Bronisław Mirski - Polish Music Director of the Silent Film Era

This is how Bronisław Mirski advertised his skills in The Billboard in 1921, when he was looking for a position as music director of movie theatres. From the very start, he showed great care for the appropriate selection of music and its strict synchronisation with the image. He was a regular music column reader, member of music societies, liked to give interviews, and sometimes published his own texts. The successive stages of his career in the USA are well documented in the trade press, which presented him as a pioneer of the movement for better-quality film music. Every time he changed his job and moved to another city which looked for a music director with such skills and experience as he represented, local critics extolled his musical achievements.

Most movie theatres that he worked for changed their programme every week, and regular shows alternated with so-called De Luxe ones, which included additional stage, film and music attractions. Mirski supervised the entire programme and took decisions with regard to set designs and lighting. He was responsible not only for preparing music for feature-length films, but also for selecting the concert overture, editing and musically illustrating the newsreel, compiling or delegating the task of compiling music for comedies and other short films, inviting guest artists and planning their performances in the interludes, as well as consulting the repertoire with the local organist.

The feature film was at the core of each programme, and largely defined its shape and structure. Press articles and advertisements have made it possible to identify more than 230 films for which Mirski compiled music over the dozen or so years of his work. Approximately 108 of them have been preserved to our times (in parts or as a whole); as many as 122 have been lost without a trace. The majority were US productions, documented in detail in a database resulting from a report on the state of preservation of American silent feature movies made in 1912–1929

American Silent Feature Film Database from the report ‘The Survival of American Silent Feature Films: 1912–1929’, https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/silentfilms/silentfilms-home.html (accessed 1 December 2020).

Mirski knew the silent films created by the above-listed directors nearly by heart. He selected suitable music to accompany them, scene after scene, sequence after sequence. He then conducted the thus formed compilations for seven successive days, up to several times a day. The immense effort required from a movie theatre music director is almost unimaginable. Each theatre orchestra had different performing forces, a somewhat different collection of music, and catered for different audience tastes. This makes it even harder to accept that so little of Mirski's work and its effects survives nowadays. The press very rarely commented on the music accompanying the films. Adverts for the movie theatres mostly promoted the films by printing the names of well-known filmmakers and actors, a short summary of the plot, the overture composer's name and title, as well as brief information concerning other elements of the programme (titles of the comedies and other shorts, names of guest artists, etc.). Film announcements and reviews sometimes mention the existence of a “special music score” arranged by the conductor, but we do not know what compositions it was made up of. Mirski himself explained:

Features are comparatively simple with the stories running true to certain rules, with star types, with synopsis, continuity sheet, music cue sheet, etc., available beforehand

N. Mirskey, ‘How Music Helps Presentation of Pictures’, Exhibitor's Trade Review, 28 February 1925, pp. 14–15.

While compiling music for specific movies, Mirski certainly made use of the officially published cue sheets, which indicated what pieces of music could be used as accompaniment for the given film fragment. They listed the title, composer, publisher, date of publication, duration of the fragment, as well as (though not always) – a few opening bars of the melody. Whenever such a cue sheet called for the use of works which could not be found in the local movie theatre's library, it was the music director's task to replace them with other suitable compositions. Such cues, however, were not available for every film, and they did not always reach the cinema on time. Mirski commented on this in his own text printed in 1919, when he was head of the Avenue Theater's amateur orchestra in DuBois.

Further on Mirski discussed in detail his strategy of preparing musical settings for films, and explained his choice of strongly dramatic, Oriental-style music in the minor keys to match Bara's film version of the tragic Biblical tale of Salome, granddaughter of Herod the Great. He decided to use works by such composers as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Semyon Barmotin, Edvard Grieg, Arthur Rubinstein, Jean-Jacques Goldman, and Léo Delibes. For the passionate and diabolical final scene, he selected The Scotch Poem by Edward MacDowell. The version of the piece published in 1916 by Ross Jungnickel in New York has been preserved in Bronek's private music collection, which is the key source for the study of the music he incorporated into his settings.

