Young, Victor ²

   Another name for Victor was Victor Abe Young.

  General Notes:

From the early 1930's until his demise in I956, violinist; composer; a rranger; and bandleader Victor Young was an important part of the musi c scene. In the late 1920's, Young turned from a concert music caree r to popular music and composing. In the 1930's, his band was popula r and very well recorded: In the Mid-1930's, Young moved to the West C oast where he composed music, and arranged, for Hollywood studios. I n the 1940's, his band, still active, usually backed vocalists on thei r 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 w ent to Poland to be raised by their elderly grandparents;
they traveled from Chicago to Warsaw alone. (Victor was just 10 year s old). William Young re-married and had another family. He died in 19 32 from Cancer, and is buried in a Brooklyn, NY cemetery.
Victor's grandfather, a tailor, had sufficient savings to start Victo r at the Warsaw Conservatory, where Victor studied violin under Isado r Lotto, receiving the 'Diploma of Merit.' After more study with priva te tutors, he debuted with the Warsaw Philharmonic, following which h e toured Europe with different concert orchestras. His first public ap pearance with the Warsaw Philharmonic went so well that a wealthy musi c lover gave him a 1730 Guarnerius, the instrument which Victor Youn g continued to play as an adult in America.
The man who presented him with the violin was a banker, Josef Goldfede r. Victor kept the violin on display on an entry hall table in his Bev erly Hills home. The day after Victor Young died, the violin, which ha d been left to a very close relative, Henry Hill, a professional music ian (violinist) mysteriously disappeared. (A close family friend had w alked out of the house with it.)
Victor and his sister Helen attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Musi c at the same time. Helen went on to become a fine pianist. She was h is accompanist when he concertized all over Europe and the United Stat es. Helen went on to marry violinist Henry Hill, whom she and Victor h ad met in Europe.
In 1914, at the outbreak of WW1, he returned to Chicago where he had h is American debut. There followed a succession of jobs, and during th e early part of the 1920's, he toured as a concert violinist. He worke d in Los Angeles as a concert-master in a motion picture theater orche stra. He then did the same in Chicago's Central Park Theater. But arou nd this time, he had decided to leave the classics and make his caree r in popular song.
Later in the 1920's, he worked with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra as viol inist and arranger. Still in Chicago, Young was the orchestra leade r at the famed Chicago Theater and at the State and Lake Theater and a lso had the dance orchestra at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. His radio c areer also started in Chicago in the late 1920's, but in 1931 he move d 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

During the 1930's, Young did a great deal of radio work, conducting fo r many stars including Smith Bellew, Al Jolson, and Don Ameche. In 193 5, he returned to Los Angeles and formed his own orchestra; a successf ul venture. The orchestra was heard on radio
stations, as well as at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater. Young th en became associated Paramount Pictures Studios, as chief composer an d arranger. and began his major career in the motion picture industry.

His earliest, and most important, lyricist collaborator in Hollywood w as 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"

Other VIctor Young songs with Washington lyrics are:
"Can't We Talk It Over"
"Stella By Starlight"
"My Foolish Heart"

1935 With musical collaboration from Joe Young, for films:
Straight is the Way' he wrote:
"A Hundred Years From Today", lyric Ned Washington.

From that humble start, Victor went on to score over 300 motion pictur es, 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

Some others were:
'Golding Earrings, starring Marlene Dietrich'
'The Big Clock'
'Love Letters'
'The Greatest Show on Earth'

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"

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"

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

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.

1956 For film, 'Around the World in Eighty Days', the title song,
"Around the World in Eighty Days", lyric Ned Washington. This was th e last picture released with Victor's name in the credits.
All told, Young had been nominated for an Academy Award 22 times, an d won just this one time, posthumously. His award for this film was ac cepted by Elizabeth Taylor.

