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Bert Firman 's Dance Orchestra - Positively! Absolutely! 1927

4,538 views · Published 22 November 2015 · 3:09 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2015 · Music

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Bert Firman’s Dance Orchestra – (Does She Love Me?) Positively! Absolutely!, Fox Trot (Sam Coslow, Jean Herbert), Zonophone 1927 (UK) 

NOTE: Bert FIRMAN (né  Herbert Feuerman 1906 – d. 1999 in London) English bandleader of the 1920s - 1930s and 40s of a Polish/Jewish descent. His father, who was a musician, came from Galizia (in Poland, then in Austro-Hungary Empire) and he arrived in London in c. 1890.  Bert Firman was taught violin early in his life, also his three elder brothers studied music.  Firman’s first job, at the age of 13 was at the Playhouse Theatre, London, where he was part of a quintet playing entr'acte music. A year later he got position in the orchestra at the Victoria Hotel in Northumberland Avenue and three months later he was given a role of a Gypsy violinist in the Drury Lane stage play “Sally. As result of the play’s success, Bert got a permanent job as bandleader with the Midnight Follies Orchestra at the Metropole Hotel. Being then in the age of 16, Bert Firman was thereafter the youngest bandleader in the world. In 1924, Firman became musical director for Zonophone Records (a subsidiary of His Master’s Voice) and recorded over 750 sides for them. Throughout the 1920s Firman continued to lead his band from success to success, including seasons at the Alhambra and Coliseum Theatres in Leicester Square, whilst still also directing the Midnight Follies and then later, bands at the Devonshire Restaurant and the Carlton Hotel. Firman also produced many recordings with a smaller group called The Rhythmic Eight. The group included many prominent musicians, including Arthur Lally or Jack Jackson. In 1929 Firman was given a contract to be a guest conductor at N.B.C., becoming the first British bandleader to broadcast in America. He then spent some time in Hollywood, writing music to the silent movies. Back in Europe, Firman formed a band in London, which he took to Les Ambassadeurs restaurant in Paris. The band included Sam Costa, a young pianist who would later become a famous singer and actor. He returned to London in 1937 to form another band, which broadcast regularly on B.B.C. and Radio Luxembourg.
At the outbreak of war Firman played at the Cafe de Paris, but he quit the job and joined up with the South Staffordshire Regiment. After completing his training he went to Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Persia, with Stars in Battledress, an organization dedicated to entertaining the troops. After the war Firman led a band in London again, he also went to lead a band in Paris, which  performed at the Bagatelle Club. The band, which included Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, was to be his last. Firman  retired from band leading when the age of the big bands was coming to an end. He gave up the music scene and until his full retirement, he worked on the London Metal Exchange.

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