The collection of music prints kept at the University of Pittsburgh and known as the ‘Mirskey Collection’ comprises c. 3,500 pieces of music which made up the conductor's private music library

For a detailed description of the collection, see: C.E. Peña, ‘Photoplay Music from the Mirskey Collection at the University of Pittsburgh’, Notes, vol. 70, no. 3, 2014, pp. 398–412.

Such an approach called for music so well suited to the film that it would form an ‘inaudible’ layer, allowing the audience to focus on the plot

The concept of the ‘inaudibility’ of film music is strongly present in film studies and psychology studies on film music. For example, see: C. Gorbman, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, London, British Film Institute, 1987.

With a library of standard illustrative music at hand, Mirski was able to organise his film scores in ways which matched the tastes of the spectators. One of his main observations concerned the audience's musical preferences:

The average movie audience like variety. But it must be always tunes. Be it dramatic, or tragic, light or heavy, classic or jazz – it must be melodious to untrained ear

Mirskey, p. 14.

Though Mirski was not as well known as some other conductors of the silent film era, especially those associated with New York, he scored considerable successes on the local level. He gained his experience in small cities and towns where professional musicians were in short supply. Despite this, the effects of his work earned him praise in the press. At Toledo's Hippodrome he played in a trio with a cello and piano; at Punxsutawny's Jefferson, the Avenue theatre in DuBois, and Broadway in Richmond, he directed orchestras mostly made up of amateur musicians. He owed his first ‘serious’ position to his participation in the First National Conference of the Association of Motion Picture and Musical Interest held in January 1921 in New York

I.M. McHenry, ‘The American Concert Field: First National Conference’, The Billboard, 5 February 1921, pp. 24–25.

Mirski spent the years 1921–23 in the capital of the United States, already as a rightful US citizen

Bronislaw N. Mirskey received his US citizenship on 7 July 1921 in Clearfield, PA.

Figure 1

Mirski coped so well in his new post that after three months (as of 1 August 1921) he was promoted to the position of music director in Harry Crandall's most important Washington venue, the Metropolitan Theatre, situated in the very centre of the business district and a frequent venue for the Washington premieres of new films

‘Many Film Attractions in Washington Theaters’, The Washington Post, 1 August 1921, p. 12.

Mirski oversaw the complete musical setting of each programme, later presented in a similar form in six other theatres of Crandall's chain. The show invariably started with an orchestral overture, and included, in varying combinations, solo and chamber music numbers (such as preludes, interludes, and operatic prologues to films), as well as comedies and other short films (mostly dedicated to landscapes and nature), newsreels and other news services (such as Pathé News, Topics of the Day, Metropolitan World Survey, Literary Digest's “Fun from the Press”), and the feature film as its main element. From press adverts we learn that the orchestra usually performed the overture, as well as the feature film and newsreel live accompaniment, while the comedies received a jazz setting normally played by a duo consisting of the local organist and pianist. The other elements of the programme were performed by soloists and chamber ensembles.

Mirski's music programmes enjoyed great audience acclaim, and frequently earned him standing ovation

‘Ovation for Mirskey’, The Washington Herald, 18 September 1921, p. 23 (4).

The music that accompanied the films had a profound impact on their reception. High standards of the music programmes translated into booking office success. Other movie theatre owners therefore followed Harry Crandall's example and began to invest in well-educated musicians:

All, or nearly all, the leading photoplay houses have engaged conductors of ability, and some claim to have excelled the others in their musical programs, for in addition to the musical accompaniment, innovations have brought instrumental and vocal solos of high order. [...] Crandall's Metropolitan has evinced his faith in its fine musical aggregation to the extent of specially advertising the merits of its conductor and solo players. Under N. Mirskey, its conductor, it is claimed the Metropolitan orchestra has attained the dignity of a symphony organization. Mr. Mirskey is said to be a graduate of the Warsaw Conservatory and to have had wide experience both as a soloist and as conductor of symphony orchestras, with special talent for synchronising his musical arrangements to time with the action of the picture for which they are played

‘Amusement: The Theater’, The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., 18 September 1921, p. 1 (3).

