Episode 2 begins where Episode 1 finished. Max Steiner is called the father of film music. He was a child prodigy and conducted his first operetta at the age of twelve. In the early part of the twentieth century he moved from his native Vienna to London to conduct musicals and operas. In December 1914 Steiner arrived in New York and became a successful musical director of Broadway musicals. This led him to RKO Pictures and eventually composing the music for King Kong in 1933. He started putting music behind the dialogue and different themes for each main character. This changed everything in the production of movies.
Born in Austria in 1897, Erich Wolfgang Korngold went from child prodigy to one of the great Hollywood composers. After an early classical career, he moved to the USA in 1934 with the encouragement of director Max Reinhardt. Korngold composed the music for the director's Midsummer Night's Dream and many more films where his music was so important to the result.
Herbert Stothart was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1885. he studied music in England and went on the to become musical director for shows on Broadway. In 1929 he was signed by MGM and composed the music for numerous big MGM movies. He won an Oscra in 1939 for his score for The Wizard of Oz after being nominated for Mutiny on the Bounty.
Steiner, Korngold and Stothart led the way for composers where their music would play an ever increasing role in supporting dialogue and action.
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