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THOSE MUSICAL NEWMANS PART 2
PROMPTED BY NEWMAN movie film credits and my Randy Newman CDs, I decided to research tidbits on these musical Newmans. Here in Part 2, we continue admiring the Newman Musical Family Tree.
Lionel, Emil, Marc, and Irving. Four of Alfred’s younger brothers also made names for themselves, one way or another, in the world of music. I’ve seen Lionel’s movie credits in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a 1953 romp with Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, and Charles Coburn; and in Hello, Dolly, 1969, for which Lionel shared an Academy Award with Lennie Hayton for Best Score of a Musical—Original or Adaptation.
Emil Newman’s film career included 38 movies, a couple of which have interesting backstories: Time to Kill is a 1942 rendering of Raymond Chandler’s The High Window, only with Philip Marlowe renamed Michael Shayne (who returned in various radio renditions from 1944 to 1953). Emil’s final film credit was in The Great Sioux Massacre, a 1965 recycling of large-scale action footage from the 1954 flick, Sitting Bull. Its music, though, was fresh.
Marc Newman took the music gene in another direction, but still dominant: He chose to be an agent representing film composers, among them John Williams (Star Wars, 1977; Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981; E.T.:The Extra-Terrestrial, 1982; The Witches of Eastwick, 1987), Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown, 1974), and Marvin Hamlish (The Sting, 1973; A Chorus Line, 1985).
Truth is, I didn’t originally connect any of these particular flicks with the Newmans. I learned about brother Marc only when researching other family members.
But Wait, There’s More. Alfred’s five children include David, 1954–; Thomas, 1955–; and Maria, 1962–. David’s 99 film achievements include the scores of Anastasia, 1997; Galaxy Quest, 1999, which was a favorite of Wife Dottie’s; and the new West Side Story, 2021.
Thomas Newman’s filmography of 89 scores includes Desperately Seeking Susan, 1985; and Fried Green Tomatoes, 1991, another family favorite of ours.
Maria Newman is a composer of classical music, violinist, and pianist. She’s a founder of the Malibu Friends of Music and holds dual chairs, one for composition, the other for violin, at the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture. She is also an Annenberg Foundation Composition Fellow.
Not to be overlooked are Lionel’s grandson Emmy-nominated film and TV composer Joey Newman and Alfred’s granddaughter Golden Reel Award-winner/music editor Jaclyn Newman Dorn.
Not an underachiever in the family.
The Newman Total. Wikipedia ranks the Academy Award-winning Families, as of the 92nd event in 2019: “The Newmans have been nominated the most often, all 95 being for Film Scoring, Arrangement, or Original Song.” These include 12 Oscar wins: Lionel’s for Hello Dolly; Randy’s two for the songs “If I Didn’t Have You,” (from Monsters, Inc, 2001) and “We Belong Together,” (from Toy Story 3, 2011); and Alfred’s nine, (the third highest ever won by an individual, after Walt Disney’s 26 and art director Cedric Gibbons’ 11).
And Irving? Irving Newman was an internist residing in New Orleans when son Randy was a kid. In 1954, this branch of the Newman family returned to Los Angeles, the city of Randy’s birth.
Randy’s Country Club Date. As cited earlier, the Newmans are Jewish, but largely of the non-observant variety. Indeed, Randy recalls the time he was invited to a fancy dance at a Los Angeles country club. As described in Wikipedia, “He accepted the invitation but was subsequently disinvited by the girl’s father, who told Newman that his daughter should never have invited him because Jews were not allowed at the country club. Newman hung up the phone, then went to ask his own father what a ‘Jew’ is.”
By contrast, Randy sure knows what musical talent is. He’s from that kind of family. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2022
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