Best Music, 1945

Awards presented March 7, 1946

The nominees were ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 

• Daniele Amfitheatrof, Guest Wife 
• Louis Applebaum, Ann Ronell, G.I. Joe 
• Robert Emmett Dolan, The Bells of St. Mary's    
• Lou Forbes, Brewster's Millions    
• Karl Hajos, The Man Who Walked Alone 
• Werner Janssen, Captain Kidd    
• Werner Janssen, Guest in the House 
• Werner Janssen, The Southerner 
• Edward J. Kay, G.I. Honeymoon 
• Arthur Lange, Hugo Friedhofer, The Woman in the Window 
• Alfred Newman, The Keys of the Kingdom 
• Miklos Rozsa, The Lost Weekend 
• Miklos Rozsa, Spellbound 
• Miklos Rozsa, Morris Stoloff, A Song to Remember 
• H.J. Salter, This Love of Ours 
• Morton Scott, Dale Butts, Flame of Barbary Coast 
• Herbert Stothart, The Valley of Decision 
• Alexander Tansman, Paris--Underground 
• Franz Waxman, Objective, Burma! 
• Roy Webb, The Enchanted Cottage                         
• Victor Young, Love Letters                            

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

• Robert Emmett Dolan, Incendiary Blonde 
• Walter Greene, Why Girls Leave Home 
• Ray Heindorf, Lou Forbes, Wonder Man 
• Ray Heindorf, Max Steiner, Rhapsody in Blue 
• Edward J. Kay, Sunbonnet Sue 
• Jerome Kern, H.J. Salter, Can't Help Singing 
• Arthur Lange, Belle of the Yukon 
• Alfred Newman, Charles Henderson, State Fair 
• Morton Scott, Hitchhike to Happiness 
• Marlin Skiles, Morris Stoloff, Tonight and Every Night 
• Georgie Stoll, Anchors Aweigh                         
• Charles Wolcott, Edward Plumb, Paul J. Smith, The Three Caballeros             

(Song) 

• "Accentuate the Positive," from Here Come the Waves. Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer  
• "Anywhere," from Tonight and Every Night. Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn 
• "Aren't You Glad You're You?" from The Bells of St. Mary's. Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke  
• "The Cat and the Canary," from Why Girls Leave Home. Music by Jay Livingston; Lyrics by Ray Evans 
• "Endlessly," from Earl Carroll Vanities. Music by Walter Kent; Lyrics by Kim Gannon  
• "I Fall in Love Too Easily," from Anchors Aweigh. Music by Jule Styne; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn 
• "I'll Buy That Dream," from Sing Your Way Home. Music by Allie Wrubel; Lyrics by Herb Magidson 
• "It Might As Well Be Spring," from State Fair. Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II 
• "Linda," from G.I. Joe. Music and Lyrics by Ann Ronell  
• "Love Letters," from Love Letters. Music by Victor Young; Lyrics by Eddie Heyman 
• "More and More," from Can't Help Singing. Music by Jerome Kern; Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg  
• "Sleighride in July," from Belle of the Yukon. Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Johnny Burke  
• "So in Love," from Wonder Man. Music by David Rose; Lyrics by Leo Robin 
• "Some Sunday Morning," from San Antonio. Music by Ray Heindorf and M.K. Jerome; Lyrics by Ted Koehler 

And the Oscar went to ...  

(Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) 

Miklos Rozsa, Spellbound. 

Miklos Rozsa with Oscar presenter Ginger Rogers

One of Alfred Hitchcock's less-successful films, marred by the meddling of producer David O. Selznick and his fascination with psychoanalysis: His own shrink, May Romm, receives screen credit as "psychiatric advisor." Among the mistakes was having Salvador Dalí design dream sequences that in the end had to be cut to about two minutes of screen time. Even Selznick's wife, Irene, called it "a terrible piece of junk." It's not quite as bad as that, since Hitchcock didn't take it nearly as seriously as the producer did, and it has eminently watchable stars, Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman. This was the first of three wins out of sixteen nominations for Rozsa, who began his career as a screen composer with fellow Hungarian Alexander Korda in London in 1935, and moved to Hollywood in 1940. Selznick and Hitchcock wanted Bernard Herrmann to score Spellbound, but he was unavailable. Rozsa made use of the theremin, an early electronic instrument, in his score, and for the one he did for The Lost Weekend.   

