Franz Waxman(1906-1967)
- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Franz Waxman (Wachsmann) pursued his dream of a career in music despite
his family's misgivings. He worked for several years as a bank teller
and paid for piano, harmony and composition lessons with his salary. He
later moved to Berlin, where he continued his study and progress as a
musician. He was able to support himself by playing and arranging for a
popular German jazz band, Weintraub Syncopaters, in the late 1920s.
Friedrich Hollaender, who had
written some music for the Weintraubs, gave Waxman his first chance to
move into movie scoring by hiring him to orchestrate and conduct
Hollander's score (an arrangement of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) for the
film that launched Marlene Dietrich,
The Blue Angel (1930), directed
by Josef von Sternberg. During 1932
Waxman, a Jew, joined many other Jews leaving Germany as the Nazi vise
closed irrevocably on free society. He continued working with
Germanfilm makers in France. Waxman did musical arranging and
co-scoring, usually with Allan Gray,
for approximately 15 European movies (his first independent score was
in 1932). "The Blue Angel" producer
Erich Pommer liked Waxman's work and
offered him the composing job for
Liliom (1934), directed by
Fritz Lang in France.
Pommer decided to do
Music in the Air (1934), a
Jerome Kern musical, which meant going to
Hollywood. Waxman was asked to come along to do the arranging. Needing
no further reason to remain in Europe as the Nazi clouds darkened over
it, Waxman began a new chapter in Hollywood film music history. He
fortunately had some spare time to study with
'Arnold
Schoenberg' after coming to Los
Angeles, but he was soon talking to another new arrival, English
director James Whale, about scoring
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
for Universal. Waxman gave Whale what he wanted--an unusual score to
fit the quirky, somewhat over-the-top content of the film (in fact,
some of this score was later used in other films). As Waxman worked for
Universal through the 1930s, he found himself in assembly-line mode,
sometimes sharing scoring credit, and doing a lot of arranging stock
music, which was usually used for the studio's many serials. This
cranked up Waxman's yearly film output to around 20 or so through 1940.
By 1940, however, he was composing original music scores for other
studios, beginning with the romantic music for Selznick Studios'
Rebecca (1940)--the first Hollywood film
for Alfred Hitchcock--and
whimsical fare for MGM's
The Philadelphia Story (1940).
In 1941 he was doing more work for MGM with
Honky Tonk (1941) and his second
Hitchcock score, Suspicion (1941) from
RKO. By 1943 and for the rest of the decade Waxman was usually scoring
for Warner Bros., starting with
Destination Tokyo (1943) and
including music for some of that studio's classics of the period, such
as
To Have and Have Not (1944)
with Humphrey Bogart. Through the decade
he was nominated for an Oscar seven times for Best Film Score.
Waxman moved on to Paramount through the first half of the 1950s and
garnered his two Oscars in back--to-back wins for
Sunset Blvd. (1950) and
A Place in the Sun (1951).
This recognition finally underscored what was at the heart of all of
Waxman's music: seriously focused attention on relaying a film's story
through the content of the music. He would continue his scoring work
for several studios into the 1960s, with three more nominations. Some
of his music in the 1950s was recycled from his previous scores, as in
the case of his third assignment for Hitchcock,
Rear Window (1954) which contained
used music. Waxman was also active in contemporary classical music. In
1947 he founded the Los Angeles International Music Festival and, as
Music Director and Conductor, brought the premieres of works by world
renowned contemporary composers to the Los Angeles cultural scene.
Among his own output of such music was his popular "Carmen Fantasy" for
violin and orchestra. Waxman also composed for TV's
Gunsmoke (1955),
The Fugitive (1963),
Peyton Place (1964) (he had
composed the music for the film the series was based on,
Peyton Place (1957)) and others.
