Henry Vars (born Henryk Warszawski; December 29, 1902 – September 1, 1977) was a Polish-American composer, arranger and conductor whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. He is regarded as the most important musical theatre, pop and film music composer of the interwar Poland.
Known in Poland as Henryk Wars, he is widely considered a pioneer of Polish jazz with his first composition "New York Times" (1927) being regarded as the very first jazz song in the history of Polish music.[1] His other jazz and pop songs from the period include "Miłość ci wszystko wybaczy" (1933), "Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą", "Sex appeal" (both from 1937), "Ach, jak przyjemnie" and "Już nie zapomnisz mnie" (both from 1939).
Henryk Warszawski was born to a Jewish musical family in the Russian partition of Poland. He began studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, but soon obtained a scholarship to the Music Conservatory in Warsaw, from which he graduated in 1925, having studied composition with Professor Roman Statkowski and Emil Młynarski. In 1927 he composed a song called "New York Times" that was sung in the Karuzela Theatre by Tadeusz Olsza and recorded by Henryk Gold's Orchestra for Syrena-Rekord. His first big hit, though, was "Zatańczmy tango", composed in 1928 for Stanisława Nowicka and Eugeniusz Bodo. He was hired as a pianist for the Morskie Oko theater and joined Henryk Gold's band.[1]
Henry Vars (6th from the left in the 1st row) at a film premiere with President Ignacy Mościcki (1932)
During the 1930s, he composed songs for a string of musical comedies in Poland, and his importance there is comparable to that of Irving Berlin in America. His melodies from this period (along with those of Jerzy Petersburski and Zygmunt Wiehler) are still popular in Poland to this day, with his most popular songs often associated with pre-war Lwów. He was a long-time music director for Syrena-Rekord.[3] He composed his first film score for Na Sybir in 1930, after gaining fame as a conductor and performer at various Warsaw cabarets and theaters including Morskie Oko, Hollywood, and Wielka Rewia. He composed scores for such films as Paweł i Gaweł, Szpieg w masce, Piętro wyżej (Neighbors), and Zapomniana melodia. He was the pioneer of jazz and swing music in Poland."[1]
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, he was drafted into the Polish Army and served in the defense of Poland in 1939. He was taken prisoner of war by the German army but managed to escape from a stopped train. He organized a big band Tea-Jazz Orchestra in Soviet-occupied Lwów in 1940. He composed his first symphony at this time. In late 1941, he and his musicians joined the Polish II Corps of General Anders as part of the Polska Parada cabaret. After being demobilized from the army in 1947, he emigrated to the United States.[3]
In the U.S., he changed his name to Henry Vars and after a period of struggling and poverty, managed to resume his musical career. He was John Wayne's friend.[2] His new songs were sung by such well-known stars as Margaret Whiting, Mel Tormé, Doris Day and Brenda Lee. He composed the score and the title song for the Flipper (1963–1967) film and television franchise, as well as Daktari. He also composed scores for numerous western films such as Seven Men From Now, Gun the Man Down (both from 1956) and Escort West (1959).
Lwowskie Piosenki, Lyrics in Polish with Lwów accent for Dobranoc, oczka zmruż, Serce batiara, My dwaj, obacwaj, and Tylko we Lwowie. Any actual performance may vary significantly from these words.
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