Like father, like son — and in the case of the Newman family, like brother, sister, daughter, nephew, uncle and cousin. In Hollywood, the name “Newman” is synonymous with music in film, with generations of Oscar-winning success that goes all the way back to the very first “talkies.”
The Malibu Film Society will be honoring Alfred Newman this Friday, when son David will accept the Malibu Filmmaker Award on behalf of his family. The ceremony will include a brief presentation followed by a special 60th anniversary screening of one of Alfred’s favorite films, “The King and I.”
In a phone interview, David Newman explained why he was impressed by his father’s work.
“It’s really subtle and nuanced, what he and others did starting around 1930 — they invented an art form (film music). Now that I’m 62 and have been a violinist, pianist, conductor and film composer myself, I have a better understanding of his remarkable achievement,” the younger Newman said.
Born in 1901, Alfred Newman was a piano prodigy who was just 13 when he became a professional performer to help support his family. By age 19, he was conducting on Broadway for composers who included George Gershwin, Richard Rogers and Jerome Kern.
Ten years later, Newman headed for Hollywood. Starting off at United Artists, he worked with such legendary greats as Irving Berlin, Eddie Cantor, Samuel Goldwyn and Charlie Chaplin. After he was hired as music director at 20th Century Fox, Newman composed the fanfare, which continues to be played at the start of every Fox film.
Newman composed, arranged and conducted music for over 200 pictures, earning 44 Oscar nominations and nine Academy Awards (including “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” “The King and I” and “Camelot”). Newman is the third most-nominated individual in the history of the Oscars and is often referred to as one of the fathers of film music.
While at Fox, Alfred Newman hired two of his younger brothers: Emil (who worked on 178 films, famously missing a scoring session after his Malibu house burned down) and Lionel (who earned 323 film credits, 11 Academy Award nominations and an Oscar for “Hello Dolly”).
Three of Alfred’s children — all of whom live in Malibu — followed their father into film composition. The oldest, David, is a well-known conductor and composer. Since 1984, he’s scored over 100 films, receiving an Oscar nomination for “Anastasia.” David frequently conducts major orchestras around the world, including the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.
Like his older brother, Thomas Newman also started scoring films in 1984. He now has 13 Oscar nominations for films like “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Finding Nemo” and “Skyfall.”
Their youngest sibling, Maria Newman, has received dozens of commissions to compose works for prestigious organizations like the Mary Pickford Institute, the Annenberg Foundation and Turner Classic Movies. Maria and her husband, conductor Scott Hosfeld, are 2008 recipients of the Malibu Dolphin Award for their monthly Malibu Friends of Music concerts and the annual Malibu Coast Music Festival.
The family also includes Alfred’s nephew, singer/songwriter Randy Newman. Starting off as a recording artist (with hit songs like “Short People” and “I Love L.A.”), Randy has since gone on to win two Oscars (for “Monsters, Inc.” and “Toy Story 3”).
“It’s not a lesser kind of music. It seems so simple on the surface, but there’s so much going on beneath the surface, which is hard to understand unless you happen to be a musician with a certain kind of experience,” David Newman said. “His music is profoundly artistic and composerly. He created the ‘Hollywood string sound’ that’s so hyperbolic — where music ebbs and flows like a wave coming in and receding.”
“One of the most amazing things is what I’ve termed hyper-rubato, stolen time, which in music means speed up and slow down to be expressive,” Newman explained. “Like an opera without singers. His orchestra got to that place.”
David also described how his father developed the “Newman system,” placing “streamers, flutters and punches” on a special print of the film for the conductor’s reference that helps match the music to the right passage in the film. “Now it’s done with a computer, but it’s the same idea,” he said.
The event is Friday, Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m. at the Malibu Screening Room at MJCS, 24855 PCH. For tickets and additional information, go to MalibuFilmSociety.org.
