Best Music, 1946

Awards presented March 13, 1947

Nowhere did the end of studio-submitted nominees have more impact than in the music categories. For the 1945 awards there were twenty-one nominees for score of a dramatic or comedy picture, twelve for scoring a musical, and fourteen for song. This year there were only five in each category. 

The nominees were ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

• Hugo Friedhofer, The Best Years of Our Lives 
• Bernard Herrmann, Anna and the King of Siam  
• Miklos Rozsa, The Killers  
• William Walton, Henry V 
• Franz Waxman, Humoresque   

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

• Robert Emmett Dolan, Blue Skies
• Lennie Hayton, The Harvey Girls 
• Ray Heindorf, Max Steiner, Night and Day  
• Alfred Newman, Centennial Summer   
• Morris Stoloff, The Jolson Story  

(Song) 

• "All Through the Day," from Centennial Summer. Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II 
• "I Can't Begin to Tell You," from The Dolly Sisters. Music by James Monaco; Lyrics by Mack Gordon 
• "Ole Buttermilk Sky," from Canyon Passage. Music by Hoagy Carmichael; Lyrics by Jack Brooks 
• "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," from The Harvey Girls. Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer 
• "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song," from Blue Skies. Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 

Hugo Friedhofer, The Best Years of Our Lives. 

Friedhofer began a long association with movie music as an accompanist for silent films in his native San Francisco, then became a studio musician in Los Angeles in 1929. His musicianship attracted the attention of Warner Bros. department head Max Steiner and composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and he began working as an orchestrator for them. He also composed incidental music for films, and in 1938 did his first complete score, for The Adventures of Marco Polo. Frustrated by Warners' desire to keep him primarily in the role of arranger and orchestrator, he left the studio to freelance. Alfred Newman, who had worked at the Samuel Goldwyn studios before become head of the 20th Century-Fox music department, recommended Friedhofer to Goldwyn as the composer of the score for The Best Years of Our Lives. It was his only Oscar win out of nine nominations. 

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

Morris Stoloff, The Jolson Story. 

Morris Stoloff

Stoloff had been a violin prodigy and one of the youngest members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic before being hired by Paramount as concertmaster for its studio orchestra. In 1936 he moved to Columbia as the studio's first music director, a position that ensured him a string of Oscar nominations, even for films like The Jolson Story on which he didn't actually compose or orchestrate the score -- he racked up seventeen nominations in this position. This was the second of three wins. 

(Song) 

"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," from The Harvey Girls. Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer. 

Judy Garland in The Harvey Girls

Judy Garland stars in a pleasant, brightly colored musical about the waitresses in Fred Harvey's chain of restaurants that were opened to serve passengers on the railroads spanning the United States. The prim and starchy young women compete with the saloon girls for customers, and Garland competes with Angela Lansbury for the attentions of saloon-keeper John Hodiak. This Freed Unit musical, directed by George Sidney, features Garland in fine form and a cast that includes Ray Bolger, Virginia O'Brien, Marjorie Main, Chill Wills, and Cyd Charisse. Except for the Oscar-winning song, the Warren-Mercer score is forgettable, perhaps because Hodiak couldn't sing, so no memorable love songs were written for him and Garland. (Howard Keel had yet to appear as MGM's leading man who could also sing.) It was the first of Mercer's four Oscars, and the last of Warren's three wins. 

... when it should have gone to ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 
William Walton, Henry V. 

When it comes to English music, William Walton is often looked on as a bridge between Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten. Walton broke with the stately Elgar tradition with his early works, including the collaboration with poet Edith Sitwell on Façade, which caused a storm of controversy and labeled him an avant-garde composer. But by 1937 he was so much a part of the mainstream that he was called on to compose a march for the coronation of George VI, since Elgar was dead. And when World War II broke out, he was exempted from military service so he could compose scores for British propaganda films -- the best of which was Laurence Olivier's Henry V. Walton had earlier written the score for Paul Czinner's film of As You Like It, which starred Olivier, and he would collaborate with Olivier on two more Shakespeare films, Hamlet (for which he received his second nomination) and Richard III. In all, he scored thirteen films, but he was dismissive of his work for the movies. Today, the suites that have been arranged from his film scores by others are among his most-performed works. The Henry V score, with its blend of Elizabethan-style themes and stirring mood pieces, remains one of the classics of film music.   

