, Ronnie Pleydell (d. 1994) at one time fronted the resident band at the Hotel Bristol in Newquay, and also worked as a session musician. His recording of On Fifth Avenue comes from a rare Melodisc 78 and proves that he could also compose catchy tunes. Also from Melodisc (a label which issued very few orchestral recordings as it tended to specialise in West African music) comes Boulevard Waltz featuring Reg Tilsley, a highly respected composer, arranger and conductor. He was active in arranging and recording music library tracks (notably for De Wolfe); he also worked for a while with the pop group The Pretty Things and made a number of LP albums for Philips under the "Sounds Orchestral" banner.

Laurie Johnson (b.1927) has been a leading figure on the British entertainment scene for 50 years. A gifted arranger and composer, Laurie has contributed to films, musical theatre, radio, television and records, with his music used in many well-known productions such as "The Avengers" and "The Professionals". Frenchman’s Creek was inspired by the Daphne du Maurier novel, set in Cornwall and the subject of a Hollywood movie filmed by Paramount in 1944.

‘Jose Belmonte’ is one of a number of pseudonyms adopted by Philip Green, possibly to disguise the fact that he was one of the most prolific composers on the British music scene for around five decades. Radio, television, films, library music and numerous recordings gained him the reputation of being a workaholic – even before the term was invented. Three of his compositions are featured in this collection, each quite different in nature, but all bearing the stamp of quality that was his trademark. Ecstasy was very popular, at a time when tango music was enjoying a mini-revival, and the Edmundo Ros version is one of the best.It is among the very few recordings he made utilising a full concert orchestra rather than his normal Latin-American ensemble – two others are available on earlier Guild CDs in this series.

Ray Martin (1918-1988) has already been mentioned in these notes – in fact it would be difficult to ignore him in any survey of British light music of around 50 years ago. His tuneful pieces were often recorded by fellow conductors on other labels, and it is good to hear the alternate versions for a change, especially when they are as bright and refreshing as the Johnny Douglas (1920-2003) recording of Ballet of the Bells for Decca – although to be precise it must be stated that Martin never actually recorded this number himself.

The track Ditto is something or a rarity for several reasons. Firstly, it was issued by Polygon, a small British record company founded in 1949 by Alan Freeman: early successes included Petula Clark and Jimmy Young 78s. In 1955 it became part of the Pye label, which had been established in 1953 when it acquired 51% of Nixa. Polygon issued quite a large number of orchestral 78s, but few of them (apart from early Ray Martin and Ron Goodwin titles) ever attracted much attention. The conductor Michael Fredericks is also largely unknown, having managed to escape the reference books. But some light can be shed upon Ditto itself; it appears that the composer was Charles Strouse, and this catchy little piece was the first movement in his short suite entitled Three American Pieces for Piano.

The name Axel Stordahl (1913-1963) will be familiar to many collectors of American popular music, mainly through his backing for Frank Sinatra during a period known as the singer’s ‘Columbia years’. In 1936 he joined Tommy Dorsey as a trumpet player, and was encouraged to develop his arranging talents. He realised that his style was more suited to slow, sentimental ballads, which became his trademark. In partnership with Paul Weston, he composed Day by Day, but during his later career he tended to concentrate on leading studio bands for radio and television.

George Siravo (1916-2000) played clarinet with many of the big bands of the swing era, and he was also in demand as a free-lance arranger for the likes of Charlie Barnet, Artie Shaw and Gene Krupa. In recent years he has been credited with helping to revive Frank Sinatra’s flagging career, when he provided some of the orchestrations for the singer’s first major album ‘Songs for Young Lovers’, although the kudos went to Nelson Riddle who was brought in when the project was already partly completed. George Siravo’s contribution to this CD represents one of the rare novelty numbers that he both composed and recorded himself.

Eric Spear will forever be associated with the theme for "Coronation Street", but this was only one of many light music works he composed. Midnight Blue was intended as the ‘B’ side for a Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) 78, and this arrangement is probably by the maestro himself.

Anthony Collins (1893-1963) had already established a successful conducting career in England, before he went to the USA in 1939 where he began writing film scores for RKO in addition to conducting assignments in New York and Los Angeles. In 1944 he returned to England and worked on several British films, and concentrated on conducting classical music for concerts and recordings, including a series of Sibelius symphonies and tone poems. In the light music sphere his most enduring work has been Vanity Fair, but since this is already well represented on CD the decision has been made to feature the other side of the composer’s own Decca record - With Emma To Town.