Iconic images from fiery scenes of catharsis in Gone With the Wind and Rebecca to The Third Man's decadent cinematography have proven inseparable from their accompanying melodies. From the 1910s-50s, producer David O. Selznick depended upon music to distinguish his films from his competitors'. By demonstrating music's value in film and encouraging its distribution through sheet music, concerts, radio broadcasts, and soundtrack albums, Selznick changed audiences' relationship to movie music. But what role did Selznick play in the actual music composition that distinguished his productions, and how was that music made? As the first of its kind to consider film music from the perspective of a producer, this book tells the story of the evolution of Selznick's style through the many artists whose work defined Hollywood sound. Utilizing thousands of archival documents, chapters in this book unearth and analyze Selznick's efforts in the late silent-era, his work at three major Hollywood studios, and his accomplishments as an independent producer, including music-making for King Kong, A Star is Born, Prisoner of Zenda, Duel in the Sun, among many others.

About the Author
Nathan Platte teaches music history at the University of Iowa. He is co-author of Franz Waxman's Rebecca: A Film Score Guide (Scarecrow Press, 2012) and co-editor of The Routledge Film Music Sourcebook (Routledge, 2011).

Reviews
In this meticulous study, which entailed archival research, Platte (music history, Univ. of Iowa) introduces readers to the overlooked others who were responsible for creating Selznick's scores, for example, music editor Audray Granville, who worked on Spellbound. Emphasis is on films that were produced by Selznick himself; therefore, for example, I'll Be Seeing You (1944)produced by Selznick International, is not included. The first in-depth, book-length study to explore Selznick's own role in film scoring, this volume offers early history on Selznick's musical experiments while at Paramount in the 1920s, music examples, transcriptions of Selznick's memos to rewrite music, film stills, premiere programs, and pictures of family members and those who, like Granville, worked behind the scenes. * Choice *
Platte has provided an attractively-written and compelling book that offers not only an endlessly fascinating musical portrait of Selznick himself but also a window on the practices of studio-era music-making. It will, I am sure, be a staple of bibliographies of film-music history for many years to come. * Music, Sound, and the Moving Image *
Engagingly written and with a companion website that offers exemplary film clips, Making Music in Selznick's Hollywood expands the scholarly literature on film musicology, which has tended to focus primarily on composers, to consider the important contributions of others in the studio music department. As such, Platte challenges our understanding of how music was conceived for films and encourages us toward a deeper understanding of the scoring process, making this book a significant addition to any film music collection. * Journal of the Society for American Music *



Book Information
ISBN 9780199371112
Author Nathan Platte
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 724g
Dimensions(mm) 239mm * 164mm * 29mm