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The Road From Vaudeville to Carnegie Hall By JUDITH CLURMAN
He's been called an American icon, a national treasure, and a one-man celebration of America's popular music. Skitch Henderson has done it all, and at the age of 87, he is still going strong. As conductor of the New York Pops, he brings the symphonic "light music" he loves to a broader audience. When the Juilliard Choral Union was in the midst of preparations for its appearance with the orchestra with Skitch and guest conductor Rob Fisher (on April 23 on its subscription series at Carnegie Hall), I took the opportunity to sit down with Skitch to talk about his career.
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| Skitch Henderson (Photo by Steve J. Sherman) |
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Vaudeville was where it all started, "on the road with acts," as Skitch says, in the 1930s. Then he "stumbled" into radio while in Hollywood and subsequently into the picture business with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. After service as a pilot in World War II, he returned to his work on the radio before becoming involved in the new and growing industry of television, serving as music director of NBC's Today and Tonight shows. Subsequently, when live television left New York City for the West Coast, he began the New York Pops. Along the way, he also conducted numerous symphonic orchestras, including the NBC Symphony at the invitation of Arturo Toscanini, the New York Philharmonic, Montreal, Dallas, Oregon, and many more. Appearances as a guest conductor still constitute a major part of his schedule.Born in 1918 as Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson in Birmingham, England, Skitch became involved in music through his mother, a church and theater organist. In the course of on-the-job training at his numerous positions, he encountered several important mentors and influences. While at MGM, he spent a great deal of personal time with Arnold Schoenberg. Though not formal study, it was instructive. "I asked him questions, mostly," Skitch says, pointing out that Schoenberg himself began his career scoring for radio in Germany.Skitch also collaborated with the composer Bernard Hermann on the Orson Welles Show. He studied conducting with Ernest Toch and Albert Coates at the suggestion of Victor Young, who was the music director of Paramount Studios. Skitch also became a close friend of Fritz Reiner while Reiner was music director at the Metropolitan Opera. He recalls, "I was always in awe of Reiner, because he was so exacting about life and about everything he did. When I became music director at NBC, I asked Reiner if he would spend some time teaching me. He said, 'You can teach an orangutan to beat time, but beating time has nothing to do with conducting.' He was the first one who made me realize that waving your arms is not going to accomplish everything. There is so much more to conducting!"
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| Henderson conducting The New York Pops orchestra at Carnegie Hall. (Photo by Steve J. Sherman) |
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It seems that everything Skitch Henderson touched has been magical. Early in his career at MGM, he collaborated with the greatest names in the business—Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Jeanette MacDonald, and Nelson Eddy, to name a few. I asked if there was a special moment that stood out, and he recounted a great experience working with Judy Garland. They both loved the song "Over the Rainbow," but the movie The Wizard of Oz had not yet been put together, and the studio didn't know where the song would fit. In Skitch's words, "We rehearsed the song at MGM and one night we were sent by the studio to go to the old Coconut Grove theater, whose owners were having a party. We performed the song and many people cried." It was Skitch who played the first performance of "Over the Rainbow" with Garland—now, that is a credit!In 1983, Skitch formed the New York Pops. Since that time, the orchestra, which includes numerous Juilliard graduates, has played a subscription series at Carnegie Hall, as well as tours and annual free concerts in New York City parks. The April 23 concert that includes the Juilliard Choral Union will showcase the music of one of Skitch's great friends from the past, Jerome Kern. You might know Kern as the composer of the musical Show Boat as well as many enduring standards from the American songbook. The chorus will perform a terrific medley, a new arrangement of "Look for the Silver Lining," and "All the Things You Are," considered by many musicians to be the quintessential popular song. Skitch said about "All the Things": "It is perfect because of the construction. The song starts in the minor mode, the bridge is in major, and then it returns to the minor key. That is great work." Skitch himself was involved in the first performance of this song on radio, scored for two pianos and orchestra, with André Kostelanetz conducting.I talked to Skitch about the people with whom he collaborated so closely—everyone from popular singers to Toscanini and Robert Shaw—but we also spoke about how serious a musician must be to succeed in any area of music. The bottom line is, you have to work hard, he said; perfection is perfection, regardless of the musical style. In fact, Skitch was Fred Astaire's rehearsal pianist, and he told me that Astaire would work on his dance routines all night until he was satisfied. Their rehearsal sessions would last until 4 a.m.!Skitch himself is a hard-working perfectionist. He taught himself to improvise because he needed the skill to make a living, and learned to transpose, as many of us do, by clef and not by ear. And that is how he got the name Skitch. He recalls, "I was a 17-year-old rehearsal pianist at MGM. Jerome Kern and Irving Berlin would bring their scores to the studio to audition them for the producer. We would all sit in this room with the stars the songs were written for. I was the 'safety plug' who could transpose the songs. After Mr. B [Irving Berlin] or Mr. Youmans [Vincent Youmans] would finish their demo, I would make the instant transposition to an appropriate key for the singers. They called me 'the sketch kid.' Later Bing Crosby said to me, 'Get your name straightened out if you are going to compete.' He nagged me until we got around to 'Skitch,' and I put it on my passport."
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Juilliard Choral Union with the New York Pops
Skitch Henderson, Music Director
Carnegie Hall
Friday, April 23, 8 p.m.
For ticket information, please see
the calendar.
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Does Skitch have any advice for aspiring musicians? He wants to encourage young students to appreciate all styles of music, and listen to and play music from Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart to Bernstein, Carmichael, and Sondheim. "Light music" (the term Skitch likes to use) has to become a steady part of the diet of classical musicians. "Learn to love it," he says. "It will help your life a lot and, in my opinion, help your interpretations of the classics."So far this year, the Choral Union has performed Bernstein, Ives, and Stravinsky, but as I train the ensemble to sing Jerome Kern, I encourage them to learn to listen differently. The notes are there on paper but must be sung with a rhythmic finesse. Let's face it: the dotted quarter note in Ives is not the dotted quarter note in Jerome Kern! It is not an easy task to teach a large group to sing this music with clarity, and at the same time, create a casual feeling. However, the opportunity to work with a living legend like Skitch Henderson is motivation enough. If you join us for this concert at Carnegie on April 23, I promise you will thoroughly enjoy it—but be warned that it is nearly sold out!Judith Clurman, director of choral activities, is director of the Juilliard Choral Union.
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