Apart from Mirski himself, the press also praised the 30-strong orchestra he conducted, which consisted of excellent soloists. The orchestra's reputation owed much to Harry Crandall's extensive publicity campaign. In The Washington Times and other local dailies he regularly printed materials dedicated to this ensemble:

Washington's Finest Orchestra is the appraisement placed by the music-loving public of the Capital upon the newly organized Symphony Orchestra of thirty solo artists at Crandall's Metropolitan Theater. In individual and ensemble finish and genuine musicianship this splendid organization stands supreme. Rich in instrumentation, including in its playing personnel honor graduates of the foremost conservatories of Europe as well as America, this versatile and highly artistic orchestra, under the leadership of a Bachelor of Music of the Warsaw Conservatory (Poland), daily offers overtures, solo numbers and musical interpretation of pictured drama not approached in quality by any organization in Washington, other than the Metropolitan Symphony, N. Mirskey, Conductor

The Washington Times, 11 September 1921, p. 16.

Figure 2

Crandall's press adverts for his movie theatre orchestra constituted a precedent, commented on by an editor of the Variety weekly, among others:

Harry Crandall, owner of the Metropolitan and other picture houses here, is heavily featuring his symphony orchestra at the Metropolitan in all advertising matter. The musical critics review their program in the musical sections weekly. Mr. Crandall runs two display ads on Sunday, a large one for his orchestra and a much smaller one for the picture attraction

H. Meakin, ‘Washington’, Variety, 23 September 1921, p. 41.

Several talented musicians played in the orchestra under Mirski's tenure

The quotes about the musicians in the following two paragraphs come from the article: ‘Orchestra is Composed of Music Masters’, The Washington Times, 18 September 1921, p. 7.

Particularly abounding in talented musicians was the brass section: principal horn Ph. Corino, principal trumpet S. Li Calzi, and trombionist V. Squeo. According to a reviewer of The Washington Times, “[t]he incidental solo work of this trio of artists has had a pronounced influence upon the rapidity with which the Metropolitan Symphony has risen to its present position of pre-eminence among the Capital's musical organisations.” The percussionist was J.W. Jehlem, “rated among the few drummers and tympanists in the country who are equally skilllful in the playing of intricate scores and improvising effects to enliven the popular quick-steps”. Harpist Viola Taubert Abrams, graduate of the New York College of Music, frequently played solos. She had previously performed as a soloist in the Russian Symphony Orchestra of New York under Modest Altschuler. The post of pianist was occupied at first by Carl Hinnant, who was later replaced by Ernest Harrison, graduate of Lincoln University School of Music, previously for several seasons – an accompanist to violinist Elias Breeskin. Organist Milton Davis was a master of the three-manual instrument.

After two years of work with this orchestra, in late February 1923, Mirski demanded that the piano be removed and 1^st and 2^nd violins as well as violas reinforced, so that the orchestra could produce a properly rich orchestral sound which the piano was not quite capable of imitating

‘Filmograms’, The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., 25 February 1923, p. 3.

Mirski first led the 30-piece Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra on 31 July 1921, starting the programme with Vincenzo Bellini's overture to Norma. The highlight of the day was Wesley Ruggles’ film Over the Wire (1921), unfortunately not preserved to our day. The audience were also able to watch Larry Semon's comedy The Bakery, a newsreel by the French company Pathé News, a set of news based on the influential US weekly Literary Digest, as well as Topics of the Day.

