Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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HENDERSON, Skitch

(b Lyle Cedric Henderson, 27 Janury 1918, Birmingham, England; d 1 November 2005, New Milford CT) Bandleader, pianist, arranger, composer. He came to the USA in the 1930s, eking out a living playing piano in the Midwest. He accompanied Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney on tour when their pianist became ill, and ended up in Hollywood; he was music director on radio for Bob Hope, and was such a quick arranger that he was nicknamed the sketch kid, which became Skitch. He joined the Canadian Royal Air Force in 1940 and later flew for the USAAF during WWII, and maintained a collection of aviation memorabilia for the rest of his lfe. He led his own dance band '47-9 which included two French horns, and recorded for Capitol. He studied with Arnold Schoenberg, further honing his remarkable ear. Touring with Frank Sinatra, he stayed on when Sinatra moved his Lucky Strike radio show to New York, then was music director for Crosby's Philco Hour, and joined the NBC music staff '51.

He was music director of the Steve Allen show '55-6, losing the job when Jack Paar took over, the show renamed the Tonight show, but returning when Paar suddenly left '62 and was succeeded by Johnny Carson. The band was rarely allowed to shine except during commercial breaks for the studio audience, but the book included arrangements by Neal Hefti, Ernie Wilkins etc; sidemen included trumpets Clark Terry, Doc Severinsen and Snooky Young. He left NBC suddenly in '66, succeeded as leader by Severinson. He was conductor of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra '71-2, guest conductor of many others; music director for the New York City Opera revival of Kurt Weill's Street Scene, etc. In 1975, Henderson was sentenced to six months in prison and a $10,000 fine for filing false income tax statements; he served four months, convicted of wrongly reporting that he donated musical scores and arrangements worth $350,000 to the University of Wisconsin in 1969. His defense lawyer blamed the tax violations on bad advice from an accountant, the value of the material being exaggerated. He had led a New York Pops orchestra informally in the 1950s, formed it on a more secure basis in 1983. Several albums included Sketches By Skitch and a highlights set of Porgy & Bess with Leontyne Price, which won a Grammy '63, both on RCA; several on Columbia included Skitch…Tonight! (which charted ‘65), Eyes Of Love and A Tribute To Irving Berlin.