Nat W. Finston

Biography

Composer, conductor, author, violinist and producer, and chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1938-1944, and a board member 1941-1944), educated at the City College of New York. He was a violinist and later concertmaster of the Russian Symphony, and assistant concertmaster of the Boston Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the New York Symphony between 1907 and 1917. He conducted the Capitol Theatre and Rialto theatre orchestras in New York and the Tivoli and Uptown theatre orchestras in Chicago between 1917 and 1925. Between 1928 and 1945 he became general music director for films from Paramount and MGM in California, and was a guest conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Hollywood Bowl orchestras. He was on the advisory board of the US State Department Latin-American Relations (cultural and musical) for two years. Joining ASCAP in 1950, his chief musical collaborator was Gus Kahn, and his popular-song compositions include "Satin Fan", "Little Coquette", "If You Should Die", "Sleepy Eyes", and "Valse Silhouette".