Herbert Stothart

Biography

Herbert Pope Stothart (September 11, 1885 – February 1, 1949) was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won Best Original Score for The Wizard of Oz. Stothart was widely acknowledged as a prominent member of the top tier of Hollywood composers during the 1930s and 1940s.

Life and career

Herbert Stothart was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He studied music in Europe and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he later taught.
Stothart was initially hired by producer Arthur Hammerstein to serve as a musical director for touring companies of Broadway shows. He soon began composing music for Oscar Hammerstein II, the producer's nephew. Notably, Stothart composed music for the famous operetta, Rose-Marie. He collaborated with renowned composers such as Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin and Franz Lehár. Stothart achieved success on the pop charts with standards like "Cute Little Two by Four", "Wildflower", "Bambalina", "The Mounties", "Totem Tom-Tom", "Why Shouldn't We?", "Fly Away", "Song of the Flame", "The Cossack Love Song", "Dawn", "I Wanna Be Loved by You", "Cuban Love Song", "The Rogue Song" and "The Donkey Serenade".
The year 1929 marked the final year of silent films, the end of the era. Shortly after completing his latest musical, Golden Dawn, with Emmerich Kálmán, Oscar Hammerstein, and Otto Harbach, Stothart received an invitation from Louis B. Mayer to move to Hollywood, an invitation which he accepted. In 1929, Stothart signed a substantial contract with MGM.
The next twenty years of his life were spent at MGM Studios, where he was part of elite group of Hollywood composers. Among the many films he worked on was the famous 1936 version of Rose-Marie, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. He conducted and composed songs and scores for films such as The Cuban Love Song, The Good Earth, Romeo and Juliet, Mutiny on the Bounty, Mrs. Miniver, The Green Years and The Picture of Dorian Gray. His notable contributions also include the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera, the romantic drama Anna Karenina based on Leo Tolstoy's novel, and two Charles Dickens adaptations (A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield). He ultimately won an Oscar for his musical score in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.
Herbert Stothart dedicated his entire Hollywood career to MGM. In 1947, while visiting Scotland, he suffered a heart attack. Afterward, he composed an orchestral piece titled Heart Attack: A Symphonic Poem, inspired by his personal tribulations. Additionally, he worked on another composition, Voices of Liberation, commissioned by the Roger Wagner Chorale. Stothart died two years later at the age of 63.

Academy Awards

Two of Stothart’s scores, Mutiny on the Bounty and Maytime, were also nominated. Prior to 1938 nominations in the scoring category went to the heads of studio music departments regardless of the credited composer.

Famous Songs

"The Donkey Serenade": Adapted from a melody by Rudolf Friml and featuring lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, this song became well-known from the 1937 film version of The Firefly.
"Wildflower": (1923): A successful Broadway hit where Stothart collaborated with Vincent Youmans and Hammerstein-Harbach.
"Rose Marie": (1924): An extremely successful show written by Rudolf Friml, contributing to Stothart's career momentum.
"The Rogue Song": Featured in the 1930 film of the same name.
"Cuban Love Song": A hit from the 1931 film The Cuban Love Song.
"I Wanna Be Loved By You": Helen Kane first performed the song in 1928 and included a "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" tag that inspired the cartoon character Betty Boop. Marilyn Monroe famously performed the song in the 1959 comedy film Some Like It Hot.

Death

Herbert Stothart died of cancer in Los Angeles, California at the age of 63. He is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.