Harry Reser
Encyclopedia
Harry F. Reser was an American banjo
player and bandleader. Born in Piqua, Ohio
, Reser was best known as the leader of The Clicquot Club Eskimos
.
in 1920. Arriving in Manhattan
the following year, he became an in-demand session musician during the early 1920s. Reser had three original compositions written for tenor banjo; The Cat and the Dog, Cracker Jack, and Lolly Pops.
In 1925, he found fame as the director for NBC
's Clicquot Club Eskimo Orchestra, continuing with that weekly half-hour until 1935. At the same time, he also led other bands using pseudonyms. "Harry Reser and His Six Jumping Jacks," with vocals by Tom Stacks
, were the zany forerunners to comedy bands like Spike Jones
and His City Slickers.
Reser and his band introduced on record, the standard "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" in 1934.
Harry Reser played "Tiger Rag
" and "You Hit the Spot" in the Vitaphone
musical short Harry Reser and His Eskimos (1936).
Reser remained active in music for the rest of his life, leading TV studio orchestras and playing with Broadway theatre
orchestras. In 1960 he appeared with Bing Crosby
, Peggy Lee
and Buster Keaton
in "A 70th Birthday Salute to Paul Whiteman
" on TV's The Revlon Revue. He wrote several instructional books for the banjo, guitar
, and ukulele
.
In 1965 Reser died of a heart attack
in the orchestra pit of the Broadway stage version of Fiddler on the Roof
just prior to a performance. He was inducted into the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame, a museum in Oklahoma, in 1999.
show at Nifong Park in Missouri
. Guitarist Howard Alden switched to a banjo to recreate the sound of Harry Reser in his recording Howard Alden Plays the Music of Harry Reser (Stomp Off Records, 1988). Alden recorded 15 compositions written by Reser during the years 1922 to 1935.
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
player and bandleader. Born in Piqua, Ohio
Piqua, Ohio
Piqua is a city in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,738 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.Piqua was one of the cities that experienced severe flooding during the Great Dayton Flood of 1913....
, Reser was best known as the leader of The Clicquot Club Eskimos
The Clicquot Club Eskimos
The Clicquot Club Eskimos was a popular musical variety radio show, first heard in 1923, featuring a banjo orchestra directed by Harry Reser. A popular ginger ale, Clicquot Club, was Canada Dry's main rival...
.
Career
Reser was regarded by some as the best banjoist of the 1920s. He played with midwestern dance bands, relocating to Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
in 1920. Arriving in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
the following year, he became an in-demand session musician during the early 1920s. Reser had three original compositions written for tenor banjo; The Cat and the Dog, Cracker Jack, and Lolly Pops.
In 1925, he found fame as the director for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Clicquot Club Eskimo Orchestra, continuing with that weekly half-hour until 1935. At the same time, he also led other bands using pseudonyms. "Harry Reser and His Six Jumping Jacks," with vocals by Tom Stacks
Tom Stacks
Tom Stacks was the lead singer, drummer, and sound effects man for many of Harry Reser's late 1920s jazz and novelty bands that included "The Six Jumping Jacks" and "Harry Reser's Rounders"...
, were the zany forerunners to comedy bands like Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
and His City Slickers.
Reser and his band introduced on record, the standard "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" in 1934.
Harry Reser played "Tiger Rag
Tiger Rag
"Tiger Rag" is a jazz standard, originally recorded and copyrighted by the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917. It is one of the most recorded jazz compositions of all time.-Origins:...
" and "You Hit the Spot" in the Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
musical short Harry Reser and His Eskimos (1936).
Reser remained active in music for the rest of his life, leading TV studio orchestras and playing with Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
orchestras. In 1960 he appeared with Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
and Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
in "A 70th Birthday Salute to Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
" on TV's The Revlon Revue. He wrote several instructional books for the banjo, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
.
In 1965 Reser died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in the orchestra pit of the Broadway stage version of Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
just prior to a performance. He was inducted into the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame, a museum in Oklahoma, in 1999.
Reser revivals
In 2002, banjoist Michael Mason portrayed Harry Reser in Heartland Chautauqua, a tent-show recreation of a 1920s traveling ChautauquaChautauqua
Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
show at Nifong Park in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. Guitarist Howard Alden switched to a banjo to recreate the sound of Harry Reser in his recording Howard Alden Plays the Music of Harry Reser (Stomp Off Records, 1988). Alden recorded 15 compositions written by Reser during the years 1922 to 1935.