Overview
Scores and papers of American conductor, arranger, and composer Johnny Green.
Dates
- Creation: 1923-1989
Language of Materials
Collection materials are predominantly in English; some materials in French, German, and Italian.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
111 linear feet (104 containers)Includes original musical scores composed by Green; musical scores written by others, arranged or conducted by Green for film, theatre, and concert productions; correspondence; subject files; photographs of Green and others relating to his musical career; personal effects relating to Green's musical career; sound recordings; and clippings.
Biographical / Historical
Conductor, arranger, and composer Johnny Green, Harvard AB 1928, achieved early fame as a songwriter and orchestra leader in the 1920s and 1930s. Among his most well known original compositions are such songs as "Body and soul", "Out of nowhere", and "I cover the waterfront". Beginning in 1942, he served for the next three decades as music director for several Hollywood motion picture studios, chiefly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In the course of his career, he won Academy Awards for his work orchestrating, arranging, and conducting music for the following films: Easter parade; An American in Paris; West side story; and Oliver!. He also won an Academy Award for The merry wives of Windsor overture, a subject in MGM's Concert hall series. In addition to his work in films, Green composed and conducted for radio and television; he was a board member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and guest conductor for a number of symphony orchestras, including the Hollywood Bowl.
Arrangement
Arranged into the following series:
- I. Scores
- II. Correspondence
- III. Subject files
- IV. Photographs
- V. Scripts
- VI. Biographical materials
- VII. Realia
- VIII. Sound recordings
- IX. Clippings
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2004MT-49. Source and date unknown.
2004MT-119. Purchased with the Rose fund from Ward Harrison, 1800 Dutch Lane, Apt. 21, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130; received: 2005 March 12.
2005MT-23. Purchased with the Rose fund from Ward Harrison, 1800 Dutch Lane, Apt. 21, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130; received: 2005 October 7.
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Michael W. Austin
Processing Information
This finding aid was revised in 2022 to address racist descriptive language. During that revision, description was changed in the description of a single item; the derogatory term appears in a formal title and thus was not removed, but a contextual historical note as well as a processing information note explaining the term's presence were added to the item's description. If you have questions or comments about these revisions, please contact Houghton Library. If you have questions or comments about these revisions, please contact Houghton Library. For more information on reparative archival description at Harvard, see Harvard Library’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description.
- Title
- Green, Johnny, 1908-1989. Johnny Green additional papers, 1923-1989: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou02074
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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