Skitch Henderson

Lyle Russel "Skitch" Henderson (January 27, 1918 – November 1, 2005) was an American 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.

As his career developed, Henderson often claimed to have been born in Birmingham, England, also adding "Cedric" to his name. However, he was born in the town of Halstad in northwest Minnesota in 1918, to Joseph and Josephine (Scheie) Henderson, both of Norwegian descent. After his mother died when he was two in 1920, he was raised in Halstad by his aunt Hattie Henderson Gift and uncle Frank Gift. His aunt taught him piano, starting at the age of four. Although he did not receive formal conservatory education in music, Henderson received classical training under Fritz Reiner, Albert Coates, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernst Toch and Arturo Toscanini, who invited him to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Henderson would later recount apprenticeships in pop music while playing in taverns with notable singers of the era.

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 17-year-old Garland.

Blue Network Varieties, which began May 20, 1940, on NBC's Pacific Coast 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.

In 1950, Henderson had a disc jockey program on WNBC in New York City.

Henderson also recorded transcriptions for the Capitol Transcriptions service.