  

Best Music, 1943

Awards presented March 2, 1944

The nominees were ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture)

• Phil Boutelje, Hi Diddle Diddle  
• Gerard Carbonara, The Kansan  
• Aaron Copland, The North Star  
• Hanns Eisler, Hangmen Also Die 
• Leigh Harline, Johnny Come Lately 
• Arthur Lange, Lady of Burlesque   
• Alfred Newman, The Song of Bernadette  
• Edward H. Plumb, Paul J. Smith, Oliver G. Wallace, Victory Through Air Power  
• Walter Scharf, In Old Oklahoma 
• Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, The Amazing Mrs. Holliday   
• Max Steiner, Casablanca   
• Morris Stoloff, Louis Gruenberg, Commandos Strike at Dawn    
• Herbert Stothart, Madame Curie  
• Dimitri Tiomkin, The Moon and Sixpence  
• Roy Webb, C. Bakaleinikoff, The Fallen Sparrow    
• Victor Young, For Whom the Bell Tolls                             

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

• Robert Emmett Dolan, Star Spangled Rhythm 
• Leigh Harline, The Sky's the Limit  
• Ray Heindorf, This Is the Army  
• Alfred Newman, Coney Island     
• Frederic E. Rich, Stage Door Canteen  
• Walter Scharf, Hit Parade of 1943     
• Morris Stoloff, Something to Shout About  
• Herbert Stothart, Thousands Cheer  
• Edward Ward, Phantom of the Opera     
• Charles Wolcott, Edward H. Plumb, Paul J. Smith, Saludos Amigos                     

(Song) 

• "A Change of Heart," from Hit Parade of 1943. Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Harold Adamson 
• "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe," from Cabin in the Sky. Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg 
• "My Shining Hour," from The Sky's the Limit. Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer  
• "Saludos Amigos," from Saludos Amigos. Music by Charles Wolcott; Lyrics by Ned Washington 
• "Say a Pray'r for the Boys Over There," from Hers to Hold. Music by Jimmy McHugh; Lyrics by Herb Magidson 
• "That Old Black Magic," from Star Spangled Rhythm. Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer 
• "They're Either Too Young or Too Old," from Thank Your Lucky Stars. Music by Arthur Schwartz; Lyrics by Frank Loesser  
• "We Mustn't Say Goodbye," from Stage Door Canteen. Music by James Monaco; Lyrics by Al Dubin 
• "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," from Something to Shout About. Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter  
• "You'll Never Know," from Hello, Frisco, Hello. Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon 

... when they should have been ... 

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

• George Bassman, Roger Edens, Hall Johnson, Georgie Stoll, Cabin in the Sky 
• Robert Emmett Dolan, Star Spangled Rhythm 
• Leigh Harline, The Sky's the Limit  
• Ray Heindorf, This Is the Army  
• Charles Henderson, Alfred Newman, Fletcher Henderson, The Gang's All Here 
• Frederic E. Rich, Stage Door Canteen  
• Walter Scharf, Hit Parade of 1943     
• Morris Stoloff, Something to Shout About  
• Edward Ward, Phantom of the Opera     
• Charles Wolcott, Edward H. Plumb, Paul J. Smith, Saludos Amigos   

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 

Alfred Newman, The Song of Bernadette. 

Newman's score is reserved and dignified, without relying on "heavenly choir" clichés. While Max Steiner's Casablanca score is more stirring, it leans heavily on other musical sources, such as the "Marseillaise" and Herman Hupfeld's "As Time Goes By." If what you're looking for is originality, Newman probably deserved the award, the third of his record-setting nine Oscars. 

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

Ray Heindorf, This Is the Army.

Originally a hit Broadway revue, entirely performed by soldiers, that also toured military bases, the film version supplies a frame story about Jerry Jones (George Murphy), who writes a World War I revue called Yip, Yip, Yaphank, which was an actual show written, like This Is the Army, by Irving Berlin. Comes the next war, and it's the turn of his son, Johnny (Ronald Reagan), to write his own show. The spectacle of two future California Republican politicians playing father and son is probably enough to get some people's attention, but there's also Berlin himself singing "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning" and Kate Smith doing (what else?) "God Bless America." This was the second of Heindorf's three scoring awards.   

(Song) 

"You'll Never Know," from Hello, Frisco, Hello. Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon. 

Social-climbing Barbary Coast saloon keeper John Payne and rising star singer Alice Faye fall in love in this stale musical trifle. The Oscar-winning song, performed by Faye in her most misty-eyed fashion, was a big hit because it expressed the sentiments of couples separated by the war. This was the second of Warren's three Oscars, but the only win out of nine nominations for Gordon. 

... when it should have gone to ... 

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

George Bassman, Roger Edens, Hall Johnson, Georgie Stoll, Cabin in the Sky. 

