FRANK J. BLACK - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/05/1937 - HFSID 189942
Price: $280.00
FRANK J. BLACK
As NBC's Music Director, he responds to a question about
orchestration on "the early Cohan pieces".
Typed Letter signed: "Frank J. Black", 1 page, 8½x11. RCA
Building, New York City, 1937 March 5. On his letterhead as NBC's General
Musical Director to James Francis Cooke, Editor, The Etude, Philadelphia. In
full: "Thank you for your kind letter, and please thank your secretary
for her nice comment. Regarding the early Cohan pieces, I am sure it was Mike
Lake who orchestrated them. I don't think Grofe has ever been connected with
Cohan. Very cordially yours". Frank Jeremiah Black (1894-1966), a
brilliant jack of all musical trades, began scoring and arranging music for
Tin Pan Alley greats like the Gershwins, Rogers and Hart Jerome Kern and Flo
Ziegfeld in the early 1920s. In 1926, he became pianist (and arranger) for a
close harmony male quartet, The Revelers, propelling them to stardom with
several hit recordings of "Ol' Man River", "Dinah", "Birth of the Blues" and
"Baby Face". In 1927, he launched his own orchestra, scoring collegiate hits
like "Varsity Drag". In 1928, Black became NBC's Music Director. He launched
the innovative Magic Key of RCA Hour, composing the series' theme music. His
innovations extended beyond the music: he was the first to build a record
library, and the first to record shows for future re-broadcast.) The
frenetic Black actually commuted weekly from the Manhattan studio to Chicago,
where he ran The Carnation Hour. In 1942, he composed the music for Edna St
Vincent Millay's dramatic poem, "The Murder of Lidice" (denouncing Nazi
atrocities.) In 1949, Black was conductor for Presidential daughter Margaret
Truman's Carnegie Hall vocal debut (not among his successes). He was lured back
to radio in 1953 as conductor of the new Cadillac Choral Symphony. In
retirement, he compiled a library of musical scores filling 22 steel file
cabinets. Normal mailing folds. Lightly creased. Slightly worn. Otherwise,
fine condition.
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