Music was an inevitable category for the Oscars, particularly in the mid-1930s, when the golden era of popular song was in full sway: Kern, Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, Arlen, Carmichael and others were reaching their peak creativity. At the same time, composers and musicians were fleeing from Nazism, Stalinism, and the growing threat of war in Europe, bringing with them new ideas and new sounds for film scores. There would be controversies and various reshapings and renamings of music award categories as the years passed, the film musical flourished and faded, and popular music discovered new audiences.
The nominees were ...
(Scoring)
- The Gay Divorcee, RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Max Steiner, head of department
- The Lost Patrol, RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Max Steiner, head of department
- One Night of Love, Columbia Studio Music Department, Louis Silvers, head of department (Thematic Music by Victor Schertzinger and Gus Kahn)
(Song)
- "Carioca," from Flying Down to Rio, Music by Vincent Youmans; Lyrics by Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn
- "The Continental," from The Gay Divorcee, Music by Con Conrad; Lyrics by Herb Magidson
- "Love in Bloom," from She Loves Me Not, Music by Ralph Rainger; Lyrics by Leo Robin
... when they should have been ...
(Song)
- "The Continental," from The Gay Divorcee, Music by Con Conrad; Lyrics by Herb Magidson
- "I Only Have Eyes for You," from Dames, Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin
- "Let's Fall in Love," from Let's Fall in Love, Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Ted Koehler
And the Oscar went to ...
(Scoring)
One Night of Love, Columbia Studio Music Department, Louis Silvers, head of department (Thematic Music by Victor Schertzinger and Gus Kahn).
Although the Oscar went to Silvers as head of the music department, the nomination at least cites the real composers, Schertzinger and Kahn.
Although the Oscar went to Silvers as head of the music department, the nomination at least cites the real composers, Schertzinger and Kahn.
(Song)
... when it should have gone to ...
(Scoring)
 |
| Max Steiner |
It's hard to know how much Steiner had to do with the actual arrangement of the Cole Porter song Fred and Ginger dance to here, if anything. His nomination came about because for the first few years of the music Oscars, the award went to the head of the studio music department, and not to the composer. But he is credited with the score for the parts of the film that don't feature singing and dancing. And he was one of the most prolific and skilled composers of film scores in Hollywood history. Born in Vienna to a musical family -- his godfather was Richard Strauss -- he studied with Johannes Brahms. But he fell in love with musical theater and in 1906, when he was only eighteen, he went to London where he conducted the orchestras of various theaters. He was in London when World War I broke out, which made him an enemy alien, but he made his way to the then-neutral United States, and became a Broadway conductor. Scouted by RKO at the beginning of the sound era, he came to Hollywood in 1929. His score for King Kong caught everyone's attention, and he eventually won three Oscars and twenty-one nominations.
(Song)
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| Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler |
Arlen, who is heard singing his own song on the recording above (Ann Sothern sang it in the film), would win a real Oscar for "Over the Rainbow," of course, and would rack up eight more nominations, including one for another collaboration with Koehler on "Now We Know" for Up in Arms (1944). The best-known Arlen-Koehler collaboration, however, is on "Stormy Weather," which was written for Ethel Waters to sing at the Cotton Club in 1933.
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