Skitch Henderson

Lyle Russel "Skitch" Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname "Skitch" came from his ability to "re-sketch" a song in a different key. Bing Crosby suggested that he should use the name professionally. After starting his professional career in the 1930s playing piano in the roadhouses of the American Midwest, Henderson's major break came when he was an accompanist on a 1937 MGM promotional tour featuring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Henderson later said that as a member of MGM's music department, he worked with Garland to learn "Over the Rainbow" during rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz and played piano for her first public performance of the song at a local nightclub before the film was finished. However this account is at odds with the memoirs of the tune's composer, Harold Arlen, who said he first performed the song for the 14-year-old Garland. Blue Network Varieties, which began May 20, 1940, on NBC's Pacific Blue network, featured Henderson in charge of the music, leading "a novelty instrumental group." After the war, Henderson worked for NBC Radio Network, where he was the musical director for Frank Sinatra's Light-Up Time. He was also accompanist on P…

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