(Scoring of a Musical Picture)

Georgie Stoll, Anchors Aweigh. 

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra play sailors who fall for the same woman, Kathryn Grayson, with predictable consequences for their friendship. Grayson's nephew is played by nine-year-old Dean Stockwell. The songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn are pleasant, and Kelly and Sinatra make an enormously appealing team. The choreography is by Kelly, and Sinatra proves to be a surprisingly good dancer. The movie, directed by George Sidney, was Kelly's first big hit for MGM. After his 1942 debut in For Me and My Gal, the studio seemed to be unable to find anything for him to do, so it loaned him out to Columbia for Cover Girl, in which he displayed his ingratiating athletic style of dancing for the first time on screen. Anchors Aweigh is lightweight stuff compared to later Kelly films such as An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain, and it features MGM's usual tedious appearance by pianist Jose Iturbi, but its highlight is the wonderful sequence that was suggested by Stanley Donen, in which Kelly dances with Jerry, the mouse from MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoons. This was the only Oscar for Stoll, who had been a music director and conductor for MGM   
since 1937. 




(Song)

"It Might As Well Be Spring," from State Fair. Music by Richard Rodgers; Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.

A musical remake of the 1933 film version of the novel by Phil Stong, directed by Walter Lang from a screenplay by Hammerstein, starring Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews, Dick Haymes, and Vivian Blaine. This is the only original film musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, though each had collaborated with other lyricists or composers on other films. In addition to the Oscar-winning song, the score also included "It's a Grand Night for Singing" and "That's for Me." Crain's voice was dubbed by Louanne Hogan, and although Andrews had a trained voice and once thought of becoming an opera singer, he is dubbed in his only brief vocal moment by Ben Gage. This was Rodgers's only Oscar nomination and win; Hammerstein had already won for "The Last Time I Saw Paris" from Lady Be Good and received three more nominations.  

... when it should have gone to ... 

(Song) 

"Accentuate the Positive," from Here Come the Waves. Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Betty Hutton plays twins -- one smart, one silly -- who have a nightclub act but decide to do their part during the war by joining the Waves. The smart twin falls in love with Bing Crosby, and the silly twin tries to break them up by pretending to be her sister. Goofy nonsense, directed by Mark Sandrich, that is now remembered almost solely for Arlen and Mercer's classic, introduced by Crosby and Sonny Tufts in a blackface number. The minstrelsy is kind of unforgivable, but if you can tolerate it, just listen to Crosby demonstrate why he was one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. The accompanying dance number, choreographed by Danny Dare, is pretty good too. 

Best Music, 1941

Awards presented February 26, 1942

The confusion over the division into "Original Score" and "Scoring" was eased by renaming the categories "Music Score of a Dramatic Picture" and "Scoring of a Musical Picture." The following year will bring a further clarification that what the Academy meant was "a Dramatic or Comedy Picture." Of course, this division presumes that there will always be musical pictures to nominate, but for the time being it works. What would grow to be a problem was the practice of allowing each studio or production company to submit a nomination. Hence the twenty nominated films in the first category, including the attempt of poverty row studio Monogram Pictures to secure an Oscar for King of the Zombies, among other somewhat surprising nominations.

The nominees were ... 
(Music Score of a Dramatic Picture) 

• Cy Feuer, Walter Scharf, Mercy Island 
• Louis Gruenberg, So Ends Our Night 
• Richard Hageman, This Woman Is Mine 
• Bernard Herrmann, All That Money Can Buy 
• Bernard Herrmann, Citizen Kane 
• Werner Heymann, That Uncertain Feeling 
• Edward Kay, King of the Zombies 
• Alfred Newman, Ball of Fire 
• Alfred Newman, How Green Was My Valley 
• Miklos Rozsa, Lydia 
• Miklos Rozsa, Sundown 
• Frank Skinner, Back Street   
• Max Steiner, Sergeant York 
• Morris Stoloff, Ernst Toch, Ladies in Retirement 
• Edward Ward, Cheers for Miss Bishop 
• Edward Ward, Tanks a Million 
• Franz Waxman, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 
• Franz Waxman, Suspicion 
• Meredith Willson, The Little Foxes 
• Victor Young, Hold Back the Dawn 

