- Jack Strachey
Jack Strachey Parsons (1894 - 1972), known as Jack Stratchey, was a English
composer andsongwriter Born in
Brighton ,England at the turn of the century he began writing songs in the 1920s for thetheatre and themusic hall , scoring his first success with songs he had written forFrith Shephard 's long running musical revue "Lady Luck" which opened at TheCarlton Theatre in April 1927 where it ran for 324 performances [ [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/CarltonHaymarket.htm Carlton Theatre, 63-65 Haymarket, London , SW1 Now Cineworld, Cinema Haymarket ] ] .In the 1930s, he began to collaborate with
Eric Maschwitz and in 1936 Strachey, Maschwitz (using the pen name Holt Marvell), andHarry Link co-wrote "These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You) ", which was to provide a top ten hit for five separate artists in 1936.Benny Goodman was among the five artists to record the song in 1936, and it has been widely covered since - byBillie Holiday andThelonious Monk among others. Under the title "Ces Petites Choses", it was also a hit inFrance for Dorothy Dickson. Strachey scored another success in 1940 (this time with and Maschwitz andManning Sherwin ) with the song "A Nightingale in Berkeley Square".In the 1940s Strachey began to compose popular 'light classics' for orchestra, and is best remembered in Britain as the composer of "Theatreland", "Pink Champagne", and especially "In Party Mood" (1944), which was the theme tune to "
Housewives' Choice ", a popular radio show on theBBC Light Programme which ran until 1967.Jack Strachey died in 1972.
References
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