Finding Aid for the Alex North Motion Picture Music PASC-M.0017
Finding aid prepared by UCLA Library Special Collections staff.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 2022.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
This record is made available under an Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license.
Note
Arts and Humanities--Music
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Alex North motion picture music
Creator:
North, Alex
Identifier/Call Number: PASC-M.0017
Physical Description:
33.2 Linear Feet
(83 flat boxes.)
Date (inclusive): 1951-1991
Abstract: The collection contains scores for forty-six feature films, as well as two television documentaries, a television movie, and
a promotional film for the Ford Motor Company. It also includes the score North composed for
2001: A Space Odyssey, which was unused.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Restrictions on Access
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located
on this page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Alex North Motion Picture Music (Collection PASC-M.0017). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles
E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Alex North; gift; 1976.
Processing Information
Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff. Finding aid edited by Doug Johnson, December 2022.
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UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
North was born Isadore Soifer on December 4, 1910, in Chester, PA; attended the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, and Moscow
Conservatory; became music director of the German Theater Group and the Latvian State Theater, and the only American member
of the Union of Soviet Composers; returned to the US in 1935; studied with Ernst Toch and Aaron Copland in NY, and composed
ballet scores for Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, and Agnes de Mille; composed for the NY stage, including scores for
Life and Death of an American (1939),
Of V We Sing (1942), and
Death of a Salesman (1949); wrote music for some 50 documentary shorts between 1937-50; in 1939 went to Mexico as music director for the Anna
Sokolow dance troupe and studied with Silvestre Revueltas; served as a captain in the US Army in World War II; his
Revue for Clarinet and Orchestra was performed by Benny Goodman and the NY Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein in 1946; began scoring feature films in the
early 1950s, becoming a leading Hollywood composer; his musical language encompasses dissonance and lyricism, and ranges from
chamber to symphonic proportions; he was nominated for 15 Academy Awards but did not win one until 1986, when the Motion Picture
Academy presented him with an honorary life-achievement award; he died on September 8, 1991 in Los Angeles.
Scope and Content
The collection contains scores for forty-six feature films, as well as two television documentaries, a television movie, and
a promotional film for the Ford Motor Company. It also includes the score North composed for
2001: A Space Odyssey, which was unused. Complete scores (indicated in the container list simply by the film title) are handwritten in pencil,
with notes and annotations. Scores for individual instruments (indicated by the word "parts") are a combination of handwritten,
printed, and photocopied pages, and tend to have fewer notes and annotations.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Music -- Manuscripts.
Composers -- United States -- Archives.
Motion picture music -- Scores.
North, Alex -- Archives
Box 11, Folder 3
The 13th Letter (20th Century-Fox, 1951)
1951
Box 12, Folder 3
2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM, 1968)
1968
Scope and Contents
One page has a note reading "Stanley hates this but I like it!"
Box 12, Folder 4
Africa (ABC News, 1967)
undated
Box 41, Box 42, Box 43, Box 44, Box 45
Africa (ABC News, 1967) parts
undated
Box 1, Folder 1
The Agony and the Ecstasy (20th Century-Fox, 1965)
undated
Box 1, Folder 2
All Fall Down (MGM, 1962)
1962
Box 46, Box 47, Box 48
American Road (Ford Motor Company, 1953, short) parts
undated
Box 1, Folder 3
The Bachelor Party (United Artists, 1957)
undated
Box 1, Folder 4
The Bad Seed (Warner Bros., 1956)
1956-01-23
Box 29, Box 30, Box 31, Box 32, Box 33, Box 34, Box 35, Box 36
Bite the Bullet (Columbia, 1975) parts
undated
Box 2, Folder 1
Cheyenne Autumn (Warner Bros., 1964)
1964
Box 2, Folder 2
The Children's Hour (United Artists, 1961)
1961
Box 2, Folder 3
Cinerama South Seas Adventure (Cinerama, 1958)
1958
Box 3, Folders 1-2
Cleopatra (20th Century-Fox, 1963)
1963
Box 4, Folders 1-2
Death of a Salesman (Columbia, 1951)
1951
Box 4, Folder 3
Desiree (20th Century-Fox, 1954)
1954
Box 4, Folder 4
Devil's Brigade (United Artists, 1968)
1968
Box 4, Folders 5-6
A Dream of Kings (National General, 1969)
1969
Box 55, Box 56
F.D.R. (ABC-TV, 1965) parts
undated
Box 5, Folders 1-2
Go Man Go (United Artists, 1954)
1954
Box 5, Folder 3
Hard Contract (20th Century-Fox, 1969)
1969
Box 5, Folder 4
Hot Spell (Paramount, 1958)
1958
Box 6, Folder 1
I'll Cry Tomorrow (MGM, 1955)
1955
Box 6, Folder 2
The King and Four Queens (United Artists, 1956)
1956
Box 57, Box 58, Box 59
The Last Butterfly (Arrow, 1991) parts
undated
Box 52, Box 53, Box 54
The Legend of Silent Night (ABC-TV, 1968) parts
undated
Box 6, Folders 3-4
The Long Hot Summer (20th Century-Fox, 1958)
1958
Box 7, Folder 1
Man with the Gun (United Artists, 1955)
1955
Box 7, Folder 2
A Member of the Wedding (20th Century-Fox, 1953)
1953
Box 7, Folder 3
Les Miserables (20th Century-Fox, 1952)
1952
Box 7, Folder 4
The Misfits (United Artists, 1961)
1961
Box 60, Box 61, Box 62, Box 63, box 64
Once upon a Scoundrel (Image International, 1973) parts
undated
Box 7, Folders 5-6
The Outrage (MGM, 1964)
1964
Box 68, Box 69, Box 70, Box 71
The Passover Plot (Atlas Film Corporation, 1976) parts
undated
Box 24, Box 25, Box 26, Box 65, Box 66, Box 67
The Penitent (Cineworld Pictures, 1988) parts
undated
Box 8, Folder 1
Pony Soldier (20th Century-Fox, 1952)
1952
Box 37, Box 38, Box 39, Box 40, Box 72, Box 73, Box 74, Box 75, Box 76, Box 77
Prizzi's Honor (20th Century-Fox, 1985) parts
undated
Box 8, Folder 2
The Racers (20th Century-Fox, 1955)
1955
Box 8, Folder 3
The Rainmaker (Paramount, 1956)
1956
Box 8, Folder 4
The Rose Tattoo (Paramount, 1955)
1955
Box 9, Folder 1
Sanctuary (20th Century-Fox, 1961)
1961
Box 49, Box 50, Box 51
Shanks (Paramount, 1974) parts
undated
Box 9, Folders 2-3
Shoes of the Fisherman (MGM, 1968)
1968
Box 78, Box 79, Box 80, Box 81, Box 82, Box 83
Somebody Killed Her Husband (Columbia, 1978) parts
undated
Box 10, Folders 1-4
Spartacus (Universal, 1960)
1960
Box 11, Folder 1
Stage Struck (RKO, 1958)
1958
Box 11, Folder 2
A Streetcar Named Desire (Warner Bros,, 1951)
1951
Box 11, Folder 4
Unchained (Warner Bros.,1955)
1955
Box 11, Folder 5
Viva Zapata (20th Century-Fox, 1952)
1952
Box 12, Folder 1
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Warner Bros., 1966)
1966
Box 27, Box 28
Wise Blood (New Line, 1979) parts
undated
Box 12, Folder 2
The Wonderful Country (United Artists, 1959)
1959
