Long
associated with the
theatre, Harold Collins
and his orchestra was one
of the best light
orchestras of its kind on
the radio. Harold Collins
was born Hyam Skollin in
Birmingham on the 4th.
June 1901, his family
having fled the pogroms
in Russia. Starting as a
concert party pianist at
the age of 18, Harold
spent some years with the
Archie Pitt Organisation
as a conductor in revue,
before becoming resident
conductor at the Palace,
Plymouth from where he
first broadcast in 1936.
Moving to the Lewisham
Hippodrome In London, he
became a regular
broadcaster. When Music
While You Work started in
1940, Harold Collins
became one of the regular
contributors, his
orchestra providing 227
editions during the
ensuing twenty-five
years. They also produced
a considerable number of
records for the Decca
Music While You Work
label which acted as a
companion to the radio
series. Among the other
programmes in which the
orchestra was regularly
featured, was the daily
breakfast-time programme
Morning Music.
Harold
acted as Musical Director
for a series of stage
shows in London and the
provinces. He was at the
London Coliseum in 1947,
the London Casino
in1951/2 with Folies
Bergere and toured with
The Student Prince during
the fifties. In 1956
Harold Collins and his
Orchestra made the first
of many television
appearances and in 1961,
Harold conducted the Jack
Parnell orchestra for a
rather special edition of
Sunday Night at the
London Palladium which,
due to a strike in the
entertainment industry,
featured just Bruce
Forsyth and Norman Wisdom
(for whom Collins was
M.D). This often repeated
show provided Harold
Collins with the
opportunity to
participate in one of the
routines, in which he
"refused" to
play for Wisdom,
resulting in the comedian
jumping into the pit and
conducting a frenzied
cachophany!
In
the early sixties, when
the London Palladium was
closed for refurbishment
for a few months, the
Sunday night television
show transferred to the
Prince of Wales theatre,
for which Harold Collins
was Musical Director.
Consequently, his
orchestra was seen and
heard in this
high-profile show every
week. The BBC did not
like their broadcasters
appearing on ITV and
(coincidentally or
otherwise) did not use
the Harold Collins
orchestra during this
period, and even when the
television work ended,
its radio appearances
became less frequent. It
was heard for the last
time on September 1st
1964. A dynamic and
polished combination of
twenty-three players, it
was
one
of the last traditional
theatre orchestras to
broadcast.
Harold
Collins died in Spain in
1968.
Listen
to 'Music While You Work'
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
as broadcast on the BBC
Light Programme at 3.31
p.m. on 5th May 1964.
MUSIC
WHILE YOU WORK
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
at 3.31 p.m. on 5th May
1964
Calling
All Workers (sig)
El Toro Bravo
Pickwick (Selection)
The Trapeze Waltz
Diane
Carlos' Theme
Cole Porter selection
. You'd be so nice to
come home to
. Let's do it
. In the still of the
night
. Just one of those
things
Springtime Romance
Swinging the march
Ivor Novello Selection
. We'll gather lilacs
. Shine through my dreams
. Take your girl
. Some day my heart will
awake
Pavanne
Tin Pan Alley Rag
Around the Danube
Night Flight
West Side Story
(Selection)
Calling All Workers (sig) |
Coates
Barber
Cyril Ornadel
Sidney Torch
Ben Pollack
Ivor Slaney
arr.Collins
Rudolph Lewysohn
Ken Jones
arr.Collins
Morton Gould
Ken Jones
Frederick Charrosin
Peter Hope
Leonard Bernstein
Coates |
Listen
to 'Music While You Work'
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
as broadcast on 10th
April 1962.
MUSIC
WHILE YOU WORK
at 3.31 p.m. on 10th
April 1962
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
Calling
All Workers (sig)
Haifa Festival
Moon River
Felicidades
Sous les Ponts de Paris
Selection: Stop the World
Alcantara
Medley: Norman Wisdom
Melodies
. Don't Laugh at Me
. Beware
. Please Opportunity
Vienna Dash
Exodus
Leroy Anderson Medley
. Belle of the Ball
. Blue Tango
. Promenade
. Trumpeter's Lullaby
. Sleigh Ride
Television Medley
. Coronation Street
. This is Your Life
. Dixon of Dock Green
Birichino
Selection: West Side
Story
Calling All Workers (sig) |
Coates
Isra
Mancini
Rosada
Scotto
Newley/Bricusse
Arnold
arr. Collins
Strauss
Gold
Anderson
Spear
Turner
Warner/Darnell
Marland
Bernstein
Coates |
Listen
to 'Music While You Work'
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
as broadcast on 1st.
September 1964.
MUSIC
WHILE YOU WORK
at 3.31pm on 1st.
September 1964
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
Calling
All Workers (Sig)
Selection: The Student
Prince
El Novillero
The way you look tonight
Charmaine
Rhumbelinda
Up with the lark
Israeli Carnival
Selection:South Pacific
'appy Harry
Medley: The Petite Waltz
. Petite Waltz
. Padam Padam
. Domino
. Petite Waltz
Selection: The Spice
of Life
Carlos' Theme
Memories of Dvorak
Calling All Workers (Sig)
|
Eric
Coates
Sigmund Romberg
Edward Rubach
Jerome Kern
Erno Rapee
Eric Jupp
Cecil Norman
Donald Phillips
Richard Rodgers
Eric Jupp
arr: Harold Collins
arr: Ronald Hanmer
Ivor Slaney
arr: Felton Rapley
Eric Coates |
Listen
to 'Music While You Work'
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
as broadcast on 22nd.
April 1960.
MUSIC
WHILE YOU WORK
at 3.45pm. on 22nd. April
1960
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
Calling
All Workers (Sig)
Entrance of the Acrobats
Westminster Waltz
Donkey Ride
Guys and Dolls
(Selection)
Janetta
Holiday Tune
Valse Hindoue
Jimmy O'Goblin
Holiday in Havana
Flower Drum Song
(Selection)
Country Rig
La Mer
Can-Can (Selection)
Calling All Workers (Sig)
|
Eric
Coates
Culotta
Robert Farnon
Albert Delroy
Frank Loesser
Eric Jupp
Jay Lenn
Colombo/Gheston
Van Phillips
Cyril Watters
Richard Rodgers
Clifford/Payne
Charles Trenet
Cole Porter
Eric Coates |
MORNING
MUSIC -Home Service- 8.23
a.m. January 7th 1955
played by Harold Collins
and his Orchestra
Stars
and Stripes
Ancliffe in the Ballroom
A la Can-Can
George Gershwin Interlude
Peanut Polka
Dance of the Cuckoos
Selection: Can-Can
Sleigh Ride
Fairground Polka
Espanola |
Sousa
arr. Don Bowden
Gilbert Vinter
arr. Arthur Birkby
Robert Farnon
arr. Fred Hartley
Cole Porter
Leroy Anderson
Franz Salmhoffer
arr.Ronald Hanmer |
|