Harry HORLICK was the conductor of one of early American radio's most popular salon orchestras, largely due to his regular appearances on the long-running "A & P Gypsies" show from 1924 to 1936. Born in 1896, in Tiflis, Russia, Horlick remained in Russia when his family left for America at the beginning on World War I, and he became a prisoner of war. His family and the American consul helped him get to the United States where he performed in cafés in the early 1920s. Horlick's six-piece ensemble was playing unsponsored on New York's WEAF in the winter of 1923 when they were seen by a Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company executive who was taking a tour of the radio studio. The band -= now holding the name A & P Gypsies, began regular broadcasts, sponsored by A&P, on Monday nights, beginning March 17, 1924, with the opening theme of "Two Guitars. The host and band leader Harry Horlick had learned gypsy folk music while traveling with gypsy bands in Constantinople. The musicians performed while wearing gypsy costumes.
From 1924 into the 1930s they were the most popular instrumental music program on the air. In 1933, A&P took part in the World's Fair in Chicago with a canopied boardwalk where tea dances were held, and free tea and coffee samples were distributed.
Horlick died July, 1970.
Recording:
Harry Horlick's A & P Gypsies -- Only The Girl, Brunswick 1929