Fred Steiner
b: Feb. 24, 1923, New York, NY, USA
aka: Frederick Steiner. (He is NOT related to Max Steiner)
Currently no information on this composer.
Both Fred and his father, George Steiner,were active in composing and orchestrating in the Hollywood and TV studios. Fred is perhaps best known for his work in Television, and among the TV shows for which he contributed musicare:
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987. aka "Star Trek: TNG")
"Amazing Stories" (1985, -On the episode "Life on Death Row")
"Twilight Zone, The" (1985)
Blood Feud (1983)
Sea Gypsies, The (1978. aka: Shipwreck)
Night Terror (1977)
Heat Wave! (1974)
Family Flight (1972)
"Hec Ramsey" (1972)
Hec Ramsey (1972. aka: The Century Turns)
River of Gold (1970)
Wild Women (1970)
Carter's Army (1969. aka: Black Brigade)
Wake Me When the War Is Over (1969)
"Hawaii Five-O" (1968. aka: "McGarrett")
First to Fight (1967)
St. Valentine's Day Massacre, The (1967)
"Star Trek" (1966)
Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965.aka: Hercules Vs. the Sea Monster)
"Hogan's Heroes" (1965)
"Wild, Wild West, The" (1965)
Greatest Story Ever Told, The (1965)
Della (1964.aka: Fatal Confinement (1964)
"Daniel Boone" (1964)
"Richard Boone Show, The" (1963)
Alcatraz Express (1962)
"Bullwinkle Show, The" (1961)
"Twilight Zone, The" (1959 - incidental music for various episodes)
"Bonanza" (1959. aka in 1972: "Ponderosa")
"For Better or Worse" (1959)
"Rawhide" (1959)
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958 - uncredited.aka: The Name's Buchanan)
Time Limit (1957)
"Perry Mason" (1957)
"Have Gun Will Travel" (1957)
Man from Del Rio (1956)
Run for the Sun (1956 -as Frederick Steiner)
"Gunsmoke" (1955. aka in UK: "Gun Law")

   George Steiner
Active from the 1920s - 1960s
Currently no information available. (No relation to Max Steiner)
George was the father of another well known composer, Fred Steiner. While father George was mostly active in the Hollywood film studios, son Frederick was mostly active in the Hollywood TV Studios. Curiously, George rarely received film credit.Among George's film and TV credits are:
"Bullwinkle Show, The" (1961 TV Series)
Golden Age of Comedy, The (1957)
Make Mine Laughs (1949 uncredited)
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The (1938 uncredited)
Murder Goes to College (1937 uncredited)
Little Nobody (1936 uncredited)
Choose Your 'Weppins' (1935 uncredited)
Kids in the Shoe, The (1935 uncredited)
Little Dutch Mill (1934, - uncredited)
Rango (1931)
Up to Mars (1930 - uncredited)
Accordion Joe (1929)

   Max Steiner
b. May 10, 1888, Vienna, Austria, d. 1971, Hollywood, CA, USA.
né: Maximilian Raoul Steiner
Overview
Composer Max Steiner is recalled today mostly for his film scores. From the late 1920's, he scored hundreds of films. Much of his Theme music became famous. His best known music includes 1939's "Tara's Theme," from 'Gone with the Wind'; and 1939's "Theme from A Summer Place."

The musical backround of Max Steiner's family is impeccable. Both Steiner's father and grandfather were close friends of the famous Viennese 'Waltz King' composer, Johann Strauss. Both were active Operetta producers. Max's grandfather, also name Maximilian, was the director of Vienna's 'Theater-an-der Wien'.

Max was a child prodigy. He studied under such names as Fuchs, Graedner, and Arnold Rose, among others, at the 'Imperial Academy of Music' in Vienna. He completed the five year course of instruction in just one year, and received the Academy's Gold Medal.

In 1902, when he was just 14 years old, Vienna's Orpheum Theater presented his operetta, 'Beautiful Greek Girl'. The show ran for one year. When he was 16 years old, he went to London, England, where from 1904 through 1911, he led different theater orchestras, including the Hippodrome; Daly's; Adelphi; and the London Pavillion.In 1914, he was the conductor at Paris' Alhambra Theater.

