Roderick Hallowell "Sandy" MacPherson (3 March 1897 – 3 March 1975) was a Canadian-born
theatre organist in Britain. As the second official
BBC Theatre Organist, in succession to
Reginald Foort
Reginald John Foort (23 January 1893 – 22 May 1980), FRCO, ARCM, was a cinema organist and theatre organist. He was the first official BBC Staff Theatre Organist from 1936 to 1938, during which time he made 405 broadcasts on the organ at St ...
, he achieved considerable broadcasting time during and after
World War II.
Early life and career
MacPherson was born in
Paris, Ontario, Canada. He worked in the United States before travelling to England with his wife in 1928.
From 1928 to 1938 MacPherson was the resident organist at the
Empire, Leicester Square.
[ Denis Gifford, ''The Golden Age of Radio'', B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1985, , p.162] He was appointed BBC Theatre Organist in 1938, in succession to
Reginald Foort
Reginald John Foort (23 January 1893 – 22 May 1980), FRCO, ARCM, was a cinema organist and theatre organist. He was the first official BBC Staff Theatre Organist from 1936 to 1938, during which time he made 405 broadcasts on the organ at St ...
, the first holder of that position. During the war years, MacPherson instituted parents speaking to their evacuee children in America live on the radio. He ran a number of request programmes, for instance 'From My Postbag' and 'At Your Request', and on a Sunday evening 'The Twilight Hour'. He also put out programmes with other artistes, for instance, Robinson Cleaver and his wife Molly (who played organ and grand piano), Stephane Grappelli, Oscar Grasso, Gladys Ripley and Isobel Bailey. He even auditioned a young Julie Andrews.
During the Second World War
When the BBC briefly switched to broadcasting only light music in September 1939, MacPherson played up to twelve hours per day, also filling in with announcements and programme-notes whilst the organisation hastily evacuated its staff from London to various locations around the British Isles. Pressure from listeners and the press, who quickly tired of this seemingly unending diet of theatre organ day after day, soon caused the BBC to resume broadcasting a wider range of music. In the dark days of late 1939 - early 1940, MacPherson's original signature tune, "Happy Days Are Here Again" was decidedly inappropriate to the times and he replaced it with his own composition, "I'll Play To You", a slow waltz which he used throughout the rest of his career (written with Harry S Pepper, a BBC producer). He played the opening music to the radio programme called
London After Dark
''London After Dark'' was a joint venture radio program between CBS Radio and BBC Radio that ran during the 1940 London Blitz.
Beginning
The show began on August 24, 1940 when CBS News Chief Paul White and CBS European Events Director Edward ...
, on the theatre organ in St. George's Hall, London, broadcast 24 August 1940. In 1942, his habits of playing on the theatre organ and tiring the British public were mocked by
Tommy Handley
Thomas Reginald Handley (17 January 1892 – 9 January 1949) was an English comedian, best known for the BBC radio programme ''It's That Man Again'' ("''ITMA''") which ran between 1939 and 1949.
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, Handley went o ...
in an episode of ''
It's That Man Again
''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other cha ...
'', in which Handley said: "You'll see many a worse 'un Sandy MacPherson!"
Initially during the war MacPherson regularly broadcast on the BBC from the original BBC Theatre Organ (a 4-manual 23-rank Compton) in St. George's Hall until that instrument was destroyed in the blitz on 10 May 1941. MacPherson himself was then evacuated and continued to broadcast on a Hammond organ until Reginald Foort lent the BBC his travelling Moller pipe-organ, which was installed in
Bangor, Wales, close to Macpherson's then home of
Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...
. At the end of the war, the BBC purchased the Moller from Foort and moved it to the Jubilee Chapel, Hoxton, East London, where it remained until 1963.
After the war
In the early 1950s, he was best known for his regular programme of light-religious music 'The Chapel in the Valley'. MacPherson introduced the programme, whilst "Mr Drewett" played the organ. "Mr Drewett" was actually Charles Drewett Smart, another theatre organist from the early days. MacPherson also had a request programme running at the same time which concentrated on slightly lighter music and was very popular with the older generation. After the war, MacPherson also periodically gave recitals on parish church organs in England and Wales. He retired from the position of BBC Theatre Organist in 1963 and the BBC sold the 5-manual 27-rank Moller organ, it being assumed that the days of theatre-organ music were over, with audience numbers for this genre fast declining. The instrument is now installed in the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, having spent periods in Hilversum, Holland, and in a pizza parlour in San Diego, California, US. After retirement, MacPherson continued to broadcast from time to time, usually on the 4-manual 16-rank Wurlitzer in the Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn, North London.
His biography, ''Sandy Presents'', was published in 1950.
[ He was the subject of '']This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to:
Television
* ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards
* ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...
'' in November 1961 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
Death
He died in Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Ealing was histor ...
, Middlesex, on his 78th birthday, 3 March 1975.
References
Sources
* MacPherson's published autobiography
* ''The Longest Tour'', BBC Radio 3, September 2006
Untitled
BBC - North West Wales History - Vernon Jones
* Widner, James F. Radio Days
Radio Days - London After Dark
12 April 2011.
About Aberdeen Theatre Organ Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Sandy
1897 births
1975 deaths
British male organists
Theatre organists
20th-century organists
20th-century British male musicians
Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom