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Jack Strachey
Jack Strachey Parsons
Composer, Lyricist
(1894 - 1972)
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Jack Strachey , who was born in Brighton, England, wrote his most popular song, “These Foolish Things,” with Eric Maschwitz (Holt Marvell) and Harry Link for the musical revue Spread It Abroad (1936). This was the first revue for Hermione Gingold, who was married to Maschwitz at the time. In 1940 Strachey and Maschwitz wrote “Queen of Song” for her, which she performed in Swinging the Gate. It was a popular show and ran for over 400 performances before German bombing raids on London prematurely closed it down. They also wrote songs for Miss Gingold for the spectacularly successful revue Sweet and Low (1943). The revue and its two successors, written by the famous West End playwright and lyricist Alan Melville, ran for over five years.
In 1948 Strachey collaborated with Alan Stranks on “No Orchids for My Lady” which appeared in Bolton’s Revue and enjoyed a measure of success when it was recorded by Frank Sinatra. He collaborated again with Maschwitz on the 1949 costume musical, Belinda Fair, which had only a mildly successful run.
Strachey wrote the music and lyrics for the Charlot Revue in 1925, but light orchestral music was also his forte. His compositions have been collected in compilations available as British Light Music Classics. Two of his most popular pieces are “Theatreland” (1940) and “In a Party Mood” (1944), the theme of the BBC program “Housewives’ Choice” which played record requests during the daytime and ran from 1946 to 1967.
- Sandra Burlingame |
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