Victor Silvester
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- Note: Victor Silvester is the correct spelling. Many sources - even including some cheap modern reissues of his records on CD - wrongly have "Sylvester".
Victor Marlborough Silvester, OBE (25 February 1900 – 14 August 1978) was a English dancer, composer and dance band leader whose records sold 75 million copies from the 1930s through to the 1980s, and a significant figure in the development of ballroom dance during the first half of the 20th century.
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[edit] Early life
Silvester was born the second son of a vicar in Wembley, Middlesex. He was educated at Ardingly College, St. John's School, Leatherhead and John Lyon School, Harrow from all of which he absconded. In 1915 he enlisted in the British Army during the First World War. He was only 15 years old and had to lie about his age in order to get in. His true age was not discovered until he was wounded in 1917 and discharged. During his time in the army, Silvester was ordered to take part in the execution by firing squad of five British soldiers for desertion, a task he found deeply distressing.
After the war his first thought was to resume a military career and he was admitted to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but quickly decided it was not for him. He also studied music at Trinity College, London, having already had private piano lessons as a child.
[edit] Career
His interests had meanwhile turned to dancing. He was one of the first post-war English dancers to feature the full Natural Turn in the Slow Waltz, an innovation which was a factor in his winning the first World Standard Ballroom Dancing Championship in 1922 with Phyllis Clarke as his partner. He competed again in 1924, coming second to Maxwell Stewart - the inventor of the Double Reverse Spin - and Barbara Miles. He was a founder member of the Ballroom Committee of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing which codified the theory and practice of Ballroom Dance - now known as the International Style - and published the first book embodying the new standards in 1928: Modern Ballroom Dancing, which was an immediate bestseller and has remained in print through many editions, the latest issued in 2005.
He went on to open a dancing academy in London, which eventually developed into a chain of 23 dance studios. By the early 1930s his teaching had become famous and he had taught some of the top celebrities of the day, among whom was Estelle Thompson, better known as Merle Oberon.
[edit] Music
The lack of what he felt were adequate records for dancing led Silvester in 1935 to form his own five-piece band, later enlarged and named Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra, whose first record, You're Dancing on My Heart (by Al Bryan and George M. Meyer), sold 17,000 copies and was to become his signature tune. He insisted his recordings conform precisely to the beats per minute recommended by the ISTD for ballroom dances, a concept he termed "strict tempo", and in British eyes he became indelibly associated with the catch-phrase "slow, slow, quick-quick-slow" - the rhythm of a variant of the foxtrot used for social dancing otherwise known as Slow and Quick Rhythm.
The Silvester band always had a distinctive sound, achieved by an unusual line-up including, as well as the usual rhythm section, alto saxophone (initially Charlie Spinelli and later, for 26 years, Edward Owen "Poggy" Pogson, who had previously played in Jack Payne's and Jack Hylton's bands), a lead solo violin (for many years usually Oscar Grasso), and not one but two pianos, one taking turn in solos and the other maintaining an improvised tinkling continuo in the background throughout every piece, which Silvester called his "lemonade".
He notes in his autobiography that his first two pianists in 1935 were Gerry Moore for the melody and Felix King for the "lemonade". Later pianists included, at different times, Monia Liter, Charlie Pude, Jack Phillips, Billy Munn, Victor Parker (also accordion), Ernest "Slim" Wilson (who was also Silvester's main arranger, and with whom he co-wrote several pieces), Eddie Macauley and Ronnie Taylor. Silvester's drummer for over four decades was Ben Edwards,crucial for supplying the strict tempo. Typically there would be four saxophones altogether, two alto and two tenor, including in latter years Tony Mozr, Percy Waterhouse and Phil Kirby in addition to Pogson, all doubling on clarinet as required. On some recordings, the Ballroom Orchestra was augmented with 15 strings and woodwind, when it became "The Silver Strings".
During the war, when Oscar Grasso was in the forces, the classical violinist Alfredo Campoli took his place, using the name "Alfred Campbell" for contractual reasons.
These were world-class players, some of whom (like Liter, Grasso and Pogson) were already noted in jazz or danceband circles before they joined Silvester's band. Unlike most British dance bands of the era, there were no vocals. Silvester did not play but stood in front of his orchestra in white tie and tails, conducting with a flourish. His jaunty way with a catchy tune ensured the appeal of his records went wider than dancing enthusiasts .
He would continue to make music for half a century, mostly covering the popular music standards and show tunes with a strong melodic line, but sometimes swing, trad jazz and skiffle, and in latter years, especially from 1971 when the orchestra continued under his son Victor Silvester Jr, rock and roll, disco and pop, although these modern attempts to stay "with it", which involved the introduction of an electric guitar, were not always convincing. It is mostly the more melodic recordings of the 1940s and 1950s that are now reissued on CD and sold all over the world.
[edit] Later life
By 1958, when he published his autobiography, he was the most successful dance band leader in British musical history, and a major star on British radio and television. His BBC Television show Dancing Club lasted 17 years. He also presented a weekly request programme on the BBC Overseas Service (later World Service) which ran from 1948 to 1975. His obituary in The Times noted, "Turn on a radio in Famagusta, Cape Town or Peking and one would be likely to hear his music issuing from the speakers".
Victor Silvester was awarded the OBE in 1961. He died while on holiday in the south of France at the age of 78. The orchestra remained in existence under his son's direction until the 1990s.
[edit] References
- All Music Guide: Victor Silvester [1] (includes some inaccuracies)
- Children of the Great War [2]
- George Macintyre, "Doomed Youth: How the Tragedy of 250,000 Boy Soldiers in the Trenches Was Covered Up", The Journal, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, June 14, 2004 [3]
- Derek B. Scott, "Silvester, Victor Marlborough (1900–1978)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004
- "SILVESTER, Victor Marlborough (1900-1978)", Who Was Who, A & C Black, London, January 2007
- "Victor Silvester's BBC Dancing Club", WW2 People's War, BBC website [4]
- Victor Silvester, Dancing is My Life (autobiography), Heinemann, London, 1958 (main source of information about band personnel)
- "Mr Victor Silvester: Doyen of ballroom dancing" (obituary), The Times, London, 15 August 1978, p.14
- "When Youth and Pleasure Meet: Dance Hall Boom Points Moral in Cinemas' Decline", The Times, London, 13 January 1958, p.6
[edit] Bibliography
- Victor Silvester, Modern Ballroom Dancing, Ebury, London, 2005 edition: ISBN 0091905095
- Victor Silvester, Dancing for the Millions: A concise guide to modern ballroom dancing, Odhams Press, London, 1949
- Victor Silvester, Dancing is My Life (autobiography), Heinemann, London, 1958
- Victor Silvester (with Philip J.S. Richardson), The Art of the Ballroom, Herbert Jenkins, London, 1936
