Richard Himber

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Richard Himber (20 February 1900 - 11 December 1966) was an American bandleader, composer, violinist, magician and practical joker.

He was born as Herbert Richard Imber in Newark, New Jersey to the owner of a chain of meat stores. His parents gave him violin lessons, but when they found him performing in a seedy Newark dive, they took the instrument away from him and sent him to military school. In 1915, he stole away into New York City, where Sophie Tucker heard him play and hired him as a novelty act to play with her and the Five Kings of Syncopation where Himber was the highlight of the cabaret act.

He worked his way through Vaudville and down Tin Pan Alley. In 1933 he composed the hit song It Isn't Fair. He managed Rudy Vallee's orchestra and finally formed his own orchestra and toured the U.S.A. with it. In 1933, he recorded for Vocalion. In 1934 after a single session for Victor's cheap label Bluebird, he began recording for the full-priced Victor label through until 1939. During the Victor years, he led one of the most sophisticated dance bands of the era, featuring Joey Nash as his vocalist (1934-1935) who was replaced by Stuart Allen (1935-1939).

Himber was also a magic enthusiast, and invented many magic tricks including The Himber Wallet and the Himber Milk Pitcher.

Although he is now remembered primarily for his musical legacy, his contemporaries recall his incessant practical joking. The employees of Toots Shor's 51st Street Chophouse in New York City, which he frequented, lived in fear of him, as he constantly engaged in the act of butter snapping (artfully placing a pat of butter in the center of a napkin, so that when thrown upward, it would adhere to the ceiling) and bread crumbing (rolling bread in to hard pellets and tossing them at female restaurant patrons, so that the bread would hit them at the neckline and then descend into their bosom). Famous celebrity victims of Himber's pranks included Ben Blue, the chanteuse Hildegarde and Charles Laughton. At home, Himber would boast of his cooking skills, and when his wife asked for veal cutlets, he breaded the inner sole of a shoe.

Himber was the publisher of the R-H Log, a weekly survey of the most popular tunes on radio and television. To the annoyance of most music publishers, he refused to accept payola. He once ordered his secretary to phone every major publisher and tell them he had a stroke, to which many of them joyfully replied "It's about time."

Other popular tunes that Himber composed were After the Rain, Haunting Memories, Time Will Tell, Am I Asking Too Much, and I'm Getting Nowhere Fast With You.

[edit] Quotation

To be a good practical joker, you need patience and plenty of it, because there's a time and place for everything, and you have to wait for the right moment and remember that vanity rules the world.