Alec Templeton

{{short description|British composer (1909/10–1963)}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Alec Templeton | image = AlecTempleton.JPG | alt = Alec Templeton | caption = Templeton in the 1940s | image_size = | landscape =  | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1910|7|4}} | birth_place = Cardiff, Wales | origin = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1963|3|28|1910|7|4}} | death_place = Greenwich, Connecticut, US | genre = | occupation = | instrument = | years_active =  | label = | website =  }}

'''Alec Andrew Templeton''' (4 July 1910{{spaced ndash}}28 March 1963)<ref name="Slonimsky 1992">{{cite book|last=Slonimsky|first=Nicolas|author2=Theodore Baker|title=Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians|publisher=Schirmer Books|year=1992|location=New York City|isbn=0-02-872415-1}}</ref> was a Welsh composer, pianist, and satirist.

== Early years == Templeton was born in Cardiff, Wales. There is some confusion concerning Templeton's year of birth. Most published and Internet biographies give his birth year as 1909, and it was certainly registered in September of that year, but his headstone shows 1910 as his year of birth. Blind from birth and gifted with absolute pitch, he studied from the age of 9 at Worcester College, Oxford with Ivor Atkins (organ)<ref>'Personalities in the World of the Blind: Alex Templeton, L.R.A.M', in ''The Beacon'', Vol. XIIL, No 145, January 1929</ref> and later at London's Royal Academy of Music, where his piano teachers were Lloyd Powell and Isador Goodman.<ref>Virginia Goodman, ''A Life in Music'', p. 24</ref>

==Radio and recordings== In 1936, he moved from Wales to the United States as a member of Jack Hylton's Jazz Band,<ref name="Slonimsky 1992"/> where he played with a number of orchestras and gave his first radio performances on ''The Rudy Vallée Show'', ''The Chase and Sanborn Hour'', ''Kraft Music Hall'' and ''The Magic Key of RCA''.<ref name="Alec Templeton">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Alec+Templeton+Time,+musical+variety%22&pg=PA22 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=Alec Templeton Time |date=May 7, 1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=22–23 |edition=Revised |access-date=2025-02-22}}</ref>

His first recordings were made for The Gramophone Shop Inc. of 18 East 48th St, New York in 1936 for their "Varieties" label. Two sets of 4 10-inch (25 cm) recordings were issued, the first set entitled "Musical Impressions" on nos. 1006–1009 included:- "Impressions of Old-Fashioned Italian Grand Opera," "A Trip Through a Music Conservatory," "The Shortest Wagnerian Opera," "Impressions of Two German Lieder Singers," "The Lost Chord," "An Amateur Performance of Gilbert and Sullivan," "The Music Goes 'Round and Around," and "Improvisations on Five Varied Melodies." The second set entitled "His Own Compositions" on nos. 1010–1013 included:- "Topsy Turvy Suite" nos. 1–3 ("Bach Goes to Town," "Soldier's Minuet," "Undertaker's Toccata"), "Ghost Rhapsody," "Longing," "Pines," "Voyage a La Lune," "Mother's Lullaby," and "Friendship."

Signing a recording contract with RCA Victor in 1939, he made a string of amusing sides including "Man with New Radio" and a pseudo-operatic rendering of "And the Angels Sing" (written by the trumpeter and bandleader Ziggy Elman). A set of three 78-rpm records called "Musical Portraits" was issued by RCA Victor as catalogue number P-19; it continued in the catalogue until the late '40s, and included "Mozart Matriculates." He also did six sides for Columbia in August 1940, including an instrumental entitled "Redwoods at Bohemian Grove" (he had been accepted into that organization). In 1942 he did eight sides for Decca, six of them released as a three-record set with catalogue number A-314.

Templeton's compositions sometimes presented tongue-in-cheek variations on classical composers, including "Mendelssohn Mows 'em Down," "Scarlatti Stoops to Conga," and "Bach Goes to Town," the latter covered by both Benny Goodman's band (1938) and ''The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street'' (1941). Templeton was an avid fan of the ''Lower Basin Street'' radio show, a weekly hot-jazz jam session, and often appeared as a guest soloist.

