- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"simple", "value"=>"2 linear ft. (8 boxes)"}
- unitid
-
{"value"=>"JPB 00-47", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"20254", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Victor Young papers"}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"The New York Public Library, Music Division"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"The Victor Young Papers document the career of a composer and publicist whose career was centered in New York City."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Victor Young Papers, JPB 00-47, Music Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Young, Victor, 1889-1968", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Victor Young (1889-1968) represented by this collection is not to be confused with Victor Young (1900-1956), band leader of numerous recordings from the 1930s and Hollywood film compsoser, most notably of <span class=\"title\">Around the World in Eighty Days</span>.</p> <p>Albert Victor Young (he dropped his first name by the time he was twenty) was born in Bristol, Tennessee, on April 9, 1889. His initial musical education took place in Knoxville, TN. He attended the Cincinnati College of Music where he studied with Romeo Gorno, Carl Kohlmann, and Herman Bellstedt. Continuing his studies at New York University, his teachers included Frederick Schleider and composition teachers Adolf Schmid and Mortimer Wilson. Young also spent time in Paris, where he studied with Louis Victor Saar, Paul Le Flem (the latter of the Schola Cantorum of Paris), and piano with Isidor Philipp.</p> <p>Young made his debut as pianist with the Russian Symphony, and toured toured the United States, Canada and Europe. At various times in the outset of his career he was director of music at Miami Military Institute in Germantown, Ohio, assistant conductor of the South Musical Festivals at the University of Tennesse. He also taught at Sweetwater College in Sweetwater Tennesse and at Henderson-Brown College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.</p> <p>From 1919-1927, Young was a pianist and musical director for Thomas A. Edison. He functioned as a talent scout for Edison, making trips to Europe (Germany in particular) to seek out perfomers who could be potential Edison recording artists. He also made several solo piano recordings for the Edison company.</p> <p>It was during this period that Young came into contact with another Edison recording artist, soprano Helen Davis (later she was billed as a mezzo-soprano). Apparently from New York City, Davis performed recitals locally, and made appearances with the Kneisel Quartet. Young and Davis put together a program of eighteenth century works which they would perform in contemporaneous costume. Victor Young married Helen Davis during this period.</p> <p>Young is reputed to have written scores for many films at the outset of the sound period in motion pictures, including <span class=\"title\">In Old California</span> (1929). A still from one of his scrapbooks indicates that, for an opera sequence within a silent film directed by Fred Niblo, he played the role of Scarpia in Tosca (the title of this film has not been determined). He appeared in the film <span class=\"title\">Musical Justice</span>, along with Rudy Vallee and Mae Questal, where he plays a judicial bandleader (the script for this short is part of the collection).</p> <p>Much of Young's later career was spent being a song promoter for the publishing firms of Oliver Ditson, John Church, and Theodore Presser, operating out of an office in the Steinway Building near Carnegie Hall. He appeared to have done some composing on the side, and his songs were sung by leading opera singers of the day.</p> <p>Victor Young died in Ossining, New York, on September 2, 1968.</p>"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Victor Young Papers are organized in three series.</p> <p>Series 1 contains music, both printed and manuscript, and is organized by composer. Those works without any attribution are listed at the beginning of the container list, alphabetically by title. Works with multiple composers are listed according to the name first indicated on the music.</p> <p>Series 2 contains three scrapbooks. They provide documentation for particular eras of Young's life. The most thorough scrapbook is the first, containing clippings and programs from Young's time at the Miami Military Institute, as well as his tenure with the Edison Company. The second scrapbook is designed to be a publicity portfolio for the joint concerts of Young and Helen Davis. The third scrapbook covers Young's occupation as composer and promoter for music publishers.</p> <p>Series 3 contains mostly scripts for dramatic presentations. Some works, such as <span class=\"title\">Thank Your Lucky Stars</span> (existing in multiple versions) were intended for the stage, while others, such as Irving Reis's <span class=\"title\">The Half-Pint Flask</span> were intended as radio dramas. Still others were intended as proposals for either radio dramas or motion pictures. There is at least one film script, <span class=\"title\">Musical Justice</span>, which was made into a Paramount musical subject staring Rudy Vallee and Mae Questel (Victor Young played the role of the bandleader).</p> <p>The MAI numbers are for internal use by the Music Division and can be ignored</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Victor Young Papers were a gift from Young's estate.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>For permission to copy or publish please contact the Music Division.</p>"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"ca. 1918-ca. 1951", "type"=>"inclusive", "certainty"=>"approximate", "normal"=>"1918/1951"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1918
- date_inclusive_end
-
1951
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The papers concentrate on Young's compositions. There are also scripts for radio and motion pictures which Young wrote or participated in, as well as a small amount of biographical material (including photographs of Young and his wife, Helen Davis) in his scrapbooks.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Victor Young papers are arranged in three series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20254#c546114'>Series 1: Music</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Folders 1-14 contains works of unidentified authorship.</p> <p>Folders 9-16 are apparently for a single work.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20254#c546298'>Series 2: Scrapbooks</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mus/20254#c546302'>Series 3: Texts</a></div>\n</li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- keydate
-
1918
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed and machine-readable finding aid created by Robert Kosovsky.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1918
- date_end
-
1951