[Othermindsforum] David Raksin (1912-2004) . . . OM 3 Composer (1996)

[Charles Amirkhanian]

To the Other Minds Family:

We sadly pass on this notice about the death of 
David Raksin, noted composer of film and concert 
music, who was a guest at the Other Minds 
Festival in 1996.  A longtime friend of mine and 
many other composers who spent any time at all in 
Los Angeles going to contemporary music concerts, 
Raksin was, along with George Antheil, one of 
that fraternity who frequented contemporary music 
concerts and kept up friendships with the latest 
concert music types even as they attained 
increasing success in the world of Hollywood film 
scoring.  David's wry wit and fearless 
predictions ("Rachmaninoff is going to a big 
comeback.  Mark my words!") kept his associates 
on their toes as did his Oscar Levantine humor 
("He's giving incompetence a bad name.")

Thanks to George Lewis, one of David's composer 
colleagues at the 3rd Other Minds Music Festival, 
for passing on this notice.

Charles Amirkhanian
Other Minds

>Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 00:51:34 -0700
>To: charles at otherminds.org
>From: "George E. Lewis" <gl2140 at columbia.edu>
>Subject: David Raksin
>
>Thank you for making it possible for me to meet 
>him.  It was an extraordinary moment--
>
>George Lewis, composer/OM 3 (1996)

________________________


Los Angeles Times
August 10, 2004

OBITUARIES
David Raksin, 92; Longtime Film Composer Had Hit Song 'Laura'


By Dennis McLellan, Times Staff Writer

David Raksin, the noted film composer for 
"Forever Amber" and "The Bad and the Beautiful" 
whose hauntingly memorable theme song for the 
1944 film noir classic "Laura" became one of the 
most recorded tunes in history, has died. He was 
92.

Raksin, the last surviving major composer from 
Hollywood's Golden Age and a onetime Communist 
Party member who reluctantly named names before 
the House Un-American Activities Committee, died 
of heart failure caused by cardiovascular disease 
Monday at his home in Van Nuys, said his son, 
Alex.

In a more than half-century career in Hollywood 
that began in 1935 when he was hired to assist 
Charlie Chaplin with the music for "Modern 
Times," Raksin received Academy Award nominations 
for his scores for "Forever Amber" (1947) and 
"Separate Tables" (1958).

He also wrote music for "The Secret Life of 
Walter Mitty" (1947), "Force of Evil" (1948), 
"Carrie" (1952), "Pat and Mike" (1952), "Too Late 
Blues" (1961), "Will Penny" (1968) and more than 
100 other films. And he composed music for some 
300 TV shows, including the theme for "Ben Casey" 
(1961) and the 1989 TV movie "Lady in a Corner."

Singer and pianist Michael Feinstein, a longtime 
friend, told The Times recently that his favorite 
Raksin score was for the 1952 drama "The Bad and 
the Beautiful," starring Kirk Douglas and Lana 
Turner.

"The synthesis of blues and jazz, combined with 
his classical background, created a hybrid that 
is a distillation of the disparate influences on 
David," said Feinstein. Raksin's musical style, 
Feinstein said, "is as recognizably unique as 
George GershwinŠ. He wrote complex music, but he 
also was a great melodist."

Lyricist Marilyn Bergman, president and 
chairwoman of the American Society of Composers, 
Authors and Publishers, the performing rights 
group, told The Times on Monday that Raksin "was 
a composer whose music was just as meaningful in 
a concert hall as it was on a soundtrack on a 
film."

"I think that, along with people like Alex North 
and Bernard Hermann and Jerry Goldsmith and John 
Williams, David Raksin was in the forefront of 
serious American composers," she said.

Raksin may be best known for his score for 
"Laura," a romantic mystery starring Dana Andrews 
as a detective who falls for a woman (Gene 
Tierney) as he investigates her apparent murder.

Cole Porter, once asked what piece of music he 
most regretted not having composed, replied, 
"Laura." And Hedy Lamarr, asked why she had 
turned down the title role in the film, said, 
"Because they sent me the script instead of the 
score."

Alfred Newman, who headed 20th Century Fox's 
music department, assigned Raksin to the film, 
produced and directed by Otto Preminger.

"I was typed as a composer for detective 
pictures, and they thought that's what 'Laura' 
was," Raksin once recalled. But he saw the movie 
as a love story.

