• Born 1 August 1898, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Died April 1980, Los Angeles, California

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As musical director at Columbia Pictures from 1936 to 1962, Morris Stoloff nimbly balanced artistic freedom with production priorities, cultivating some of the best composers ever to score for film, while keeping producers and studio executives happy with their bottom line. Among space age pop fans, he's best remembered for his 1956 Top Ten hit that paired the swing era tune "Moonglow" with George Duning's love theme from the movie Picnic, creating an enduring new pop standard. Columbia Pictures logo, used only from 1981-1993 Columbia Pictures, now Columbia TriStar Pictures after their merger with the former TriStar Entertainment in 1998, is a film production company, and part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ...

A child prodigy on the violin, Stoloff was taken under the wing of W. A. Clark, a millionaire who established the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. After studying with Leopold Auer for several years, Stoloff was touring the U.S. as a featured soloist at the age of 16, and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic a year later as its youngest member ever. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, USA. From 1964-2003, the orchestra played its concerts in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. ... Leopold Auer Leopold Auer (June 7, 1845 – July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, teacher, conductor and composer. ... The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, USA. From 1964 to 2003, the orchestra played its concerts in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center. ...

When sound came to motion pictures, studios came looking for musicians to provide it, and Stoloff was one of the first to cross over from classical music to movies. He was the first concertmaster on Paramount Pictures's payroll, and he was a pioneer in setting up the mechanics of a system that had to provide a steady stream of music for everything from epic dramas to serials and comedy shorts. The Paramount Pictures logo used from 1987 to 1995. ...

In 1936, Stoloff moved over to Columbia Pictures, where he took the title of musical director, a new position unique to the studio system. As musical director, he was the chief executive responsible for providing musical production support to every film the studio released. This meant matching up composers, orchestrators, conductors, musicians, and recording facilities to meet the creative scope of each project as well as its schedule and budget. As he told the Los Angeles Times back in 1947, Columbia Pictures logo, used only from 1981-1993 Columbia Pictures, now Columbia TriStar Pictures after their merger with the former TriStar Entertainment in 1998, is a film production company, and part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ...

In the final analysis, it is on the musical director that responsibility falls for the end result and the intrinsic importance of music in a picture. This importance may be little if the music is merely a backdrop to the action, but even in such instances its impact must be properly judged and proportioned and it must be timed for complete effectiveness. And is is the judgment of the musical director which must maintain the delicate balance between Bach and box office.

That he carried off this balancing act for nearly 25 years is a tribute to Stoloff's ability as a businessman.

But it says even more that so many musicians credit him for encouraging them to exercise their own creative independence in the midst of this production line environment. During his time at Columbia Pictures, Stoloff worked with composers ranging from Stravinsky(pairing him up with a young David Raksin to keep the old master contained within the limits of the click track) to John Williams (whose father, a former jazz drummer, was already working for Stoloff as a studio musician). Columbia Pictures logo, used only from 1981-1993 Columbia Pictures, now Columbia TriStar Pictures after their merger with the former TriStar Entertainment in 1998, is a film production company, and part of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ... Igor Fyodorovitch Stravinsky () (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a composer of modern classical music. ... David Raksin (August 4, 1912 - August 9, 2004) was an American composer of music. ... There have been a number of noteworthy men named John Williams: John Williams (actor) (1903-1983), actor John Williams (archer) American archer and Olympic gold medallist John Williams (author) (1922-), wrote historical novel Augustus John Williams (accordionist), Chicago-born accordion player John Williams (archbishop) (1582-1650), archbishop John Williams (composer...

Stoloff often took partial credit for a picture's score when he worked closely with a particular composer to work out a theme, motifs, and melodies. As a result, he ranks among some of the most-nominated individuals in the history of the Academy Awards. He won three Oscars for best scores, for Cover Girl in 1944; The Jolson Story in 1946; and Song Without End in 1960, and was nominated seven other times. Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... A cover girl is a female model or entertainer whose photograph appears on the front cover of a magazine to attract attention on the shelf, usually a magazine devoted to womens interests (such as Redbook or Seventeen) or mens interests (such as Gentlemens Quarterly, Maxim or Esquire). ... The Jolson Story is a 1946 autobiographical film which tells the life story of singer and actor Al Jolson. ...

