Post by erik on Jun 26, 2021 20:25:54 GMT -5
At this, the halfway point of 2019, we look at a film score by one of the titans of the genre, one to what is likely the only Western movie shot in the wrap-around screen process known as Cinerama.
Alfred Newman: HOW THE WEST WAS WON
For much of the 20th century, the fine art of film scoring was never taken seriously by so-called “serious” music fans, even though there were plenty of composers in this unique arena. European émigrés like Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Dimitri Tiomkin, and others plied their trade in Hollywood during the first half of the century. But a homegrown name stands out in particular in this field: Alfred Newman. From 1930 until his death in early 1970 (after finishing the score for Airport), Newman scored hundreds of films, most of them as the principal in-house film composer for Darryl Zanuck’s 20th Century Fox. His seemingly endless credits include the scores for such classic movies as 1950’s All About Eve and Broken Arrow; 1952’s Viva Zapata; 1956’s Bus Stop; 1959’s The Diary Of Anne Frank; and 1965’s The Greatest Story Ever Told. But one of his most important film scores came in 1962, when he scored Metro Goldwyn Mater’s Cinerama Western epic How The West Was Won. Inspired by a series of stories in Life Magazine detailing the settling of the West by pioneer families, and assembled together by master Hollywood scrivener James R. Webb, How The West Was Won was the dream child of producer Bernard Smith to create a true Hollywood Western epic, with three of the industry’s top Western filmmakers—John Ford; Henry Hathaway; and George Marshall—helming five different segments: “The Civil War”; “The Plains”; “The Rivers”; “The Outlaws”; and “The Railroad”. Tiomkin was initially Smith’s first choice; but once that composer was waylaid by an eye operation, he went to Newman; and the result was a typically robust score from the man considered to be the dean of Hollywood composers. As was often the case with many Western film scores up to this time, Newman’s score incorporates a lot of Old West and even Appalachian folk songs, including “Nine Hundred Miles From Home”, “Shenandoah”, “Rock Of Ages”, and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”. An original song, “Raise A Ruckus” was performed in the film by Debbie Reynolds, one of the dozens of Hollywood heavyweights who lent their talents to this old-fashioned sagebrush saga, which, on what was considered a gigantic budget of $15 million, eventually made $60 million worldwide, and netted Newman one of his fifty Academy Award nominations (though he didn’t win). And even after Newman’s death, the family tradition was continued by his sons Thomas and David Newman; daughter Maria Newman; brothers Emil and Lionel Newman; and his nephew Randy Newman, whose talents extended into rock during the early 1970’s.
Vocals: DEBBIE REYNOLDS, JUDY HENSKE, DAVE GUARD
Ken Darby Singers
MGM Studio Symphony Orchestra/ALFRED NEWMAN (MGM)
Alfred Newman: HOW THE WEST WAS WON
For much of the 20th century, the fine art of film scoring was never taken seriously by so-called “serious” music fans, even though there were plenty of composers in this unique arena. European émigrés like Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Dimitri Tiomkin, and others plied their trade in Hollywood during the first half of the century. But a homegrown name stands out in particular in this field: Alfred Newman. From 1930 until his death in early 1970 (after finishing the score for Airport), Newman scored hundreds of films, most of them as the principal in-house film composer for Darryl Zanuck’s 20th Century Fox. His seemingly endless credits include the scores for such classic movies as 1950’s All About Eve and Broken Arrow; 1952’s Viva Zapata; 1956’s Bus Stop; 1959’s The Diary Of Anne Frank; and 1965’s The Greatest Story Ever Told. But one of his most important film scores came in 1962, when he scored Metro Goldwyn Mater’s Cinerama Western epic How The West Was Won. Inspired by a series of stories in Life Magazine detailing the settling of the West by pioneer families, and assembled together by master Hollywood scrivener James R. Webb, How The West Was Won was the dream child of producer Bernard Smith to create a true Hollywood Western epic, with three of the industry’s top Western filmmakers—John Ford; Henry Hathaway; and George Marshall—helming five different segments: “The Civil War”; “The Plains”; “The Rivers”; “The Outlaws”; and “The Railroad”. Tiomkin was initially Smith’s first choice; but once that composer was waylaid by an eye operation, he went to Newman; and the result was a typically robust score from the man considered to be the dean of Hollywood composers. As was often the case with many Western film scores up to this time, Newman’s score incorporates a lot of Old West and even Appalachian folk songs, including “Nine Hundred Miles From Home”, “Shenandoah”, “Rock Of Ages”, and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”. An original song, “Raise A Ruckus” was performed in the film by Debbie Reynolds, one of the dozens of Hollywood heavyweights who lent their talents to this old-fashioned sagebrush saga, which, on what was considered a gigantic budget of $15 million, eventually made $60 million worldwide, and netted Newman one of his fifty Academy Award nominations (though he didn’t win). And even after Newman’s death, the family tradition was continued by his sons Thomas and David Newman; daughter Maria Newman; brothers Emil and Lionel Newman; and his nephew Randy Newman, whose talents extended into rock during the early 1970’s.
Vocals: DEBBIE REYNOLDS, JUDY HENSKE, DAVE GUARD
Ken Darby Singers
MGM Studio Symphony Orchestra/ALFRED NEWMAN (MGM)