Johnny Green | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Waldo Green |
| Born | (1908-10-10)October 10, 1908 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | May 15, 1989(1989-05-15) (aged 80) Beverly Hills,California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Composer,Conductor |
| Instrument(s) | Piano,Trombone |
| Years active | 1930–1989 |
| Labels | Paramount Pictures |
John Waldo Green (October 10, 1908 – May 15, 1989) was an Americansongwriter,composer,musical arranger,conductor andpianist. He was given the nickname "Beulah" by colleagueConrad Salinger. His most famous song was one of his earliest, "Body and Soul" from the revueThree's a Crowd. Green won fourAcademy Awards for his film scores and a fifth for producing a short musical film,[1] and he was inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.[2][3] He was also honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.[4]
John Waldo Green was born inNew York City, the son of musical parents Vivian Isidor Green (1885–1940)[5][6] and Irina Etelka Jellenik (1885–1947),[7] a.k.a. Irma (or Erma) Etelka Jellenik. Vivian and Irina wed in 1907 in Manhattan.[8]
John attendedHorace Mann School and theNew York Military Academy, and was accepted byHarvard at the age of 15, entering the university in 1924. His musical tutors were Herman Wasserman, Ignace Hilsberg and Walter Spalding. Between semesters,bandleaderGuy Lombardo heard Green's Gold Coast Orchestra and hired him to create dance arrangements for his nationally famous orchestra. His first song hit,Coquette (1928), was written for Lombardo (withCarmen Lombardo, Guy's brother, and lyricistGus Kahn).[citation needed]
John's father, Vivian, compelled him to take a job as astockbroker. Disliking the job, and encouraged by his wife, the former Carol Faulk, John leftWall Street to pursue a musical career.[citation needed]
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Green wrote a number of songs which have becomejazz standards, including "Out of Nowhere" and "Body and Soul". He wrote thescores for various films and TV programs. 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 meMaestro!"
At the beginning of his musical career, he arranged for dance orchestras, most notablyJean Goldkette onNBC. He wasaccompanist/arranger to musicians such asJames Melton,Libby Holman andEthel Merman. It was while writing material forGertrude Lawrence in 1930 that he composed "Body and Soul", the first recording of which was made byJack Hylton & His Orchestra eleven days before the song was copyrighted.
Between 1930 and 1933, Green was the arranger and conductor forParamount Pictures and worked with such singers asEthel Merman,Gertrude Lawrence andJames Melton. He composed many of his hit standards during the 1930s, includingBing Crosby's first number one hit recording, "Out of Nowhere" (1931, co-authored withEdward Heyman), "Rain Rain Go Away" (1932), "I Cover the Waterfront", "You're Mine You", "I Wanna Be Loved" (all 1933), "Easy Come Easy Go" and "Repeal The Blues" (both 1934).
After 1933, Green had his own orchestra which he used to perform around the country. He also, until 1940, conducted orchestras for theJack Benny and Philip Morris records and radio shows.
Nathaniel Shilkret andPaul Whiteman commissioned Green to write larger works for orchestra, such as "Night Club (Six Impressions for Orchestra with Three Pianos)", introduced by Whiteman on January 25, 1933, at Carnegie Hall. Green was at piano "one," and Roy Bargy and Ramona played the other two pianos. During the early 1930s, Green also wrote music for numerous films atParamount'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.
Green spent much of 1933 inLondon, where he contributed songs to bothMr. Whittington, a musical comedy forJack Buchanan at theLondon Hippodrome, andBig Business, the first musical comedy ever written forBBC Radio.
On Green's return to the U.S.A. early in 1934,William S. Paley, president of theColumbia Broadcasting System and an investor in New 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 theColumbia andBrunswick companies, although in the Depression even the most popular records sold only in small numbers.
