MOVIE MUSIC UK

Composer, arranger, conductor and choral director Ken Darby died at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, ten years ago today, on January 24, 1992, at the age of 82, following a history of heart problems.

One of Hollywood’s most accomplished specialists in vocal and musical arranging, Darby won three Academy Awards for The King and I, Porgy and Bess and Camelot, and contributed to such classics as The Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio, South Pacific and How the West Was Won.

Kenneth Lorin Darby was born in Hebron, Nebraska, on May 13, 1909, and moved with his family to California as a child. He began studying piano at five and trumpet at nine, later receiving private instruction in harmony, counterpoint and composition. While attending college he earned money playing piano and organ in cinemas showing silent films, giving him an early practical understanding of the relationship between music and images.

In 1929 Darby formed the male vocal quartet The King’s Men, which became enormously successful on radio, records and in films. The group was a longtime fixture on Fibber McGee and Molly and appeared in numerous Hollywood productions, including several Hopalong Cassidy westerns. Darby later expanded his vocal arranging activities through the Ken Darby Singers, one of the most respected studio choral ensembles of the period.

His talents soon brought him into Hollywood’s major music departments. At MGM he worked on The Wizard of Oz (1939), where he helped create the distinctive vocal sound of the Munchkins. He subsequently became closely associated with Walt Disney Studios, serving as a writer, arranger and music supervisor on productions including Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Make Mine Music, Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart. The Ken Darby Singers also provided backing vocals for Bing Crosby’s original 1942 recording of “White Christmas.”

Darby’s greatest achievements came through his association with Alfred Newman at 20th Century-Fox. Their work on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I (1956) brought both men the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. Darby’s intricate choral and vocal arrangements helped translate the Broadway score into the expansive sound required by the screen, and he subsequently worked with Newman on another Rodgers and Hammerstein adaptation, South Pacific (1958), earning another Oscar nomination.

He won his second Academy Award alongside André Previn for Porgy and Bess (1959), adapting George Gershwin’s opera for Otto Preminger’s lavish film version. Further recognition followed with nominations for Flower Drum Song (1961) and the epic western How the West Was Won (1962). For the latter, Darby worked closely with Newman on the film’s folk songs and choral material and contributed lyrics to its stirring title theme, helping give the sprawling Cinerama production a musical identity rooted in American traditional song.

Darby’s third Oscar came for Joshua Logan’s Camelot (1967), again shared with Newman, for adapting Frederick Loewe’s Broadway score. By then he had become one of Hollywood’s foremost authorities on the difficult art of transforming stage musicals into cinematic works without sacrificing their musical character.

Darby was also a successful songwriter. Among his compositions were “Love Song of Kalua,” “The Bus Stop Song,” “River of No Return” and “Saga of the Ponderosa.” He wrote the lyrics to “Love Me Tender,” adapted from the Civil War-era melody “Aura Lee”; contractual considerations resulted in the published song being credited to Elvis Presley and Darby’s wife, Vera Matson.

Darby married Vera in 1932, and they remained together until his death. He is survived by Vera, their son Peter, daughter Cristina and a grandson.