Victor Young suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on November 9th, at his ho me in Desert Hot Springs, CA, and died November 10th, 1956. He was jus t 56 years old. Ferde Grofe was called upon to complete the score on w hich 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 possessi ons and musicial scores to Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA. Some y ears later, Brandeis gave half of the collection to the Boston Publi c Library. The rest of the collection, including his Oscar, is still i n boxes in the basement of the University. Much of the information o n Victor Young was kindly supplied by his niece, Ms. Bobbie Fromberg.

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Composer filmography

--------------------

"Shane" (1966) (TV Series) (theme)
China Gate (1957)
Omar Khayyam (1957)
Buster Keaton Story, The (1957)
Forty Guns (1957) (songs) (uncredited)
Run of the Arrow (1957)
Vagabond King, The (1956)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Conqueror, The (1956)
Brave One, The (1956)
Maverick Queen, The (1956)
Proud and Profane, The (1956)
Written on the Wind (1956)
Strategic Air Command (1955)
Tall Men, The (1955)
Son of Sinbad (1955)
Left Hand of God, The (1955)
Man Alone, A (1955)
Timberjack (1955) (song "Timberjack")
Jubilee Trail (1954)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
About Mrs. Leslie (1954)
Country Girl, The (1954)
Drum Beat (1954/I)
Geraldine (1954) (title song) (additional song)
Stars Are Singing, The (1953)
Sun Shines Bright, The (1953)
Shane (1953)
Star, The (1953/I)
Fair Wind to Java (1953)
Flight Nurse (1953)
Forever Female (1953)
Little Boy Lost (1953)
Perilous Journey, A (1953)
Trouble in the Glen (1953)
Woman They Almost Lynched, The (1953)
Scaramouche (1952)
Something to Live for (1952)
Quiet Man, The (1952)
Greatest Show on Earth, The (1952)
Anything Can Happen (1952)
Blackbeard the Pirate (1952)
One Minute to Zero (1952)
Story of Will Rogers, The (1952)
Thunderbirds (1952)
Lemon Drop Kid, The (1951)
My Favorite Spy (1951)
Place in the Sun, A (1951) (uncredited)
Bullfighter and the Lady (1951)
Payment on Demand (1951)
Appointment with Danger (1951)
Belle le grand (1951)
Honeychile (1951)
Millionaire for Christy, A (1951)
Wild Blue Yonder, The (1951)
Our Very Own (1950)
Bright Leaf (1950)
Rio Grande (1950)
Gun Crazy (1950)
Arizona Cowboy (1950) (uncredited)
Fireball, The (1950)
Paid in Full (1950)
September Affair (1950)
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
Samson and Delilah (1949)
Song of Surrender (1949)
Chicago Deadline (1949)
Streets of Laredo (1949)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A (1949)
File on Thelma Jordon, The (1949)
My Foolish Heart (1949)
Big Clock, The (1948)
Paleface, The (1948)
Miss Tatlock's Millions (1948)
Dream Girl (1948)
Emperor Waltz, The (1948)
State of the Union (1948)
I Walk Alone (1948)
Accused, The (1948)
Beyond Glory (1948)
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
So Evil My Love (1948)
Unconquered (1947)
Calcutta (1947)
Golden Earrings (1947)
Suddenly, It's Spring (1947)
Imperfect Lady, The (1947)
Trouble with Women, The (1947)
Two Years Before the Mast (1946)
Blue Dahlia, The (1946) (uncredited)
Kitty (1946)
To Each His Own (1946)
California (1946)
Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946)
Searching Wind, The (1946)
Masquerade in Mexico (1945)
Love Letters (1945)
You Came Along (1945)
Target Tokyo (1945)
Great John L., The (1945)
Hold That Blonde (1945)
Medal for Benny, A (1945)
Practically Yours (1944)
Ministry of Fear (1944)
Frenchman's Creek (1944)
Story of Dr. Wassell, The (1944)
And Now Tomorrow (1944)
And the Angels Sing (1944)
Great Moment, The (1944)
Uninvited, The (1944)
Young and Willing (1943)
Crystal Ball, The (1943)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
China (1943)
No Time for Love (1943)
Buckskin Frontier (1943)
Hostages (1943)
Racket Man, The (1943) (uncredited)
True to Life (1943)
Great Man's Lady, The (1942)
Forest Rangers, The (1942)
Flying Tigers (1942)
Take a Letter, Darling (1942)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
Beyond the Blue Horizon (1942)
Glass Key, The (1942)
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942)
Palm Beach Story, The (1942)
Remarkable Andrew, The (1942)
Silver Queen (1942)
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
Caught in the Draft (1941)
I Wanted Wings (1941)
Aloma of the South Seas (1941)
Buy Me That Town (1941)
Mad Doctor, The (1941)
Reaching for the Sun (1941)
Skylark (1941)
Virginia (1941)
Arizona (1940)
Untamed (1940)
North West Mounted Police (1940)
Knights of the Range (1940)
Arise, My Love (1940)
Three Faces West (1940)
Buck Benny Rides Again (1940)
Dark Command (1940)
Raffles (1940)
Dancing on a Dime (1940)
I Want a Divorce (1940)
Moon Over Burma (1940)
Three Men from Texas (1940)
Way of All Flesh, The (1940)
Young Buffalo Bill (1940) (uncredited)
Light That Failed, The (1939)
Gulliver's Travels (1939) (atmospheric music)
Golden Boy (1939)
Heritage of the Desert (1939)
Man of Conquest (1939)
$1000 a Touchdown (1939) (incidental music)
All Women Have Secrets (1939)
Everything's on Ice (1939) (song "Birth of a Snowbird") (uncredited)
Fisherman's Wharf (1939)
Gracie Allen Murder Case, The (1939)
Law of the Pampas (1939)
Llano Kid, The (1939)
Night of Nights, The (1939)
Our Neighbors - The Carters (1939)
Range War (1939)
Television Spy (1939)
Way Down South (1939)
Gladiator, The (1938)
Army Girl (1938)
Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938) (uncredited)
Partners of the Plains (1938) (uncredited)
Breaking the Ice (1938)
Flirting with Fate (1938)
Wells Fargo (1937)
Night of Mystery (1937) (uncredited)
Waikiki Wedding (1937)
Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
Maid of Salem (1937)
Champagne Waltz (1937)
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937) (uncredited)
Doctor's Diary, A (1937)
Double or Nothing (1937) (uncredited)
Ebb Tide (1937)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Vogues (1937)
Palm Springs (1936) (incidental music)
Heart of the West (1936)
Fatal Lady (1936) (uncredited)
Folies-Bergère (1935/I) (additional songs)