In 1935, Green starred on CBS'sSocony Sketchbook, sponsored bySocony-Vacuum Oil Co. He lured the young California singerVirginia Verrill to headline with him on the Friday evening broadcasts. His regular cast included his band singersMarjory Logan andJimmy Farrell, essayistChristopher Morley, and stage/screen favorites theFour Eton Boys. A bigger venture yet in commercial radio wasTheFred Astaire Hour (a.k.a.The Packard Hour), sponsored byPackard Motors overNBC 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 1935–1937. He also served as musical director forThe Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny during its 1935–1936 season on NBC.
He continued conducting on radio and in theatres into the 1940s, also leading a dance band for the short-lived Royale Records label in 1939–1940, until he decided to move permanently toHollywood and work in the film business. Green particularly made an impression atMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where in the 1940s, along with orchestratorConrad Salinger, he was one of the musicians most responsible for changing the overall sound of the MGM 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.
Green was the music director at MGM from 1949 to 1959. He compiled and arranged the MGM Jubilee Overture in 1954, a tour de force. He produced numerous film scores, such as the one forRaintree County in 1957. On loan out to Universal, he composed the songs for theDeanna Durbin musical, "Something in the Wind", one of her last films before retiring.
Nominated for anOscar thirteen times, he won the award for the musical scores ofEaster Parade,An American in Paris,West Side Story, andOliver!, as well as for producing the short "The Merry Wives of Windsor Overture", which won in the Short Subjects (One-Reel) category in 1954. The short subject featured Green conducting the MGM Orchestra on-screen in the music from the opera of thesame name byOtto Nicolai.
After leaving MGM, Green guest-conducted with various orchestras, including theChicago Symphony Orchestra,Denver Symphony Orchestra,Philadelphia Orchestra,San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, andHollywood Bowl Orchestra. He also continued to compose the occasional score to films such asTwilight of Honor (1963),Johnny Tiger (1966) andAlvarez Kelly (1966), and contributed the arrangements and musical direction for the critically acclaimedThey Shoot Horses, Don't They? in 1969.
He was also hired to create the televisedGuinness advertisement known as the "World" ad campaign. He recruited a team which included set designer Grant Major and Oscar-nominated director of photography Wally Pfisher to complete the job.
Johnny Green's credits as musical executive, arranger, conductor and composer are considerable, including such films asRaintree County,Bathing Beauty,Easy to Wed,Something in the Wind,Easter Parade (for which he won his firstAcademy Award),Summer Stock,An American in Paris (which won him his second Academy Award),Royal Wedding,High Society andWest Side Story (another Academy Award winner for him). Although Green was musical director on these films, the orchestrations were usually done by someone else - in the case of the MGM musicals, it was usuallyConrad Salinger, and in the case ofWest Side Story, it wasSid Ramin andIrwin Kostal.
As mentioned earlier, Green conducted the orchestra for such famous MGM musicals asAn American in Paris, as well as for United Artists' 1961 film version ofWest Side Story.
In 1965, Green conducted the music for that year's new adaptation ofRodgers 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 filmOliver! (1968), based on thehit musical play, and won anAcademy 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, dubbedMark Lester's singing voice in the film.
Green was a respected board member ofASCAP. He was a chairman of the music branch of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, leading the orchestra through 17 of theAcademy Awardtelecasts, and a producer of television specials.
He married three times, had a daughter, actress/singer/songwriterBabbie Green, with actress/consumer advocateBetty Furness and two daughters with MGM "Glamazon"Bunny Waters, including Kim Meglio and actress and singerKathe Green. ActressLiza Snyder is his granddaughter. Green who grew up in a secularJewish family converted toChristianity inspired by his third wifeBunny Waters.[9]
It was during his first marriage to Carol Faulk that most of his hit standards were composed. Before the marriage ended in the mid-1930s, Carol Faulk remarked, "We didn't have children, we had songs."[citation needed]
He was quoted as saying "As my friend Alan Jay Lerner said, 'Modesty is for those who deserve it.' And I don't."[10]
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