Read Online The Magnificent Elmer by Pearl Bernstein Gardner, Gerald Gardner - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Pearl Bernstein Gardner, Gerald Gardner
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would have liked to say: Keep your hands off my music. Don’t change it. Don’t improve it. It works .
It was something that one could not really say to a movie producer. As Budd Schulberg remarked: “Movie producers have to ask for changes, it is how they justify their existence.”
Elmer’s favorite composer anecdote was about Billy Rose, the bantam theatrical producer and impresario. He was assembling a Broadway musical called Seven Lively Arts . It would contain samples of all the lively arts, comedy, drama, music, ballet, everything. The music would be supplied by Igor Stravinsky, Benny Goodman, and Cole Porter. Rose thought that everything was improvable under his golden touch. He thus cabled Stravinsky: YOUR MUSIC GREAT SUCCESS STOP COULD BE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD AUTHORIZE ME TO HAVE ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT IMPROVE YOUR ORCHESTRATIONS.
Stravinsky cabled back:
SATISFIED WITH GREAT SUCCESS.
***
In Hollywood, even when you win you lose. For in each category of the Oscars, among the five nominees are four who will lose and one who will win. I haven’t tabulated the numbers, but after years of such rejection, Elmer seemed like the most nominated and least awarded composer in film history. Here is the box score.
In 1955 Elmer was nominated for Best Musical Score for The Man with the Golden Arm . And the Oscar went to Alfred Newman for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing .
In 1960 Elmer was nominated for his score to The Magnificent Seven , and he lost to Ernest Gold for his score to Exodus .
In 1962 Elmer was nominated for To Kill a Mockingbird and lost to Maurice Jarre for Laurence of Arabia .
In 1966 Elmer was nominated for Hawaii , and lost to John Barry for Born Free .
In 1983 Elmer was nominated for Trading Places , and lost to Bill Conti for The Right Stuff .
In 1993 Elmer was nominated for Age of Innocence and lost to John Williams for Schindler’s List .
In 2002 Elmer was nominated for Far from Heaven and lost to Elliot Gondeldthal for Frida .
***
Why all the fuss about the Academy Awards? Well, the Oscars is a very American institution. There is something special about all that wealth and monomania packed into one theater. Indeed, whenever you put a thousand celebrities into one place—all those self-absorbed stars, directors, agents, and producers—you get a really pleasant combination of gossip, panic, spite, and sham.
There is something special about the first anything. If you are a writer, it is the first time you see your words in print; if you are a teenager, it is your first kiss; if you area baseball player, it is your first home run. And if you are a moviemaker, it is your first Oscar ceremony. I remember our first one very well. Elmer had been nominated for the musical score for The Man with the Golden Arm .
One of the first things I noticed was the way they put all the nominees for the same award together. A convenience to the TV cameramen? A nod to envy and pathology? A threat to mental health? Whatever the reason, there seated cheek and jowl were the five nominated composers and their wives, all grinning in terror. There, in a tight group, were Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Alex North, George Duning, and my darling Elmer.
George Duning, who had said yes to Harry Cohn at Columbia, became a staff composer, and wrote the nominated Picnic , as well as the unrecognized Three Stooges in Space ; Alfred Newman had written the score for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing , a piece of featureless mush from Fox; Alex North had been nominated for the music to Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo ; Max Steiner had written the score for MGM’s Battle Cry , which was based on the first novel of my old high school beaux Leon Uris; and Elmer had written the driving jazz score to Golden Arm .
I remember our preparations for the Oscar that year.
“I could buy a dress for the Oscars for two hundred dollars, or buy the fabric and a pattern and make it for one hundred.” I unpacked the
It was something that one could not really say to a movie producer. As Budd Schulberg remarked: “Movie producers have to ask for changes, it is how they justify their existence.”
Elmer’s favorite composer anecdote was about Billy Rose, the bantam theatrical producer and impresario. He was assembling a Broadway musical called Seven Lively Arts . It would contain samples of all the lively arts, comedy, drama, music, ballet, everything. The music would be supplied by Igor Stravinsky, Benny Goodman, and Cole Porter. Rose thought that everything was improvable under his golden touch. He thus cabled Stravinsky: YOUR MUSIC GREAT SUCCESS STOP COULD BE SENSATIONAL SUCCESS IF YOU WOULD AUTHORIZE ME TO HAVE ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT IMPROVE YOUR ORCHESTRATIONS.
Stravinsky cabled back:
SATISFIED WITH GREAT SUCCESS.
***
In Hollywood, even when you win you lose. For in each category of the Oscars, among the five nominees are four who will lose and one who will win. I haven’t tabulated the numbers, but after years of such rejection, Elmer seemed like the most nominated and least awarded composer in film history. Here is the box score.
In 1955 Elmer was nominated for Best Musical Score for The Man with the Golden Arm . And the Oscar went to Alfred Newman for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing .
In 1960 Elmer was nominated for his score to The Magnificent Seven , and he lost to Ernest Gold for his score to Exodus .
In 1962 Elmer was nominated for To Kill a Mockingbird and lost to Maurice Jarre for Laurence of Arabia .
In 1966 Elmer was nominated for Hawaii , and lost to John Barry for Born Free .
In 1983 Elmer was nominated for Trading Places , and lost to Bill Conti for The Right Stuff .
In 1993 Elmer was nominated for Age of Innocence and lost to John Williams for Schindler’s List .
In 2002 Elmer was nominated for Far from Heaven and lost to Elliot Gondeldthal for Frida .
***
Why all the fuss about the Academy Awards? Well, the Oscars is a very American institution. There is something special about all that wealth and monomania packed into one theater. Indeed, whenever you put a thousand celebrities into one place—all those self-absorbed stars, directors, agents, and producers—you get a really pleasant combination of gossip, panic, spite, and sham.
There is something special about the first anything. If you are a writer, it is the first time you see your words in print; if you are a teenager, it is your first kiss; if you area baseball player, it is your first home run. And if you are a moviemaker, it is your first Oscar ceremony. I remember our first one very well. Elmer had been nominated for the musical score for The Man with the Golden Arm .
One of the first things I noticed was the way they put all the nominees for the same award together. A convenience to the TV cameramen? A nod to envy and pathology? A threat to mental health? Whatever the reason, there seated cheek and jowl were the five nominated composers and their wives, all grinning in terror. There, in a tight group, were Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Alex North, George Duning, and my darling Elmer.
George Duning, who had said yes to Harry Cohn at Columbia, became a staff composer, and wrote the nominated Picnic , as well as the unrecognized Three Stooges in Space ; Alfred Newman had written the score for Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing , a piece of featureless mush from Fox; Alex North had been nominated for the music to Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo ; Max Steiner had written the score for MGM’s Battle Cry , which was based on the first novel of my old high school beaux Leon Uris; and Elmer had written the driving jazz score to Golden Arm .
I remember our preparations for the Oscar that year.
“I could buy a dress for the Oscars for two hundred dollars, or buy the fabric and a pattern and make it for one hundred.” I unpacked the
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