Miscellaneous crew filmography
------------------------------
Man Alone, A (1955) (musical director)
Knock on Wood (1954) (musical director)
Stars Are Singing, The (1953) (musical director)
Story of Will Rogers, The (1952) (musical director)
Riding High (1950) (musical director)
Samson and Delilah (1949) (songs)
Beyond Glory (1948) (musical director)
Blue Dahlia, The (1946) (musical director)
Out of This World (1945) (musical director)
Outlaw, The (1943) (musical director)
Riding High (1943) (musical director)
Road to Morocco (1942) (musical director)
Priorities on Parade (1942) (musical director)
True to the Army (1942) (musical director)
Road to Zanzibar (1941) (musical director)
Kiss the Boys Goodbye (1941) (musical director)
Those Were the Days (1940) (musical director)
Road to Singapore (1940) (musical director)
Rhythm on the River (1940) (musical director)
Escape to Paradise (1939) (musical director)
Man About Town (1939) (musical director)
Gladiator, The (1938) (musical director)
Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938) (musical director)
Swing High, Swing Low (1937) (music arranger)
Thrill of a Lifetime (1937) (music arranger)
Anything Goes (1936) (musical director)
Frankie and Johnny (1936) (musical director)

Actor filmography
-----------------
Of Men and Music (1951) .... Himself
Vogues (1937) .... Himself (bandleader)

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Victor holds the records for number of nominations before a win. Rand y Newman almost beat him out.

