Vivian John Herman Ellis, CBE (29 October 1903 – 19 June 1996) was an English musical comedy composer best known for the song "Spread a Little Happiness" and the theme "Coronation Scot".
Born at Hampstead, London, in 1904, Vivian Ellis was educated at Cheltenham College and initially trained as a classical pianist under Dame Myra Hess. But before he was out of his teens he contributed to a 1922 London revue called The Curate’s Egg and so much enjoyed the experience that from henceforth he was completely hooked on the stage, his subsequent career comparing more than favourably with anybody else in the profession.
While still only 25 he produced a smash hit musical which established him at the forefront of popular composers. Mr. Cinders was a modern Cinderella with the roles reversed and brought together a partnership which is still remembered with affection. The songs Spread a Little Happiness, I’m a One Man Girl, and the brilliantly witty On the Amazon were performed by Binnie Hale and Bobby Howes, the two main stars of a show which ran for 528 performances at the Adelphi Theatre.
Another hit song was his "Yale Blues" which had a dance step called the "Yale" and became a craze in 1927 both in the UK, Europe and the US. During the Thirties, there was nearly always at least one Ellis production running somewhere in the West End and their popularity can be gauged by the leading stars who performed in them — Jack and Claude Hulbert, Hermione Baddeley, Cicely Courtneidge, Richard Murdoch, Anna Neagle, Jack Buchanan, Florence Desmond, Elsie Randolph, Beatrice Lillie, Naunton Wayne, John Mills, Patricia Burke, Ralph Reader, and a great many more.
In addition, Ellis’s musical directors included Ray Noble, Lew Stone, Carroll Gibbons and Geraldo, with all the other top band leaders of the period recording his entertaining music at every opportunity. Not even Noel Coward or Ivor Novello could match that!
Ellis's composition Coronation Scot, was the signature tune for the series Paul Temple. The rhythm of the train in this piece was inspired by his commute to and from his home in Selworthy, near Minehead, Somerset to London Paddington. The original recording of "Coronation Scot", for the Chappell Recorded Music Library, was arranged by Cecil Milner and played by the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra, conducted by Charles Williams. A later release was conducted by Sidney Torch.
War then intervened during which Ellis served as a Lt.-Commander in the RNVR. Happily, he emerged relatively unscathed and in 1946 staged Big Ben. But by now British musicals were beginning to change from the cut-glass Oxford accent of the Thirties and were moving inexorably towards the imported American showbiz creations epitomised by Annie Get Your Gun and Oklahoma both of which coincided in 1947 with what was arguably Ellis’s greatest ever success.
His last full-length musical, Half in Earnest, appeared in 1958. He contributed to revues for a few more years and then turned his hand to writing a series of amusing books such as How To Enjoy Your Operation. From the Sixties onwards, Ellis faded a little from the public eye but remained a prolific composer.
A grateful Performing Rights Society, of which he was a dedicated President, established an annual Vivian Ellis Prize for stage musical writers. His acerbic but amusing wit endeared him to all and in addition to his vast musical output he also wrote a number of humorous books. His only sadness was that his songs tended to be more associated with their original performers than with him, but then that is true of nearly all the established standard repertoire.
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| A.P. Herbert & Vivian Ellis |
A confirmed bachelor, Ellis lived much of his life with sister Hermione near Minehead in Somerset, where he particularly enjoyed gardening. He was nevertheless well-travelled and during the Thirties worked with George Gershwin in Hollywood when he claimed to have been the first person to hear the Variations on I Got Rhythm. He also wrote an interesting account of his experiences there which he cleverly titled "Ellis in Wonderland".
Ellis as a composer was "rediscovered" in the 1980s when his 1929 musical Mr. Cinders (featuring the hit song, "Spread a Little Happiness") was revived at the King's Head Theatre in London. The song also charted in a version by Sting, following its ironic use in the film Brimstone and Treacle. His song "This is My Lovely Day" also appeared in the John Cleese comedy Clockwise in 1987.
Vivian Ellis died on 19th June 1996, a true blue-blooded Englishman who left behind much for which we should be grateful. His epitaph is perhaps best summed up by actress Ruth Madoc who described him as "A gentleman who wrote some of the most beautiful tunes in the whole of British theatre history."
(Edited from The Robert Farnon Society.org & Wikipedia).