| Morton Fraser's Harmonica Gang | |
| Genre: | Comedy harmonicists |
| Years Active: | 1946 - 1980s |
| Past Members: | Morton Fraser, Stan Key, Henry Samuels, Nat Lees, Tony Vincent, Dave King, Gordon Mills, Don Paul, Ronnie Wells, Johnny Stafford, "Tiny" Ross, etc. |
Morton Fraser's Harmonica Gang was a British comedy musical group, formed in 1946 by Morton Fraser (born Emmanuel Fish; 3 November 1905 - 10 June 1982).
Fraser was born Emmanuel Fish in Leeds, to a naturalised immigrant family of Polish Jews originally named Fisz. In the 1920s, he won an All-American harmonica competition in Philadelphia, and became a renowned solo harmonica player, touring theatres around the world.[1] In the late 1930s he intended to form a harmonica group along the lines of Borrah Minevitch's Harmonica Rascals, but with the onset of the Second World War he joined the Royal Artillery and became a participant in Stars in Battledress shows as a harmonica soloist.[2] [3]
After the end of the war he formed his troupe of harmonica players in 1946. They starred in the 1947 film Morton Fraser and his Harmonica Rascals,[4] later changing "Rascals" to "Gang" to avoid confusion with Minevitch's group. They rapidly became a popular variety act in Britain, playing at the London Palladium on many occasions, and featured in television shows through the 1950s and 1960s. They also recorded for EMI.[3]
The personnel of the group changed over time. In 1950, Fraser himself stopped performing, becoming the group's arranger and manager.[2] The group included, at various times, Stan Key, Henry Samuels, Nat Lees, Dave King, Tony Vincent, Gordon Mills, Don Paul, Ronnie Wells, Johnny Stafford, Reg ‘Johnny’ Farrow and "Tiny" Ross.[2]
Mills, Paul and Wells left in the late 1950s and formed The Viscounts; Mills later became a songwriter and the manager of Tom Jones, among others. Dave King became a successful solo comedian, singer and actor; and Stafford became a popular solo singer and entertainer in the 1960s and 1970s. "Tiny" Ross (born Walter John Ross Skudder, 1910 - 1994) had dwarfism and was often the focus of the group's comedic antics; he later featured prominently as an actor in the 1981 film Time Bandits.[2] The suggestion in some sources,[5] that gangster Royston Smith was the dwarf member of the group in the 1950s, is not supported elsewhere.
Fraser died in 1982, in Eastbourne, Sussex, aged 76.[6] The group continued for some time thereafter, under the leadership of Tony Vincent, until changing tastes and lack of venues led them to disband.[1]