LA and Vegas
© Copyright 2013, Below Stairs Productions.
HENRY LEWY
The Man Behind The Music
A Documentary Film
LA & VEGAS
As World Ware II soon engulfed all of Europe the Lewys fled to Canada on January 1st, 1940 but they soon left Canada for Savannah, Georgia. One day, as Henry was heading to the movie theater, he passed a radio station. The front of the building was all glass and he could look into the control room and watch the DJ reading news commercials and the spark of someday working in the recording industry was planted.
Three years later, the family moved again to Los Angeles. Henry enrolled in Hollywood High School, graduated in 1944 and immediately joined the Army. He was wounded in the Pacific, and brought home to LA where he received the Purple Heart. Combining his childhood passions for machines and music, he enrolled in sound recording school in Hollywood on the GI bill.
The 50's were a whirlwind for Henry. He worked at radio stations in San Diego, Las Vegas and Los Angeles and was a staff correspondent for Down Beat - the foremost music magazine of the times. He hosted his own, immensely popular show on KENO radio in Vegas: "Helpful Henry The Housewives Delight ". Henry was a budding celebrity in the Mob-Controlled 50's Vegas party scene.