Morton Fraser's Harmonica Gang was a British comedy musical group, formed in 1946 by Morton Fraser (born Emmanuel Fish; 3 November 1905 – 10 June 1982).

History

Fraser was born Emmanuel Fish in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, to a naturalised immigrant family of Polish Jews originally named Fisz. In the 1920s, he won an All-American

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

competition in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and became a renowned solo harmonica player, touring theatres around the world.Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, ''Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts'', Robson Books, 1998, , p.24 In the late 1930s he intended to form a harmonica group along the lines of

Borrah Minevitch Borrah Minevitch (born Boruch Minewitz; November 5, 1902–June 26, 1955) was a Russian-American harmonica player, comic entertainer, entrepreneur, and leader of his group The Harmonica Rascals. Life and career He was born in the village of B ...

's Harmonica Rascals, but with the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and became a participant in ''

Stars in Battledress Stars in Battledress (SiB) was an organisation of entertainers who were members of the British Armed Forces during World War II. History In Britain, during the Second World War, entertainment was considered an essential to keep morale high. I ...

'' shows as a harmonica soloist.Art M. Daane, "Morton Fraser's Harmonica Gang", ''ArtDaane.org'', March 1999
Retrieved 4 December 2020 After the end of the war he formed his troupe of harmonica players in 1946. They starred in the 1947 film ''Morton Fraser and his Harmonica Rascals'', later changing "Rascals" to "Gang" to avoid confusion with Minevitch's group. They rapidly became a popular

variety act Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compè ...

in Britain, playing at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

on many occasions, and featured in television shows through the 1950s and 1960s. They also recorded for

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

. The personnel of the group changed over time. In 1950, Fraser himself stopped performing, becoming the group's arranger and manager. The group included, at various times, Stan Key, Henry Samuels, Nat Lees, Dave King, Tony Vincent,

Gordon Mills Gordon William Mills (15 May 1935 – 29 July 1986) was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter. He was born in Madras, British India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. During the 1960s and 1970s, ...

, Don Paul, Ronnie Wells, Johnny Stafford, Reg ‘Johnny’ Farrow and "Tiny" Ross. Mills, Paul and Wells left in the late 1950s and formed The Viscounts; Mills later became a songwriter and the manager of

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

, among others. Dave King became a successful solo comedian, singer and actor; and Stafford became a popular solo singer and entertainer in the 1960s and 1970s. "Tiny" Ross (born Walter John Ross Skudder, 1910–1994) had

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition of people and animals marked by unusually small size or short stature. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dwarfism is . '' ...

and was often the focus of the group's comedic antics; he later featured prominently as an actor in the 1981 film ''

Time Bandits ''Time Bandits'' is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars David Rappaport, Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael ...

''. The suggestion in some sources, that gangster Royston Smith was the dwarf member of the group in the 1950s, is not supported elsewhere. Fraser died in 1982, in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, aged 76. Morton Fraser, ''BFI''
Retrieved 4 December 2020 The group continued for some time thereafter, under the leadership of Tony Vincent, until changing tastes and lack of venues led them to disband.

References

External links

Forum discussionMorton Fraser's Harmonica Gang (1947)
at

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Harmonica players Musical groups established in 1946 1946 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-band-stub