Making Music in Selznick's Hollywood

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).

• ContentsForeword by Daniel GoldmarkAbout the Companion WebsiteIntroductionPart I: Selznick in the Studio System1. In the Selznick Family Tradition2. "Drama Rising Like Might Music": Selznick and Steiner at RKO3. Variations on a Theme: Selznick and Stothart at MGMPart II: Musically Independent4. The Start of Selznick International Pictures5. Music Director Differences: Artful Arbitration through Selznick International's Busiest YearsPart III: Music for Hollywood's Prestige Producer6. Gone with the Wind, Part I: Producing the Score7. Gone with the Wind, Part II: The Music of "Max Steiner and Co."8. "I know just what she's going through": Rebecca's Music for Interiors9. "Together" for the Last Time in Since You Went Away10. Success in Spite of Itself: The Trouble with SpellboundPart IV: Postwar Experiments11. From the Ranch to the Drawing Room: Duel in the Sun and The Paradine Case12. "Our Valedictory to Wild Extravagance": The Curious Portrait of Jennie13. Selznick Beyond Hollywood14. ConclusionAcknowledgementsSelect Bibliography

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.