Biography

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 Philco Radio Time with Bing Crosby on the new ABC network. Henderson also played on Bob Hope's Pepsodent Show. In 1946, Henderson and the Golden Gate Quartet headlined a 13-week summer replacement program on NBC, sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes. He also wrote Baby Made a Change in Me for the 1948 movie On Our Merry Way. In 1950, he had a disc jockey program on WNBC in New York City. In a career at NBC from 1951 to 1966, Henderson was conductor of the orchestras for The Tonight Show and The Today Show. Henderson served as the bandleader for both Tonight Starring Steve Allen, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Henderson left the show again in 1966, during Carson's early years as host, and was replaced by Milton Delugg, who was succeeded by trumpeter Doc Severinsen (who led the NBC Orchestra until Carson's retirement in 1992). In 1983, Henderson founded The New York Pops orchestra, which makes its home at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He served as the music director and conductor of the orchestra until his death in 2005. Henderson also conducted numerous symphonic orchestras throughout the world. Skitch and his wife Ruth owned and operated The Silo, a store, art gallery, and cooking school in New Milford, Connecticut from 1972 until his death. Henderson died of natural causes on November 1, 2005, at age 87.