COMPOSER FRED STEINER

Many of the funnier stories from people who work in film and television are not from "stars" but from so-called "techs". In an earlier blog posting I recounted Laura composer David Raksin's funny quote regarding Alfred Hitchcock's attitude towards film music. A few years ago I read an interview with film and TV composer Fred Steiner where he told a personal story about meeting his idol, Max Steiner (no relation) of King Kong and Gone With the Wind fame.

Fred Steiner spoke of how he was a big Max fan when he was a young man and learning the tricks of the trade himself, and when he visited New York City in the mid-to-late 1940s he managed to find out the address of his idol's apartment building: After young Steiner told the building's concierge who he was and why he wanted to speak with Mr. Max Steiner, he was given the telephone. Fred then made it known to Max that he was a big fan and wanted to really meet him in person. The phone conversation wrapped up like this...

MAX STEINER
Are you family?

FRED STEINER
No, I'm no relation to you.

MAX STEINER
In that case, you may come up.