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

1938
BREAKING THE ICE
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1938
ARMY GIRL
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1939
WAY DOWN SOUTH
Best Music (Scoring) Nomination

1939
MAN OF CONQUEST
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1939
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1939
GOLDEN BOY
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1940
ARISE, MY LOVE
Best Music (Score) Nomination

1940
NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1940
DARK COMMAND
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1940
ARIZONA
Best Music (Original Score) Nomination

1941
HOLD BACK THE DAWN
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic Picture) Nomination

1942
TAKE A LETTER, DARLING
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Nomination

1942
SILVER QUEEN
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Nomination

1942
FLYING TIGERS
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Nomination

1943
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Nomination

1945
LOVE LETTERS
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Nomination

1945
LOVE LETTERS
Best Music (Song) Nomination (shared with Edward Heyman)
For the song "Love Letters"

1948
THE EMPEROR WALTZ
Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) Nomination

1949
MY FOOLISH HEART
Best Music (Song) Nomination (shared with Ned Washington)
For the song "My Foolish Heart"

1950
SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949)*
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Nomination

1956
WRITTEN ON THE WIND
Best Music (Song) Nomination (shared with Sammy Cahn)
For the song "Written on the Wind"

1956
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS
Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Oscar

*NOTE: SAMSON AND DELILAH premiered on October 31, 1949. However, th e movie was not issued for general release in the United States unti l 1950. Because a film's qualification for the Academy Awards depend s on the year in which it is commercially released in Los Angeles Coun ty, California, SAMSON AND DELILAH's Academy Award nominations were ea rned at the 1951 ceremony honoring the films of 1950.
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Victor Young died last Saturday. The funeral was today at the
Hollywood Cemetery. This cemetery is midway between RKO and
Paramount. Crowds of people could not get into the chapel. We
stood on the grass and heard the service over loudspeakers. You
could hear the warning buzzers from the Paramount lot signalling
for quiet during takes. Victor would have approved. A red-
haired woman sat on the outskirts of the crowd on a chair
provided by one of the cemetery attendants and sobbed throughout.

