Harry Smith
A Perry Como Fan

My father was a "serious" Perry Como fan. Today, he would be called a fanatic! So serious was he that following World War II he, along with an uncle of mine, recorded all the American Forces Network radio programmes which had been broadcast on the airwaves featuring Perry.

In those early days of 1945, Perry recorded the "Supper Club" series for radio. How many of you remember the opening bars?

I still have those precious tapes and, indeed, others that included the old "Beat the Band" and Perry's other shows from 1943. All of these shows included the familiar opening theme "For a Little While" recorded by Perry for CBS.

Around this time, my father Harry Smith established the very first "Perry Como Fan Club" in Britain. He did this simply because he "loved all Perry records" and, not satisfied with this, he then spent the next forty odd years collecting them. Every weekend my father could be found with either my Uncle George, or his best friend Harry Starling, tramping the streets of London in search of the elusive 78, the newly introduced 45, or one of the Extended Play 45 EPs as they were called. He would often do this with my brother Robert in tow, from the east-end to the west-end, no distance was too far for a "Perry" record!

He went everywhere. From old record shops to the "new" modern record stores. On Sunday mornings he could be found riffling through boxes of old 78s at the market places, especially Petticoat Lane and Bethnal Green Market; so much so, that in the end the small dealers got to know this lover of Perry Como and started to put by any records they came across, ready for Harry's usual visit. He would always buy the records even if he had them. "This one is in better condition, " he would say, or, "It's nice to have a duplicate in case one gets broke!" This was his love for Perry Como!

In our house, Perry Como was the only singer to be recognized as a permanent fixture. He was the only star my father ever talked about in a loving way. This was strange because through his involvement with Perry he got to know many, many other stars in the show business world, and when he wasn't working, he could be found back stage at places like the London Palladium talking with stars such as Roy Castle, Pete Murray or Teddy Johnson, all of whom were honourary members of the International Club for which he became the "President" later in his life.

At the height of Perry's fame in the fifties, there were over 2000 clubs world-wide and Harry was receiving thousands of letters every week. He ran the club from home with the help of his children, Henry, Bill ( myself ), Robert and the girls, Patricia and Angela, who helped out with the typing on occasion.

Of Perry Como, Harry said, "He's fantastic! . . . He's just too good to be true, always relaxed and friendly, as his image suggests, I've never seen him ruffled by anything." My mother, Ann Smith, was equally keen on Perry, especially so after she met him and received a big kiss! All of Harry's children were sort of indoctrinated into the club. Woe betides anyone trying to get into the homestead when Perry was on television. They've all become "Perry" people!

As I said earlier, Harry would go everywhere and anywhere to get one of Perry's records. He would do anything! I remember a story which took place around Christmas, 1960. Earlier that year, Perry had a show on television for St. Patrick's Day with guest stars Bing Crosby and Genevieve, also featuring Peter Genaro, the dancer. It was a smashing show and my father drooled over it, went "mad" and had to have it some way or another, but being the days prior to video tape, it was seemingly impossible; but not for Harry, Oh No!, he had heard of or had made contact with someone who could record a copy of the show to a long play record. Needless to say, my father wrote off and ordered a copy. While not actually expecting to see a return on his money, imagine his surprise when on Christmas day ( we had postal deliveries on Christmas day back then, ) the doorbell rang, I answered it and received a large flat parcel addressed to my father. When Harry opened the parcel he nearly passed out! You guessed it, within the package was a recording of "The Perry Como Show" which had aired on St. Patrick's Day with guest Bing Crosby. This recording, which now has pride of place within my collection, was an exact replica of the show in all its glory . . . my father was in seventh heaven for months. It took me until 1999 to get a video copy of that show, which Harry loved and played again and again until he sadly passed away.

Around 1975 a large number of the fan clubs amalgamated into one International Club for which I still have a copy of the Club Rules. Harry became the Liaison Officer for the new club, keeping in touch with Perry's head offices in New York, Vancouver and London, for all things concerning Perry's forthcoming tours etc. Being an Honourary Member meant that he was able to obtain tickets for Perry's shows whenever he appeared in England. Christmas cards and birthday cards arrived without fail every year from Perry. Harry was what you would call "on personal first name terms" with Perry, he even had a large signed photograph from Perry "To Harry and Ann" hanging on his wall, which was only taken down when the wall needed redecoration.

Throughout his lifetime, and through his association with Perry, Harry met many stars of the Variety world. He also made many long term friendships with other club secretaries and fan members from around the world. This included people such as: Jan Hill, Judi McCoy and Diane Langelier ( The Perry-Grams ) in the United States, and a girl named Caroline ( I can't recall her last name, ) who was confined to a wheelchair but still managed to see Perry in performance. Caroline was a real Perry "fanatic", like my father, and the two of them got on really well! From Canada, Cathy McVicar who formed "The Perry-Tones" . . . from Ireland, Gill McKee . . . from England, Jean and Dennis Callaghan, Valerie Rodber ( who took over the English Club ) and, without name dropping, Tommy Loftus, Perry's A&R man from RCA London . . . Yvonne Littlewood, BBC producer for Perry's shows over here in England.

Tommy Loftus used to telephone my father and talk about Perry. In my collection are two albums given to my father by Tommy before they were on sale to the general public. A true friendship indeed!

Harry was also well known in the United States for nearly all of Perry's years from 1945 onwards. He knew Mitchell Ayres, Nick Perito, as well as Perry's personal secretary Vera Hamilton and his personal manager Mickey Glass. He was able to converse with all of them as "one of the family" and they in turn looked upon Harry as their "English Friend" and bosom buddy!

If I have left anyone out, and there are many, I hope to be forgiven for I am doing this by memory and from the recollections of my brother and sister who were also "Perry washed" while growing up.

Concerning Perry's concerts, Harry managed to attend quite a few, from the Palladium to the Midnight Charity Show, where he met Perry and the gang many times. He also sat in on the rehearsals for the Royal Variety Performance when Perry topped the bill in 1974.

When Yvonne Littlewood, BBC Producer, decided to make a documentary on Perry, Harry was virtually the first person she contacted. At the time, he asked me to stand in for him because he wasn't feeling well, which I did and felt very honoured indeed! She needed some background information with concern to Perry's records over the years in addition to Harry's involvement in the Perry Como Fan Club. We later met Yvonne after Perry's show at the London Palladium.

The London Palladium show was simply "great" for one very special reason: we had a box seat for that performance and as Perry entered and came on stage, he stopped, turned, looked up and waved to us all in the box. What a moment! You could hear the slight gasps and whispers from people who thought we were someone special, and on that night, at that very moment, we surely were!

This is just a rough guide to my father's involvement with Perry Como himself and his fan clubs. Perry had time for many people throughout his life but our family will never forget that he counted my father, Harry Smith, as a very dear friend! During the final years of his life, my father continued to correspond with Vera and Mickey keeping up-to-date with all that Perry was doing. Naturally, all of the new albums were purchased as they were released while he continued to search for those elusive records of old despite the fact that he could not play them on modern equipment. Sadly, Harry didn't get to enjoy Perry on CD but he wore out many albums and tapes listening to this wonderful man.

I like to think that, even as I write these words, Harry and Perry are at this moment having a sing-a-long of Perry's hits. Harry often made personal recordings of himself singing along with Perry, which he would play at family get-togethers! That's true love of an artist indeed!

Bill Hodges-Smith
—  son of the late Harry Smith

Letters to Bill Hodges-Smith and the family of Harry Smith may be forwarded to the following address:  bhs@kokomo.ca

Acknowledgement:-