Waxman died relatively young, but because of his steady output, only
fellow emigrant Max Steiner (who was
nearly 20 years older and whose output entailed more than 200
arrangements of stock music, rather than original scores) was a more
prolific early Hollywood composer.
his family's misgivings. He worked for several years as a bank teller
and paid for piano, harmony and composition lessons with his salary. He
later moved to Berlin, where he continued his study and progress as a
musician. He was able to support himself by playing and arranging for a
popular German jazz band, Weintraub Syncopaters, in the late 1920s.
Friedrich Hollaender, who had
written some music for the Weintraubs, gave Waxman his first chance to
move into movie scoring by hiring him to orchestrate and conduct
Hollander's score (an arrangement of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) for the
film that launched Marlene Dietrich,
The Blue Angel (1930), directed
by Josef von Sternberg. During 1932
Waxman, a Jew, joined many other Jews leaving Germany as the Nazi vise
closed irrevocably on free society. He continued working with
Germanfilm makers in France. Waxman did musical arranging and
co-scoring, usually with Allan Gray,
for approximately 15 European movies (his first independent score was
in 1932). "The Blue Angel" producer
Erich Pommer liked Waxman's work and
offered him the composing job for
Liliom (1934), directed by
Fritz Lang in France.
Pommer decided to do
Music in the Air (1934), a
Jerome Kern musical, which meant going to
Hollywood. Waxman was asked to come along to do the arranging. Needing
no further reason to remain in Europe as the Nazi clouds darkened over
it, Waxman began a new chapter in Hollywood film music history. He
fortunately had some spare time to study with
'Arnold
Schoenberg' after coming to Los
Angeles, but he was soon talking to another new arrival, English
director James Whale, about scoring
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
for Universal. Waxman gave Whale what he wanted--an unusual score to
fit the quirky, somewhat over-the-top content of the film (in fact,
some of this score was later used in other films). As Waxman worked for
Universal through the 1930s, he found himself in assembly-line mode,
sometimes sharing scoring credit, and doing a lot of arranging stock
music, which was usually used for the studio's many serials. This
cranked up Waxman's yearly film output to around 20 or so through 1940.
By 1940, however, he was composing original music scores for other
studios, beginning with the romantic music for Selznick Studios'
Rebecca (1940)--the first Hollywood film
for Alfred Hitchcock--and
whimsical fare for MGM's
The Philadelphia Story (1940).
In 1941 he was doing more work for MGM with
Honky Tonk (1941) and his second
Hitchcock score, Suspicion (1941) from
RKO. By 1943 and for the rest of the decade Waxman was usually scoring
for Warner Bros., starting with
Destination Tokyo (1943) and
including music for some of that studio's classics of the period, such
as
To Have and Have Not (1944)
with Humphrey Bogart. Through the decade
he was nominated for an Oscar seven times for Best Film Score.
Waxman moved on to Paramount through the first half of the 1950s and
garnered his two Oscars in back--to-back wins for
Sunset Blvd. (1950) and
A Place in the Sun (1951).
This recognition finally underscored what was at the heart of all of
Waxman's music: seriously focused attention on relaying a film's story
through the content of the music. He would continue his scoring work
for several studios into the 1960s, with three more nominations. Some
of his music in the 1950s was recycled from his previous scores, as in
the case of his third assignment for Hitchcock,
Rear Window (1954) which contained
used music. Waxman was also active in contemporary classical music. In
1947 he founded the Los Angeles International Music Festival and, as
Music Director and Conductor, brought the premieres of works by world
renowned contemporary composers to the Los Angeles cultural scene.
Among his own output of such music was his popular "Carmen Fantasy" for
violin and orchestra. Waxman also composed for TV's
Gunsmoke (1955),
The Fugitive (1963),
Peyton Place (1964) (he had
composed the music for the film the series was based on,
Peyton Place (1957)) and others.
Waxman died relatively young, but because of his steady output, only
fellow emigrant Max Steiner (who was
nearly 20 years older and whose output entailed more than 200
arrangements of stock music, rather than original scores) was a more
prolific early Hollywood composer.