Templeton developed his own following on radio. ''Alec Templeton Time'', sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, was first broadcast from 1939 to 1941 (initially as a 1939 summer replacement for ''Fibber McGee and Molly''), returning in 1943 and 1946–47.<ref name="Alec Templeton"/> It was sometimes known as ''The Alec Templeton Show''. Guests included Kay Lorraine and Pearl Bailey. He memorized the scripts for his shows by having them read to him 20 times.<ref name="Alec Templeton"/> Templeton became so familiar as a summertime attraction that a reviewer in ''Variety'' called him "that perennial summer replacement favorite."<ref>{{cite news|title=Alec Templeton Show|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety166-1947-06#page/n27/mode/1up|access-date=10 November 2015|work=Variety|date=4 June 1947|page=29}}</ref> From June 3 to August 26, 1955, his TV show ''It's Alec Templeton Time'' aired on the DuMont Television Network.<ref name="BM">{{cite book |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |first2=Earle |last2=Marsh |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows – 1946–present |edition=8 |year=2003 |pages=677 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22It's+Alec+Templeton+Time%22&pg=PA677 |section=It's Alec Templeton Time |isbn=0345455428 |publisher=Ballantine Books |access-date=February 22, 2025 }}</ref> He also appeared in the later DuMont series ''Jazz Party''.

==Later years and death== Through the 1950s he played with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra playing jazz and classical works. Two of them were recorded for the Remington label, one of Gershwin works and another of improvisations on Offenbach and Strauss.

thumb|The grave of Alec Templeton, with 1910 given as year of birthExperimenting with the new recording medium of audio tape, Alec was able to make sounds with the piano similar to what Les Paul was doing with guitar (recording at half-speed so as to play back doubly fast). Two albums were issued using this technique: "Magic Piano" on Atlantic (LP #1222) and "Smart Alec" for ABC-Paramount (ABC-100). He also made two albums for children on the Riverside label: "Children's Concert" and "Mother Goose Songs." There were also two LPs of recordings consisting of the sounds from Alec's music box collection, the first for the "Ficker Recording Service" of Greenwich, Connecticut (mastered by Columbia), and the second recorded for RCA Victor.

He died, aged 52 or 53, in Greenwich, Connecticut, from an undisclosed illness and is interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich.

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Alec Templeton}} *[http://www.78discography.com/vic26000.html ''78 Discographies'': RCA Victor, 1938–1940] *[http://www.78discography.com/COL36000.htm ''78 Discographies'': Columbia, 1940–1941] *[http://www.78discography.com/Dec18000.htm ''78 Discographies'': Decca, 1939–1942] *[http://www.jazzdisco.org/riverside-records/catalog-1400-series/album-index/ ''JazzDisco.org'': Riverside discography] *[http://www.otrsite.com/logs/loga1012.htm Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: ''The Alec Templeton Show''] *[http://www.soundfountain.org/rem/remtemple.html Soundfountain: Alec Templeton] *{{IMDb name|0854748}} *[https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/40/Mirror-1940-Apr.pdf "Step into my world" by Alec Templeton, Radio and Television Mirror, April 1940, page 20]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Templeton, Alec}} Category:1900s births Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1963 deaths Category:Welsh classical pianists Category:20th-century American male composers Category:Welsh composers Category:Welsh male composers Category:Welsh satirists Category:Blind classical musicians Category:Blind jazz musicians Category:British blind singers Category:American blind singers Category:British blind pianists Category:American blind pianists Category:British satirical musicians Category:American satirical musicians Category:American children's musicians Category:British children's musicians Category:Humor in classical music Category:Musicians from Cardiff Category:Musicians from Greenwich, Connecticut Category:20th-century British classical musicians Category:20th-century American composers Category:20th-century British musicians Category:American radio personalities Category:20th-century American pianists Category:Comedians from Connecticut Category:20th-century American comedians Category:20th-century male pianists Category:Welsh male comedians Category:American male comedians Category:Comedians from Cardiff Category:Burials at Putnam Cemetery Category:20th-century American male pianists