Music Of The “Mauve Decade”, Might Easily Become Popular Again

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 37, 13 April 1948, Page 5

Music Of The “Mauve Decade”, Might Easily Become Popular Again

Music of the “mauve decade” fea- i tured in the screen version of “Life With Father” might well be revived and made popular today, in the opinion of Max Steiner, diminutive Viennese composer. Steiner, who has conducted the . orchestra for many outstanding pic- . tures, believes that singers 'Such as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and the orchestras of Tommy Dorsey, Fred Waring and others*, could easi-* ly popularise such forgotten classics as “Sweet Marie,” “Love’s Old Sweet Song,” and “Sweet , Genevieve.” Before composing this score, Steiner made a special trip to New York where he saw the play three times and conferred with authors Lildsay and Crouse. “It was a ticklish business trying >. to catch the mood of the 80’s,” he said. “We had to remember in orchestrating that there were no saxophones or vita- .!< phones used in the orchestras of the day.”

Probably no layman who sees the v film will notice Steiner’s inventive genius when father’s antique music box plays “Sweet Marie.” Actually it does not play at ali. The composer orchstrated the special arrangement for seven musicians who play the number and made it sound exactly like the old music box.