Harry Bluestone (30 September 1907 – 22 December 1992) was an English-American composer and violinist who composed music for TV and film. He was prolific and worked mainly on composing with

Emil Cadkin Emil Milton Cadkin (August 26, 1920 – December 16, 2020) was an American TV and film composer who worked mainly as a production music composer. He worked with William Loose (1910–1991) and Harry Bluestone (1907–1992). Some of his music w ...

. Earlier on, he was a violinist and freelanced on radio in the 1930s with

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

and the

Dorsey Brothers The Dorsey Brothers were an American studio dance band, led by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. They started recording in 1928 for OKeh Records. History The Dorsey Brothers recorded songs for the dime store labels (Banner, Cameo, Domino, Jewel, Oriole ...

. Some of his compositions were also featured on

APM Music Associated Production Music, LLC (commonly known as APM Music) is an American production music company headquartered in Hollywood, California, a joint venture between Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group. APM Music's cata ...

Early life

Harry was born in England on 30 September 1907 and apparently went to New York as a boy. He took up the violin at a young age, and the liner notes on his ''Artistry in Jazz'' album reveal "he performed the Bruch G-Minor Violin Concerto to critical acclaim when only 7 years old." As a teenager, he travelled to Paris with a small jazz group to back up expatriate singer

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

. Harry graduated from the Institute of Musical Art (later renamed

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

), and freelanced on numerous radio programmes in the 1930s with the

and

. He played with

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

Bunny Berigan Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era. His career and influence were shortened by alcoholism, and ended with his early demise at the ...

and

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 ...

(who had in his employ a future cartoon sound genius named

Treg Brown Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown (November 4, 1899 – April 28, 1984) was an American motion picture sound editor who was responsible for conceiving, recording and selecting the sound effects library in Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Mer ...

Career

Harry moved to Hollywood in 1935 with the

Lennie Hayton Leonard George Hayton (February 14, 1908 – April 24, 1971) was an American musician, composer, conductor and arranger. Hayton's trademark was a captain's hat, which he always wore at a rakish angle. Early life Hayton was born in New York C ...

Orchestra, which had been known as the Ipana Troubadors on Fred Allen's Show in New York, when it became the first orchestra on Your Hit Parade (eventually replaced in 1939 by the

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist and record producer. Known best in his time as a composer of production music, Scott is today regarded as an early ...

). Bluestone had his own 15-minute radio show, recorded for

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...

and was hired by

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...

as its concertmaster. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1942, rose to the rank of Master Sergeant and organised both the Army Air Force Orchestra and the Army Air Force Training Command Orchestra that replaced

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

, who went overseas to his eventual death. After the war, Bluestone set up his own orchestra which backed

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

and

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...

. He also got a first taste of the music library business as production manager for Standard Transcriptions. Among his discoveries while recording in France (to get around Jimmy Petrillo's union) was singer

Robert Clary Robert Clary (born Robert Max Widerman; March 1, 1926 – November 16, 2022) was a French actor who was mainly active in the United States. He is best known for his role as Corporal Louis LeBeau on the television sitcom ''Hogan's Heroes'' (196 ...

, who later co-starred on ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom created by Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy which is set in a Prisoner-of-war camp, prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, and centers around a group of Allied prisoner ...

.'' Bluestone spent the rest of his life setting up various music publishing houses, writing and getting out his baton or violin, as a heavily in-demand "first chair," to work on hundreds of albums by a wide variety of artists, including the

Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

, and

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

. He also wrote books in the 1980s on playing violin, guitar and trumpet. Bluestone lived with his wife "Le Bluestone". He died of complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

in 1992.

Filmography

Television

2008: * Juro que te amo 2005: *

Camp Lazlo ''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey who goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout–like summer camp in the Pim ...

1999: *

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

1956: *

Judge Roy Bean Phantly Roy Bean Jr. (c. 1825 – March 16, 1903) was an American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas, who called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos". According to legend, he held court in his saloon along ...

TV movies

2004: * 30 Days Until I'm Famous 2003: *

Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" ''Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"'' is an American adult animated comedy television series created by John Kricfalusi and produced by Spümcø for TNN / Spike TV. The series was developed as a more extreme revamp and spin-off of Nickelodeon ...

(Mini-Series) 1991: * Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady

Movies

2010: * The Back up Plan 2009: * Autopsy of the Dead 2007: * Blades of Glory 2004: * Jiminy Glick in Lalawood 2003: * In America 2002: * Frida 1968: *

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American Independent film, independent zombie horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, written by Romero and John A. Russo, John Russo, produced by Russell Streiner and Karl Har ...

1965: * Mara of the Wilderness 1959: *

The Killer Shrews ''The Killer Shrews'' is a 1959 American independent science fiction horror film directed by Ray Kellogg, and produced by Ken Curtis and Gordon McLendon. The story follows a group of researchers who are trapped in their remote island compound o ...

1958: * The Invisible Avenger * Space Master X-7 1957: * Journey to Freedom

Shorts

2007: * Te quiero ver muerta 1958: * Gopher Broke * Hook, Line and Stinker

Video games

2010: * Fallout: New Vegas

Discography

With Vito Mumolo

* ''Artistry in Jazz'' (Dobre Records DR1011, 1978)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bluestone, Harry 1907 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American violinists American male composers American male violinists Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California English emigrants to the United States Juilliard School alumni