De Wolfe Music - 1927

1927

In 1927, following the advent of sound in movies, De Wolfe Music began recording with the ‘sound-on-disc’ technique and ‘sound-on-film’ onto 35mm on highly flammable nitrate film, which was known to explode if improperly stored, as the company discovered when a film which had deteriorated into powder ignited and blew out its Wardour Street basement. To prevent this much of the stored music was later copied onto ¼” tape. Indeed, as technologies have changed, many of the early compositions have come on quite a journey, transferring to vinyl from 1962, CD from 1985 and currently existing digitally on hard drives and as downloadable files on the internet.

Examples of early compositions from that time include pieces like Keep Your Face To The Sunshine (1926) by Arthur Crocker, Odiele, performed by Ivor Novello from the film The Rat (1926) and Policeman’s Holiday from 1931 by the prolific and popular composer Montague Ewing. There was also Autumn Serenade and Mia Bella by Giuseppe Becce, who scored the classic Frankenstein in 1931, as well as many of Meyer de Wolfe’s own compositions. Among the film scores completed during the era were Horace Shepherd’s compositions for The Prince and the Maid (1925) and The Iron Horse (1924), an early western directed by John Ford, as well as the score for Two White Arms (1932), starring the debonair Adolphe Menjou, nine-times Best Dressed Man in America and idol of the 1930s sartorial opulence. De Wolfe Music went on to score Clothes and the Woman (1937) directed by Albert de Courville, Silver Blaze (1937), based on the famous Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Conan-Doyle and The Vicar of Bray (1937) which starred Stanley Holloway and included a score by famed composer Harry Baynton-Power.

During the 1930s, De Wolfe created soundtracks for newsreels that were shown in cinemas in between the feature films and B-movies of the day. Working closely with Pathé, British Movietone News and British Gaumont Cinemas, De Wolfe provided scores for many thousands of newsreels right across Europe. This would continue during the Second World War and well into the sixties. In the meantime, Meyer’s son, James de Wolfe, joined the company, initially starting in 1940, just after war had begun. James served with the RAF from 1942 to 1947 then upon his return spent much of the fifties and sixties travelling in order to establish the company as an international business. At that time De Wolfe Music were producing scores for popular features like 1946’s Curse of The Wraydons and Roy Boulting’s 1947 political drama Fame is the Spur starring Michael Redgrave, the first soundtrack composed by John Wooldridge, who had flown as one of the RAF Dambusters during the war. John Wooldridge also composed the music for the film Edward My Son (1948) which starred Spencer Tracy, while another of De Wolfe’s composers, Frank Spencer, scored Mrs. Christopher (1950) and Fall of the House of Usher (1952).