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Morris W. Stoloff (August 1, 1898 – April 16, 1980) was an Americancomposer. He worked withSammy Davis Jr.,Dinah Shore,Al Jolson andFrank Sinatra.[1]
Stoloff was born inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania. A child prodigy on theviolin, Stoloff was taken under the wing of W. A. Clark. After studying withLeopold Auer for several years, Stoloff was touring theU.S. as a featured soloist at the age of 16, and joined theLos Angeles Philharmonic a year later as its youngest member ever.
When sound came to motion pictures,studios came looking formusicians to provide it, and Stoloff was one of the first to cross over fromclassical music to movies. He was the first concertmaster onParamount Pictures' payroll, and he worked with setting up the mechanics of a system that had to provide a steady stream of music for everything from epic dramas to serials and comedy shorts.
In 1936, Stoloff moved over toColumbia Pictures, where he took the title of music director, a new position unique to the studio system. As music director, he was the chief executive responsible for providing musical production support to every film the studio released. This meant matching up composers, orchestrators, conductors, musicians and recording facilities to meet the creative scope of each project as well as its schedule and budget.
Stoloff often took partial credit for a picture's score when he worked closely with a particular composer to work out a theme, motifs, and melodies. As a result, he ranks among some of the most-nominated individuals in the history of theAcademy Awards. He won three Oscars for best scores, including those forCover Girl (1944),The Jolson Story (1946), andSong Without End (1960), and was nominated 14 other times.
By the late 1940s, film music was beginning to be recognized on its own, and Stoloff beganrecording some of the more popular numbers assingles forDecca Records. When long-playalbums were perfected, the studios saw the opportunity to market more than just singles to the listening audience, andsoundtrack albums became a hot commodity. Stoloff exercised his privilege as musical director to record these soundtrack albums himself, working with material from the actual scores.
WhenFrank Sinatra foundedReprise Records in the early 1960s, he hired Stoloff as musical director; the two having worked successfully before onPal Joey (1957). One of Stoloff's most noteworthy achievements while at Reprise was the release of a set of re-recordings of great Broadway musicals, includingKiss Me, Kate with a studio cast.
Stoloff worked asmusical director atColumbia Pictures from 1936 to 1962. Amongspace age pop fans, he is best remembered for his 1956Top 10hit that paired theswing era tune "Moonglow" withthe love theme from themoviePicnic, the medley called "Moonglow and Theme fromPicnic"; Moonglow (Hudson, Mills), Picnic (Duning). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded agold disc by theRIAA.[2]
Stoloff died in 1980 inLos Angeles, California, aged 81.
