[78-L] Victor Young

[Jeff Sultanof]

And yet anyone who has ever written about him has said that he was a real
sweetheart. Henry Mancini saw Young and was afraid to approach him because
he idolized him so much. Young must have sensed this, as Victor approached
Mancini and introduced himself. I'm pretty sure this meeting took place at
Universal Pictures.
I also have a personal story about Young. My teacher/mentor Jerry Graff was
the musical director and singer with the group The Beachcombers, the lounge
act at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas during the fifties. They made a
recording with the Dorsey Bros. Orchestra called "You Could Make Me Smile
Again" and Young was in the recording studio. Victor had high praise for the
group and for Jerry's arrangement. Jerry always remembered the kindness and
spoke of it quite a few times.

Young was DeMille's first choice as composer for The Ten Commandments;
Victor wasn't feeling well and recommended Elmer Bernstein; we know what
happened after that. Bernstein always spoke of Young's generosity.

Victor could be tough, though. He handled Jolson beautifully during a radio
series (Shell Chateau?) and wouldn't take his nonsense. He also loved
practical jokes, which he would play on Max Steiner with great regularity
(they were part of a weekly poker game). Steiner wound up finishing Young's
last score.

Jeff Sultanof

On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 3:20 AM, Taylor Bowie <bowiebks at isomedia.com> wrote:

> Looks like a tough Russian boy,  which he was...but jeez he wrote beautiful
> melodies!
>
> Taylor
>
>
>