Soon, letters like this appeared in the entertainment magazines. “Would you give me a few details about Chick Henderson, please? His age, if he is married, and any hobbies he may have”. — J. L. Darlington.
As a rule we are not allowed to publish the ages of the stars, unless they reveal them to us personally. However, Chick Henderson tells us he is twenty-seven, and he is still in the bachelor state. He modestly says he is the champion golfer of the combination, and is a keen sportsman.
It was inevitable that someone would start up a Chick Henderson Fan Club.The young lady who set up the “Chick Henderson Friendship Circle”. was Evelyne Arnold, who lived at 2 Lenthall Road, Dalston, London. E8. She was an “Astoria” addict, dancing to the Joe Loss Band at the Astoria Dance Salon with Chick’s vocals, as many nights a week as she could afford. She and Chick were good friends, and Joe agreed to be the chairman of the Friendship Club, especially when he learned that Evelyne intended organising trips to and parties at the “Astoria”. In fact, Joe autographed the reverse side of all of the membership cards and membership cost 10 pence a year - (two shillings in English currency of 1938). Over 2,000 fans joined the Club.
Commercial radio was reaching its zenith at that time. Banned in the U.K., commercial radio was heard only from the Continent, from stations like Radio Luxembourg and Radio Lyons. Aware of the big attraction of Joe Loss and Chick Henderson, Meltonian Shoe Dressing signed up the outfit to broadcast from Luxembourg and Normandy. Of course, no Brit- ish artiste ever “broadcast” from those places. What they did was use ei- ther the Crystalate (later ‘Decca’) Studio, or the EMI Studio at St. John’s Wood, to record the pro- grammes on to totally in- adequate 12” 78 rpm discs. To disguise, if not eliminate, the hiss of the discs, Crystalate used what they called “broadcast quality” shellac — a very fine powder base on to a paper laminate. EMI were to press on Vinylite, but not until 1942. In the 1930’s they used a better quality shellac for “broadcasts”. At the time of writing, none of these Loss/Henderson discs have been lo- cated, and it is possible that as only half a dozen were ever pressed off each one, none now exist. Because of this continental broadcasting, however, more fans were added to the C.H.F.C. (Chick Henderson Friendship Club). The musical press gave publicity to the Club and more members enrolled, until World War 2 stopped the entire project.
Chick began to feature in the “Melody Maker” poll, which sought to establish the Nation’s favourite male/female dance band vocalists, leaders, and musicians. He had become a force to be reckoned with in the Music profession. Pam Stevenson however, told me that prior to visiting the “Astoria”, she had never heard of Chick, although the name of Joe Loss was well known to her. Nevertheless, the musical press, and other branches of the media, often sought his opinions. For example, bandleader Felix Mendelssohn, who had a conventional line-up before forming his “Hawai- ian Serenaders”, decided to form a “Crooners’ Protection Society”.
The success of modem song stylists, or ‘crooners’, was phenomenal - and this angered the ‘straight’ singers, who had become quite peeved that their dated styles were becoming as popular as long-johns in a nudist camp! Abuse in the press, and even on the radio, was hurled at the 1930’s pop stars, just like today. The “Sunday Pictorial” asked Chick Henderson what he thought about the Protection Society for Crooners, and he replied — “The crooner is- always being kicked. It’s time he kicked back. I know crooners who could sing straight singers off their feet!”
Just four years earlier, as if to prove the point, Al Bowlly recorded a baritone song, “Glorious Devon”, on one side of a gramophone record, whilst a tenor named Owen Bryngwyn sang a pop song of the day on the other side.
It proved one thing — neither could sing successfully the ‘other’ type of song!
The aim of the “Crooners’ Protection Society” was two fold:
1. To discourage abuse from a noisy minority of listeners.
2. To preserve their status — and their pay packets.
INSERT PHOTO - JOE LOSS AND AN 11 PIECE BAND
His 1939 personnel was Trumpets: Gem Stevens, Harry Letham, Stan Stanton; Trombones: Bifi Burton, Bill Boland; Reeds: Reg Brewster, Eddie Pratt, Mickie Lewis, Danny Miller; Rhythm: Harry Kahn (Piano), Lea Vinall (Guitar), Reg Richman (Bass), Jackie Greenwood (Drums).