Victor Young
b. Aug. 8, 1900, Chicago, IL, d. Nov. 10, 1956, Desert Hot Springs, CA, USA.
Overview
From the early 1930's until his demise in I956, violinist; composer; arranger; and bandleader Victor Young was an important part of the music scene. In the late 1920's, Young turned from a concert music career to popular music and composing. In the 1930's, his band was popular and very well recorded: In the Mid-1930's, Young moved to the West Coast where he composed music, and arranged, for Hollywood studios. In the 1940's, his band, still active, usually backed vocalists on their recordings.

Victor's father, William Young, was a tenor with the Chicago Opera Co. After Victor's mother died, William Young abandoned his two children, and the two of them, Victor and his sister Helen, left Chicago and went to Poland to be raised by their elderly grandparents; they traveled from Chicago to Warsaw alone. (Victor was just 10 years old). William Young re-married and had another family. He died in 1932 from Cancer, and is buried in a Brooklyn, NY cemetary.

Victor's grandfather, a tailor, had sufficient savings to start Victor at the Warsaw Conservatory, where Victor studied violin under Isador Lotto, receiving the 'Diploma of Merit.' After more study with private tutors, he debuted with the Warsaw Philharmonic, following which he toured Europe with different concert orchestras. His first public appearance with the Warsaw Philharmonic went so well that a wealthy music lover gave him a 1730 Guarnerius, the instrument which Victor Young continued to play as an adult in America.

The man who presented him with the violin was a banker, Josef Goldfeder. Victor kept the violin on display on an entry hall table in his Beverly Hills home. The day after Victor Young died, the violin, which had been left to a very close relative, Henry Hill, a professional musician (violinist) mysteriously disappeared. (A close family friend had walked out of the house with it.)

Victor and his sister Helen attended the Warsaw Conservatory of Music at the same time. Helen went on to become a fine pianist. She was his accompanist when he concertized all over Europe and the United States. Helen went on to marry violinist Henry Hill, whom she and Victor had met in Europe.

In 1914, at the outbreak of WW1, he returned to Chicago where he had his American debut. There followed a succession of jobs, and during the early part of the 1920's, he toured as a concert violinist. He worked in Los Angeles as a concert-master in a motion picture theater orchestra. He then did the same in Chicago's Central Park Theater. But around this time, he had decided to leave the classics and make his career in popular song.

Later in the 1920's, he worked with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra as violinst and arranger. Still in Chicago, Young was the orchestra leader at the famed Chicago Theater and at the State and Lake Theater and also had the dance orchestra at the Edgewater Beach Hotel. His radio career also started in Chicago in the late 1920's, but in 1931 he moved to New York City where he continued working in the radio studios.

His songwriting career started in 1928 when he wrote:
1928 "Sweet Sue", lyric by Will Harris
1929 "Can't You Understand?", lyric by Jack Osterman

During the 1930's, Young did a great deal of radio work, conducting for many stars including Smith Bellew, Al Jolson, and Don Ameche. In 1935, he returned to Los Angeles and formed his own orchestra; a successful venture. The orchestra was heard on radio stations, as well as at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater. Young then became associated Paramount Pictures Studios, as chief composer and arranger. and began his major career in the motion picture industry.

His earliest, and most important, lyricist collaborator in Hollywood was Ned Washington, with whom he wrote such songs as:
       1933 "Sweet Madness", from film 'Murder at the Vanities', a George White 'Vanities' film.
       1933 "A Ghost of a Chance".
       1933 "A Hundred Years From Today", from show "Blackbirds of 1933/34" Other VIctor Young songs with Washington lyrics are:
       "Can't We Talk It Over"
       "Stella By Starlight"
       "My Foolish Heart" 1935 With musical collaboration from Joe Young, for film 'Straight is the Way' he wrote:
       "A Hundred Years From Today", lyric Ned Washington.

From that humble start, Victor went on to score over 300 motion pictures, among which are:
       1937 Wells Fargo
       Swing High, Swing Low
       1938 Breaking The Ice
1939
       Golden Boy
       Man of Conquest
       1940 Arizona
1941
       I Wanted Wings
       Hold Back the Dawn
1942
       Flying Tigers
       Silver Queen
       The Glass Key
       1943 For Whom The Bell Tolls
       1944 The Uninvited
       1949 Sampson and Delilah
       1950 Rio Grande
       
1952
       Scaramouche
       The Greatest Show On Earth
       1953 Shane
       1954 Three Coins In The Fountain
Some others were:
       'Golding Earrings, starring Marlene Dietrich'
       'The Big Clock'
       'Love Letters'
       'The Greatest Show on Earth'
And, of course, I can't resist mentioning that he also composed the song "Lord You Made The Night Too Long", to which Milton Berle later added a new lyric to this song re-named "Sam You Made The Pants Too Long", a hit for Louis Prima and Barbra Streisand.

Among the hit songs he wrote for various films are (All below to lyrics by Ned Washington):
For film 'All Women Have Secrets'
       "I Live Again Because I'm In Love Again"
for film 'I Wanted Wings'
       "Born to Love"
1946 for film 'The Uninvited',
       "Stella by Starlight"
1950 For film, 'My Foolish Heart'
       "My Foolish Heart"
for film, 'Lucky Stiff'
       "Loveliness"
for film 'The Wild Blue Yonder'
       "The Heavy Bomber Song"
For film, 'The Greatest Show on Earth'
       "The Greatest Show on Earth", lyric New Washington.
       "Be a Jumping Jack", lyric New Washington.

1952 "When I Fall In Love"

And, among the songs he wrote to lyrics by still others:
       "Beautiful Love", lyric Egbert Van Alstyne.
       "Street Of Dreams", lyric Sam M. Lewis.
       "When I Fall In Love", lyric Edward Heyman.
       "Love Letters", Lyric Edward Heyman.
       "Written In The Wind", Lyric Sammy Cahn
For Film, 'Northwest Mounted Police', the song,
       "Does the Moon Shine Through the Tall Trees?", the Lyric was by Frank Loesser.
For film, 'The Searching Wind', the title song,
       "The Searching Wind", lyric by Edward Heyman
For film, 'The Fabulous Senorita',
       "You've Changed", lyric by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
For film, 'Samson and Delilah', the title song,
       "Samson and Delilah"
For film, Golden Earring's', the title song,
       "Golden Earring's", Young collaborated on this tune with the song-writing team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
1956 For film, 'Around the World in Eighty Days', the title song, "Around the World in Eighty Days", lyric Ned Washington. This was the last picture released with Victor's name in the credits.

All told, Young had been nominated for an Academy Award 22 times, and won just this one time, posthumously. His award for this film was accepted by Elizabeth Taylor.

Victor Young suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on November 9th, at his home in Desert Hot Springs, CA, and died November 10th, 1956. He was just 56 years old. Ferde Grofe was called upon to complete the score on which Victor had been working, a musical comedy based on the life of Mark Twain.

After his death, Young's wife presented all Victor's personal possessions and musicial scores to Brandeis University, in Waltham, MA. Some years later, Brandeis gave half of the collection to the Boston Public Library. The rest of the collection, including his Oscar, is still in boxes in the basement of the University.
Much of the information on Victor Young was kindly supplied by his niece, Ms. Bobbie Fromberg.