Completed Projects

State Fair (1945)

In honor of the film’s 75th anniversary, I prepared a new edition of the score based upon the original handwritten full score manuscripts. These were used for the first time in October 2021 when the score was given its premiere stereo recording by the BBC Concert Orchestra led by conductor David Charles Abell (released on the Dutton Vocalion label in March 2024). Songs include the Oscar-winning “It Might as Well Be Spring,” “It’s a Grand Night for Singing,” “That’s for Me,” “Isn’t It Kinda Fun,” and “All I Owe Iowa.”

Orchestrators: Edward Powell; Maurice De Packh, Richard Hayman, Arthur Morton, Herb Taylor, Jack Virgil.

The 20th Century-Fox Songbook

In addition to the score from State Fair, I also restored a comprehensive collection of Fox’s finest original songs of the 1940s-50s from the studio’s surviving partiturs, and these too were recorded in October 2021. Songs featured are by the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Josef Myrow, Jule Styne, and Harry Warren, among others.

Orchestrators: Benny Carter, Maurice De Packh, Bernard Mayers, Arthur Morton, Edward Powell, David Raksin, Gene Rose, Conrad Salinger, Herbert Spencer.

Pollyanna (1960)

One of Walt Disney’s most acclaimed live-action films, Pollyanna introduced Hayley Mills in the title role (she won the Academy’s last juvenile Oscar for her performance) and also featured a stellar ensemble cast including Jane Wyman, Karl Malden, Adolph Menjou, Agnes Moorehead, and Nancy Olson. Paul Smith’s evocative score perfectly complements the screen action, but is also full of gorgeous moments and memorable themes that deserve to be heard and enjoyed on their own merits. The 20-minute concert suite I have constructed derives from the original film orchestrations preserved in the Disney archives.

Composer: Paul J. Smith; Orchestrator: Franklyn Marks

Secrets of Life (1956)

One of the Disney Studio’s most prolific composers of dramatic film music was Michigan native Paul J. Smith. Not only did he score dozens of cartoon shorts in addition to feature-length animated films, but he also worked extensively on Disney’s live-action output in the 1950s and early 1960s. I find his evocative music for Secrets of Life to be one of his finest achievements in the True-Life Adventures series of documentary films produced by Walt Disney—an opinion supported by the fact that Disneyland Records issued a “highlights” version of the score on LP (now available via iTunes). My suite from the film includes additional music not heard on the LP and derives from the original film orchestrations preserved in the Disney archives.

Composer: Paul J. Smith; Orchestrators: Franklyn Marks, Edward Plumb.

Walt Disney’s True-Life Adventures (1950-57)

As a companion to Paul J. Smith’s scores for Pollyanna and Secrets of Life, I have restored (and reconstructed, where necessary) portions of Smith’s scores for the True-Life Adventure films Beaver Valley (1950), Nature’s Half Acre (1951), and Perri (1957). The first two of these won Oscars for Best Short Subject, and Perri’s score was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Score (losing out to Sir Malcolm Arnold’s score for The Bridge on the River Kwai—not too shabby for a documentary-style feature about a squirrel!). Perri is based on the full score manuscripts in the Disney archives; the other two are reconstructed from the conductor score reductions, as the full scores no longer exist.

Composer: Paul J. Smith; Orchestrators: Carl Brandt, Franklyn Marks, Edward Plumb.

Something’s Gotta Give (Chandos CD 10838)

For Sir Simon Keenlyside’s Broadway/Hollywood recital album, I restored four songs: “The Girl Next Door” (M-G-M’s Athena), “It’s Magic” (Warner Bros.’ Romance on the High Seas), an alternate Conrad Salinger arrangement of “It Might as Well Be Spring” (Fox’s 1945 State Fair), and “Something’s Gotta Give” (Fox’s Daddy Long Legs).