I have been trying for quite some time to identify a waltz played in various movies. The best place to hear it is in The Girl In the Red Velvet Swing. Close to the beginning of the movie, Mr. White and his wife are in a restaurant having dinner. He asks the band to play a song for her. They do. Then his nemesis, Mr. Thaw comes in and makes a ruckus. The band stops playing and when they resume, they play a beautiful waltz. That's the song. It is also heard in the dining room scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and when Dorothy and Lorelei come in to dinner. The band actually messes-up the song because they are too busy looking at the girls. Also, in the White Cliffs of Dover, during the Dieppe scene, Irene Dunn and her husband meet while he is on leave and they hear a band outside playing the same waltz. So, it is an old waltz, at least at old as WW I. Can anyone help to identify it?
Your biggest clue is that the orchestra leader in "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" announces the name of the waltz to his ensemble just before they start playing it:
"My Heart Still Clings To The Old First Love" -- music and lyrics by Paul Dresser
No, that is the song that the husbands requests for the wife. It's the next song after that after the other causes the ruckus at the front desk and breaks the maitre 'd's glasses. That really would have been too easy, but thanks for trying. I really do appreciate it.
Does sound vaguely familiar. If I had to make a shot in the dark, I'd say the composer could be Archibald Joyce, because it shows a similar line to some works of his I know, and the time period fits (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Joyce) But it IS just a guess.
Thanks for the clue. I tried all I could find by him but no luck. I will keep trying, though. BTW, I like Joyce's music very much. Thanks for introducing me to it.
try it at about 3:40 or so, right after Mr. Thaw breaks the other guy's glasses. Music will start at about 4:09.
This piece DOES sound familiar. (It plays through most of the table scene between Ray Milland and his wife.) I wonder if it's familiarity could be that it is occasionally featured in Fox films and might actually be by one of the Fox composers, Newman, Mockridge, Raksin, Harline, etc......
Your biggest clue is that the orchestra leader in "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" announces the name of the waltz to his ensemble just before they start playing it:
"My Heart Still Clings To The Old First Love" -- music and lyrics by Paul Dresser
For the record, it should be pointed out that Paul Dresser, the composer of the song Ron has noted, was one of the most successful songwriters in the US in the 19th century.
He was the brother (among a number) of famous novelist Theodore Dreiser ("Sister Carrie", "An American Tragedy"---filmed famously by George Stevens as "A Place in the Sun"), and Dresser (nee "Dreiser") had such an exciting and adventurous and dangerous life that a movie could be made of it---and, in fact, was---a highly-glossy 1942 20th Century-Fox Technicolor biography, MY GAL SAL, starring Victor Mature as Dresser (!!!) and a spectacular and youthful Rita Hayworth as the love interest.
try it at about 3:40 or so, right after Mr. Thaw breaks the other guy's glasses. Music will start at about 4:09.
This piece DOES sound familiar. (It plays through most of the table scene between Ray Milland and his wife.) I wonder if it's familiarity could be that it is occasionally featured in Fox films and might actually be by one of the Fox composers, Newman, Mockridge, Raksin, Harline, etc......
Yes, it does play in a lot of Fox productions but MGM did the White Cliffs of Dover and I have tried all of the Fox composers that I can think of and still nothing.
Nope, still not it. I can't figure out why you can't hear it, but if you find a way to view Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn Monroe and look for the scene were she and Jane Russell enter the diningroom onboard the ship they're on, the band plays it in that scene and it is very easy to hear. I can't find a video of it on Youtube, though.
I am very new to this type of music and maybe I am asking for the wrong thing. Very sorry to have irritated you. I really do appreciate your interest. Thanks for trying.
I am very new to this type of music and maybe I am asking for the wrong thing. Very sorry to have irritated you. I really do appreciate your interest. Thanks for trying.
You're not the one that irritated me. Good luck finding your music!!!
