Roy Fox

Speaker 20:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's Archive. For rights' reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen seventy four, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:31

I cast away this week one of the leading figures in British dance music in its great days, Roy Fox. Roy, although you've lived in this country so long, you are an American, aren't you? That's right.

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Could you reconcile yourself to loneliness on this island?

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Well, I suppose I could, uh, Roy, because although I've been in contact with millions of people all my life, I think the sort of life I've

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The way I live these days, I uh pretty much

Presenter1:00

Of a launter, I would say.

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What was your plan in choosing your eight disks for the desert island?

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Well, I like to sort of remember back throughout my life and remember people and things that happened and

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I think that'll sort of keep me going. What's the first one you've chosen?

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Well, the first one is uh by someone that I've always admired a great deal, someone I knew very well since I was about twenty years old.

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It was when I had my first band, my first dance band, in Hollywood, just outside of Hollywood in Culver City, right across the street from um the MGM studios.

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It was a very famous night club, beautiful place, and I had this this band, and I used to go down down the road, down Washington Boulevard, to a place called the Green Mill, where

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There was a colored band just come out from I think from Chicago. And I used to go down and listen to this band and uh this this record that I would like to uh remember him by

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It's called Mac the Knife, and I'm sure that when you hear it you'll know who I'm talking about.

Roy Fox2:19

Baby Paul Baby

Roy Fox2:31

Where's the

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Well, no prizes. Louis Armstrong, of course. What's your second disc?

Presenter2:44

This time is Claire DeLoon, and the reason I play this record is because.

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I used to play in a lot of movies with my band and this one day I went to Fox Films and I was playing in a nightclub set and I looked down and I saw the most beautiful

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Extra

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a girl and uh sitting at a table and uh it didn't take me long to get her on the dance floor and and my band played some music while I was setting up the cameras for the next shot.

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And I asked her her name, and uh she said, Well, uh

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Um she had to change it because uh she'd uh selected four names. Uh uh she had to select one of them because

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Her uh grandfather would uh disinherit her if he knew she was in Hollywood trying to break into film, so she asked me the one I would prefer out of the four, and I selected the name of Jean Harlowe, and uh that's what she called herself.

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And uh so uh I started going around with her. I went around with her for about a year, and during that time th one of the numbers that we liked and used to play very often I suppose you could call it our favorite tune was Claire Delune.

Presenter4:45

Stokovsky conducting his own arrangement of Debussy's Claire de Lune.

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Now, back to the beginning, Roy. We've established that you were a a band leader in Hollywood. Were you born in California?

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No, I was born in Denver, Colorado, but I arrived in Hollywood when I was six months old. Do you come from a musical family?

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Well, yes. My mother and father both played guitars. They sang quite well. My sister, Vera, played the piano. She had a beautiful voice. So well, I suppose you'd call that a musical family. When did you get interested?

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Well, I waited till I was about eleven years old, and I uh

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It started when I looked into uh

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the window of a second hand shop, and I saw a nice little cornet in the window there, so I talked my mother into spending eleven dollars to buy me my first cornet.

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What was your first job when you left school? Did you go straight into music?

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No, I didn't. I um

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Although I could play the cornet a bit. I uh

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I went into the Los Angeles Trust and Savings Bank as a messenger boy. I felt that I probably owned the bank before long, so I thought uh that was a pretty good uh thing to uh take up as a career. A a good bank reference is always a good thing. Yes, well, I wanted to be a bank owner.

Roy Fox6:00

Yeah.

Presenter6:05

How long did you stay in the bank?

Presenter6:07

I stayed there for uh about two years, and and during that time I uh I had an offer to go out to the Los Angeles uh country club and play in a small five piece band, uh, Saturday night dances.

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And so I played my cornet and I found out uh that in a very short time I was making as much on Saturday nights as I was during uh my stay at the bank. So I decided to give up the bank. Mhm. And you used to play for some of the big film parties, I believe, gigs.

Presenter6:37

Yes, yes. I used to uh play in many of the parties for oh

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Tom Mix and

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all the different stars in Hollywood at the time. You know, we'd finish at uh where we were playing in the club and then go out and and play uh

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play a party all night. Maybe William Randolph Hurst and Marion Davies or Chaplin or whoever it might be, you know.

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Did you take the Cabaret with you? Did you hire guest artists or with your band? No, at that time I I had the Paul Whiteman Rhythm Boys singing with me. Crosby, Al Rinker, and Harry Barry. That's right.

Roy Fox7:12

Harry Barry.

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And I used to give them uh each fifty dollars a night.

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I'm sure Bing Crosby could make uh a lot more today than he did at that time with me.

Roy Fox7:23

Minutes

Presenter7:24

So now I'd like you to hear uh a tune that they made famous while they were singing with me and called Mississippi Mud.

