Savoy Orpheans

Dancing was the force driving hotels to provide venues for bands and for places where patrons might dance. However, as in the USA, it was the development of Radio Broadcasting that may have done the most to establish dance bands as national institutions. On March 26, 1923, Marius B. Winter's band was the first to broadcast (using the attic of Marconi House in London as a studio).

The first major influence on British Popular music was London's Savoy Hotel. The two main bands to consider are the New York Havana Orchestra and the Savoy Orpheans. As early as 1916, a group known as the Savoy Quartette had taken up residence at the Savoy, and remained resident until 1920. But, their music was quite different from the music that was to sweep the world starting about 1920.



In 1919, Bert Ralton an American Saxophonist, left Art Hickman's band in New York City, went to Havana, Cuba, and formed his own band. About 1920/1, he arrived in England, and, in March of 1922, his New York Havana Band played at London's Coliseum. A few months later they opened at the Savoy Hotel as the Savoy Havana Band. On April 23, 1922, they first broadcast from a BBC studio, and 5 months later became the first dance band to have regular, weekly broadcasts remoted from the Savoy Hotel.



The next important date in British music occurred in 1923 when Debroy Somers formed his Savoy Orpheans Orchestra. Rudy Vallee was still there, as was Billy Thorburn on piano, and now Carroll Gibbons. It should be noted that the New York Havana Band, or Savoy Havana Band as they came to be called, were indeed quite popular, but they never achieved the same fame as the Savoy Orpheans. When Somers left in 1926, Cyril Newton became the leader. Carroll Gibbons became leader in 1927. (And, the American, Frank Guarente, who had been touring with his "New Georgians Orch", joined the band.) Both of these fine orchestras were resident at the Savoy until 1927, when William de Mornys, the agent for both the bands, withdrew them due to the Savoy's refusal in allowing them to play other engagements.

Carroll Gibbons and Teddy Sinclair became co-leaders of "The "Original Savoy Orpheans" that now included trumpeters Max Goldberg and Frank Guarente. While in 1928, Reg Batten became the leader of "The New Savoy Orpheans" that included American's Sylvester Ahola on trumpet and Irving Brodsky on piano. Savoy and Popular Music



In 1926, Lowry mentions the Savoy Orpheans twice in letters to his teenage friend Carol Brown. I presume that Lowry as a school boy probably couldn't attend The Savoy and was only familiar with their broadcasts.

I have recently discovered The Dance Band Show which is an excellent resource on UK dance bands giving a flavour of what young Malc may have been listening to on the radio before he discovered American jazz.

If you want a flavour of some of the clientele at the Savoy at his time then look no fiurther than the ever excellent Another Nickel In The Machines's feature on The Murder of Ali Fahmy At The Savoy Hotel.

Belle Baker "Hard Hearted Hannah" 1924

If ever you're going to get a new record there, get "Oh Miss Hannah!" great fun, believe me. And think that it has a better moral than H.H.H. Letter to Carol Brown May 1926 in Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry.

I have already posted a feature on "Oh Miss Hannah!" by the Revelers. Sherrill E. Grace, the editor of Lowry's Collected Letters has suggested that the song Malc refers to as H.H.H. is possibly "Hard Hearted Hannah". More than likely, the version Malc would be familiar with would have been Belle Baker's song from 1924.



Belle Baker (25 December 1893, New York City, New York - 29 April 1957, Los Angeles, California) was an American singer and actress.

Born Bella Becker, she rose to fame as a vaudeville vocalist, appearing on Broadway and in nightclubs, films, radio and television.

In the early 1920s, when she was well known as The Ragtime Singer, Baker took part in a Baltimore song competition with Catherine Calvert, the Hamilton Sisters (Pearl and Violet) and Jessie Fordyce. She was the first artist to record "All of Me," one of the most recorded songs of its era, and she was also the first person in the United States to do a radio broadcast from a moving train.

In 1926, Baker had the title role in Broadway's Betsy. She introduced Irving Berlin's "Blues Skies" in the Florenz Ziegfeld production, which ran for 39 performances from December 28, 1926 to January 29, 1927. With music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, the musical comedy had a book by Irving Caesar and David Freedman. Victor Baravelle was the musical director.

On radio, she was a guest performer on The Eveready Hour, broadcasting's first major variety show, which featured Broadway's top headliners. After roles in the films Song of Love (1929) and Charing Cross Road (1935), she appeared as herself in Atlantic City (1944).

She was married to the composer Maurice Abrahams (1883-1931), who wrote the songs "I'm Walking with the Moonbeams (Talking to the Stars)" and "Take Everything But You" for Song of Love. The couple had one child, Herbert Baker. On September 21, 1937, she married Elias E. Sugarman, editor of the theatrical trade magazine, Billboard.
She died of a heart attack in 1957 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles. Wikipedia

It is also possible that Malc was referring to the very popular Savoy Orpheans who had a regular radio show where Malc may have heard the song?


Hard Hearted Hannah Fox Trot (Yellen, Bigelow & Bates) Savoy Orpheans at the Savoy Hotel, London HMV B1955/Bb5643-3 Hayes, Middlesex 21.1.1925.

Here's a great version of the song by Ella Fitzgerald from 1955:

Fascinating Rhythm 1924

The above song certainly had some emotional significance for the young Malc as he wrote to his teenage love Carol Brown:

Every time I hear "Fascinating Rhythm" it reminds me of that evening by the gate. Letter to Carol Brown May 1926, Collected Letters of Malcolm Lowry

Below is a photograph taken at the spot outside Hilthorpe where Carol and Malc spent sometime together in 1925 or 26 which prompted Malc's reminisce in the extract from the letter above. You can read more details of their friendship in Gordon Bowker's biography of Lowry. We can only speculate the significance of the moment.



The song is from the musical Lady, Be Good written by Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson, featured music by George and Ira Gershwin. It debuted at the Liberty Theatre on December 1, 1924.

It is a musical comedy about a brother and his sister who are out of money and each eager to sacrifice him- or herself to help the other. It originally starred brother and sister performers Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire. It ran for 330 performances in the original Broadway run.



What is difficult to gauge is how Lowry would have been aware of the song? Perhaps, he picked up the song via his elder brothers Stuart and Russell or did he hear it on a visit to Carol Brown's house Hilthorpe in Caldy or could he conceivably seen the musical at the Empire in London? The last premise is unlikely as he was writing to Carol in May 1926 and the musical only opened Prince of Wales Theatre, London on 14 April, 1926.

The version below was performed by the Savoy Orpheans, the resident orchestra at the Savoy Hotel, London during the 20s and 30s. They were also on BBC radio.



The Savoy Orpheans were formed in early 1923. The main attraction at London's famed Savoy Hotel had been Bert Ralton's Savoy Havana Band, and when Ralton left in late 1922 for an Australian tour, the band's violinist, Reginald Batten, became the leader. (Rudy Vallee was playing the Sax and Billy Mayerl was on the Piano). In 1923, due to the great popularity of the NY Havana Band, the Savoy decided to hire still another band - called The Savoy Orpheans - with Debroy Sommers as Leader. (Vallee was still on Sax but Billy Thorburn was on the piano. Carroll Gibbons was also in the new band). Now, both the New York Havana Band and The Savoy Orpheans bands were feature attractions at the Hotel.



Lowry was actually aware of the The Savoy Orpheans and mentions the band in a later letter to Carol in June 1926.