Dick Warner changed the culture of popular entertainment, moving away from singing saloons and contracting more classical performers by utilising his Jewish cousinhood in Vienna, Prague and his birthplace, Bohemia.
Mendelssohn worked for a while in his father's office in the London Stock Exchange before joining the Royal Navy at the age of seventeen.
He soon became the promotional manager for several band leaders including Mantovani, Sydney Lipton, Joe Loss, Lew Stone, and Carroll Gibbons.
During World War II, Mendelssohn spent some time in the Life Guards, but still managed to regularly broadcast with his Serenaders on Songs of the Islands, and later on Hawaii Calling featuring singer Rita Williams.
He put together a tour to The Netherlands to repay his debts, but it was a financial disaster, as the expenses were more than the payment received, and this left the whole company stranded without the fare back to England.
Mendelssohn negotiated with a local British Army camp, offering free shows to the servicemen in exchange for overnight accommodation and subsidised transport back home.