A Man and his music: Born April 4, 1922 in NYC. While in his teens, his piano teacher realized he had a creative gift and later was introduced to the legendary Aaron Copland. Copland being impressed, sent him at the age of 13 to see a gifted pupil, Israel Sitkowitz. Bernstein later studied piano with Henrietta Michelson at the Juilliard School of Music. Later he studied composition with Stefan Wolpe and Roger Sessions. In 1943 he went into the army, where he was introduced to the art of scoring incidental music. Bernstein was assigned to writing orchestral arrangements of folk songs for Major Glenn Miller and theArmy Air Force Band. Later he scored a dramatic radio program for the Armed Forces Radio Service.

Welcome to Bill & Mark's           
Tribute to Elmer Bernstein
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Bernstein talking about westerns

This Site was last updated on: June 27, 2008

"Elmer Bernstein is a foremost example of a composer who goes beyond the mere functions of scoring and supplies music that is recognizably his.  His tuneful, rhythmic main theme for The Magnificent Seven has justifiably become one of the most popular pieces written for films.  It is Bernstein's good fortune to have been born with more than the ability to compose, but to have the gifts of melody and personal style."

-Tony Thomas  (1927-1997)

We welcome you to our website, a long-overdue appreciation of one man's half-century devoted to composing outstanding film music. Equally adept at scoring comedy, drama, westerns, war films, horror and epics, Elmer Bernstein has been entertaining filmgoers by enhancing films of quality and transforming mediocrity into palatable fluff.  When we think of his great achievements, his scores from The Ten Commandments, The Great Escape, Walk on the Wild Side, The Magnificent Seven, Hawaii and The Age of Innocence  may come to mind first.

But the Academy nominated him thirteen times (so far), and awarded him only once...for the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Understandably, this website is not concerned about awards as much as celebrating the great work this man has done.  Discovering the talent of Elmer Bernstein over five decades amongst
a nation of moviegoers is what we've enjoyed; admiring his contributions and sharing our memories, opinions and wish-lists of recordings of these scores is what we discuss here. For Bill, The Miracle (1959) first caught his interest. For Mark, the The Magnificent Seven (1960) turned the key. We went through the years, listening to and appreciating the sound of Bernstein.

When you go to the discussion board, let us know which Bernstein-scored film first caught your ear. And at the risk of being obvious, what are your Seven favorite Bernstein scores? They need not be available on CD as yet, but wishing  (and asking) may eventually make it so.

We would like to mention that despite Mr. Bernstein's many new recordings of vintage film scores by Rozsa, Steiner, Herrmann, Tiomkin and Waxman just to name a few, comparatively little has been newly recorded of his scores.  For Mr. Bernstein's noble efforts in restoring and re-recording great film music, the late author and film music enthusiast Tony Thomas noted:

"It might well be said that no other composer has done more to advance
the cause of good music in films."

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Magnificent Seven Theme
This web site is maintained by Bill Reynolds & Mark Larsen.
Special thanks to John Nudge for his encouragement and help
He composed music for more than eighty Armed Forces Radio programs which led to a 1949 dramatic scoring stint at NBC, which in turn opened Hollywood's heavy doors to a career in film composing. His first scores were mostly minor entries (Saturday's Hero '51; Sudden Fear'52; Boots Malone '52) with the 'highlight' being 1953's Robot Monster. But in 1955 things changed: an Oscar nomination for the Otto Preminger classic, The Man with the Golden Arm and The View from Pompey's Head which alerted Cecil B. DeMille to the versatility of Elmer Bernstein. Could he handle a major epic? A nearly four-hour spectacle? The answer came later when DeMille told Bernstein: "this music will surely survive me...and possibly even yourself".  The film was
The Ten Commandments and Bernstein would re-record it some 15 years later with success.
The years that followed included a varied menagerie of films that would bring out the creative genius of Elmer Bernstein, who showed a genuine flare for scoring westerns, six of them for John Wayne over a 15-year period. It is difficult to mention so-called 'highlights' of Mr. Bernstein's career, because some of his finest works were not only in the memorable class which would have to include: The Magnificent Seven, True Grit, The Great Escape, Hud, Birdman of Alcatraz, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hawaii, The Shootist, Stripes, Heavy Metal, Trading Places, My Left Foot and The Age of Innocence. Less popular films that took their superb Bernstein scores with them into near-oblivion: The Miracle, The Hallelujah Trail, A Girl Named Tamiko,
Kings Go Forth, The Scalphunters and A Walk in the Spring Rain.

In 1974 Mr. Bernstein launched the ELMER BERNSTEIN FILMMUSIC COLLECTION.  Membership was $10.00 which entitled you to the quarterly FILM MUSIC NOTEBOOK which ran about 48 pages and to buy new recordings of scores, some of them being recorded for the first time.  They were available on LP or Tape for $8.00.  Fourteen were released, two of them by Bernstein:   The Miracle and To Kill a Mockingbird.  The club came to an end in 1980.
The University of South Carolina's fight song original title Step To The Rear was taken from the Broadway play How Now, Dow Jones which Elmer wrote the music for in 1967.

Elmer Bernstein's son, Peter has scored some dozen features including Bolero, and a cable production: The Rough Riders for which his father contributed the main title theme. Daughter Emilie has produced and orchestrated her father's more recent efforts.
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"Elmer Bernstein is a great filmmusic artist-- and a rare human being of genuine sincerity and wit. I have never seen him say `No' to a fan's request for an autograph. And when he says `Hello', there's a warmth to his smile that surely is the
essence of his boundless creativity. His music has been a light in my life for a long time, an indelible mark on a once
impressionable young man, and now, as I'm older, his works temper my jaded romanticism. I treasure the perspective his
music gives my heart."

-Jack Smith
1922-2004