Harry Archer (composer)

Harry Archer (February 21, 1888 – April 23, 1960) was an American composer and orchestra leader. He is best remembered for six Broadway shows from the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 20th-century, but also made several popular recordings in the 1920s for Brunswick Records.

Harry Archer in 1924.

Biography

Harry was born as Harry Auracher. On February 21, 1888 in Creston, Iowa.[1][2] He received his high-school education at Michigan Military Academy,[2] and his post-secondary education at Knox College (Illinois) and also at Princeton University.[1] He played brass instruments, mastering the range of that class with the exception of the French Horn,[2] and also was a proficient pianist.[3]

Archer’s compositions had appeared in plays as early as 1911,[3] but the first play he wrote the score for was Pearl Maiden in 1912.[2] This play starred Jefferson De Angelis and Flora Zabelle in a plot that owed much to Floradora.[3] The music was considerably better reviewed than the plot.[3] The play had a tenure of 24 performances in New York, then travelled to Boston and then lesser locations.[3] For a time he led a dance orchestra in Chicago, then spent some working in the Paul Whiteman orchestra,[2] during which time he composed sporadically for various theatre productions and scored a few plays which were flops.[3]

Paul Whiteman was asked to provide an orchestra for Little Jessie James, and Archer was designated to lead the outfit, as well as provide songs and orchestrations.[4] This show was a huge success, and was not only staged on Broadway but also as far afield as Germany and Hungary. The breakout song was I Love You, which was the biggest hit of Archer’s career.[3] Lyrics for this show were by Harlan Thompson.[3] The success of the show led to Archer’s scoring of several further 1920s musicals, but none were as successful as Little Jesse James.[4] Paradise Alley, a 1922 offering, was revived in 1924 and also produced in Australia but the show was considered old fashioned and lacked the spark of the Archer-Thompson pairing.[3] The two continued to work together, producing My Girl, Merry Merry and Twinkle Twinkle between 1924 and 1926, all of which were modest successes.[3] The 1928 show Just a Minute was not a success, and Archer’s career on Broadway ended at this point.[3]

Archer did continue to compose, and his songs continued to be used in the theatre. He composed and scored for off-broadway productions at such places as the Provincetown Playhouse.[3] Plans to revive a re-worked Little Jesse James later in his life never came to fruition.[3] He died in New York City, April 23, 1960.[1][2]

Archer’s compositions are considered “lightly jazzy” and catchy, best he was best suited to the farcical librettist Thompson. Archer also worked extensively with Howard Johnson.[2] Despite his string of successful shows in the mid 1920s, Archer never became a “fashionable” composer, and has become obscure since his heyday.[3]

Recordings

Archer began recording for Brunswick Records and their subsidiary Vocalion in November 1925.[5] Often the same recording would be used on both labels, but a pseudonym of The Vanderbilt Orchestra was used on the Vocalion label.[5] The recordings most often utilized studio vocalists such as Irving Kaufman and Franklyn Baur.[5] The recordings proved popular, and Joel Whitburn estimates that three were top-20 hits.[6] In 1926 his recording of "Sweet and Low-Down" (Brunswick 3096) is listed at #10.[6] "When Day Is Done" (Brunswick 3399) from 1927 is listed at #14.[6] His last recording session took place on January 23, 1928,[5] but a final #20 hit from March, 1928 "Thinking of You" (Brunswick 3704) was to follow.[6]

Shows
  • 1912 – Pearl Maiden[2]
  • 1919 – Love for Sale[3]
  • 1921 – Peek-a-boo[3]
  • 1922 – Paradise Alley[3]
  • 1923 – Little Jessie James [1]
  • 1924 – Paradise Alley[1] (revival)
  • 1924 – My Girl[2]
  • 1925 – Merry Merry[1]
  • 1926 – Twinkle Twinkle[1]
  • 1928 – Just a Minute[4]
  • 1945 – Entre Nous[3]

Selected compositions
  • “Alone In My Dreams”[2]
  • “Anything Your Heart Desires” from Just a Minute – 1928[2]
  • “Before the Dawn” from My Girl – 1924[2]
  • “The Break-Me-Down” from Just a Minute – 1928[2]
  • “Desert Isle” from My Girl – 1924[2]
  • “Ev’ry Little Note”[2]
  • “Find a Girl” from Twinkle, Twinkle – 1925[2]
  • “From Broadway to Main Street” from Little Jesse James – 1923[2]
  • “Get a Load of This” from Twinkle, Twinkle – 1925[2]
  • “A Girl Like You” from My Girl – 1924[2]
  • “Heigh-Ho Cheerio” from Just a Minute – 1928[2]
  • “I Love You” from Little Jesse James – 1923[2]
  • “I Was Blue” from Merry, Merry – 1925[2]
  • “I’d Rather Be the Girl in Your Arms” – 1926[2]
  • “I’m Goin’ to Dance with the Guy What Brung Me”[2]
  • “It Must Be Love” from Merry, Merry – 1925[2]
  • “Little Jesse James” from Little Jesse James – 1923[2]
  • “My Home Town in Kansas” from Little Jesse James – 1923[2]
  • “My Own”[2]
  • “Pretty, Petite and Sweet” from Just a Minute – 1928[2]
  • “Rainbow”[2]
  • “Suppose I Had Never Met You”[2]
  • “Sweet and Low” – 1930[3]
  • “The Sweetest Girl This Side of Heaven”[2]
  • “Twinkle, Twinkle” from Twinkle, Twinkle – 1925[2]
  • “Where the Golden Daffodils Grow” – 1930[2]
  • “White Sails” – 1939[2]
  • “You and I” from My Girl – 1924[2]
  • “You Know, I Know” from Twinkle, Twinkle – 1925[2]
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References
  1. Claghorn, Charles Eugene (1973). Biographical Dictionary of American Music. West Nyack, New York: Parker Publishing Company, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 0-13-076331-4.
  2. Kinkle, Roger D. (1974). The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz 1900 - 1950. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House Publishers. pp. 506–507. ISBN 0-87000-229-5.
  3. Gänzl, Kurt (2001). The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (2 ed.). Schirmer Books. pp. 59–60. ISBN 0-02-864970-2.
  4. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 1 (4 ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 229–230. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
  5. Rust, Brian (1975). The American Dance Band Discography. 1. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House. pp. 57–59. ISBN 0-87000-248-1.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890–1954. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. p. 31. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
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