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His ancestry: William D. Young, Gitla Frimet (nee Tachna) Jablon, Wolka Nutesz Tachna, Jakub Tachna, Judka Laybe [Blumenfelt] Tachna, Boruch Baer Tachna.
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| Victor holds the records for number of nominations [of an oscar] before a win. Randy Newman almost beat him out. | |
| From the early 1930's until his demise in I956, violinist; composer; arranger; and bandleader Victor Young was an important part of the music scene. In the late 1920's, Young turned from a concert music career to popular music and composing. In the 1930's, his band was popular and very well recorded: In the Mid-1930's, Young moved to the West Coast where he composed music, and arranged, for Hollywood studios. In the 1940's, his band, still active, usually backed vocalists on their recordings. | |
| Victor's father, William Young, was a tenor with the Chicago Opera Co. After Victor's mother died, William Young abandoned his two children, and the two of them, Victor and his sister Helen, left Chicago and went to Poland to be raised by their elderly grandparents; they traveled from Chicago to Warsaw alone. (Victor was just 10 years old). William Young re-married and had another family. He died in 1932 from Cancer, and is buried in a Brooklyn, NY cemetery. | |
| Victor's grandfather, a tailor, had sufficient savings to start Victor at the Warsaw Conservatory, where Victor studied violin under Isador Lotto, receiving the 'Diploma of Merit.' After more study with private tutors, he debuted with the Warsaw Philharmonic, following which he toured Europe with different concert orchestras. His first public appearance with the Warsaw Philharmonic went so well that a wealthy music lover gave him a 1730 Guarnerius, the instrument which Victor Young continued to play as an adult in America. | |
| The man who presented him with the violin was a banker, Josef Goldfeder. Victor kept the violin on display on an entry hall table in his Beverly Hills home. The day after Victor Young died, the violin, which had been left to a very close relative, Henry Hill, a professional musician (violinist) mysteriously disappeared. (A close family friend had walked out of the house with it.) | |
| Victor and his sister Helen attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Music at the same time. Helen went on to become a fine pianist. She was his accompanist when he concertized all over Europe and the United States. Helen went on to marry violinist Henry Hill, whom she and Victor had met in Europe. | |
| In 1914, at the outbreak of WW1, he returned to Chicago where he had his American debut. There followed a succession of jobs, and during the early part of the 1920's, he toured as a concert violinist. He worked in Los Angeles as a concert-master in a motion picture theater orchestra. He then did the same in Chicago's Central Park Theater. But around this time, he had decided to leave the classics and make his career in popular song. | |
| Later in the 1920's, he worked with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra as violinist and arranger. Still in Chicago, Young was the orchestra leader at the famed Chicago Theater and at the State and Lake Theater and also had the dance orchestra at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. His radio career also started in Chicago in the late 1920's, but in 1931 he moved to New York City where he continued working in the radio studios. | |
| His songwriting career started in 1928 when
he wrote: 1928 "Sweet Sue", lyric by Will Harris 1929 "Can't You Understand?", lyric by Jack Osterman |
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| During the 1930's, Young did a great deal of radio work, conducting for many stars including Smith Bellew, Al Jolson, and Don Ameche. In 1935, he returned to Los Angeles and formed his own orchestra; a successful venture. The orchestra was heard on radio stations, as well as at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater. Young then became associated Paramount Pictures Studios, as chief composer and arranger. and began his major career in the motion picture industry. | |
| His earliest, and most important, lyricist
collaborator in Hollywood was Ned Washington, with whom he wrote such
songs as: 1933 "Sweet Madness", from film 'Murder at the Vanities', a George White 'Vanities' film. 1933 "A Ghost of a Chance". 1933 "A Hundred Years From Today", from show "Blackbirds of 1933/34" |
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| Other VIctor Young songs with Washington
lyrics are: "Can't We Talk It Over" "Stella By Starlight" "My Foolish Heart" |
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| 1935 With musical collaboration from Joe
Young, for films: Straight is the Way' he wrote: "A Hundred Years From Today", lyric Ned Washington. |
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| From that humble start, Victor went on to
score over 300 motion pictures, among which are: 1937 Wells Fargo Swing High, Swing Low 1938 Breaking The Ice 1939 Golden Boy Man of Conquest 1940 Arizona 1941 I Wanted Wings Hold Back the Dawn 1942 Flying Tigers Silver Queen The Glass Key 1943 For Whom The Bell Tolls 1944 The Uninvited 1949 Sampson and Delilah 1950 Rio Grande 1952 Scaramouche The Greatest Show On Earth 1953 Shane 1954 Three Coins In The Fountain |
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| Some others were: 'Golding Earrings, starring Marlene Dietrich' 'The Big Clock' 'Love Letters' 'The Greatest Show on Earth' |
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| Among the hit songs he wrote for various
films are: (All below to lyrics by Ned Washington): For film 'All Women Have Secrets' "I Live Again Because I'm In Love Again" for film 'I Wanted Wings' "Born to Love" |
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| 1946 for film 'The Uninvited', "Stella by Starlight" 1950 For film, 'My Foolish Heart' "My Foolish Heart" for film, 'Lucky Stiff' "Loveliness" for film 'The Wild Blue Yonder' "The Heavy Bomber Song" For film, 'The Greatest Show on Earth' "The Greatest Show on Earth", lyric New Washington. "Be a Jumping Jack", lyric New Washington. 1952 "When I Fall In Love" |
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| And, among the songs he wrote to lyrics by
still others: "Beautiful Love", lyric Egbert Van Alstyne. "Street Of Dreams", lyric Sam M. Lewis. "When I Fall In Love", lyric Edward Heyman. "Love Letters", Lyric Edward Heyman. "Written In The Wind", Lyric Sammy Cahn |
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| For Film, 'Northwest Mounted Police', the
song, "Does the Moon Shine Through the Tall Trees?", the Lyric was by
Frank Loesser. For film, 'The Searching Wind', the title song, "The Searching Wind", lyric by Edward Heyman For film, 'The Fabulous Senorita', "You've Changed", lyric by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. For film, 'Samson and Delilah', the title song, "Samson and Delilah" For film, Golden Earring's', the title song, "Golden Earring's", Young collaborated on this tune with the song-writing team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. |
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| 1956 For film, 'Around the World in Eighty Days', the title song, "Around the World in Eighty Days", lyric Ned Washington. This was the last picture released with Victor's name in the credits. All told, Young had been nominated for an Academy Award 22 times, and won just this one time, posthumously. His award for this film was accepted by Elizabeth Taylor. | |
| Victor Young suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on November 9th, at his home in Desert Hot Springs, CA, and died November 10th, 1956. He was just 56 years old. Ferde Grofe was called upon to complete the score on which Victor had been working, a musical comedy based on the life of Mark Twain. | |
| After his death, Young's wife presented all Victor's personal possessions and musical scores to Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA. Some years later, Brandeis gave half of the collection to the Boston Public Library. The rest of the collection, including his Oscar, is still in boxes in the basement of the University. Much of the information on Victor Young was kindly supplied by his niece, Ms. Bobbie Fromberg. | |
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Composer filmography |
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