The overture was, musically speaking, one of the main elements of each programme. It opened the show and introduced the appropriate atmosphere. The concert overtures performed by the Metropolitan's orchestra included actual opera and operetta overtures, but also excerpts from musicals, suites, popular songs and traditional tunes, frequently in Mirski's own arrangements. For instance, the overture to Polly of the Follies (1922), starring Norma Talmadge, was titled Metropolitan Echoes by Mirski, and comprised arrangements of the then most fashionable songs, ballads and dances, such as, among others, Good Times, Say it with Music, Dardanella, End of a Perfect Day, Swanee River Moon, Yoo-hoo, Kalua, Little Grey Home, Blue Danube Blues, Blue Law Blues, My Man, and Auld Lang Syne. Another movie starring the same actress, The Eternal Flame (1922) directed by Frank Lloyd, was accompanied by Mirski's compilation of pieces by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Léo Delibes, Henry Hadley, Richard Wagner, Luigi Boccherini, and others.

Most popular among the overtures conducted by Mirski at the Metropolitan Theatre was Mayhew M. Lake's The Evolution of Dixie (performed in four different programmes), Charles J. Roberts’ Old Folks at Home and in Foreign Lands and Victor Herbert's Sweethearts (both used thrice), Lucius Hosmer's Northern Rhapsody and Southern Rhapsody, Ambroise Thomas's Raymond, Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus, and Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell (all used twice). The remaining overtures were usually presented to the audience once only, which guaranteed the freshness and attractiveness of the repertoire. Some performances (for instance, of Franz von Suppe's Poet and Peasant and Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser) were accompanied by specially designed light effects, confirmed by notes in the surviving music scores.

Such effects may also have accompanied the numbers played by soloists and chamber ensembles, which performed not exclusively on the stage, but also from other spots in the theatre, thus introducing interesting spatial effects. For instance, on 2 October 1921 Mirski made his Washington debut as a soloist

‘Music in Movies: Conductor-Soloist at “Metropolitan”’, The Washington Times, 2 October 1921, p. 33.

Of key significance to many of the programmes was the specially prepared film prologue, usually operatic in character. For instance, tenor Alfredo Gonzales Padin re-enacted the opening scene of the movie Serenade (1921) in his operatic prologue titled Spanish Serenade. Eight actors-singers featured in the prologue to Oliver Twist (1922, starring Jackie Coogan in the title role), whereas mezzo-soprano Flora McGill Keefer sang Little Grey Home in the West as a prelude to The Old Nest (1921), and baritone Fred East performed The Sunshine of Your Smile by way of an atmospheric introduction to the movie Scrap Iron (1921). Another point of interest was 10-year-old violinist Milton Schwartz's

Milton Schwartz (1909–2003) was a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington from 1930 to 1981. Early in his career, he served as concertmaster of an orchestra that provided accompaniment to silent films at the Earle Theatre in Washington, D.C. For more information, see: E. Robinson, ‘The Humble Beginnings of the National Symphony Orchestra’, Boundary Stones, [website], 25 September 2017, https://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2017/09/25/humble-beginnings-national-symphony-orchestra (accessed 1 December 2020); T. Page, ‘Violinist Milton Schwartz, the NSO's First String’, The Washington Post, 6 February 2003, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/02/06/violinist-milton-schwartz-the-nsos-first-string/9a5f54f4-fd19-4865-b3eb-dc54f472232b/ (accessed 1 December 2020).

During the less than two years of his employment at the Metropolitan theatre, Mirski compiled musical settings for 81 films, which in each case were the highlights of the programme. These included as many as three German films starring Pola Negri, increasingly popular in the United States. Gypsy Blood (Carmen, 1918), a film drama based on Prosper Mérimée's novella Carmen, was preceded by excerpts from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, an atmospheric prelude composed of Gypsy melodies, interpreted by violinist Alexander Podnos, pianist Ernest Harrison, and the symphony orchestra. The film One Arabian Night (Sumurun, 1920), based on Friedrich Freksa's pantomime Sumurun, was introduced by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral suite Scheherazade, and the operatic prologue Arabian Nights, drawing on the One Thousand and One Nights, performed by baritone Joseph Mondell, soprano May Fox, and tenor Herbert Allen. The now lost Vendetta (1919) was accompanied by the overture to Antônio Carlos Gomes’ opera Il Guarany.

