[Author's note: This is one of those times where I had some interview information that wasn't enough for a magazine article. However, information shouldn't be lost, so I prepared this short piece.]

The "Harlem Highlanders" was a group that had a minimal recording career (assuming you can glorify a single song as a "career").

The story starts with Napoleon "Snaggs" Allen, who was part of the Box Brothers, a vaudeville band, back in 1934. (The word "box" was used as a slang term for any stringed instrument.) Snaggs played the guitar and the other Brothers (Warren Banks, Cecil Austin, and James Simmons) played the tipple (a 10-stringed instrument that was somewhat like a large, high-pitched ukulele). In addition to playing their boxes, Allen, Banks, and Austin were vocalists and Simmons was a dancer.

Once they got to be well known, Joe Louis would sometimes throw his box into the ring and join them as a violinist (which is what he'd planned to be prior to his boxing days)!

In 1938, they made a cross-country tour with Major Bowes. Edward "Major" Bowes was the host of the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, an extremely popular radio talent show. Every once in a while, he would accumulate the program's winners and send them out on the vaudeville circuit. [Unfortunately, I didn't ask Allen why the Box Brothers were part of this revue; he never mentioned that they'd been contestants.] After this tour, Pete Glover joined as a fifth member. He was a singer, arranger, and bassist.

Soon, they became well-known to the point that they got a job as strolling musicians when the New York World's Fair opened in April 1939. However, the group only stayed together a couple of months after that.

Another group around at the time was the 3 Gobs. They were originally drummer Willie Jones and dancers Eddie Johnson and Sonny Austin. By 1939, they had added a fourth member, dancer Laurence "Baby Laurence" Jackson. When the Box Brothers broke up, Napoleon Allen and Pete Glover joined up with the 3 Gobs, who then changed their name to the "Six Merry Scotchmen" (wearing kilts to perform), and, a short time after that, to the "Harlem Highlanders."

The Highlanders would sing several Scottish numbers, such as "Roamin' In The Gloamin'," and follow that up with dancing. While they were primarily a stage act (mostly theaters and nightclubs), they made a single known recording, with the Oran "Hot Lips" Page Orchestra: "I Ain't Got Nobody" (Decca 7714 – recorded 1/23/40 and released later that year).

The Harlem Highlanders were fixtures at Kelly's Stable (141 West 51 Street in Manhattan) for a while. When they played there in December 1939, both Billie Holiday and the Savoy Sultans were also on the bill. The Harlem Highlanders lasted until around 1945.

After that, Snaggs Allen was used as a utility replacement for any member of the Cats And The Fiddle who was unable to make an engagement. Allen never recorded with the group, however. The opposite is true of Baby Laurence, who recorded occasionally with the group, although he was never a member. In 1951, Napoleon "Snaggs" Allen would join the Blenders.

(Note that around 1950, guitarist Tiny Grimes formed the Rockin' Highlanders, who also appeared in kilts. One of their vocalists was Screamin' Jay Hawkins.)

We can't really say that the Harlem Highlanders made any kind of dent in the recording scene, but they were known as a dynamic stage act and must have been fun to see in their Scottish regalia.