By the late 1940s, film music was beginning to be recognized on its own, and Stoloff began recording some of the more popular numbers as singles for Decca Records. When long-play albums were perfected, the studios ceased on the opportunity to market more than just singles to the listening audience, and soundtrack albums became a hot commodity. Stoloff exercised his privilege as musical director to record these soundtrack albums himself, working with material from the actual scores.

It was not until Picnic, however, that Morris Stoloff became a familiar name to the pop audience. The casting of William Holden, nearing 40, as a young drifter, and Kim Novak, just out of acting-by-the-numbers class, as his love interest, didn't bode well for the film version of William Inge's play, but in the end, Picnic was acclaimed as one of the best films of 1956. The pivotal scene in the movie is set at a summer picnic in a town park in Kansas, during which Holden and Novak begin dancing as a band plays the familiar tune, "Moonglow," with a gentle cha-cha beat. As they dance, the passion between them becomes palpable, and Duning's original theme comes sweeping in and carries the scene away. William Holden William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981, body found November 16, 1981) was an American film actor. ... George Sanders and Novak in Moll Flanders Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American film actress. ...

The moment and music were so memorable that Stoloff recorded it exactly as heard on screen, and the cut quickly shot up the pop charts when it was released. It peaked at #2 for five weeks in the U.S., stayed in the Top 40 for over half a year, and did nearly as well in the U.K. A few months later, Steve Allen wrote lyrics to Duning's theme and the McGuire Sisters took it to the charts again as a vocal. Allen published the medley, and it went on to become one of the enduring space age pop standards. Steve Allen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

When Frank Sinatra founded Reprise Records in the early 1960s, he hired Stoloff as musical director. One of Stoloff's most noteworthy achievements while at Reprise was the release of a set of re-recordings of great Broadway musicals, including "Kiss Me, Kate" with a studio cast. Frank Sinatra in 1947 Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer who is considered one of the finest vocalists of all time, renowned for his impeccable phrasing and timing. ... Reprise Records was formed in 1960 by Frank Sinatra in order to allow more artistic freedom for his own recordings. ... This article is about the street in New York City. ... Kiss Me, Kate is a stage musical by Samuel and Bella Spewack (book) and Cole Porter (music and lyrics) that ran for 1,077 performances and was first performed in New York on December 30, 1948. ...

Composer Filmography

• Song Without End (1960)
• All Ashore (1953)
• Affair in Trinidad (1952)
• Barsaat (1949) (from "Jolson Story, The (1946)")
• The Loves of Carmen (1948) (song "The Love of a Gypsy") (uncredited)
• The Jolson Story (1946) (uncredited)
• Meet Me on Broadway (1946)
• A Song to Remember (1945)
• The Talk of the Town (1942) (uncredited)
• The Adventures of Martin Eden (1942) (as Morris W. Stoloff)
• Five Little Peppers at Home (1940)
• Coast Guard (1939)
• Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)
• First Offenders (1939)
• Colorado Trail (1938)
• Convicted (1938)
• Special Inspector (1938)
• Paid to Dance (1937)
• The Game That Kills (1937)
• It Happened in Hollywood (1937)
• Girls Can Play (1937)
• Criminals of the Air (1937)
• Big Brown Eyes (1936)

Barsaat (Also known as Rain in English) is a 1949 Bollywood film directed by Raj Kapoor. ... The Jolson Story is a 1946 autobiographical film which tells the life story of singer and actor Al Jolson. ... A Song to Remember is a 1945 biographical film which tells the life story of pianist and composer Frederic Chopin. ... The Talk of the Town is a 1942 screwball comedy film in which a political activist, accused of arson and murder, takes refuge with a former girlfriend in the house of a professor of law. ... U.S. Coast Guard helicopter A coast guard is an organization devoted to saving the lives of shipwrecked mariners or people in danger at sea. ... The Colorado Trail (CT) is a 479 mile long trail running from the outskirts of Denver to Durango in Colorado, United States. ...

External Links

Internet Movie Database