Of the US film productions presented at the Metropolitan in that period, 37 survive to our day, while 41 titles are considered lost. The period press only provides some few fragmentary clues as to the music that accompanied those films. For instance, the accompaniment for the 1921 drama based on the 1908 Broadway production Salvation Nell consisted of thematically related melodies selected by Mirski, such as, among others, The Rosary, the prelude to Wagner's Lohengrin, Onward Christian Soldiers, and Lead, Kindly Light – that last one sung by the soprano from backstage. The same programme also included the harpist Viola Taubert Abrams’ first ever Metropolitan solo (she played Angelo Francis Pinto's The Soul's Awakening at the side of the proscenium), while the overture was Charles J. Roberts's Old Folks at Country and in Foreign Lands, an arrangement of an original melody by Stephen Collins Foster performed in the style of traditional songs from France, Scotland, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Hungary.

Figure 3

One of the best documented musical settings was the one which accompanied the two-hour US-Italian historical movie Nero (1922), directed by J. Gordon Edwards. Because of its length, the film was the only cinematic element of the programme. It presented three simultaneously unfolding plot lines accompanied by a total of 109 musical numbers, which included: Jules Massenet's Cleopatra, selections from Léo Delibes’ ballet La Source and March and Procession of Bacchus, Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, and Henry Hadley's Azora. The scene of the great fire of Rome was accompanied by the overture to Luigi Mancinelli's opera Cleopatra and the Robespierre overture by Henry Litolff. As accompaniment for the lighter scenes, Mirski chose fragments of Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor and Félix Fourdrain's lyrical drama Madame Roland.

Since Mirski was extremely successful as music director of the Metropolitan Theatre, he planned to settle with his wife in Washington for a longer time. Early in 1922 he wrote in a letter to his mother:

I have a good post here and will probably stay here for a long time, or even settle here for good, since Washington is a delightful city and the US capital. I enclose a press cutting which shows my orchestra in the theatre and the orchestra in which my wife is pounding away on the clavichord. Our company has 7 (seven) theatres in Washington; I conduct in the largest one but I am the music director of all the seven.

Several months ago we bought our own house, which will be completely paid off in 3 to 4 years. We have 7 (seven) rooms, but only three of them are furnished. Even this is too much for us, since I spend all days and evenings in the theatre and have an awful lot of work. I try to drop in to our home for dinner once a week, but I mostly dine in a restaurant since going home and back again is too time-consuming, even though I have my own car and driving home from the theatre takes me just around 15 minutes

Bronisław Mirski's letter to Regina Orzegowska, Washington, D.C., 16 January 1922, Family Archive.

The couple's plans were thwarted by one of the greatest construction disasters in Washington's history

For more information, see: K. Ambrose, The Knickerbocker Snowstorm. Images of America, Charlestone, SC, Arcadia Publishing, 2013; ‘Blizzard of 1922: Knickerbocker Theater Disaster’, [website], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h62ec3Ilgno (accessed 1 December 2020).

In the autumn Mirski took up a temporary post in New York as a collaborator of Hugo Riesenfeld, music director at the Rivoli, Rialto, and Criterion theatres operated by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation

‘Musical Director’, The Sunday Herald, Boston, MA, 18 November 1923, p. 4D.

Mirski was a unique figure in that he was one of the few movie theatre orchestra conductors to have left behind a private collection of music prints complete with handwritten performance guidelines

Information on similar collections can be found in: K.P. Leonard, Music for Silent Film: A Guide to North American Resources, Middleton, Wisconsin, co-published by MLA Music Library Association and A-R Editions, 2016.