Jewish composers who made it big in Hollywood: Elmer Bernstein

By Arlene Stolnitz

Elmer Bernstein? (Oh, you mean the one related to Leonard? No? Guess I’ve heard of him, but don’t know much about him ... something with Hollywood ... Yeah! … Just read he wrote film scores for movies and TV.)

In fact, the list of pictures Elmer Bernstein worked on numbered well over 200 and included a roll call of the classics in film. Names like “The Ten Commandments,” “The Age of Innocence,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “Ghostbusters,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Cape Fear,” “True Grit,” “Animal House,” “The Great Escape” and “My Left Foot,” just to name a few, which show his great musical versatility.

But we focus on Elmer Bernstein, the man, as we have in other columns in this series. Born in New York in 1922, his parents were Jewish Eastern European immigrants from Ukraine and the Austro-Hungarian empire. His father, Edward, was a teacher who emigrated to this country in 1915. Edward Bernstein settled in New York City where he married Selma, a dancer who immersed her son, Elmer, in the arts. As a dancer with Isadora Duncan, her infl uence on the young boy was enormous.

As a child, Bernstein’s activities were filled with creativity. He took dancing lessons, played the piano and won prizes for some of his paintings. At the age of 12, he started to focus on his piano playing skills. He won a scholarship, which led him to a teacher at Juilliard who recognized his talent. She eventually arranged for him to meet Aaron Copland who also saw his talent and arranged for him to study under Israel Citkowitz, a well-known composer and piano teacher of that time.

Later, Bernstein attended NYU, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. He was fortunate in being assigned to a Special Services unit where he was

able to use his musical talents. It was here that he received an assignment in arranging music for the ensemble of a young major, whose name became synonymous with the music of the 1940s, Glenn Miller. Bernstein was the arranger for the Glenn Miller Orchestra until Miller, tragically, was lost over the English Channel during the war.

This, subsequently, led to Bernstein’s being asked to arrange music for the Armed Forces Radio. He also had the opportunity to compose an original score for the Army Air Corps radio show. By the time he left the service, he had composed over 80 such scores. In 1949, he composed a score for the United Nations Radio Service. The music for the program, narrated by Henry Fonda, was about the UN’s role in the Israeli armistice.

An interesting note I found was that Elmer Bernstein was known as “Bernstein West, while Leonard Bernstein was known as “Bernstein East.” This was to distinguish him from Leonard Bernstein, the NY Philharmonic conductor, with the same last name.

Another interesting anecdote was that Elmer pronounced his name “Bern- STEEN” and Leonard preferred the Germanic pronunciation of “BernSTYNE.”

Bernstein called the music he wrote for “To Kill a Mockingbird” his most favorite written score. Its subtlety and nuanced style won a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination. He attributed the style and elegance to his early mentor, Aaron Copland. The music from the movie can be heard on YouTube.

Elmer Bernstein died on August 18, 2004 at the age of 82, still actively composing music for films.

Arlene Stolnitz, a retired educator, has been a regular contributor to Federation papers in Southwest Florida. Her interest in all kinds of Judaic music has led to this series of articles.