Harmonica player Larry Adler who lived in Camden was under suspicion from UK and US intelligence agencies

Published: 7th April, 2011
by RICHARD OSLEY

INTELLIGENCE agents from MI5 kept close tabs on harmonica player Larry Adler because they were worried he would use his popularity as a musician to spread communist ideas.

Mr Adler, who was born in Baltimore but lived for many years in Primrose Hill and famously became a regular diner at the old Café Delancey restaurant in Camden Town, was tracked by spies as he settled down in London and when he applied for visas to play concerts abroad.

The virtuoso, who ­later in life became a restaurant critic, only escaped MI5’s attention when it was agreed that he was causing “no adverse notice”.

Files released for the first time this week by the National Archives in Kew show how he had garnered a reputation for being a communist in the 1950s.

Cables were swapped between British intelligence operators and the Home Office, and with counterparts in the United States and South Africa.

It was claimed that Mr Adler had performed for an audience made up of American communists and that in 1951 he had given money to the French Communist Party while in the country for a gig.

Mr Adler, who died in 2001, aged 87, had in fact begun libel proceedings in the United States over claims by a woman in Connecticut that he was a communist. A jury was undecided but the musician later said the case showed his “loyalty”.

The files – 71 pages of previously highly confidential printed notes – show disagreements between the Home Office and the secret service over whether Mr Adler should be allowed to settle in London.

One MI5 message typed in 1951 said: “As this man’s family are British, we are unlikely to succeed in keeping him at arm’s length. However, in view of his record, I think we should reply in fairly strong terms to the Home Office on the following lines. 

“According to our information, which we consider reliable, this man is a member of the American Communist Party and of at least 15 communist-front organisations.”

It went on: “Although we have no information that he is presently in touch with the British Communist Party, we consider that if he were allowed to settle here, the Communist Party would make every effort to exploit his name as an entertainer, which seems to be well-known to certain sections of the public; and that he would not only co-operate with the Party in this respect but would probably take part in political or semi-political activities in so far as his engagements and fear of further action by the authorities permitted. 

“We therefore recommend that he should be given no further latitude than he has at present.”

But John Marriott, then head of MI5’s counter-subversion branch, moved to calm fears among his colleagues.

He said: “The fact is that Adler has been a regular visitor to this country for the past 15 years, and now seems virtually to reside here, and I think therefore that some weight attaches to the fact that he has never come to adverse notice while here.”

Before his death, Mr Adler talked about how suspicions about his political views had prevented him from being a bigger star in the United States.

He told the Guardian shortly before his death that he refused to tell Americans whether he supported the party or not. 

Cryptically, he later added: “I had a great sympathy with the Communist Party, so see if you can guess why I didn’t join it?”