By Sydney Blefko, Michael Massaro, Carol Berthold
Title: Music and Performing Arts Library Frank Skinner Movie Scores and Sound Recordings, 1937-1966
ID: 35/3/100
Primary Creator: Skinner, Frank (1897-1968)
Extent: 6.25 cubic feet
Arrangement: This collection is organized into two series: Series 1: Movie Scores (1938-1966), and Series 2: Sound Recordings (1940-1942). Series 1 is organized chronologically by each film score's year of composition and then alphabetically within each year. Series 2 is organized alphabetically by the title of the movie.
Date Acquired: 10/11/2019. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Composers, film music, Instrumental music, Music, Music -- Illinois, Music - United States, Music Composition, Music Library
Formats/Genres: Sheet music
Languages: English
Consists of film scores by the composer Frank Skinner and audio recordings. The scores in this collection were created between 1938-1966, during Skinner's time working at Universal Studios. Accompanying many of the scores are copyright documents which list publisher and other information about each of the compositions within the score, as well as clerical information about the score. The vast majority of the scores in the collection are published scores, but this collection also contains multiple publisher drafts.
The audio recordings of Skinner's movie scores are songs and other music by Frank Skinner.
Frank Skinner (1897-1968) was born in Meridosia, Illinois on December 31, 1897. He began his musical career playing piano with his brother Carl on several American vaudeville circuits. In the 1930s, he began arranging songs for New York area dance bands. In 1934 he published F. Skinner's Simplified Method of Modern Arranging. In 1936, he moved to Hollywood to become a film composer, his debut came in an arrangement for MGM's The Great Ziegfield. The bulk of his career was spent at Universal Studios, where he worked from 1937 until 1966. During this time he became known for his horror film music, although he wrote music for several other genres including westerns, historical hiction, and romance films. His most significant film scores were written for Son of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Saboteur, Arabian Nights, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Spring Parade, House of the Seven Gables, Mad About Music, Shenandoah, The Amazing Mrs. Holiday, Written on the Wind, Black Street, Imitation of Life, and Ride to the Hangman's Tree. He was nominated for five oscars for best music score in 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944, but never won.
Composers
film music
Instrumental music
Music
Music -- Illinois
Music - United States
Music Composition
Music Library
Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Accruals: 12 CDs of sound tracks from Skinner movie scores donated by Ray Faiola on November 24, 2021.
Acquisition Source: University of Illinois, Music and Performing Arts Library
Acquisition Method: Transferred from the University of Illinois Music and Performing Arts Library to the Sousa Archives on October 11, 2019.
Includes scores by Frank Skinner dated between 1938-1966. Contains the sheet music of both bound published scores and publisher drafts, as well as a summary sheet showing the order in which each piece appears in the movie and the corresponding Reel number. Arranged alphabetically by title of movie. Detailed description of each movie included. Titles of pieces in each score are shown in order in which they appear in the movie, including Reel number (when available) and number of each piece.
Composer of each piece within a movie is Frank Skinner unless otherwise noted. This material is found on both a summary sheet usually included in the bound volume and in the accompanying score. Pieces composed by composers other than Skinner are noted and include the composer's name. The scores of such pieces are sometimes included in the bound volume. If the score is not included, the description will so indicate. When a composition is used in multiple places throughout the movie and is composed by someone other than Skinner, sometimes the piece will not include the score and sometimes (when it is part of another item) it will include the score for identified measures. In such cases, the description for each item is assumed to have a score unless otherwise noted that the score is not included.
