Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Roger Edens, Marty Symes, Bernice Petkere and Franz Waxman
The Ice Follies of 1939: Suite (1939)
- G Schirmer under license to Fidelio Music from EMI Music (World)
Orchestrated by George Bassman and Leo Arnaud. ‘It’s All So New to Me’ reconstructed by John Wilson
- [3S] [chorus]; 2(II:pic).2(II:ca).3(III:bcl).2+cbn.[2asx.2tsx.barsx]/4.4.3.0/timp.3perc/pf(cel).hp/gtr.db/str
- Chorus [optional]
- Soprano trio [optional]
- 8 min
Programme Note
Following The Philadelphia Story (MGM 1939) starring James Stewart, Franz Waxman’s next assignment at the studio was another Steward film — Reinhold Schunzel’s Ice Follies of 1939, which also featured Joan Crawford, Lew Ayers, Lewis Stone, and The International Ice Skating Troupe. The music in the suite is mostly drawn from the 'Ice Skating Ballet,' which concludes the picture about a struggling Ice Skating Company.
It was a challenging assignment for Waxman. For the piano soloist, he hired a friend, Lella Simone, who had recently arrived from Berlin. Lella was a student of Arthur Schnabel. Roger Edens was so impressed that she was able to master the difficult passages that he hired her on the spot. Lella would work at MGM for the next 25 years and become the assistant to the legendary producer Arthur Freed. Upon her retirement from the studio, she married my father.
— John Waxman