In his wryly illuminating diaries, published as Musician: A
Hollywood Journal (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1987), longtime film and TV
composer Lyn Murray succinctly chronicled the funeral of one of
Hollywood's busiest and most beloved composers, whose death in
November 1956 struck beyond the covey of composers, musicians and
orchestrators then working in tinseltown. One easily understands
why, too. In his own, ever-infectious way, Victor Young allowed
Gabby from Gulliver's Travels to be far more endearing than the
feisty, pint-sized towncrier had a right to hope; he helped Basil
Rathbone shed his persona as the world's greatest crime-solver
long enough for movie-goers to really believe him as a cunning
Bluebeard in The Mad Doctor; he made Ray Milland slightly more
passable as a gypsy in Golden Earrings; ensured Joan Crawford
seemed tougher than any man alive in Johnny Guitar; and made
ghosts seem far more real than ever before in The Uninvited. And
even if critics might insist others in the filmmaking craft had
more to do with these feats than Young, the upbeat, engaging
composer still ensured that viewers left the theater with a tune
dancing between their ears.
Today Victor Young's passing neatly symbolizes the end of an
era. By the time of Young's death, fellow film composer Erich
Wolfgang Korngold had abandoned film scoring, Max Steiner's best
scores were well behind him and Alfred Newman was but a few years
from seeing his amazing music department at 20th Century-Fox all
but dismantled. Within a short but turbulent decade, Hollywood's
old studio system would be in shambles and the need for robust
romantic film scores of the type Young and his colleagues
specialized in would be slim. And yet, it is somehow rassuring
to realize that, of all Hollywood's film scoring heavyweights of
the 1930s, '40s and '50s, Victor Young might have flourished
almost as well in the 1960s and early '70s. Certainly, his
greatest admirer, Henry Mancini, was able to do well enough in
those lean and later years, partially because he, like his mentor
Young, was able to navigate his way easily in both light, pop-
oriented material as well as tuneful, richly orchestrated film
music. In the end, though, Young's own penchant for fine cigars
and rich foods and his lifelong habit of overworking -- often
agreeing to several projects from two or three studios at a time
-- finally finished him. But what an incredible legacy of music
he left.
Whenever Hollywood's golden age of film music is discussed
today, Victor Young's name surfaces only as a grand afterthought.
Several reasons exist for this. For one thing, some of his film
scores initially seem to lack the musical ingenuity and titanic
individuality of, say, Miklos Rozsa or Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
It has been noted, too, that when faced with films he found
lackluster or uninspiring, Young occasionally failed to furnish
his best (though one is also reminded that colleague Korngold
eventually gave up film music altogether because, for one thing,
he tired of the increasing number of substandard films he was
asked to score). And there are few stories of Young stubbornly
standing up for his principles in the legendary, much-loved
manner of Bernard Herrmann or Franz Waxman. What's more,
associates have remarked how Young, possibly because of the sheer
volume of work he tackled, not only proved somewhat sloppy when
composing but also frequently (and happily) left most decisions
at symphonic coloring to able orchestrators such as Leo Shuken.
Perhaps worst of all, he didn't even look like a composer.
Anyone working in the busy music departments of Hollywood during
that era is quick to remember Victor Young as a compactly built,
cigar-smoking character whose very appearance suggested a Chicago
warehouseman more than a distinguished film composer, arranger
and recording artist. "Amazing," fellow composer Irving Gertz
said of Young on occasion of the recording at hand. "The first
time I met him was at Columbia and he was coming to the podium to
conduct. He was a little guy who looked like a prizefighter with
a cigar. I asked somebody who he was. It was Victor Young."
(Of course, if one wonders just what a composer of that period
was supposed to look like, the public back then might well have
suggested stern-looking character actor Victor Francen, who
portrayed the stern, temperamental conductor in Tales of
Manhattan and stern, temperamental pianist in The Beast With Five
Fingers.)
And yet Young effortlessly produced something other composers
then and now find difficult to serve up -- melody. It's little
wonder he found inspiration and kinship in the music of that
great displaced Russian, Sergei Rachmaninoff, who had himself
settled in Los Angeles during Young's career and continued
writing in an unashamedly romantic and songful manner. "He was
very nice," Hollywood composer Herman Stein said during a lively
1996 interview, recalling a lunch he enjoyed with Victor Young
decades before. "I told him Rachmaninoff was thoroughly
underrated as a composer and he said, 'Oh, yes, I agree. He's not
just a second-rate Tchaikovsky!' But I think a lot of people
held that opinion then." Even as scores embraced more brittle,
hard-edged tones in the 1950s, Young refused to bend to the
trends of the times. "He wrote music from the heart," music
editor and associate Bill Stinson later remarked of Young. "He
had so much melody within him. He may have been the best melody
writer we ever had in Hollywood." There was little telling what
might trigger such melodies. Today his full-blooded scores for
such popular, critically successful films as For Whom the Bells
Toll (1943), Samson and Delilah (1949) and Around the World in 80
Days (1956) are frequently cited, yet there is just as much
musical merit in less prestigious fare such as Blackbeard the
Pirate (1952), bristling with soaring melodies and memorable
battle music and nefarious harmonies. Like the best of Victor