Musical Score by Frank Skinner. Compositions include: Reel I: 1) "Emblem"; 2) "Main Title." Reel II: 3) "Yankee Doodle,'" public domain, parody lyric by Frederick Herbert and Richard L. Breen, score not included. Reel III: 4) "Hey Good Looking (Hawaiian Nights)," composed by Frank Loesser and Matty Malneck, score not included. Reel IV: 5) "I'll Remember April (Ride 'Em Cowboy)," composed by Don Raye and Gene De Paul, score not included; 6) "Little Brown Jug (The Glen Miller Story)." public domain, arr. by Henry Mancini, score not included; 7) "Little Brown Jug (The Glen Miller Story)." public domain, arr. by Henry Mancini, score not included; 8) "Little Brown Jug (The Glen Miller Story)." public domain, arr. by Henry Mancini, score not included. Reel V: 9) "Departure and Arrival." Reel VI: 10) "Guitar Noodling." Reel VII: Tacet. Reel VIII: 11) "Blue Grotto"; 12) "Slumber Party." Reel IX 13) "Slumber Party." Reel X: 14) "Tragic Bliss"; 15) "Washington Post March," public domain, composed by John Philip Sousa, score not inckuded; 16) "The Thunderer," public domain, composed by John Philip Sousa, score not included. Reel XI: Tacet. Reel XII: Tacet. Reel XIII: Tacet. Reel XIV: 17) "We Three Kings," public domain, arr. by Milton Rosen; 18) "Adeste Fideles," public domain, arr. by Milton Rosen; 19) "Santa Lucia March," public domain, arr. by Russell Garcia; 20) "Ha-Vah Na-Gi-Lah," public domain, arr. by Milton Rosen; 21) "Santa Lucia March," public domain, arr. by Russell Garcia; 22) "Jingle Bells, End Title," public domain, arr. by Frank Skinner..
Deleted from picture, scores included in bound score: "Ward Seven"; "Looking Ahead"; "The Winstons"; "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," public domain, arr. by Milten Rosen.
Recordings of movie scores by Frank Skinner. Some recordings of songs and other music by Frank Skinner. Initial part of disc title indicates in which titled binder the disc was located. Discs are listed in the original order in which they were found in the binders. Some discs have been incorrectly placed in a binder that does not match the disc contents, particularly in the 'Saboteur' folder. This is noted in the disc description.
Thanks to Stefan Schlegel, a film music fan, who provided identifications and corrections for some of these recordings (noted in the disc desriptions) in April, 2021.
Sound recordings for the following movies:
Arabian Nights, 1942: Scheherazade (Maria Montez) as the prisoner of an evil caliph until rescued by dashing Jon Hall. John Qualen as Aladdin and Shemp Howard as Sinbad. Dir.: John Rawlins. Cast: Joh Hall, Maria Montez, Sabu, Leif Erickson, Billy Gilbert, Edgar Barrier, Richard Lane, Turhan Bay, John Qualen, Shemp Howard. 86 min.
Back Street, 1941: This version of novelist's Fannie Hurst's romantic tearjerker about clandestine love, with Charles Boyer and Margaret Sullavan as vibrant shop girl Ray Smith who falls in love with banker Walter Saxel who is engaged to a socially prominent wommen. Dir.: Robert Stevenson. 89 min.
House of the Seven Gables, 1940: The first rendition of the Nathaniel Hawthorne classic made during the talkie era, and a good one. Vincent Price and George Sanders one-up each other with cynical dialogue and scenery chewing, and the script is faithful to the book. The story of a jealous man who sends an innocent man to prison is hauntingly photographed and uses replicas of the nineteenth-century New England house that inspired it. Dir.: Joe May. Cast: Vincent Price, Margaret Lindsay, George Sanders, Nan Grey, Alan Napier, Dick Foran. 90 min.
Saboteur, 1942: Outstanding Alfred Hitchcock film about a World War II factory worker (Robert Cummings) turned fugitive after he's unjustly accused of sabotage. The briskly paced story follows his efforts to elude police while he tries to unmask the real culprit. A humdinger of a climax. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane, Norman Lloyd, Otto Kruger. 108 min.
Spring Parade, 1940: This lilting musical confection stars Deanna Durbin as a baker's assistant in love with an army drummer. Set in Austria. Dir.: Henry Koster. Cast: Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings, S.Z. Sakall, Henry Stephenson, Mischa Auer, Reginald Denny, Allyn Joslyn. 89 min.
