Spoiler : Henderson, Skitch (Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson) Born in Birmingham, England 1/27/1918; died 11/1/2005 of natural causes at his home in Milford, Connecticutt. Married and divorced to actress Faye Emerson (?-?); German model Ruth Einsiedel (1957-2005 his death). He moved to America when he was 14, settling in Halstad, Minnesota. At age fifteen left school to play piano at a Bismark, North Dakota radio station, then with dance bands. Moved to Hollywood in 1939, working as a pianist and music arranger while attending The University of Southern California. Before WWII, he worked with bands of Glen Gray, Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw. When WWII began, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, then when America entered the war, he joined the Army Air Corp as a pilot of B29 bombers in the Pacific theater of the war. Some sources say he was a P-38 Lightning fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater of WWII, but most all of the obs at time of his death said he was a B29 pilot.

Spoiler : Following the end of WWII, Henderson became Frank Sinatra's music director, then Bing Crosby. Provided music for radio programs including I Deal In Crime on ABC (1946-1947); Dial Dave Garroway (1952); Best Of All (1954-1955); NBC Bandstand (1957-1959); It's Network Time in 1959. Piano soloist on The Bing Crosby Show for ABC-Radio (1946-1949). Grew his beard in 1953.

Spoiler : Host of Talent Search on NBC-TV (1950-1951). Featured performer on Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town for CBS-TV (1951-1952). With then wife Faye Emerson was the co-host of Faye and Skitch for NBC-TV (1953-54). Panelist on Where Was I? for DuMont-TV (1953).

Spoiler : Provided music for NBC-TV programs including Nothing But The Best (1953); Garroway At Large (1953-1954); The Tonight Show (also titled Tonight 1954-1957); The Steve Allen Show (1956- 1959); The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson 1962-1966); That Was the Week That Was (1964- 1965). Trumpeter sideman, Doc Severinsen took over Henderson's band in 1967.

Spoiler : In 1983, Henderson founded and conducted the New York Pops Orchestra, a group of 70 musicians that played regulary with the New York Philharmonic. He continued performing and conducting the Pops until his death. He and wife Ruth Einsiedel ran the Silo, a combination cooking school, art gallery and country store at Hunt Hill Farm in New Milford, Connecticutt for several years before his death.