In 1914, Steiner emigrated to the U.S., to become the conductor for Florenz Ziegfeld's productions. He became a naturalized citizen in 1920. Over the following years, he led many theater bands, toured, and became the chief orchestrator for Harms Music Company. At this leading music house in New York City, Max came into contact with some of America's best composers; Kern, Victor Herbert, Vincent Youmans, and George Gershwin, to name a few.

In 1929, Steiner traveled to Hollywood, where he was to spend thirty years scoring for hundreds of films. It was William Le Baron, of RKO, who first hired him as Musical Director for RKO studios.

Brief Listing of Some of Steiner's Film Scores:
Battle Cry
Casablanca
The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Corn is Green
Four Wives
The Garden of Allah
Gone with the Wind
Ice Palace
Johnny Belinda
Key Largo
The Letter
Life with Father
Marjorie Morningstar
Mildred Pierce
Parrish
Passage to Marseille
Saratoga Trunk
So Big
A Star Is Born
A Stolen Life
A Summer Place
Tomorrow Is Forever
The Treasure of Sierra Madre

He has received Academy Awards for the film scores to:
1935 The Informer
1943 Now Voyager, including his hit song, "It Can't Be Wrong", lyric Kim Gannon
1945 Since You Went Away

Some of his film theme songs became popular, for example:
1939 "Tara's Theme", from film 'Gone With the Wind'.
1959 "Theme From A Summer Place", and
1960 "The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs"

Over the course of his career, Steiner received many honors and awards, including:
1935 France made him an 'Officier de l'Academie Francaise'.
1936 The Belgian Government awarded him the 'Bronze Medal' at the Brussels Cinema Exhibition
1936 He was awarded the 'World Cinema Congress Medal', in Venice.
1947 His film, 'Life With Father' earned him the 'Golden Globe Award', from the Hollywood Foreign Correspondents.

   Sam H. Stept
b. Sept. 18, 1897, Odessa, Russia,d. Dec. 1, 1964, Hollywood, CA
Overview
This composer's family emigrated from Russia in 1900, and settled in Pittsburg, PA.Sam led a dance band in the early 1920's, but didn't start to compose until the late 1920's, and he kept writing through the 1950's.

Sam's earliest years were spent first as a song plugger in a Pittsburg music publishing house. Following which, he worked as accompanist for such vaudeville stars as Ann Chandler; Mae West, and Jack Norworth. He started his own band in Cleveland, OH., in the early 1920's.Stept began composing shortly after forming his band.

In the late 1920's and 1930's:
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Working with lyricist Bud Green, (ca. 1928) their songs included:
"That's My Weakness Now". This song became a big hit for Torch singer Helen Kane, and was also featured in Rouben Mamoulian's 1929 motion picture 'Applause'.
Other songs with lyricist Bud Green in late 1920's-early 30's were:
"For The Likes of You and Me"
"Liza Lee" (film 'Big Boy')
"The Wearing of the Green"
"The World is Yours and Mine", pix 'Mother's Boy'
"I've Got My Eye On You", ex: 1930 pix 'Showgirl in Hollywood'
"There's a Tear For Every Smile in Hollywood", ex pix 'Showgirl in Hollywood'
"Tomorrow is Another Day"
"When They Sang"
For the motion picture 'Syncopation', an RKO backstage musical:
"Do Something"
"I'll Always Be In Love With You"
Both songs had lyrics by Bud Green, with music help from Harry Ruby.

Other 1930 songs included:
1931 "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone,"
"Congratulation"
"I Beg Your Pardon"
"I'm Painting The Town Red"
"My FIrst Impression of You"
"Tiny Little Fingerprints"

In Hollywood, Stept worked with many different lyricists.His work with lyricist Sidney Mitchell included:
"All My Life", for film 'Johnny Doughboy'
"And Then", for film 'Twilight On The Prairie'
"How Am I Doing With You"
"Laughing Irish Eyes"
"Recollections of Love"

Working with lyricist Ned Washington, Stept wrote:
"Sweethearts", for film 'Hit Parade'
"The Answer Is Love", for film 'That's Right - You're Wrong'.

