GLCD 5122 JBritish Cinema & theatre Orchastras - Volume II Reviews & Broadcast

THE GOLDEN AGE OF LIGHT MUSIC British Cinema & Theatre Orchestras - Volume II GLCD 5108 British Cinema & Theatre Orchestras Volume I REGAL VIRTUOSI Conducted by EMANUEL STARKEY, PARAMOUNT THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by ANTON with AL BOLLINGTON, Organ, CHARLES MANNING AND HIS GRANADA WALTHAMSTOW ORCHESTRA, LONDON PALLADIUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by RICHARD CREAN, COMMODORE GRAND ORCHESTRA Conducted by JOSEPH MUSCANT, LONDON COLISEUM ORCHESTRA Conducted by ALFRED DOVE, PLAZA THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by FRANK TOURS, WINTER GARDEN THEATRE ORCHESTRA Conducted by SYDNEY BAYNES, THE GAUMONT BRITISH STUDIO ORCHESTRA Under the Direction of LOUIS LEVY Track 01 Grasshopper's Dance Track 13 Three Bears Track 15 Salut D’Amour

Contents:

Following the warm reception accorded to Guild Light Music’s first collection of music associated with British Cinema and Theatre orchestras of the inter-war years (GLCD 5108), a second compilation simply had to follow. Once again the theatre organ makes an appearance accompanying a light orchestra. Towards the end of the 1920s the more prestigious cinemas had moved from a solitary pianist to small orchestras providing suitable background music for silent films, and even when the ‘talkies’ arrived (the first was “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson in 1927) live musicians still formed part of the entertainment provided at many cinemas. Orchestras were gradually replaced by organists, and sometimes the two co-existed for a brief period. Then, as our last track demonstrates, both were replaced by the film studio orchestras.

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 after serving as assistant to resident organists Quentin Maclean (1896-1962) and Reginald Foort (1893-1980) he became the solo organist. Opened in November 1928, the Regal was one of several cinemas built by A.E. Abrahams, a speculator with a variety of business interests, who leased it to a company which was to become Associated British Cinemas. Despite a stipulation that the orchestra must be retained, in June 1931 notice of termination was issued, leaving Reginald Foort (and later Sidney Torch) to provide the only live music on Europe's largest unit type cinema organ. But something must have been happening behind the scenes as, early in 1932, a new orchestra about half the size of the original and called "The Regal Virtuosi" arrived, again under the baton of Emanuel Starkey, with Torch as its pianist and arranger. It does not seem to have existed for long, but long enough to record five items for Columbia, one of which can be heard here, and two more are on GLCD5108 and 5116.

'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. Directed by Arthur Anton (real name Arthur Sweeting, d. 1980), "The Paramount Theatre Orchestra" already existed at the Brixton Astoria, being billed as "The Paramount-Astoria Orchestra," and as such a Columbia record was made early in 1935. It now had to cover both theatres, changing its name each time, and two months after the Paramount's opening the first of 32 HMVs was recorded. Paramount installed large Wurlitzer organs at the Plaza and their first three provincial theatres, but selected Compton organs for a further three in the provinces, plus Tottenham Court Road. The organ had 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), who was transferred from Streatham following Foort's appointment as BBC staff organist.The cinema was taken over by Odeon in 1942, and eventually closed by the Rank Organisation in 1960 and largely demolished, although the final remains of the Paramount were not obliterated until mid-2004.

Following their appearance in Guild’s first volume of British Cinema and Theatre Orchestras, Richard Crean and the London Palladium Orchestra return with a March Medley with so many short excerpts that even the most knowledgeable expert would find it hard to name the titles. Such collections were popular at the time, and other examples on this CD include the Leslie Stuart Memories by the London Coliseum Orchestra, and Thurban’s Yankiana suite – all no doubt familiar melodies in their time, but largely forgotten today.

Russian-born Joseph Muscant (1899-1983) is credited with making the Commodore Grand Orchestra (also known as the Commodore Gold Medal 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. During the orchestra's Regal Zonophone period under Muscant the resident pianist was Louis Mordish (1908-1996), and long after the second World War he was still broadcasting regularly on the BBC as an organist and with his own and other ensembles in a variety of programmes. The orchestra recorded Japanese Intermezzo twice – for Edison Bell as featured here and later for Regal Zonophone. When Muscant obtained a year's engagement at the Troxy, Stepney, in 1934, he took most of the orchestra with him, so Harry Davidson, his successor at the Commodore, had the unenviable task of trying to form a replacement orchestra of similar quality to uphold the tradition. Davidson (1892-1967) had been the theatre's organist since its opening, and made numerous solo records as well as several with the orchestra, but it was not until 1943 that he became famous through the weekly radio programme "Those Were the Days," which ran for 23 years, alongside a series of Columbia records.

Paramount's already mentioned Plaza Theatre opened in March 1926, with a fine orchestra and a Wurlitzer organ to entertain the patrons and accompany the then silent films. The conductor was Frank Tours (1877-1963), who studied at the Royal College of Music and soon became involved in the musical theatre. After co-writing several shows, in 1909 he wrote the entire music for "The Dashing Little Duke," conducting the orchestra and the selections recorded by HMV. By 1926 Tours was conducting Columbia's "Court Symphony Orchestra," so perhaps this resulted in their invitation to record the recently formed Plaza Theatre Orchestra. His musical choice was in the light and light classical categories, rather than the novelties often favoured by some of his contemporaries, but the results were always very tasteful.

Any mention of Sydney Baynes (1872-1938) immediately brings to mind his immortal waltz "Destiny," but in fact he led a busy life with his own orchestra performing light music, and even with a dance orchestra playing the hits of the day. His work in the theatre included "Lido Lady" at the Gaiety in 1926, and at the Adelphi "Clowns in Clover" in 1928 and "The House That Jack Built" in 1929. In the following year he was to be found at the Winter Garden Theatre (replaced in 1973 by the New London Theatre), conducting the ill-fated "Follow a Star," the Overture of which is included here. Rehearsals were well advanced when its star Sophie Tucker arrived together with her pianist/composer Ted Shapiro and lyricist Jack Yellen, and she immediately called for additional solo spots and numbers, together with new lyrics for part of the existing Vivian Ellis-Douglas Furber score. Six weeks into the run Miss Tucker departed for other engagements, so the show had to close for revision and the engagement of a new leading lady. It reopened a fortnight later, but the damage had been done and it lasted for only a few more weeks notching up a total of 118 performances.

The selection from the Cicely Courtneidge comedy film "Aunt Sally" (1933) is interesting for several reasons. It was the first recording by Louis Levy, heralding those immensely enjoyable records by the ‘Gaumont British Symphony’ which commenced just over a year later, and it also introduced us to the sparkling tunes of the American songwriter and band leader Harry M. Woods (1896-1970). He remained in England for some time, mainly providing the songs which played an important part in the success of Gaumont British musicals, some still being popular 70 years on. Debroy Somers and his Band were featured in the cabaret spots of "Aunt Sally," but although Louis Levy and the studio orchestra would almost certainly provide the general music, they did not appear in the film credits. Levy himself may have been guilty of failing to give his talented team of composers and arrangers the credit they deserved, but the end product was his responsibility, and it was always of a remarkably high standard.                                                                                                                         David Ades

Page revised 26.05.2006