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London-born piano child prodigy Adolph Deutsch trained at the Royal Academy of Music from the age of eight and composed his first piece, a waltz for piano, entitled "La Charmeuse", two years later. He moved to the U.S. in 1910 and got his first job working for a publishing house, during which time he took pains to attend musical recitals and rehearsals and fully immerse himself into the art of orchestration and composition. During the 1920's and early 30's, Deutsch free-lanced variously as arranger and musical director in New York and Chicago, turning out numerous top-flight arrangements for leading dance bands of the day. He spent five years as arranger/conductor with Paul Ash's semi-symphonic orchestra, which performed regularly at the Oriental and Paramount theatres. This was followed by a 39-week stint on The Kraft Music Hall radio show and a year with legendary bandleader Paul Whiteman's Musical Varieties network radio broadcast.

In 1937, Deutsch was signed to a personal contract by director Mervyn LeRoy for Warner Brothers. Six years later, he founded the Screen Composer's Association and eventually served ten years (1943-53) as its president and another two years as Professor Emeritus. During his tenure at Warners he composed often subtle music for many of the studio's moody, low key films noir and melodramas. They included The Maltese Falcon (1941), Lucky Jordan (1942), The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) and the haunting score for High Sierra (1941), reminiscent of Max Steiner, and complete with a rousing, up-beat finale. His regular orchestrators during this period were Jerome Moross and Arthur Lange.

Since Ray Heindorf handled the relatively few musicals made at Warners, Deutsch did not have a lot to do with the genre until he joined MGM in 1948, as a replacement for the ailing Herbert Stothart. Handed an eight-year contract, Deutsch first assisted on the musical Luxury Liner (1948) and then received several prestige assignments, beginning with the Technicolor re-make of Little Women (1949). He was subsequently promoted to musical director for MGM's lavish musicals Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Show Boat (1951) and The Belle of New York (1952). He won three Oscars for Best Score, the first for "Annie Get Your Gun", the other two for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Oklahoma! (1955).

In addition to his studio work, Deutsch composed a symphonic work, "The Scottish Suite" (1936) and a "Prelude and Salute to Oscar" for the 18th Academy Award Presentation in 1946. His instrumental compositions include the numbers 'Clarabelle', 'Three Sisters', 'Skyride', 'Margo', 'Stairway' and 'Lonely Room' (the main theme from The Apartment). From 1946 to 1947, Deutsch also served as musical director on Hedda Hopper's weekly national radio broadcast of "This Is Hollywood".

Pardon My English (1933). Musical comedy. Music by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0006097/?ref_=nmwrk">George Gershwin</a>. Book by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0276252/?ref_=nmwrk">Herbert Fields</a>. Lyrics by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0314857/?ref_=nmwrk">Ira Gershwin</a>. Musical Director: Earl Busby. Music orchestrated by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0072021/?ref_=nmwrk">Robert Russell Bennett</a>, William Daly and <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0006037/?ref_=nmwrk">Adolph Deutsch</a>. Scenic Design by John Wenger. Costume Design by Robert Ten Eyck. Production staged by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0293148/?ref_=nmwrk">Vinton Freedley</a>. Musical numbers staged by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0354911/?ref_=nmwrk">George Hale</a>. Book directed by John McGowan. Majestic Theatre: 20 Jan 1933- 25 Feb 1933 (43 performances). Cast: Albert Amato, Eugene Ashley, Alex Atzenbeck, Peggy Bancroft, Jack Barrett, Rosil Benda, Tony Blair, Gene Brady, Lauretta Bruns, Thomas Burke, Clare Carter, Jack Carver, Marie Clyde, Don Cortez, John Cortez, Gordon Cross, Norman Curtis, Maxine Darrell, Jack Davis, Vance Elliott, Eva Farrell, Mildred Fenton, Dorothea Frank, Mack Gassl, Joe Gerhei, <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0321473/?ref_=nmwrk">George Givot</a> (as &quot;Michael Bramleigh&quot;), Irving Green, Harry Griffin, Cliff Hall, Betty Hamilton, Helen Hannan, Kal Hansen, Marion Harcke, Raymond Hitchkock, Meredith Howard, Virginia Howard, Josephine Huston, Joe Kaye, Irene Kelly, Hans Kiendl, Irene Kimmel, Meta Korbett, Tom Lannon, William Lilling, Ruth Marshal, Elsie Neal, Edith Nelson, Marion Nevins, Barbara Newberry, Marion Newberry, Jacqueline Paige, Myrtle Patterson, Jack Pearl, John Perkins, Gloria Pierre, Carl Randall, <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0730739/?ref_=nmwrk">Lyda Roberti</a> (as &quot;Gita&quot;), Wilma Roeloff, Kenneth Rogers, Eddie Ryan, Max Seidl, Billie Seward, Eleanor Shaler, Harry T. Shannon, George Shields, Barbara Smith, Gerald Oliver Smith, Robert Spencer, Harold Sternberg, Cynthia Thompson, Jimmy Thompson, <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0863199/?ref_=nmwrk">Beau Tilden</a> (as &quot;Gentleman of the Ensemble&quot;), Ruth Urban, Efin Vitis, Joe Wagner. Produced by <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm1290781/?ref_=nmwrk">Alex Aarons</a> and Vinton Freedley.

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Adolph Deutsch

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