Arthur Morton

Arthur Morton was an American music composer and orchestrator for film and television productions. Arthur Morton, aka Arthur Goldberg, was born on 8th August 1908 in Duluth at the southern end of Lake Superior, 150 miles from Minneapolis. He was educated at West High School , 2808 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis. The school closed in 1982.

He continued his education at the University of Minnesota, on the east bank of the Mississippi River, where he also played in jazz bands. He graduated in 1929 and after a year studying law and undertaking further graduate work in philosophy he moved to Los Angeles. Surprisingly, there is no mention of him receiving an advanced musical education. In 1935 he married Emmy Lou Hellman, the daughter of screenwriter Sam Hellman and the sister of Verna Fields, the Academy Award winning film editor of “Jaws”.

His 65-year career in Hollywood began in the music departments of the Hal Roach Studios - of Laurel and Hardy fame - and at Columbia Pictures, composing and orchestrating uncredited stock music. His first credited film score was for Night Life of the Gods (1935). While at Columbia he began collaborating with George Duning, aka George Dunning, composing additional music for films such as the 1949 film Lust for Gold and eventually becoming Duning’s orchestrator. During the period, he composed and orchestrated music for over fifty films including: From Here To Eternity (1953), The Man From Laramie (1955), Kismet (1955), and the cult film Oceans Eleven (1960) staring The Rat Pack.

In 1955, he orchestrated perhaps the most famous of George Duning’s scores for the film Picnic, which included the hit song Theme from Picnic, which in the film, was blended with the 1930’s standard Moonglow. The score was nominated in 1956 for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

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