Young's music, it is as fully satisfying heard away from the film
as it is alongside it.
Young's genius as a songwriter, composer and arranger, coupled
with his cheerful, pliable personality, certainly won him the
respect and affection of many in Hollywood's filmmaking and
musical realms. And while such qualities also probably resulted
in the overwork that eventually taxed his health and contributed
to his death at a relatively young age, Young's impact was
evident at his jam-packed funeral. No less than Frank Sinatra
and Michael Todd showed up to pay tribute to the fallen composer.
But perhaps no one in the entertainment business drew so much
music from Victor Young as Paramount's autocratic director and
producer, Cecil B. DeMille, who recognized the exuberance and
great appeal of Young's music (as well as Young's amazing
industriousness and willingness to tolerate the blunt orders
DeMille routinely barked to his crew). And so, in 1940, DeMille
tapped Young to score Northwest Mounted Police and all manner of
spectacle thereafter. Only in 1956 did Young take the highly
uncharacteristic move of stepping aside in his long-running
collaboration with the demanding (and, whatever else, steadfastly
loyal) filmmaker, owing to Young's rapidly declining state of
health. Even then, Young did his old boss a supreme favor by
recommending to DeMille that a young composer by the name of
Elmer Bernstein be tapped for the job -- advice DeMille wisely
took. And what a job it was: Composing the score for DeMille's
three-and-a-half-hour epic remake The Ten Commandments (1956) --
much of it, intentionally or otherwise, showing Young's influence
on even the highly individualistic Bernstein.
Although Cecil B. DeMille no longer commands the attention he
once did as a filmmaker, one cannot deny his presence during the
cinema's first 50 years. Granted, he may have been well on his
way to becoming wearily predictable during the final decade of
his life, hackneyed in his epics mixing innocuous sex (including
a love of leading ladies taking peek-a-boo baths), patriotism (so
that even an army of the truly dead took to the field in The
Unconquered) and spectacle (and who has not initially marveled at
the parting of the Red Sea in either of his takes on The Ten
Commandments). In some ways, DeMille had become the P.T. Barnum
of Hollywood during his later years, not only tackling all sorts
of mammoth, eye-catching spectacle but touting his films with
such flamboyance that one felt un-American ignoring DeMille's
exhortations that one and all see his latest film. It was only
natural then DeMille finally mount a film in a genuine circus, as
he did in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). Whatever one thinks
of the storyline -- mostly about ambition, jealousy and love
among circus stars -- the film still has an air of awe about it,
with DeMille's cameramen following the high excitement and
riveting drama of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey
Circus in performance and linking it to their credo that the show
must go on -- even after a horrible train wreck sets half of the
circus animals loose, injures the circus manager and leaves the
performers and crew in a quandary over how to make good on their
next performance. Victor Young's spirited circus march captures
the determination and energy behind their drive and the sheer joy
at their success, piccolos soaring acrobatically overhead while
brass and percussion drive home the point. Even those critics
who think some of Young's music is itself a bit too obvious would
have to concede his upfront talents fit this picture like a
glove. Certainly, it's more interesting than most genuine circus
marches.
One can only begin to appreciate the vast amount of work Young
produced when considering his amazing versatility. In addition
to scoring more than 300 films during the two decades he spent in
Hollywood, he also wrote numerous popular songs for some of the
best-known singers of the day, proved successful as a recording
and radio artist, was peerless when it came to arranging, and
even found time to compose concert works. When colleagues later
remarked that music was a natural part of Young's makeup, they
weren't far wrong. Born Aug. 8, 1900, in Chicago, he found music
evident throughout the house. His father, William Young, was a
tenor with the Chicago Opera Company, though he reportedly
abandoned his family after the death of Victor's mother. With
nowhere else to turn, 10-year-old Victor and his sister Helen
went to Poland to be raised by elderly grandparents. It was in
Warsaw that Victor's musical roots took hold. Thanks to the
savings his grandfather had set aside as a tailor, Victor was
able to study at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, devoting much
of his attention to the violin. He must have been an apt pupil.
Family tradition has it that Victor's debut as a concert
violinist with the Warsaw Philharmonic proved so successful a
wealthy music-lover presented him with a 1730 Guarnerius, an
instrument Young continued to play upon his return to America.
Young's versatility went on parade only after 1914, when his
concertizing across Europe was interrupted by World War I. Upon
his return to Chicago, he picked up work of all kinds, and in the
1920s he toured as a concert violinist. However, as his musical
gifts became apparent to himself and others, he took a turn
toward popular music, quickly finding great success as a
songwriter and band leader. A career in radio began in Chicago
in the late 1920s but eventually moved to New York City. In 1935
he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued his success, forming
another ensemble and continuing to air on radio regularly. By
this time, he was writing and arranging songs for some of the
most prominent performers of the day, including Al Jolson and Don
Ameche. But even before he began composing film scores for
Paramount -- always his home studio,

