- Johnny Green
Johnny Green (
10 October 1908 inNew York City, New York –15 May 1989 inLos Angeles ) was an Americansongwriter ,composer ,musical arranger , and conductor. He was given the nickname "Beulah" by colleagueConrad Salinger . His most famous song was one of his earliest, "Body and Soul".Early years
John Waldo Green was the son of musical parents, and was accepted by
Harvard at the age of 15, entering the University in 1924. Between semesters,bandleader Guy Lombardo heard his HarvardGold Coast Orchestra and hired him to create dance arrangements for his nationally famous orchestra. His first song hit, "Coquette" (1928), was written for (and possibly with) Lombardo. Green was educated inmusic ,history ,economics , andgovernment before returning to pursue amaster's degree in the field ofEnglish literature . His instruments were thepiano and thesaxophone , although he abandoned the latter after college. He married three times, had a daughter with actressBetty Furness and two daughters with MGM "Glamazon"Bunny Waters .His father interrupted his education and compelled him to take a job as a
stockbroker . Disliking the job, and encouraged by his young bride, the former Carol Faulk (to whom he dedicated "I'm Yours "), he leftWall Street to pursue a musical career. Before the marriage ended in the mid '30s, Carol remarked, "We didn't have children, we had songs." It was during his firstmarriage that most of his hit standards were composed, including "Out of Nowhere" (1931), "Rain Rain Go Away" (1932), "I Cover the Waterfront", "You're Mine You", and "I Wanna Be Loved" (all 1933), and "Easy Come Easy Go" and the wonderful, but obscure "Repeal The Blues" (both 1934).His earliest songs appeared with the billing "John W. Green," a styling he reverted to in the 1960s. After that anyone addressing "Johnny" was put right with the statement, "You can call me John - or you can call me "Maestro"!"
Career
Green wrote a number of songs which have become jazz standards, including "Out of Nowhere" and "Body and Soul". He wrote the scores for various films and TV programmes.
At the beginning of his musical career he arranged for dance orchestras, most notably
Jean Goldkette onNBC . He wasaccompanist /arranger to musicians such asJames Melton ,Libby Holman andEthel Merman . It was while writing material forGertrude Lawrence that he composed "Body and Soul ", the first recording of which was made byJack Hylton & His Orchestra eleven days before the song was copyrighted.Carnegie Hall and Astoria Studios
Nathaniel Shilkret andPaul Whiteman commissioned Green to write larger works for orchestra, such as "Nightclub", premiered by Whiteman atCarnegie Hall in 1933 with Green on solo piano. During the early '30s he also wrote music for numerous films at Paramount'sAstoria Studios ; conducted in East Coast theatres; and toured vaudeville as musical director forBuddy Rogers . During his two and a half years at Paramount Astoria, he was able to learn more about film scoring from veteransAdolph Deutsch andFrank Tours .London, radio, and recordings
Green spent much of 1933 in
London , where he contributed songs to both "Mr. Whittington ", a musical comedy forJack Buchanan at theLondon Hippodrome , and to "Big Business ", the first musical comedy ever written especially forBBC Radio .On Green's return to the U.S.A. early in 1934,
William Paley , president of theColumbia Broadcasting System and an investor inNew York 'sSt Regis Hotel , encouraged him to form what became known as Johnny Green, His Piano and Orchestra. (Green added, "My arm didn't need much twisting.") The orchestra, based for a time at the St Regis, featured Green's piano and arrangements, whose harmony and mood were among the most sophisticated of the day. It made dance records for the Columbia and Brunswick companies, although in the Depression even the most popular records sold only in small numbers.In 1935 Green starred on CBS' "Socony Sketchbook", sponsored by
Socony-Vacuum Oil Co . He lured the young California singerVirginia Verrill to headline with him on the Friday evening broadcasts. His regular cast of vocalists included his band singersMarjory Logan andJimmy Farrell , and stage-screen favorites the Four Eton Boys. A bigger venture yet in commercial radio was "TheFred Astaire Hour", sponsored byPackard Motors over NBC in 1936 and co-featuring tenorAllan Jones and the comedy ofCharles Butterworth . Green's band also backed Astaire on a series of classic recording dates, in both New York and Hollywood, in 1935-'37. He also served as musical director for the Jello program starring Jack Benny in 1936 on NBC.Piano, film, and MGM
Green is also well known for his piano playing. He was one of the best in New York, his warmly paced, full-chord style showing a rare command of harmony. He continued conducting on radio and in theatres into the 1940s, also leading a dance band for the short-lived
Royale Records label in 1939-40, until he decided to move permanently toHollywood and work in the film business. Green particularly made an impression atMGM , where in the 1940s, along with orchestratorConrad Salinger , he was one of the musicians most responsible for changing the overall sound of theMGM 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.Notable works
Musical director
Johnny Green's credits as musical executive, arranger, conductor and composer are considerable, but include such highlights as "
Raintree County ", "Bathing Beauty ", "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, however, the orchestrations were usually done by someone else - in the case of the MGM musicals, it was usuallyConrad Salinger , and in the case of "West Side Story", it wasSid Ramin andIrwin Kostal .Conductor
In 1965, Green conducted the music for that year's new adaptation of
Rodgers and Hammerstein 's only musical for television, "Cinderella ", starringLesley Ann Warren ,Walter Pidgeon ,Ginger Rogers , andStuart Damon .Johnny Green also adapted, orchestrated and conducted the music for the film version of "Oliver!" (1968), and won an
Academy Award for his efforts. He also wrote much of theincidental music heard in the film, basing it onLionel Bart 's songs for the original show. His daughter, Kathe (sic) sang all of Mark Lester's songs in OLIVER!Accreditations
Green was a respected board member of
ASCAP , and guest conductor with symphonies around the world, including theHollywood Bowl ,Denver Symphony , thePhiladelphia Orchestra ,Los Angeles Philharmonic and more. He was a chairman of the music branch of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , leading the orchestra through 17 of theAcademy Award telecast s, and a producer of television specials.ee also
*
Musical film
*Broadway theatre External links
* [http://www.theoscarsite.com/whoswho/green_j.htm Profile at TheOscarSite]
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