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

• Frank Churchill, Oliver Wallace, Dumbo 
• Anthony Collins, Sunny 
• Robert Emmett Dolan, Birth of the Blues 
• Cy Feuer, Ice-Capades 
• Emil Newman, Sun Valley Serenade 
• Charles Previn, Buck Privates 
• Heinz Roemheld, The Strawberry Blonde 
• Morris Stoloff, You'll Never Get Rich 
• Herbert Stothart, Bronislau Kaper, The Chocolate Soldier 
• Edward Ward, All-American Co-Ed  

(Song) 

• "Baby Mine," from Dumbo; music by Frank Churchill, lyrics by Ned Washington 
• "Be Honest With Me," from Ridin' on a Rainbow; music and lyrics by Gene Autry and Fred Rose 
• "Blues in the Night," from Blues in the Night; music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by Johnny Mercer 
• "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B," from Buck Privates; music by Hugh Prince, lyrics by Don Raye 
• "Chattanooga Choo Choo," from Sun Valley Serenade; music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon  
• "Dolores," from Las Vegas Nights; music by Lou Alter, lyrics by Frank Loesser 
• "The Last Time I Saw Paris," from Lady Be Good; music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II 
• "Out of the Silence," from All-American Co-Ed; music and lyrics by Lloyd B. Norlind 
• "Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye," from You'll Never Get Rich; music and lyrics by Cole Porter 

And the Oscar went to ... 

(Music Score of a Dramatic Picture) 

Bernard Herrmann, All That Money Can Buy. 

Bernard Herrmann

Orson Welles's partisans, taking note of the fact that Herrmann was also nominated for his Citizen Kane score, may be inclined to take this choice as a snub. But Herrmann had a prior association with Welles in any case, having worked with him on the celebrated Mercury Theater radio shows, and had been brought to Hollywood by Welles. So if the Academy had wanted to snub Welles, they should have given the Oscar to another nominee. This was Herrmann's first year as a film composer, and he would go on to be celebrated for his work with Alfred Hitchcock. In fact, if you're looking for snubs, consider the fact that Herrmann was never nominated for his work on a Hitchcock film, not even for Psycho or Vertigo. This was Herrmann's only Oscar out of five nominations. He died in 1975 after completing the recording for Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, which is dedicated to his memory. All That Money Can Buy is an adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benét's story "The Devil and Daniel Webster," which was the film's original title. Weak box office led RKO to change the title to the one under which it was nominated, and when that didn't work, the studio released it under at least two other titles, Daniel and the Devil and Here Is a Man. It's hard to say why audiences didn't respond to the film. It's very entertaining, with excellent performances by Walter Huston as Mr. Scratch, the devil who tempts a young farmer (James Craig) into selling his soul, and by Edward Arnold as the eminent orator Daniel Webster, who proves to be more than a match for Scratch.   

(Scoring of a Musical Picture) 

Frank Churchill, Oliver Wallace, Dumbo. 

Frank Churchill

Oliver Wallace

The Disney music department can't be called "unsung" heroes, for obvious reasons. But their contribution is sometimes ignored in the acclaim for the visual wit and charm of the films. Dumbo was a departure from the fairy-tale features Snow White and Pinocchio. It's less sentimental and sugary than many Disney features, and its music has a lively, contemporary swing character in songs like "Casey Jr." and "When I See an Elephant Fly." The "Pink Elephants" fantasy, when Dumbo and Timothy accidentally get drunk, is a psychedelic riot long before psychedelia was ever heard of, and the music that accompanies it perfectly complements the images on screen. The one song nominated from the film, "Baby Mine," is more conventional, a lullaby, but a charming one.   

(Song) 

"The Last Time I Saw Paris," from Lady Be Good; music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. 

Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern 

"The Last Time I Saw Paris" has often been treated as a song about lost love, but it was in fact a song about a lost city: a response to the fall of Paris to the Nazis, an event that so moved Hammerstein that he wrote the lyrics before asking Kern to provide a tune, the reverse of his usual practice with songwriting partners like Richard Rodgers. Producer Arthur Freed asked Hammerstein to write a bit of dialogue preceding the song in the film -- an otherwise routine backstage musical starring Ann Sothern and Robert Young as a married songwriting team -- that makes explicit that it's designed as "a salute to a lost city." Hammerstein, whose career was centered in the theater, not movies, used this opportunity to obtain a favor from MGM: the screen right to the play Green Grow the Lilacs, which the studio held. Three years later his musical adaptation with Rodgers of the play would be staged as Oklahoma!