Friday, May 16, 2008

Who is Leo Forbstein?

Leo Forbstein, the man, the mystery.
Who is this guy? I always search for his name before every film. They used to show the credits before the movie. I always look for his name and without fail, there he is. I don't know anything about him other than he is a frequent friend singing along and accompanying with intuitive grace every scene and mood of the films of the Pre Code era. I adore his work ethic and economy. I love his dominance of the Pre Code era. He is credited in nearly every film. The Leo Forbstein orchestra is a tour de force. These players must have done nothing but record for these films all day and night! I would love if anyone knows anyone who played for Leo Forbstein or could tell me more about this incredible fixture of the precode film era.

If anyone can tell me Leo Forbstein stories, I would love to hear them!

Leo F. Forbstein (October 16, 1892 - February 12, 1948) was an Academy Award-winning film musical director and orchestra conductor who worked on more than 550 projects during a twenty-year period.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Forbstein was attracted to music as a child, learning the violin at the age of four. As a conductor at the Royal Theater in St. Joseph, he synchronized the orchestra with the action in silent films; he then became principal conductor at the Newman Theatre in Kansas City, where the organist was future Warner Bros. colleague Carl W. Stalling. In the mid-1920s, Forbstein relocated to Hollywood to head the symphony orchestra at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre. He soon signed with Warner Bros. as one of the directors of its Vitaphone Orchestra, alongside Erno Rapee (then Warners' general music director), Louis Silvers, and David Mendoza; Forbstein's first screen credit was The Squall in 1929. In 1931, Warners dismissed Rapee and Mendoza in a consolidation and economy move and Forbstein became the company's general music director.

In 1936, Forbstein and composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold were write-in candidates for the Oscar for Best Music, Score for their work on Captain Blood. The following year he was nominated officially for The Charge of the Light Brigade and Anthony Adverse, winning for the latter. He was nominated again for The Life of Emile Zola in 1938.

Forbstein was married to the former Bess Gallas from October 16, 1914 until his death from a heart attack in Los Angeles, California. They had one daughter, Harriet.

Notable film credits

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