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A remarkably prolific composer, Victor Young wrote songs and underscor ing that appeared in hundreds of films which earned him 22 Academy Awa rd nominations during his relatively short career. Although Young die d after only twenty years in the business, romance standards like "Whe n I Fall in Love", "Stella By Starlight" and "Love Letters" kept him a live in film credits long past 1956.

The son of a tenor with the Chicago Opera, Young proved a child prodig y, beginning to play the violin at age six. About four years later, fo llowing the death of their mother, the young boy and his sister Hele n were sent to live with their grandfather in Poland. Although he wa s a tailor of meager means, Young's grandfather recognized his charges ' musical potential and managed to send them both to study at the Wars aw Conservatory of Music. While still a teenager, Young made his debu t as a concert violinist at the Warsaw Philharmonic before moving on t o tours of Europe and the United States. The classically trained music ian proved a remarkably adept composer of popular tunes. His memorabl e melodies were big hits in his day and live on as durable standards , songs that remain part of every nightclub singer's repertoire to th e present. Young had his first hit with 1928's "Sweet Sue, Just You" , and would later find success matching his melodies with evocative sc oring, becoming a prolific and respected film composer.

In 1936 Young began working for Paramount Pictures, first as a musica l director and soon as the studio's chief composer and arranger, scori ng and arranging nearly 100 feature films there. His ability and versa tility were proven with his flawless work on such disparate efforts a s the large scale Western "Wells Fargo" (1937), the zany Preston Sturg es comedy "The Palm Beach Story (1942) and the Raymond Chandler-penne d suspenseful drama "The Blue Dahlia" (1946). Young's notable Paramoun t features also include his magnificent scoring of the 1943 war dram a "For Whom the Bell Tolls", the atmospheric accompaniment to Fritz La ng's "Ministry of Fear" (1944), his melodic and heart-wrenching musi c for the moving melodrama "To Each His Own" (1946) and the unforgetta ble score for "Shane" (1953). His capabilities as a film composer, an d particularly as a memorable theme writer, could often make an otherw ise unremarkable movie noteworthy, as was the case with 1945's "Love L etters", largely uninspired aside from Young's romantic title tune.

Remarkably prolific, the composer's credit appeared in dozens of film s for studios other than Paramount. Young did outstanding work at Repu blic Pictures, his compositions including the dulcet theme for "Rio Gr ande" (1950), the lilting take on traditional music for "The Quiet Man " (1952), and the dramatic scoring for the flamboyant Western "Johnn y Guitar" (1954). His work for other studios also won him several Osca r nominations, including the original score to Columbia Pictures' "Gol den Boy" (1939), and the title songs of both "My Foolish Heart" (RKO , 1950) and "Written on the Wind" (Universal, 1956)--both of which als o proved top chart hits.

The composer teamed up with various lyricists during his career, mos t frequently and most notably with Ned Washington, who put words to Yo ung's classics including "My Foolish Heart" and "Stella by Starlight" . Other lyric contributors include Arthur Freed, writer of "Wells Farg o", and "Love Letters" lyricist Edward Heyman. In addition to his bus y film career, the composer won an Emmy Award for his work as musica l director of the special "Light's Diamond Jubilee" (1954), a televisi on celebration of Edison's invention of the light bulb that aired on t he then-four major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Dumont). He was also th e musical director of "The Milton Berle Show" (NBC, 1955-56). After hi s 1956 death, Young finally won an Academy Award for that year's subli me score to "Around the World in 80 Days".

  Noted events in his life were:

• Death in week. Saturday

• Jewish Birth Date. 26 Av 5759

• Birth in Week. Sunday

• Yahrtzeit. 6 Kislev 5717

Victor married Margarita Kinel on Apr 20, 1922 in Hollywood, California, United States.² (Margarita Kinel was born on Mar 21, 1893 in Nur, Lomza, Warszawa, Poland,² died in 1960 in Beverly Hills, California, United States ² and was buried in 1960 in Beth Olam (Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California, United States.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Marriage In Week. Saturday

• Jewish Marriage Date. 24 Nisan 5682