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Finding Aid for the Herschel Burke Gilbert Collection of Motion
Picture and Television Music 1946-1969
268-M
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Description
The collection consists of manuscript scores
(holographs or copies) and open reel tapes of music composed by Herschel Gilbert
for television series and motion pictures, and includes some related materials
such as parts, cues, lyrics sheets, and sketches.
Background
Herschel Burke Gilbert was born in 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Following
early studies on the violin, he attended Milwaukee State Teachers College, then
the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied conducting with Albert Stoessel
and composition with Bernard Wagenaar and Vittorio Giannini. In 1942 he came to
Hollywood from New York to work as a violist and arranger for the Harry James
Orchestra, during which time he also studied with composer Ernst Toch. In the
mid-'40s he began orchestrating and arranging for Dmitri Tiomkin (It's a
Wonderful Life) and other studio composers, then going on to compose his own
music for a number of feature films in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. He was
nominated for three Academy Awards: "The Thief" (1952; score); "The Moon is
Blue" (1953; title song); and "Carmen Jones" (1954; score for a musical).
Additional film scores included "Mr. District Attorney" (1947), "The Jackie
Robinson Story" (1950), "The Bold and the Brave" (1956), "Slaughter on Tenth
Avenue" (1957), and many others. Around 1951 he started composing for
television, the medium for which he is perhaps best remembered. In 1958 he
joined Dick Powell's Four Star Television company later becoming the company's
Executive Music Director. Of particular note from this period is his title theme
and music for "The Rifleman" television series. Other series for which he
composed scores or themes included "Wanted: Dead or Alive", "Johnny Ringo",
"Burke's Law", "Gunsmoke", "Gilligan's Island", and "The Big Valley", among
others. He became music director for CBS Television Network in 1964 and retired
in 1966, forming Laurel Records, a label focusing on the music of contemporary
composers. In the course of his career, he served as President of the Film Music
Society, the Screen Composers Guild, and the American Society of Music Arrangers
and Composers (ASMAC), and also served with the LA chapters of the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences.
Extent
143 boxes