Adler, Larry, 1939-

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Born in White Plains, N.Y. in 1939, Larry Adler works as an advertising copywriter and freelance author. His books for children focus primarily on sports.

From the description of Larry Adler papers, 1979-1980 [manuscript]. (University of Southern Mississippi, Regional Campus). WorldCat record id: 703421477

Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer, orchestrator and conductor.

From the guide to the Robert Russell Bennett papers, 1911-1981, (Music Library)

Lawrence Cecil “Larry” Adler was born in Baltimore on February 10, 1914 to parents Louis and Sadie.

A self-taught harmonica player, he gained worldwide recognition as the musician who brought the instrument to the ‘serious music’ stage.

He began playing early and won the Maryland Harmonica Championship at the age of 13. After attending Baltimore City College (1926-1928), his musical career began in 1928 in New York when he was given a job by Rudy Vallee to play at the Heigh-Ho Club.

He became the harmonica player at Paramount Theater in 1928, then at the Streamline Revue Palace Theater, London, in 1934. In 1939 he joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as a soloist. During World War II, from 1943-45, he went on USO tours with the dancer Paul Draper; the pair joined together again after the war to tour worldwide. He performed in Germany in 1947 and 1949, in Korea in 1951, and in Israel in 1967 and 1973. He appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, Scotland, in 1963 and 1965. In 1989 he played at the London Promenade Concert at the Albert Hall with the Wren Orchestra and John Ogdon. During his career he also played with the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony and the BBC Symphony, and has had music composed for him by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold and Darius Milhaud.

On April 11, 1938 Larry Adler married Eileen Walser with whom he had three children: Carole, Peter and Wendy, before they divorced in 1959. He was married again in 1967 to Sally Cline and had a daughter, Katelyn, a marriage that lasted 9 years until a divorce in 1976.

In 1949 Larry Adler was blacklisted in the U.S. for having alleged procommunist leanings and later emigrated to Great Britain. During the investigations by the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities into communism in the entertainment industry, he and Paul Draper were accused by Hester McCullough of being communist sympathizers. Mrs. McCullough, the wife of an editor of Time-Life, objected to Larry Adler playing a concert at the Abraham Lincoln School in Chicago, an organization blacklisted by the committee. Adler stated that he had only wanted to play for the children.

In 1950 Larry Adler and Paul Draper brought a libel suit against Mrs. Hester McCullough for $200,000. The case concluded when the jury could not reach a verdict. Adler and Draper claimed the jury’s inability to support Mrs. McCullough’s accusations was a sign of support. However, the effect of the accusation was long-standing and both Larry Adler and Paul Draper lost concert bookings which seriously threatened their careers in America. Adler has since claimed that his career has never regained its momentum in the U.S.

During his career he wrote several film scores: “Genevieve” 1953 (for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Film Score in 1954), “King and Country” 1963, “High Wind in Jamaica” 1964, “The Singing Marine,” “St. Martin’s Lane,” “Sidewalks of London,” “The Big Broadcast of 1937,” and “The Great Chase,” as well as appearing in “Many Happy Returns,” “Music for Millions,” and “Three Daring Daughters.” His television credits include “The Monte Carlo Show” and “Midnight Men.”

He has published sound recordings “Larry Adler Live at the Ballroom” on Newport Classic and “Larry Adler Plays Works for Harmonica and Orchestra” on the RCA label.

He has also released several written publications: How I Play (1937), Larry Adler’s Own Arrangements (1960), Jokes and How to Tell Them (1963), and his autobiography It Ain’t Necessarily So (1985). He wrote as a food critic for Harper’s Queen and Portrait and Boardroom and also published several columns in Punch, Spectator, New Statesman, New Society, Sunday Times, Observer, and Mail on Sunday .

Most recently he wrote the soundtrack to the 1992 film “My Life.”

From the guide to the Larry Adler papers, 1927-1995, (University of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn The Railroad hour, radio program [sound recording], 1948-1954 The New York Public Library. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
referencedIn Duke Ellington recordings collection Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard College Library
referencedIn Gilbert W. Chapman collection of sound recordings [sound recording], ca.1900]-1962 The New York Public Library. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
creatorOf Robert Russell Bennett papers, 1911-1981 Music Library
referencedIn Nicolas Slonimsky Collection, 1873-1997, (bulk 1920-1990) Library of Congress. Music Division
referencedIn Arts Theatre and Unicorn Theatre Archive, 1902-1982 V & A Department of Theatre and Performance
referencedIn E. Y. Harburg papers, 1936-1981 The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.
creatorOf Larry Adler papers, 1927-1995 Univerisity of Wyoming. American Heritage Center.
referencedIn Larry Turnbull Circus Scrapbooks and Audio Recordings, c.1930s-1980s V & A Department of Theatre and Performance
referencedIn J. B. Matthews Papers, 1862-1986 and undated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
creatorOf Adler, Larry, 1939-. Larry Adler papers, 1979-1980 [manuscript]. University of Southern Mississippi, Regional Campus, Joseph Anderson Cook Library
referencedIn Abe Burrows collection of sound recordings [sound recording] The New York Public Library. Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound.
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Arts Theatre corporateBody
associatedWith Bennett, Louis J. person
associatedWith Bennett, Robert Russell, 1894-1981 person
associatedWith Benny, Jack, 1894-1974 person
associatedWith Bergman, Ingrid, 1915-1982 person
associatedWith Billings, William, 1746-1800 person
associatedWith Burrows, Abe, 1910-1985 person
associatedWith Busch, Carl, 1862-1943 person
associatedWith Chapman, Gilbert W person
associatedWith Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400 person
associatedWith Cherubini, Luigi, 1760-1842 person
associatedWith Danilova, Alexandra, 1907-1997 person
associatedWith Dodge, Joseph Jeffers person
associatedWith Draper, Paul, 1909- person
associatedWith Foster, Stephen Collins, 1826-1864 person
associatedWith Gershwin, George, 1898-1937 person
associatedWith Gibson, David, 1928-2004 person
associatedWith Harburg, E. Y. (Edgar Yipsel), 1896-1981 person
associatedWith Kern, Jerome, 1885-1945 person
associatedWith Marcello, Benedetto, 1686-1739 person
associatedWith Matthews, J. B. (Joseph Brown), 1894-1966 person
associatedWith McCullough, Hester. person
associatedWith Phillips, Harvey, 1929-2010 person
associatedWith Railroad Hour Radio Program corporateBody
associatedWith Raksin, David person
associatedWith Reiner, Fritz, 1888-1963 person
associatedWith Rodgers, Richard, 1902-1979 person
associatedWith Salzedo, Carlos, 1885-1961 person
associatedWith Schwartz, Arthur, 1900-1984 person
associatedWith Slonimsky, Nicolas, 1894-1995 person
associatedWith Teasdale, Sara, 1884-1933 person
associatedWith Turnbull, Larry person
associatedWith United Service Organizations (U.S.) corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities. corporateBody
associatedWith University of Southern Mississippi. de Grummond Children's Literature Collection. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Italy
Australia
Iran
Germany
Subject
Children's literature, American
Harmonica music
World War, 1939-1945
Occupation
Collector
Harmonica players
Performer
Activity

Person

Birth 1939

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