Word: skitch
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...DIED. SKITCH HENDERSON, 87, avuncular, Grammy-winning maestro of TV's Golden Age; in New Milford, Conn. Born Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson, the classically trained musician got his start on radio shows starring Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby (who gave him his nickname) before landing a job as the Tonight Show's first bandleader. With his Vandyke beard and audience-participation games, he was a key part of the show, bantering with Steve Allen and, later, Johnny Carson. After a jail stint for income-tax evasion, he founded the symphonic orchestra New York Pops, which he directed until his death...
...earliest episodes established a format that has varied hardly at all in "The Tonight Show" or most any other late-night talkfest: the theme song (Steve's own "This Could Be the Start of Something Big"), the bantering band leader (Skitch Henderson), the announcer (Jack Lescoulie), the opening monologue, the host's desk and the guest's couch, the featured spots for singers (Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Andy Williams) and comics (including Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Shelley Berman...