Robert E. Dolan
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Robert Emmett "Bobby" Dolan (August 3, 1906 – September 26, 1972) was a Broadway conductor, composer and arranger beginning in the 1920s. He moved on to radio in the 1930s, and then went to Hollywood in the early 1940s as a musical director for Paramount. He scored, arranged, and conducted many musical and dramatic films in the 1940s and 1950s and produced three musicals. At the end of his career, he returned to the stage – the place where he began.
Robert E. Dolan was born in Hartford, Connecticut the eldest of 11 children. He studied piano with his mother and was educated in Montreal. He received further musical education at Loyola College, later studying extensively with Mortimer Wilson, Joseph Schillinger and Ernst Toch. Dolan started out playing piano for honky-tonk dance bands and musical comedy bands, and in the 1920s began working as a musician, composer, conductor, and musical director in the theater. Some of the Broadway shows he contributed to were Leave It To Me, Louisiana Purchase, Of Thee I Sing and Ziegfeld Follies.
In the 1930s, he began work as a composer, conductor and music director in radio. He became music director for MGM in 1941 and then moved on to Paramount, where he was music director for 16 Bing Crosby pictures. He also served as composer and arranger for Ginger Rogers and Betty Hutton; and scored about 60 movies. At the end of his Paramount stay, he was promoted to producer for White Christmas (1954), The Girl Rush (1955) and Anything Goes (1956). He joined ASCAP in 1946 often collaborating with Johnny Mercer and Walter O'Keefe in popular-song compositions. Dolan later worked in television; his work included specials and documentaries. He was a prominent member of Columbia University's music faculty, where he taught orchestration, conducting, and a film score class (based on his book, Music in Modern Media).
Dolan married and divorced two actresses and had one son with each. His first wife was Vilma Ebsen, the sister of Buddy Ebsen. They were married on June 24, 1933 and divorced in January 1948. His second wife was Nan Martin. They were married on March 17, 1948. Their son's name is Casey Martin Dolan.
Dolan died in Los Angeles on September 26, 1972. Funeral services were held there and at Columbia University in New York.
[edit] Filmography
- 1941 Birth of the Blues - Music Composer
- 1942 Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour - Music Composer
- 1942 Star Spangled Rhythm - Music Composer, Music Director
- 1942 Once Upon a Honeymoon - Music Composer
- 1942 The Major and the Minor - Music Composer
- 1942 Holiday Inn - Music Director
- 1943 Happy Go Lucky - Music Director
- 1943 Dixie - Music Director
- 1943 Let's Face It - Music Director
- 1944 Going My Way - Music Director
- 1944 Standing Room Only - Music Composer
- 1944 Lady in the Dark - Music Composer, Music Director
- 1944 I Love a Soldier - Music Composer
- 1944 Here Come the Waves - Music Composer
- 1945 Bring On the Girls - Music Director
- 1945 The Stork Club - Music Director
- 1945 Salty O'rourke - Music Composer
- 1945 Road to Utopia - Music Director
- 1945 Duffy's Tavern - Music Composer, Music Director
- 1945 Murder, He Says - Music Composer
- 1945 The Bells of St. Mary's - Music Composer
- 1945 Incendiary Blonde - Music Director
- 1946 Blue Skies - Music Director
- 1946 Cross My Heart - Music Composer
- 1946 Monsieur Beaucaire - Music Composer, Music Director
- 1947 Welcome Stranger - Music Composer
- 1947 The Trouble with Women - Music Composer
- 1947 Road to Rio - Music Director
- 1947 Dear Ruth - Music Composer
- 1947 The Perils of Pauline - Music Composer
- 1947 My Favorite Brunette - Music Composer, Music Director
- 1948 Good Sam - Music Composer
- 1948 Saigon - Music Composer, Music Director
- 1948 My Own True Love - Music Composer
- 1948 Mr. Peabody And the Mermaid - Music Composer
- 1949 The Great Gatsby - Music Composer
- 1949 Top O' the Morning - Music Director
- 1949 Sorrowful Jones - Music Composer
- 1950 Let's Dance - Music Director
- 1952 My Son John - Music Composer
- 1952 Aaron Slick From Punkin Crick - Music Director
- 1954 White Christmas - Producer
- 1956 Anything Goes - Producer
- 1957 The Three Faces of Eve - Music Composer
- 1959 The Man Who Understood Women - Music Composer
[edit] Broadway credits and Dates of Production
- May Wine - Musical Director - December 6, 1935 – January 6, 1936
- Forbidden Melody -Musical Director - November 2, 1936 – November 28, 1936
- Hooray for What! - Musical Director - December 1, 1937 – May 21, 1938
- Leave It To Me - Musical Director - November 9, 1938 – July 15, 1939
- Very Warm for May - Musical Director, Conductor - November 17, 1939 – January 6, 1940
- Louisiana Purchase - Musical Director - May 28, 1940 – June 14, 1941
- Texas Li'l Darlin' - Composer - November 25, 1949 – September 9, 1950
- Not for Children - Composer - February 13, 1951 – February 17, 1951
- Juno - Musical Director - March 9, 1959 – March 21, 1959
- A Loss of Roses - Musical Editor - November 28, 1959 – December 19, 1959
- Foxy - Composer - February 16, 1964 – April 18, 1964
- Coco -Musical Director - December 18, 1969 – October 3, 1970
[edit] Other credits
- 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon - Composer (one cue from Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid re-used)
- 1955 The Girl Rush - Producer
- Of Thee I Sing
- Ziegfeld Follies
- Good News
- Follow Through
- Flying Colors
- Strike Me Pink
- Hot-Cha
- La Rose De France (Paris)
- Your Heart Will Tell You So (song)
- At Last I'm in Love (song)
- Little by Little (song)
- Hullabaloo (song)
- Song of the Highwayman (song)
- You (song)
- Out of the Past (song)
- I Love You (song)
- And So to Bed (song)
- Glamour Waltz (song)
- Big Movie Show in the Sky (song)
- A Month of Sundays (song)
- Talk to Me, Baby (song)
[edit] Oscar nominations
All 8 Nominations were for Music Scoring Awards (Scoring of a Musical Picture):
- 1941 Birth of the Blues
- 1942 Holiday Inn
- 1943 Star Spangled Rhythm
- 1944 Lady in the Dark
- 1945 The Bells of St. Mary's
- 1945 Incendiary Blonde
- 1946 Blue Skies
- 1947 Road to Rio
[edit] References
- Robert E. Dolan at the Internet Broadway Database (last accessed May 17, 2006)
- MMM Recordings Dolan bio (last accessed May 17, 2006)