The sequence of recorded music for Skinner's The Sun Never Sets, are included across many of these discs. The order is listed below.
1) "Main Title," just the first track (1:42 minutes) on side B of disc 1 "Arabian Nightsâ??)
2) "Dedication," just 2:00 minutes of side B for disc 2 "Arabian Nights,â?? but only the last 20 seconds of the track are on the film
3) "London Montage," just 15 seconds of side B of disc 17 "Frank Skinner Music" disc 3â??
4) "Grandfather's Room," 4:15 minutes on side A of disc 1 "Arabian Nightsâ??
5) "Unrest Montage, just 38 seconds of side B of disc 17 "Frank Skinner Musi" disc 3
6) "Inspiration," 3:32 minutes of side B of disc 17, "Frank Skinner Music disc 3
7) "Reunited Part. 1," 4:04 minutes of side A of disc 2 "Arabian Nights" and "Reunited Part. 2," 1:42 minutes of side B of disc 2 "Arabian Nights"
8) "Sabotage," just 48 seconds of side B of disc 1 "Arabian Nights"
Original wax pressing. Song from the production 52nd Street and sung by Kenny Baker. This was included in the Saboteur binder but is not from that movie.
52nd Street, 1937, released through United Artists: Musical chronicles 15 years in the life of a New York City street. In 1912, 52nd Street is a peaceful residential neighborhood and by 1937 it has becoma a bawdy red-light district. As the street changes, so do the lives of a brother and his two sisters who become estranged when he marries an actress at the beginning of the film. The two sisters find their brother's actions distasteful and consider the lowly actress unworthy of their high-born brother. Dir.: Harold Young; producer: Walter Wagner; screenplay: Grover Jones. Cast: Ian Hunter, Leo Carrillo, Pat Patersonb, Ella Logan, Sid Silvers, Zasu Pitts, Jack White, Marla Shelton, Dorothy Peterson, Kenny Baker.
Music by Frank Skinner. Universal Pictures Orchestra conducted by Charles Previn. Tracks and playing times include:1) "Main Title," 1:15; 2) "The Storyteller," 2:40; 3) "Kamar, Condemned Traitor," 4:35; 4) "Ahmad's Stooges," 2:46; 5) "Let's Pack Our Bags and Get Out of Bagdad!" 0:47; 6) "'Death' of the Caliph,: 2:08; 7) "Ministrations," 4:39; 8) "Sold into Slavery," 4:32; 9) "The Slave Market," 6:26; 10) "Revolt in the Slave Market," 1:42; 11) "Breaking Their Bonds," 2:41; 12) "Trek to Kamar's Oasis Retreat," 3:41; 13) "Ali and the Poolside Harem," 4:09' 14) "Nadan's Bargain," 6:89; 15) "No Cobra, But Whatta Dance!" 3:34; 16) "Battle for the Throne," 4:10; 17) "End Cast," 0:25. Playing time: 57:47.
Booklet included.
Music by Frank Skinner. Universal Pictures Orchestra conducted by Charles Previn. Tracks include: 1)"Main Title"/"Machine Age Parade"/"New Years Dinner Alone"; 2) "Love Among the Hay Stacks"; 3) "A Day With Curtis"/"Waltzing With Curtis"/"New Years Waltz"; 4) "Missing the Boat"; 5) "After Supper in NY"/"Rae Loses Her Room"/"Sending a Cable"/"1928"; 6) "New Years Reunion & Break-up"/"Keeping Company in Paris"; 7) "Paris Postcards"/:"Contemptible and Rotten"; 8) Walter Reappears"; 9) "At the Railway Station"; 10) "Walter's Stroke"/"Walter Dies"; 11) "What Live Might Have Been"/"End Title"/"End Cast."
Booklet included. Contains essay on importance of Frank Skinner as a film-score composer. This disc is from the 1941 film; the film was remade in 1961.