We should know enough by now not to complain about the Academy's choices, especially when it comes to music, but how the hell it passed over this extraordinary musical in the nominations remains a mystery equal to the ones it later raised, when it failed to nominate any of the songs from A Hard Day's Night and Saturday Night Fever. At least it did take note of the great Arlen-Harburg song "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe." The original Broadway version had songs by Vernon Duke and John Latouche, including the title song as well as "Taking a Chance on Love" and "Honey in the Honeycomb," though they were ineligible for the Oscars. But the film also had music performed by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, and John Bubbles. And the film had to be scored by someone. Looking at the IMDb credits, I've singled out Bassman, the orchestrator; Edens, the musical adapter; Johnson, the choral arranger; and Stoll, the musical director, as the likely overlooked nominees. 

(Song) 

"That Old Black Magic," from Star Spangled Rhythm. Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Part commercial for Paramount, part flag-waving "salute to the boys in blue," this all-star revue on a story about a studio gatekeeper (Victor Mature) pretending to be head of Paramount. Switchboard operator Betty Hutton tries to keep Moore's son, a sailor played by Eddie Bracken, from learning the truth. Meanwhile, the studio musters its resources to put on a show for the Navy. Those resources include Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and dozens of other stars, as well as directors Cecil B. DeMille and Preston Sturges, all playing themselves. With that much talent it's a wonder that they chose the bland Johnny Johnston to sing Arlen and Mercer's hit song. This was the year that Arlen had three Oscar nominees for best song, two of them with lyrics by Mercer. Arlen, though he racked up nine nominations, won only once, for "Over the Rainbow." Mercer, on the other hand, won four Oscars and was nominated nineteen times.

Best Music, 1935

Awards presented March 5, 1936

The Academy was still accepting write-ins and indicating who placed second and third. The scores for Mutiny on the Bounty and for write-in candidate Captain Blood came in second and third, respectively. "Cheek to Cheek" was the second-place song and "Lovely to Look" at came in third.

The nominees were ... 
(Scoring)

• Captain Blood, Warner Bros.-First National Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department (Score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
• The Informer, RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Max Steiner, head of department (Score by Max Steiner) 
• Mutiny on the Bounty, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Music Department, Nat W. Finston, head of department (Score by Herbert Stothart) 
• Peter Ibbetson, Paramount Studio Music Department, Irvin Talbot, head of department (Score by Ernst Toch)

(Song) 

• "Cheek to Cheek" from Top Hat, Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
• "Lovely to Look At" from Roberta, Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh
• "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935, Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Scoring) 

The Informer, RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Max Steiner, head of department (Score by Max Steiner). 

(Song) 

"Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935, Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Al Dubin. 

... when it should have gone to ... 

(Scoring) 

Captain Blood, Warner Bros.-First National Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department (Score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold). 

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

His name inevitably produced the joke that his music was "more corn than gold," but he was one of the most successful and most admired film composers of his day, eventually winning an Oscar in his own name for The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) after winning one for Leo Forbstein, the head of the music department at Warners, for Anthony Adverse (1936). (At the time, the Oscar went to the music department head, and not to the composer.) As a child prodigy in Vienna, his early compositions were praised by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss. His opera Die tote Stadt, which had its premiere in 1920 when Korngold was twenty-three, was a hit, and was performed at the Metropolitan in New York two years later. After falling out of favor, it has been revived in recent years, and its most familiar aria, "Glück das mir verblieb," originally a duet for soprano and tenor also known as "Mariettas Lied," is frequently performed by sopranos in recitals. Korngold also drew the attention of the Viennese theatrical entrepreneur Max Reinhardt, who collaborated with him on productions of Die Fledermaus and La belle Hélène, and brought him to Hollywood to arrange Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream when Reinhardt's production was being filmed. Korngold returned to composing and conducting in Vienna, where he wrote the score for Captain Blood, integrating some themes by Franz Liszt with his own, so he declined to be credited as composer. The rise of Hitler and the Anschluss of 1938 drove him into exile in America. 

      

(Song) 

"Cheek to Cheek" from Top Hat, Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin. 

Irving Berlin

Berlin is, of course, the most famous and admired of all the great songwriters of the 1930s and '40s. But it's easy to undervalue him because of his tendency to sentimentality and hyperpatriotism (both in abundance in the too-familiar "God Bless America," for example). But this song finds him inspired as only a great composer might be by the voice of Fred Astaire and the dancing of Fred and Ginger. Consider the astonishing dramatic shifts in mood and melody found in ''Cheek to Cheek'': The song starts with the dreamy ''Heaven/I'm in heaven'' theme, which it repeats, then breaks into the buoyant ''Oh! I love to climb a mountain'' theme, repeating it (''Oh! I love to go out fishing''). And then, suddenly, there's the ecstatic command to ''Dance with me'' -- before the singer settles back into the first theme: ''The charm about you/Will carry me through/To heaven/I'm in heaven....'' The song may have been written for Astaire and Rogers to dance to, but it stands, or rather dances, on its own.