American composer and conductor of plays, television and film. He was born 14 September 1910 in Jackson, Mississippi, USA and died 29 August 1982 in New York City, New York, USA.
Won Broadways Tony Award twice as Best Conductor and Musical Director: in 1951 for "The Consul" and in 1953 for "Wonderful Town" and Gilbert and Sullivan Season. He was also nominated in the same category three other times: in 1959 for "Goldilocks," in 1960 for "Take Me Along" and in 1964 for "What Makes Sammy Run?" This made him the most nominated Conductor and Musical Director, a category that no longer exists.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 258-259. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1998.
On LP, in association with Goddard Lieberson , he conducted between 1949 and 1958 a series of musicals for Columbia Masterworks which had never been put to disc as albums before, among them Gershwins "Girl Crazy" and "Oh, Kay!", Rodgers and Harts "The Boys from Syracuse", "Babes in Arms", and especially "Pal Joey", which was done with the original orchestrations. It was the success of this recording that led to the successful 1952 Broadway revival of the show, which ran longer than the original production.