Speaker 47:32

When the sun goes down, the tide goes out, The darks gather round, and they all begin to shout.

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Hey, have

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Uncle Duh.

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They saved my dear

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They sit my own, what a dance do they do. Lordy, how I'm telling you, they don't need no bands.

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They can time by clapping their hands

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Just as happy as a cow, she went on a cudgel when the donkeys beat the feet on the Mississippi river.

Presenter8:02

The Paul Whiteman Rhythm Boys.

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What brought you to England for the first time?

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While I was at Fox Films I was head of the musical production department, making the big musicals they made at the time, and one day I received a cable to come over here and bring my American band, which I did.

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That was in nineteen uh thirty. Yes. And I came over here. I thought I was coming over for eight weeks.

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And it developed into, uh, well, just over

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About forty-three years.

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And after your Café de Paria engagement, you'll formed a British band.

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That's right.

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Where did you play first of all?

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Well, uh, when I left the Cavite Perry, I went into uh the Montseigneur restaurant and I formed the British band there. I as a matter of fact, I'd uh formed it just before that because I had been signed by Decca to become uh musical director for Decca Records.

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And then when this new resident room was being uh built, I uh

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was offered the job and that's when we started.

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BBC late night dance music every Wednesday. Wednesday was Roy Fox night, wasn't it? That was the night, yes. You were a good showman, Roy. You were reputed to have the best set of tales in London. Yes, well I can uh thank uh Jack Buchanan for that because

Presenter9:19

My opening night at the Cavite Perry after leaving uh Hollywood, I came over and I I had a terrific uh tuxedo made and uh I, you know, I thought that I was very smart and I had a terrific bow tie with a little white pinstripe in it. I thought I was

Presenter9:38

Really, something. And I opened and I noticed a lot of people, you know, were in these tails and white ties. And so Jack Buchanan was there my opening night, and he called me over and went to s sat down at the table with him. And he said, Roy, he said, the music's great. He said, but I hope you don't mind me mentioning the fact that just look around the room, you see all these people. He said, you see that man down there? And he pointed to the Prince of Wales. And he said, everybody has white ties. But he said, if you don't mind, I'd like to meet you tomorrow and take you to my tailor. And I think you should have some tails and a white tie, which I did. An investment that paid off. Then you began to play the musicals very successfully. That's right. We went on tour. Then I gave up the West End nightclubs and I went on tour. And made records and broadcast.

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That's right. He went off to Australia.

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Yes, and I had a a great uh Australian band, very fine musicians, and I was playing my arrangements from here. And I uh I toured the country and and uh then uh

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It was time for me to come back to uh to London. I uh so I went up to see the American consulate.

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when I flew to Melbourne from Sydney to see the Melbourne Cup race. I was always interested in in racing. And so he told me that he had to had to cancel my passport because being an American I wasn't allowed to come back to London. I wanted to to entertain the British troops because the war was on and but I couldn't get back so I had to go back to Hollywood. Then from there I had an offer to go into the Rainbow Room in New York.

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Then I left there and I went up to another night club just opening on Fifty Seventh Street and in our first cabaret we had a boy that had been singing with Tommy Dorsey and Harry James, and that was Frank Sinatra.

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Then from there I went to the Savoy Plaza Hotel and waited there until I had the okay to come back to London.

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Well, let's have record number four. What's that?

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Well, this time uh it's it's uh a record that was made by a young pianist. I used to go after working at at night in some of these clubs, I used to go to uh

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Oh

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place called Spevvy's Roof. And I used to love to hear him him play, you see, and um

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Well, my judgment must have been uh right, because uh

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His name

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Turned out to be Liberace.

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And you're good to hear him nod. Yes, I I think uh I'd like to hear uh you know him playing uh a recording of a tune he used to play up uh there on on the roof. It's called uh Intermezzo.

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Liberace playing Intomezzo.

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So when the war was over, you you came back to England, Roy, another band to form.

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That's right. Yes, I I formed a new band here and started out on uh

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Then a very smart club called the Milroy Club.

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and I played there for several months.

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Until I uh decide to go out on Variety again.

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And uh unfortunately it coincided with that very hard winter we had, I believe it was nineteen forty seven. Oh, the big freeze up, yes. The freeze-up, that's right. And everybody lost their money, including me, and it was very difficult at that time. Everybody got frozen up, including you.

Roy Fox13:30

That's good.

Presenter13:39

Exactly.

Presenter13:40

I believe that led to some rather tough years. You had to sort of play one nights and whatever dates you could get for a while before you get on your feet. That's right. And.

Roy Fox13:46

Yeah.

Presenter13:49

We go out and play a lot of the places we used to play. I mean, you know, dances where before the war you couldn't even get near the place, you know, and uh unless you bought your ticket in advance. But then I noticed that there weren't so many people coming into the same halls that we used to play and

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And it just didn't turn out the way, but I would like to have had it. And nowadays?