In the 1930's, Sam Stept also composed for Broadway Shows.
"Swing Little Thingie", lyric Bud Green, for show 'Shady Lady'.
"So I Married The Girl", lyric Herb Magidson, show 'George White's
Music Hall Varieties'.

In 1939, writing with lyricists Lew Brown and Charles Tobias.
for the Broadway show 'Yokel Boy', (Stept wrote mostof the songs):
"I Can't Afford To Dream"
"Comes Love"
"Let's Make Memories Tonight"

In the1940's:
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In 1942, for the motion picture 'Private Buckaroo',
"Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me)". (lyric by Brown and Tobias.) A big hit for the Andrews Sisters, and for the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

For the 1940's film 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home', he wrote:
"This Is Worth Fighting For", lyric Eddie DeLange.
"When They Ask About You", lyric DeLange.

During the late 1940's, he was less active, but did write:
"Yo Te Amo Mucho", For 1946 film 'Holiday In Mexico'.
"I Was Here When You Left Me"
"Next Time I Fall In Love"

In the 1950's:
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1950 for Broadway revue 'Michael Todd's Peep Show', he wrote:
"A Brand New Rainbow In The Sky", lyric Dan Shapiro.
"We've Got What It Takes", lyric by Dan Shapiro.

Other early '50's tunes included:
"Don't You Care A Little Bit About Me?"
"If You Should Leave Me"
"Star-Gazing"

In the late 1950's, Sam began concentrating on his music publishing business. But, in 1961, his tune "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" received a fresh new rendering by Frank Sinatra (on the second album released by Sinatra's own record company - Reprise Records.) Sam Stept died at age 67.

   William Grant Still
Tag: 'The Dean of African-American Composers"
b. 1895, Woodville, MI, USA
His father died when he was only a few months old, and his mother took him to Little Rock, Arkansas.As a young man, he began to study music. He matriculated at Wilberforce University, but music was his love, and he subsequently studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He would work mostly with the violin, 'cello and oboe.

This led him to playing in popular music orchestras and to orchestrating.Among the men with whom he found work are W. C. Handy, Willard Robison, Don Voorhees,Paul Whiteman, Sophie Tucker, and Artie Shaw. He alsoarranged and conducted the Deep River Hourradio show for several years

In Boston, while playing oboe in the Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle "Shuffle Along" show orchestra,George Chadwick awarded him a scholarship at the New England Conservatory.Later, he studied with Edgar Var�e (also under a scholarship)but rejected Varese's ultra modern concepts.

In New York duringthe late 1920s, he was befriended by composer/teacherHoward Hanson of Rocheste, NY, and began working as a serious composer. He soon became the recipient of several Fellowship awards and important commissions from the Columbia Broadcasting System, the New York World's Fair 1939-40, Paul Whiteman, the League of Composers, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Southern Conference Educational Fund, and the American Accordionists 'Association.

In the 1930s, he relocated to Los Angeles and continued to receive many local and national citations. In 1939, he marriedVerna Arvey, a concert pianist and journalist, who became hisprincipal collaborator and librettist.

In 1936, he directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra,at the HollywoodBowl, playing his compositions and thus became the first African-American to conduct a major Symphony orchestra. He was also the first African-American in the United States to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra In 1944, he was awarded the Jubilee prize of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for his "Festive Overture."

Still went on to pave a wonderful path for other African-American musicians with a string of 'Firsts'.In 1949,his "Troubled Island" was performedat New York City's City Center,thus becoming the first Aftrican-American to have an opera produced by a major company in the United States. In 1955,he directed the New Orleans Philharmonic at Southern University, making him the first African-American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the Deep South. He would go on to become the first of his race to conduct a "White" radio orchestra.

Over his career, he composedover 150 works including operas, ballets ,and symphonies (all exhibiting a distinct American flavo)r,that interested the greatest conductors of the day.