Emil Newman

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Emil Newman was an American musical director and conductor who worked on more than two hundred films and television series. He was born in 1911 in Connecticut and entered films in 1940 as musical director of thirteen films. In 1941 he was credited on twenty-five titles, in 1942 on twenty-eight, and in 1943 on fifteen. His first contribution as a composer, uncredited, was Whispering Ghosts in 1942. He was nominated for an Oscar for his musical direction of Sun Valley Serenade from 1941.

Music and breakthrough

Newman belonged to a well-known film family. His older brother was the composer Alfred Newman, whose children Maria, David and Thomas are also composers. His younger brother Lionel Newman was likewise a well-known film composer, and his grandson Joey Newman writes film and television music. As a result the Newman family is the most nominated extended family in the history of the Oscars. Emil himself married the supporting actress Eva May Hoffman and had two children. He died in 1984 in Woodland Hills and is buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Albums of his work include Sands of Iwo Jima and Island in the Sky.

Influence

His work shows how in the era of the great studios the conducting and directing of film music was a craft that was rarely in the foreground. It is the work of someone who brings the music together, so that composers, arrangers and orchestra can carry a film together.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2012Sands of Iwo Jima / Island in the Sky (soundtrack)
• 2014Seven Wonders of the World (soundtrack)

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• The Dream Factory: Film Reel 7^NL Reader