HENDERSON, SKITCH (1918-2005)

Tonight Show Orchestra Leader Began Professional Career in North Dakota

The orchestra leader of the Tonight Show from 1953 to 1966 and founder of the New York Pops Orchestra began his professional musical career in North Dakota.  Lyle “Skitch” Henderson played the piano at hotels and theaters in Bismarck before joining the Harry Turner Orchestra.  This local band frequently played over KFYR radio and toured the upper Midwest, with Henderson at the piano.  What makes all of this fascinating is that almost all of the biographies of Henderson state that he was living in Switzerland and studying under many of the musical giants of Europe, while he was actually entertaining the public in North Dakota.