Nathaniel Shilkret

Personal Info

Known For Sound

Gender Male

Birthday 1889-12-25

Deathday 1982-02-18 (92 years old)

Place of Birth New York City, New York, USA

Also Known As Naftule Schüldkraut , Nat Shilkret

Nathaniel Shilkret

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nathaniel Shilkret (December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982) was an American composer, conductor, clarinetist, pianist, business executive, and music director. Shilkret was born in New York City to a musical family of Austrian immigrants. His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Nathaniel Shilkret's brother-in-law, Nathaniel Finston, was violinist in many organizations in his youth and was musical director for Paramount and later for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, at one time being Nathaniel Shilkret's boss. Shilkret moved to Los Angeles in late 1935 and there contributed music scores and musical direction for a string of Hollywood films for RKO (as musical director from 1935—1937), Walter Lantz Productions (one of the studio's musical directors during 1937) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (as a musical director from 1942—1946). His films included Mary of Scotland (1936), Swing Time (1936), The Plough and the Stars, and Shall We Dance? (1937) and several films of Laurel and Hardy. He also received an Oscar nomination for his work scoring the film version of Maxwell Anderson's stage drama Winterset (1936). In 1939, he conducted a group of soloists (including tenor Jan Peerce) and the Victor Symphony Orchestra for RCA Victor's multi-disc tribute to Victor Herbert, which were recorded following a special NBC radio broadcast, and he recorded a number of other albums in 1939 and 1940. Due to a serious abdominal operation for cancer removal, he did not conduct for most of 1941. In 1944–45, Shilkret led the collaborative project that created Genesis Suite, a work for narrator, chorus, and orchestra based on the events in the biblical Book of Genesis. This collaboration involved Shilkret, plus six other composers who immigrated to the United States from Europe – most of whom were Jewish – contributing one movement each: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Darius Milhaud, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Alexandre Tansman and Ernst Toch. Shilkret tried to involve also Béla Bartók into the collaborative project, but this was unsuccessful. He worked at RKO-Pathe, making short films from 1946 through the mid-1950s. During this same period he recorded at least 260 transcriptions for SESAC. He was the pit orchestra conductor for the Broadway show Paris '90 in 1952. He lived in his son's home in Franklin Square, NY, from the mid-1950s until his death in 1982 and was a Great Uncle of actress Julie Warner.

Known For

Sound

1951
Flying Padre

as Music

1947
1947
The Big Party

as Music

1946
1945
She Went to the Races

as Original Music Composer

1945
1944
1944
1944
Dark Shadows

as Music

1944
Lost in a Harem

as Original Music Composer

1944
1944
1944
Grandpa Called It Art

as Original Music Composer

1944
Blonde Fever

as Music

1943
1943
1943
1943
That's Why I Left You

as Original Music Composer

1943
1943
Trifles That Win Wars

as Original Music Composer

1943
1943
Storm

as Music

1941
Jungle Cavalcade

as Music Director

1938
1937
Border Cafe

as Music Director

1937
Hitting a New High

as Original Music Composer

1937
Shall We Dance

as Music Director

1937
The Toast of New York

as Original Music Composer

1937
The Soldier and the Lady

as Original Music Composer

1937
The Soldier and the Lady

as Music Director

1937
Serene Siam

as Music

1937
Music for Madame

as Original Music Composer

1937
Music for Madame

as Music Director

1937
Rocky Mountain Grandeur

as Original Music Composer

1937
Hong Kong: 'The Hub of the Orient'

as Original Music Composer

1936
Winterset

as Music

1936
That Girl from Paris

as Music Director

1936
The Bohemian Girl

as Original Music Composer

1936
Mary of Scotland

as Original Music Composer

1936
Walking on Air

as Music Director

1936
Swing Time

as Music Director

1936
The Plough and the Stars

as Music Director

1934
1934
Switzerland the Beautiful

as Music Director

1932
1931
1930
Blotto

as Music

1930
When the Wind Blows

as Music Director

1930
1928
The Battle of the Sexes

as Original Music Composer

1925
Franz Liszt

as Music Director

Crew

1946
Faithful in My Fashion

as Cinematography

1943
Above Suspicion

as Additional Music

1942
The Falcon Takes Over

as Additional Music

1937
Breakfast for Two

as Additional Music

Actor

1939
Yankee Doodle Home

as Band Leader

1932
It Happened in Paris

as Orchestra Leader

1925
Franz Liszt

as Self