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Very well said William. And if Max wrote scores in the 70s, 80s, etc., I'm sure he would have changed with the times, to a point.
Indeed he did, PFK. Witness how he added that pop-oriented piano part behind his Theme to A Summer Place and got himself a big, fat, screaming hit song as a result.
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David, you provide me the opportunity -- nay, the necessity -- to repeat a story I've shared several times here at FSM.
I first came across it back in the LP era, in sort of a broadside Columbia had printed on the paper sleeve of an album, promoting other Columbia recordings. According to Columbia star Percy Faith, reminiscing about his hit single of the SUMMER PLACE theme, when Warner Bros. sent him the Steiner sheet music of the composition, the arranger-conductor was surprised to see the inclusion of triplets, a common device in that era's bubble gum music. So, he phoned Steiner in Hollywood to ask him if the triplets were truly part of the theme, or were they perhaps tacked on by someone in the Warner music department? "No, that's the way I wrote it," Steiner explained, "But it wasn't my idea. The studio people wanted me to incorporate the triplets to appeal to the teenagers. At first, I objected. But then I thought, 'What the hell -- Mozart used them.'"
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Posted: |
Oct 22, 2014 - 10:30 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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The date on this article seems to be around the time that Steiner was working on, or about to work on, his score for SINCE YOU WENT AWAY.
If so, then it also seems to have the suspicious hand and voice of David O. Selznick in its appearance at this time.
Selznick was, of course, a major supporter of Steiner's work, beginning in the RKO days when he was in Charge of Production there and, although just as Selznick moved on to MGM and later, Selznick-International, and Steiner to Warner Bros, Selznick continued to borrow him from WB on the Selznick-International pictures including GARDEN OF ALLAH, A STAR IS BORN, GONE WITH THE WIND, and culminating in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY.
What is interesting about this is that Selznick was a long-time proponent of using music from the films he made as musically-identified advertising for those films in the commercial market.
By the 1940s I believe he was seriously considering how he could achieve the end result of making soundtrack film music accessible to the masses (at least on HIS pictures) and was quoted on these aims on several occasions during that period. I suspect, however, that he was prevented from doing this to any great extent (at least with soundtrack lifts), likely because of the costs of re-use fees even then.
But he did understand that he could re-record 15-30 minute suites for use as "sustaining" free radio promo "fillers" for at least SYWA and SPELLBOUND (and possibly DUEL IN THE SUN that I can ascertain), and had some sort of overall name for these promo shows---something like "The Selznick Library of Film Music".
Even with his limited output of product, Selznick also managed to place 78rpm album re-recordings into the marketplace for SPELLBOUND (on ARA Records), DUEL IN THE SUN (conducted by Arthur Fiedler on RCA), and, later, THE PARADINE CASE suite by Waxman.
This orchestral film music performance idea, perhaps building on Selznick, or as a separate concept, was also taken up by Paramount in this early period, and they created a special series for distribution to radio stations of some of their music---no narration, just the music. These shows, which ran about 30 minutes, seem to be from the actual soundtrack music elements, mixed together pretty much in suite form with the occasional slight break between movements. I know of at least a few of these and all are, logically, Victor Young music---REAP THE WILD WIND, FRENCHMAN'S CREEK, THE UNINVITED, GOLDEN EARRINGS, and LOVE LETTERS. I suspect there are even more---surely FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS can't have been left out if they were doing these things---but I haven't come across any documentation for more.
Simultaneous to all this, starting in the early 1930s, nearly all the major studios had begun making 15-minute soundtrack radio promos for their films, most including dialog and, in the case of musicals, some of the songs from the films. These came usually under the umbrella title of HOLLYWOOD IS ON THE AIR, but were created individually by each studio.
The MGM one was called "Leo Is On The Air," and usually started with Leo's roar and some MGM-identified logo music---sometimes Edward Ward's "Roar, Leo, Roar" or the independently-written Jack Lawrence tune, "A Handful of Stars"---and a running introduction and commentary by MGM's house trailer narration "voice", Frank Whitbeck, introducing soundtrack elements from the film.
The GOOD EARTH radio promo from 1937 is interesting in that it starts with a lengthy piece of music by Stothart from THE GOOD EARTH---perhaps it is an "Overture" for the roadshow screenings of the film. That kind of thing is a special element of these radio promos for collectors because the musical and dialog tracks for these were usually put together while the films were in production, and a few of them have tracks, particularly songs, which either didn't make it into the final cut of the film, or made it in, but in truncated form. Thus, collectors' rarities.
I'm sure Ray Faiola has some further research and commentary on all this that I haven't been able to provide.
I think a discussion of all this is important to all of us who collect and admire soundtracks because, although the 1930s had rare and scattershot film music material released, this early 1940s period really regularly begins the developments in film music distribution---and leads, over the next decades, to what we have today. This is an important part of the history of our hobby.
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Yes, it is.
And it's another book I wish you'd write.
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Posted: |
Oct 23, 2014 - 10:57 AM
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By: |
PFK
(Member)
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David, you provide me the opportunity -- nay, the necessity -- to repeat a story I've shared several times here at FSM.
I first came across it back in the LP era, in sort of a broadside Columbia had printed on the paper sleeve of an album, promoting other Columbia recordings. According to Columbia star Percy Faith, reminiscing about his hit single of the SUMMER PLACE theme, when Warner Bros. sent him the Steiner sheet music of the composition, the arranger-conductor was surprised to see the inclusion of triplets, a common device in that era's bubble gum music. So, he phoned Steiner in Hollywood to ask him if the triplets were truly part of the theme, or were they perhaps tacked on by someone in the Warner music department? "No, that's the way I wrote it," Steiner explained, "But it wasn't my idea. The studio people wanted me to incorporate the triplets to appeal to the teenagers. At first, I objected. But then I thought, 'What the hell -- Mozart used them.'"
Very interesting Preston. In 1973 I visited Al Bender of the Max Steiner Music Society. Among other things, Al told me that Percy Faith went to Max's house to discuss recording the Theme From A Summer Place. Al also told me Max made a LOT of money from it, as it was a huge it for Percy Faith and broke Billboard records. Check this out at Wikipedia.
A year later Max's main title to The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs moved a bit like the Theme From A Summer Place. Max also wrote a touching love theme for the film which Percy Faith also recorded but it didn't sell like A Summer Place did.
Both scores are just beautiful ...... present day "composers" take note!
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Thanks, Peter! The next time I post this story -- and there always seems to be a next time for it -- I'll switch "phone call" to "visit."
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So, Max Steiner was not only a pioneer but also a prophet.
Amen brother!
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