Ralph Elman & His WW2 Radio Bohemian Players Old Signed Photo Signed Photos

CHA0103 A vintage 9" x 6" personally signed photo for Ralph Elman whose career I have detailed below.  He has personally signed this late 1940s photo in large blue pen which looks stunning and his signature is undedicated too.  A scarce signing to find and historic vintage souvenir of this wartime entertainer in great condition.Ralph Elman will certainly register with older readers but as they were essentially a broadcasting orchestra, rarely venturing into the recording studios, they are unknown to the present generation. Raphael Elman, to give him his real name, was born on 2nd December 1907 in Mile End, London. His father, Philip, hailed from Kiev in Ukraine and was a violinist in the days of the silent cinema. Ralph's mother, Moscow-born Annie Odinoff was a rabbi who went to the docks to receive refugees from the pogroms in Russia. Among those refugees was Ralph's father, Philip Elman, whose brother was the distinguished and ultimately world famous violinist, Mischa Elman. With such a celebrated uncle it was hardly surprising that Ralph should take up the violin and that his brother Henry should become a well-known cellist.Ralph Elman and his Bohemian Players made their first broadcast in 1943 and, by the end of the war had become regular contributors to radio's light music broadcasts. His orchestra of fourteen players was a combination of strings, woodwind, trumpet, accordion, piano, guitar and percussion. He also broadcast as Ralph Elman and his Tsigane Orchestra. His obvious affinity for gypsy music inspired him to compose many pieces in this idiom, some written under his pen-name Raphael, such as 'Romantic Gypsies', 'Wild Gypsy', 'Laughter and Tears', 'Wandering Gypsies' and, most famous of all, 'Gypsy Fiddler' which Ralph regularly included in his broadcasts, as did other orchestras

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