“Hyde Park Corner.” Composed by Stanley J. Damerell, Tolchard Evans, and Robert Hargreaves (1933). Recorded in London on April 7, 1933 by Ambrose and His Orchestra, with vocals by Sam Browne and chorus and with Elsie Carlisle and Max Bacon in speaking roles. Brunswick 1495 mx. GB-5737-1.

Personnel: Bert Ambrose dir. Max Goldberg-Harry Owen-t / Ted Heath-tb / Danny Polo-cl-as-bar / Joe Jeanette-cl-as / Harry Hayes-as / Billy Amstell-cl-ts / Bert Read-p / Joe Branelly-g / Don Stutely-sb / Max Bacon-d

Ambrose and His Orchestra – “Hyde Park Corner” (1933)

Stanley Damerell, Tolchard Evans, and Robert Hargreaves were prolific songwriting collaborators, and as co-founders of the Cecil Lennox Ltd. label, they were an impressive force in twentieth-century music, not just in Britain but worldwide. In Elsie Carlisle’s catalogue of songs we find quite a few that were written by two or even all three of these men: “On a Dreamy Afternoon,” “Hyde Park Corner,” “Da-Dar-Da-Dar,” “Let’s Make Love,” “The Whistling Lover’s Waltz,” and “Little Chap with Big Ideas.”

In Ambrose’s “Hyde Park Corner,” Elsie does not sing, except perhaps as part of the ensemble that occasionally belts out “Hyde Park Corner!” The song begins with instrumental imitations of busy London traffic. Sam Browne provides the vocal refrain, introducing the idea of Hyde Park as the perfect place for a Sunday walk. He then encounters Elsie and begins to flirt with her. She, in turn, interprets his approach as entirely too forward, and they bicker, as is their wont in so many songs from this period:

“Have you got anything on tonight?”

“What do you mean, ‘Have I got anything on?’ Who do you take me for, Lady Godiva?”

Even when she is not serving as a vocalist, Elsie manages to stand out as an amusing and feisty comic presence.

The song continues with Elsie abruptly changing her attitude, warming up to Sam, and joining him on his walk. He describes the offbeat characters who make use of the park’s famous Speaker’s Corner, and we encounter one of them, played by Ambrose Orchestra percussionist Max Bacon. He impersonates a stuttering eccentric giving a remarkably inept speech while another man (perhaps Sam Browne again?) repeatedly shouts out, à propos of nothing, “What about the working man?” Eventually Sam and Elsie give up on listening to Bacon. They must be getting near the bandstand, as Elsie suddenly gets excited about the music, and the recording ends with band music.

Other British dance bands who recorded “Hyde Park Corner” in 1933 were Jay Wilbur and His Band (v. Sam Browne and Billie Lockwood), Oscar Rabin and His Romany Band (v. Sam Browne and Fred Douglas), Jack Jackson and His Orchestra (v. Jack Jackson and George Melachrino, along with Chappie d’Amato in a speaking role), Jack Hylton and His Orchestra (v. Pat O’Malley, with speaking by O’Malley and George Baker), Billy Cotton and His Band (v. Sam Browne, with speaking by Fred Douglas and George Buck), Syd Roy and His R.K.O.lians (v. chorus, with Bill Currie and Ivor Moreton as speakers), and Jack Payne and His Band (v. Jack Payne, with speaking by Payne and Billy Scott-Coomber). It is worth comparing these various recordings, as while they share the same music, the comic scripts employed would appear to be entirely different from one another.