George Kleinsinger (February 13, 1914, San Bernardino, California – July 28, 1982, New York City, New York) was an American composer most known for children's compositions, Broadway scores, and film/television scores. He is best known for a string of children's compositions in collaboration with lyricist Paul Tripp (most notably Tubby the Tuba) and a series of works in collaboration with Joe Darion (including the musical Shinbone Alley) based on Don Marquis' archy and mehitabel columns.
He collaborated with Paul Tripp on a number of orchestral/vocal works for a young audience, beginning with "Tubby the Tuba".
In 1948 he wrote music for the original Max Fleischer/Jam Handy animated adaptation of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story.[5] This led to him being commissioned to set the song to music for the 1964 Rankin-Bass special. The producers elected to use the Johnny Marks version of the song, but Kleinsinger retained partial songwriting credit; the resulting royalties made him wealthy.[6] Kleinsinger's version of the song was released by RCA on a 1964 LP sung by Paul Wing with Russ Case's orchestra.[7]
In the early 1950s he co-founded the Roslyn Chamber Music Group with Robert Bernstein and Leonid Hambro with the goal of attracting the highest caliber chamber musicians to perform in Long Island.[8]
He scored dozens of television shows, movies, and documentaries in the 1950s and 1960s for multiple studios. The most well known include John Brown's Body for CBS, Greece: The Golden Age for which he was nominated for an Emmy, and the labor documentary The Inheritance, whose title song was performed by Judy Collins and a chorus that included Pete Seeger.[9]
He had a long association with musical adaptions of Don Marquis' lower-case archy and mehitabel newspaper columns. This began with a 1954 concept record album Archy & Mehitabel starring Carol Channing, and included a 1954 opera premiered by the Little Orchestra Society, the 1957 Broadway musical Shinbone Alley (which ran for 49 performances featuring Eddie Bracken and Eartha Kitt), and the 1970 film adaptation Shinbone Alley. Stephen Schwarz, who was Kleinsinger's neighbor in Roslyn, was inspired by the musical to become a composer.[10]
In addition to the numerous children's and programmatic compositions, Kleinsinger composed more traditional classical music, including a cello concerto and a quintet for clarinet and strings.
For the last 25 years of his life, he was a notable resident of New York's Chelsea Hotel. He befriended his neighbor Brendan Behan and wrote his Brendan Behan Suite which features tape recordings of Behan singing that he surreptitiously made.[6] Their friendship was documented in Janet Behan's play Brendan at the Chelsea.[11] He wrote film scores for his neighbor Doris Totten Chase. He gained notoriety for his hobby of recreating a tropical environment in the apartment, including keeping iguana, tarantulas, walking catfish, turtles, exotic birds, and a baby hippo. In 1972 this was the subject of Harry Reasoner television documentary "Who do You Think You Are? - Man and Beast".[12] Kleinsinger reported that his second wife gave him an ultimatum between his marriage or his apartment.[13] Sculptures of Kleinsinger and other Chelsea residents by Eugenie Gershoy still hang in the Chelsea lobby.[14]
He was married three times. He died of cancer in New York City in 1982.[15] A memorial service was held the next week at Judson Memorial Church;[16] his wife spread his ashes on Chelsea Hotel's rooftop garden.
Selected works
Joy of Living,[17] an early work, a suite for orchestra.[6]
Victory Against Heaven (1941), one-act opera. Libretto by Winthrop Bushnell. Premiered January 1941 at the Avery Memorial Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.[2]
Pan the Piper (the reed that grew into an orchestra)[24]
Street Corner Concerto (1946) for harmonica and orchestra[3]
Brooklyn Baseball Cantata (1937),[4][3] words by Michael Stratton. Recording released in 1948 by Robert Merrill and RCA Victor. This work was included in some of the U.S. Army's Special Services Division's Blueprint Specials during WWII.[25] It became part of an unsuccessful Broadway musical Of V We Sing, but the cantata's success earned Kleinsinger an honorary membership to the noevlty Society for the Prevention of Disparaging Remarks About Brooklyn.[26]
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948), title theme to the film score of the original Max Fleischer film version of the Robert May story.[5]
Johnny Stranger, a concept 78 record by RCA Victor, story and lyrics by Paul Tripp, depicting an American immigrant experience. Narrated and sung by Ray Middleton, played by Russ Case's orchestra.
Symphony of Winds, for narrator and wind orchestra (1958)[28]
The Story of Celeste (1959), another collaboration with Paul Tripp along the lines of Tubby the Tuba and Peewee the Piccolo. Released as an LP by Signature Records in 1959 narrated by Victor Jory under an orchestra directed by Ray Bloch.[29]
The Swallow and the Prince (1959), ballet based on an Oscar Wilde fairytale. Premiered March 1959 in New York City, choreographed by Mattlyn Gavers.[30]
The Growing-Up Tree, a ballad penned with Joe Darion for Girl Scouts marketing purposes. Originally a television commercial song, it was released as a record.
