Elmer Bernstein in San Jose

Report by Daniel Robuck

Reader Dan Robuck sent in the following about Elmer Bernstein's recent appearance (last week) at the San Jose Film Festival. It was so engaging that we're running it as a FSD column.

Before Elmer, however, note that, by popular demand, we have loaded our John Beal article on scoring trailers from FSM #35 (July 1993). John is a prolific and talented guy who has provided original music for hundreds of movie trailers over the years. Although our article is four and a half years old, it remains relevant for those interested in this aspect of film music. -LK

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I was only able to attend one of the several San Jose Film Festival showings at which Elmer Bernstein appeared, that being the Closing Night showing of The Man with the Golden Arm. First, let me say that Mr. Bernstein is one of the most gracious, articulate, and humanitarian gentlemen I have ever met. He is a man with a warm heart who obviously loves people and his humility, as my friend said, shows us a man who has remained separate from the hardening experience of fame. Certainly The Spirit Award, the highest award given at the San Jose Film Festival and bestowed on Mr. Bernstein the last night, has the name that says everything about Elmer Bernstein, the man. He signed as many autographs as people wanted and showed only joy. He shared stories with people as though he has never known a stranger. He gave and he gave for four solid days--and we were the better for it.

Hopefully someone else who was able to hear Bernstein's talk with his friend David Raksin at San Jose State, or was able to attend Bernstein's other lectures at showings of The Grifters, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Magnificent Seven, will fill in the gaps here. I will give the humble information I heard that evening.

1. Bernstein's love from jazz came from his father who always had the record player turning Louis Armstrong, Bix Biderbecke or the Dorseys. Bringing the jazz sound to films for the first time will be Bernstein's legacy, and you can hear a little syncopation in every score. Bernstein has been so imitated that it is easy to take him for granted.

2. The Man with the Golden Arm score was written in 21 days. When Bernstein presented his jazz idea to Otto Preminger, Preminger's response was "Do it. Just do it." When asked how this jazz score differed from his other great jazz score, Walk on the Wild Side, Bernstein answered that Wild Side used Southern jazz, Dixieland, blues, and a healthy dose of gospel, none of which would have fit with the slums of Chicago's Polish community in Golden Arm.

3. Bernstein had been trained as a classical pianist, thus the heavy emphasis on piano solos or piano duets in his scoring.

4. His mentor (no surprise here): Bernard Herrmann.

5. Asked if he had ever met Nino Rota. He never did, but Bernstein had studied and always held highest regard for Rota's score to 8-1/2.

6. Asked about his ability to write a wide range of scores for genre films (western, religious, horror, romance, comedic, etc.), Bernstein said that the music always came out of the story, and if the script was tight, the music was in there. He believes music comes from plot, and that character themes are in the rhythms and speech patterns of the characters. In this respect he finds composing very easy as long as he doesn't force the piece.

7. A tiny moment was spent with regard to one of Bernstein's pet projects: The Film Music Preservation Society--no hard selling here, just a brief description and a plug for the yearly convention.

Thanks to Robert Emmet, host of the local college radio show "The Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show," for not only keeping the interview and Q&A session moving rapidly, allowing everyone to ask his or her questions, and for also giving beautiful verbal homage to one of the legendary greats of film scoring.

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This year's FMS conference (formerly the SPFM) is coming up this year in May in Los Angeles. We'll have more information soon in FSM--as well as, hopefully an additional report and photos on this Bernstein appearance.

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