The Times (19/Aug/1957) - Obituary: Mr. Louis Levy
(c) The Times (19/Aug/1957)
- keywords: Gainsborough Pictures, Louis Levy
MR. LOUIS LEVY
Mr. Louis Levy, the orchestral conductor and musical director of films, whose "Music from the Movies" programmes in the years before the Second World War will be remembered by many radio listeners, died yesterday in hospital at Slough. He was 63. He had been associated with broadcasting in Britain since its early days.
He was born in London on November 30, 1893, and used to say that he first learned to play the violin at three halfpence a lesson. Later he studied under Guido Papini. At the age of 10 he was on the stage in a juvenile troupe singing "On, on to Victory" and playing "The Broken Melody" at a salary of 30s. a week.
His first professional acquaintance with films was made before the screen, for he was for a time one of the resourceful and hard-working musicians who accompanied the action in silent films. Later this experience was to stand him in good stead when he undertook more ambitious work in film music. He joined Gainsborough Films when talking pictures were in their infancy and was musical director of such successful British films as The Dancing Years, Queen of Spades, The Glass Mountainy and The Hasty Heart. He had been general musical director for the Associated British Picture Corporation since 1948. He leaves a widow.
