The house lights go down. For a moment all is darkness. Then, from somewhere at the front, the sound of organ music is heard. The console is still nowhere to be seen, though.
The strains of “Come back to Sorrento” sound, and moments later the beautiful white Wurlitzer console rises slowly in a spotlight.
The organist is Arnold Loxam, instantly recognisable in his dazzling white jacket and bright red trousers!
I already knew that it was him playing because from the first few notes I recognised his signature tune “Sorrento”.
That gave me the idea of writing this piece about organists' signature tunes.
Most organists use a certain piece to identify themselves. I have often thought that this must have originated in the early days of the silent film era, where in the dark theatre you couldn’t see who was at the console. In this way the organists could introduce themself to the public in a musical way.
Virtually every well-known organist had a favourite piece that they always played at the beginning of their performance. Usually it would be played at the end of the performance as well. That way everybody knew that the end was nigh. If you had really enjoyed the performance and couldn’t wait to applaud, you joined in with the rest of the enthusiastic audience in a tumultuous ovation.
For fun, I looked up various signature tunes. By detective work, looking on record sleeves and hunting in all sorts of books, I found quite a lot, both from organists of yesteryear and from the present, as signature tunes are still being used today.
The most well-known of all is Reginald Dixon’s (“Mr. Blackpool”): “I do like to be beside the seaside”. Douglas Reeves’ signature tune is called “Pack up your troubles”.
There were organists who had more than one tune. Reginald Foort often began with “Antonio”, but perhaps the most memorable was his “Keep Smiling”. Cor Steyn’s most best known tune was “Amsterdam”.
You can imagine that an organist might send a message with a certain melody. Sometimes love was literally in the air, for example in Bryan Rodwell’s case. He often played “You Made Me Love You”, and this could have been just as much for his wife as for his audience, who always turned up in large numbers (also in our country) to listen to his music.
A few organists use the same signature tune. Keith Beckingham and Len Rawle both open with “There’s No Business Like Show Business”. This was also the tune used by the tragically short-lived Rob Calcaterra, who some of us still remember well from his performance in Holland in May 1985.
Below are some names of organists and their signature tunes.
Ena Baga - Bagatelle
Armsbee Bancroft - Abie, Abie, my boy
Eddie Ruhier - Bye bye blues
Ernest Broadbent - For You
Reginald Porter Brown - Oh Mr. Porter
Dudley Savage - Smiling through
Quentin Maclean - Round the Marble Arch
Habert Selby - I'll see you in my dreams
Jane Dowsett - Mame
Robinson Cleaver - An earful of music
David Hamilton - On a wonderful day like today
William Davies - Diane / Life is nothing without music
Horace Finch - On the prom, promenade
Simon Geldhill - A live show
Vic Hammett - Beyond the blue horizon
Charles Horrex - Riding on a rainbow
Byron Jones - Spread a little happiness
Phill Kelsall - Thank you for the music
David Lowe - I feel a song coming on
Louis Mordish - St. Louis Blues
Sandy McPherson - Happy days are here again
Nicolas Martin - Hey, look me over
Hans Nottrot - That's entertainment
Bernard Drukker - Now is the hour
Henk van Oijen - I'll see you again
Nigel Ogden - From this moment on
Robin Richmond - Organ grinder's swing
Robert Wolfe - Let me entertain you
Sidney Torch - I want to sing a torch song
Michael Wooldridge - That's entertainment
This list is not exhaustive of course, but when the lights go down and you hear a familiar melody, you’ll know which organist to expect.....
