Johnny Green
Johnny Green | |
---|---|
Beverly Hills, California, U.S. | |
Occupation(s) | Composer, Conductor |
Instrument(s) | Piano, Trombone |
Years active | 1930–1989 |
Labels | Paramount Pictures |
John Waldo Green (October 10, 1908 – May 15, 1989) was an American
Early years
John Waldo Green was born in New York City, the son of musical parents Vivian Isidor Green (June 29, 1885 – January 3, 1940)[5][6] and Irina Etelka Jellenik (April 12, 1885 – November 15, 1947),[7] a.k.a. Irma (or Erma) Etelka Jellenik. Vivian and Irina wed on December 16, 1907, in Manhattan.[8]
John attended
John's father, Vivian, compelled him to take a job as a stockbroker. Disliking the job, and encouraged by his wife, the former Carol Faulk, John left Wall Street to pursue a musical career.[citation needed]
Career
Green wrote a number of songs which have become
At the beginning of his musical career, he arranged for dance orchestras, most notably
Between 1930 and 1933, Green was the arranger and conductor for Paramount Pictures and worked with such singers as Ethel Merman, Gertrude Lawrence and James Melton. He composed many of his hit standards during the 1930s, including Bing Crosby's first number one hit recording, "Out of Nowhere" (1931, co-authored with Edward Heyman), "Rain Rain Go Away" (1932), "I Cover the Waterfront", "You're Mine You", "I Wanna Be Loved" (all 1933), "Easy Come Easy Go" and "Repeal The Blues" (both 1934). He also composed the theme for Max Fleischer's Betty Boop cartoons in 1932, with Edward Heyman as lyricist.
After 1933, Green had his own orchestra which he used to perform around the country. He also, until 1940, conducted orchestras for the Jack Benny and Philip Morris records and radio shows.
Carnegie Hall and Astoria Studios
London, radio, and recordings
Green spent much of 1933 in
On Green's return to the U.S.A. early in 1934,
In 1935, Green starred on CBS's Socony Sketchbook, sponsored by
Piano, film, and MGM
He continued conducting on radio and in theatres into the 1940s, also leading a dance band for the short-lived Royale Records label in 1939–1940, until he decided to move permanently to Hollywood and work in the film business. Green particularly made an impression at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where in the 1940s, along with orchestrator Conrad Salinger, he was one of the musicians most responsible for changing the overall sound of the MGM Symphony Orchestra, partially through the re-seating of some of the players. This is why the overall orchestral sound of MGM's musicals from the mid-1940s onward is different from the orchestral sound of those made from 1929 until about 1944.
Green was the music director at MGM from 1949 to 1959. He compiled and arranged the MGM Jubilee Overture in 1954, a tour de force. He produced numerous film scores, such as the one for Raintree County in 1957. On loan out to Universal, he composed the songs for the Deanna Durbin musical, "Something in the Wind", one of her last films before retiring.
Nominated for an Oscar thirteen times, he won the award for the musical scores of Easter Parade, An American in Paris, West Side Story, and Oliver!, as well as for producing the short "The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture", which won in the Short Subjects (One-Reel) category in 1954. The short subject featured Green conducting the MGM Orchestra on-screen in the music from the opera of the same name by Otto Nicolai.
After leaving MGM, Green guest-conducted with various orchestras, including the
He was also hired to create the televised Guinness advertisement known as the "World" ad campaign. He recruited a team which included set designer Grant Major and Oscar-nominated director of photography Wally Pfisher to complete the job.
Notable works
Musical director
Johnny Green's credits as musical executive, arranger, conductor and composer are considerable, including such films as Raintree County, Bathing Beauty, Easy to Wed, Something in the Wind, Easter Parade (for which he won his first Academy Award), Summer Stock, An American in Paris (which won him his second Academy Award), Royal Wedding, High Society and West Side Story (another Academy Award winner for him). Although Green was musical director on these films, the orchestrations were usually done by someone else - in the case of the MGM musicals, it was usually Conrad Salinger, and in the case of West Side Story, it was Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal.
Conductor
As mentioned earlier, Green conducted the orchestra for such famous MGM musicals as An American in Paris, as well as for United Artists' 1961 film version of West Side Story.
In 1965, Green conducted the music for that year's new adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's only musical for television, Cinderella, starring Lesley Ann Warren, Walter Pidgeon, Ginger Rogers, and Stuart Damon.
Johnny Green also adapted, orchestrated and conducted the music for the film
Accreditations
Green was a respected board member of
Personal life
He married three times, had a daughter, actress/singer/songwriter
It was during his first marriage to Carol Faulk that most of his hit standards were composed. Before the marriage ended in the mid-1930s, Carol Faulk remarked, "We didn't have children, we had songs."[citation needed]
He was quoted as saying "As my friend Alan Jay Lerner said, 'Modesty is for those who deserve it.' And I don't."[10]
See also
References
- ^ "Academy Awards Database". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "John Green". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ Yarrow, Andrew L. (May 17, 1989). "John Green, 80, a Film Composer and Arranger Who Won 4 Oscars". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
- ^ "John Green". Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
- ^ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WMC-9GH - Vivian Isidor Green (New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909)
- ^ An obituary for Vivian Isidor Green appeared in The New York Sun, issue of Thursday, January 4, 1940, p. 19, under the title Vivian Green is Dead at 55 - Was Noted Realty Operator and Builder - see: http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/New%20York%20NY%20Sun/New%20York%20NY%20Sun%201940/New%20York%20NY%20Sun%201940%20-%200106.pdf
- ^ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W5R-XPN - Irma Jellenik Green (New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949)
- ^ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F67Z-WML - Irina Etelka Jellenik (New York Marriages, 1686-1980)
- ^ "John Waldo Green". March 2010.
- ^ Steyn, Mark (July 30, 2023). "I Cover the Waterfront". Steyn Online. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
External links
- The Johnny Green Papers and Johnny Green Additional Papers are part of the Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Johnny Green at IMDb