At a meeting with Preminger after Raksin viewed a 
rough cut of the film, Preminger said he planned 
to use Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" to 
evoke the beautiful murder victim. Raksin 
objected, telling Preminger that while it was a 
great song, it was all wrong for the movie.

The meeting was on a Friday and Preminger gave 
Raksin the weekend to come up with something. The 
next morning Raksin received a letter from his 
then-wife, Pamela Randell, a model, singer and 
dancer who was working on Broadway.

"I couldn't make head or tail of it and put the 
letter aside so I could get back to work," he 
recalled in a 1976 Times interview.

When he still hadn't come up with anything by 
Sunday night, he tried a technique he had used 
before: propping something up before him to 
divert his mind and get his creative juices 
going. This time, he used his wife's letter.

"Suddenly the meaning of her letter got through 
to me; she was kissing me off," he recalled. "And 
then, like in a corny scene from a bad Warner 
Bros. movie about a composer, I found myself 
playing the entire first phrase of 'Laura.' 
"Audiences loved it so much that Raksin was 
deluged with fan letters.

He reworked the melody so it could be sung and, 
with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, "Laura" became a 
hit in 1945. It's among the most recorded songs 
ever, with more than 400 recordings over the 
years.

Raksin was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 4, 1912. 
His father was a music store operator who 
conducted an orchestra at a silent movie theater 
and sometimes played with the Philadelphia 
Orchestra. Raksin began piano lessons at 6, but 
later switched to the saxophone. By 12, he was 
leading a small dance band, which he expanded in 
high school for broadcasting on the local CBS 
affiliate. He taught himself orchestration in 
high school and while majoring in music 
composition at the University of Pennsylvania 
played in society bands and radio orchestras.

Raksin was 23 and arranging Broadway musicals 
when he was invited to Hollywood to work on 
"Modern Times." Credited as an arranger on the 
film, Raksin wrote down and developed Chaplin's 
musical ideas, which the comedian hummed, 
whistled or played with two fingers on the piano.

Raksin was under contract to MGM in 1951 when he 
was subpoenaed by the House Un-American 
Activities Committee. He had been a member of the 
Communist Party from 1938 to 1940; he later said 
he was asked to leave after expressing opinions 
that were contrary to the party line.

Prior to appearing before the committee, Raksin 
sought the advice of Martin Gang, an influential 
entertainment lawyer who counseled clients to 
cooperate with the committee in order to be 
cleared from blacklists and return to work.

In a 1997 interview with The Times, Raksin 
recalled: "He said, 'If you don't talk, those 
bastards will put you in jail.' Gang told me, 
'Don't hide anything; they know all about you.' "

During his testimony, Raksin provided the names 
of 11 party members. But, partially ignoring 
Gang's advice, he only named people, he later 
said, who were dead or already had been named. He 
denied knowing if others were party members.

"It wasn't an abject capitulation," Raksin told 
The Times. "I told the committee they should 
leave the Communist Party alone, not try to crush 
it. But there I was, a guy with a family to 
support and a fairly decent career that was about 
to go down the drain.

"What I did was a major sin, but I think I did as 
well as most human beings would've done under 
torture,"

For decades, Raksin taught classes on composition 
for motion pictures and TV at UCLA and USC.

Raksin was the first film composer chosen by the 
Library of Congress to have a collection of his 
manuscripts in its music division.

His stage works include three produced musicals 
and several ballets, as well as incidental music 
for plays. His concert works, many of them 
adapted from his film scores, have been performed 
by several leading orchestras.

In addition to his son, an editorial writer for 
The Times, the twice-divorced Raksin is survived 
by his daughter, Valentina Raksin; and three 
grandchildren.

A celebration of Raksin's life and work is pending.

--
Charles Amirkhanian
Artistic & Executive Director
Other Minds, Inc.
333 Valencia St. #303
San Francisco, CA 94103 USA
(415) 934-8134
(415) 934-8136 fax
http://www.otherminds.org

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OTHER MINDS 11 FESTIVAL
February 24-27, 2005
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco,  CA
Featuring composers Michael Nyman, Phill Niblock, 
Daniel Bernard Roumain, William Barton, Maria de 
Alvear, Fred Frith John Luther Adams, Evan 
Ziporyn, Billy Bang, SO PERCUSSION and others TBA.

SOUNDS LIKE TOMORROW
NEW MUSIC NOW STREAMING ON INTERNET RADIO
CLICK AND LISTEN AT http://www.radiOM.org

* * * * * * * * * * *