Arranger, composer, conductor, orchestra leader, and
songwriter, born in London, England, and raised in Chicago, Illinois, where
he received his musical education from the Chicago School of Music and
worked for a short time as an arranger with NBC Radio.In 1928, he moved to L.A. and was hired by
the Mutual Broadcasting Network as their orchestra leader.In a move to cut costs, his
orchestra was pared back to strings only, and it ironically resulted in the
composition of one of his greatest hits, "Holiday For
Strings".Marital life
was no holiday for Rose, however.His marriages to Martha Raye and Judy
Garland lasted less than three years apiece.Perhaps they didn't like his
trains:Rose was an avid steam
enthusiast who at one time had a small-scale railroad running around his
estate.A later marriage to
Betty Bartholomew would produce two children and subsequently a musical granddaughter,
dance pop songstress Samantha James.Duty called in the form World War II and Rose's musical career
was justifiably interrupted by his military service.His army-inspired musical, Winged Victory, enjoyed a brief run
on Broadway in 1943.After the
war, he took up right where he left off, re-uniting his orchestra that he
had formed during his Mutual days.The advent of television was kind to Rose, who served as musical
director for Red Skelton for twenty-one years and Little House on the Prairie in the late '70s.His signature contribution to the
medium was the theme song to the TV western Bonanza, for which he also orchestrated.It is not, however, his most
ubiquitous composition.That honour falls on a little ditty he wrote in 1958 called
"The Stripper".(Yes, it's that one.) "
The Stripper" sat on a shelf for years until Rose was
asked to slap together a recording of "Ebb Tide" to cash in on
the popularity of the film Sweet Bird
of Youth. " The
Stripper" was the B side but may as well have been the A.It rocketed to #1 on 7th July
1962, and has been used in countless films, adverts and TV shows, ever
since.Rose's
contributions to music during this time were not limited to his instantly
accessible songs.He was also
one of the purveyors of experimental sound techniques, like 21-track
recording, double microphones, and audio-conscious stage architecture.This gave his music a multi-layered
and produced sound that would have been otherwise technologically
unavailable at the time.In the
'80s, he decided to experiment with classical music, writing a
"Concerto for Flute and Orchestra" that was debuted by the L.A.
Philharmonic.Rose's
symphonic experience does not stop there:He has conducted orchestras on three
of the seven continents, including The Boston Pops, The Hollywood Bowl, The
Seattle symphony, as well as a European itinerary of Berlin,
Copenhagen, Hamburg,
London, Paris,
and Rome.Rose died of a heart attack on 23rd
August 1990.His musical legacy
includes fifty albums, four Emmys, and some of the most instantly
recognizable instrumentals ever written.He has his own star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame, at 6514 Hollywood
Blvd.