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Well, I'm in personal management and I'm representing actors, street actors that appear in film and television.

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And I enjoy what I'm doing now. Now, of course, there's a big nostalgia boom going on at the moment, and lots of your 78.

Presenter14:28

Discs are now reissued on long players. That's right. I think there are about six out at the present time, with another on the way. Splendid. Let's have record number five. What's that to be?

Presenter14:39

Well, this time it uh takes me back to uh about nineteen twenty five or twenty six, I guess it was.

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And um it was a tune I was playing in a a Speakeasy on Fifty fourth and Broadway in New York.

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And one of the uh the people that used to frequent uh the club uh

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very often was Al Capone.

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Anyway, uh one of the tunes that uh that I uh uh

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played at the time.

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I think it's one of the greatest lyrics of any tune that I've I've ever heard, of all the thousands of tunes I've played, and it's sung by one of my very favorite performers, Sammy Davis, Junior.

Speaker 415:23

They pushed it through a horn till it was worn into a blue nose.

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You gotta believe me they nursed it and they rehearsed it and then they gave out the news that the Southland

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Sammy Davis, Junior. Roy, what are the chances of good musicians dance bands coming back?

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I should think they will one of these days. Of course it'll be a very expensive thing. It won't be like pre war because uh

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Now it's uh it'd be almost impossible, I should think, to tour a large band on the road. Not so long ago I was approached by a West End hotel.

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To go to come back to the West End with my band. And, um,

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I considered the idea because I said I should think it'd be interesting. Uh that is if I could have uh the band, the kind of band I'd like to have and

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And uh

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I think there's every likelihood that that could happen. Not in this one place who approached me, but I I think that there's every possibility that could happen. I think that the big bands

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Once the kids hear it and

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I know even now a lot of uh the letters I get and the people get in touch with me are as, you know, very young young

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Boys and girls, that

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You know, they they they love the groups, but uh once they hear my records and the records of the thirties bands, Ambrose, the you know, the different bands, they they uh seem to appreciate that kind of music.

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What's the next record?

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Well, I suppose it's uh one of my all time favorite pieces of music.

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It dates back all the way to the first night that Paul Whiteman opened with his very first band in the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles.

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and uh he played this wonderful Rhapsody in Blue.

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Paul Whiteman and his concert orchestra with Roy Bargie at the piano.

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In your career, Roy, have you had any experiences that could be useful in preparing you for a desert island existence?

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Well, I suppose uh on a desert island you'd uh you'd have to do a bit of cooking, and fortunately when I was twelve years old in Los Angeles, going to school

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I uh and the rest of the boys in the uh

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School had to take cooking class.

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I think that I learned to cook pretty well and I think that might be most useful. There wouldn't be a lot to cook.

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Unless you could find it.

Roy Fox18:59

Unless you're good for

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I used to do a lot of fishing one time. I'd I'd get me a little pin and a string or something and and go out and catch some fish and then I'd know how to cook them.

Roy Fox19:04

One time I

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Did you uh ever do anything in small boats?

Presenter19:15

No, I'm a very, very bad sailor and I I don't uh I don't think I'd uh if it uh require tinging a boat and and leaving the island, I think I'd stay right there.

Presenter19:26

Right. Record number seven. What's that?

Presenter19:29

Well, now for something that I think is really very, very soothing, and something I can close my eyes and really enjoy listening to, and that's Nocturne in E flat. The shop bag. That's it.

Presenter20:45

Wolfgang Schneiderhan playing Chopin's nocturn in E-flat major. Now we come to your last record. What's that?

Presenter20:54

Well, uh, Roy, inasmuch as I'd like to have a recording of my own band just to remember the gang.

Presenter21:01

You know, the fun we had and the nice times. I'd like to take my recording, my last recording of Whispering. Yes, whispering your signature. That's right.

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Whispering by The Roy Fox Orchestra

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If you could take just one disk, which would it be?

Presenter21:46

I think, Roy, that would be the record I'd take, my own record of whispering. Right.

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And one luxury to take with you?

Presenter21:55

If I could get the batteries, I think I'd uh I'd uh like to have a radio.

Presenter22:00

Yes. Well, we can provide the batteries. You can have solar batteries. No worry there. We can't guarantee reception.

Roy Fox22:04

Yeah.

Presenter22:06

All right, I'll take that chance. And one book apart from the Bible, Shakespeare, and big encyclopedias.

Presenter22:13

Well, I think I'd take the easiest crossword puzzles I could find. Right. And thank you, Roy Fox, for letting us hear your Desert Island Discs. Well, Roy, I'd just like to say how much I enjoyed being on your program, and I hope everyone has enjoyed it as much as I have. Goodbye, everyone.

Speaker 222:37

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.