America the beautiful carmen dragon program notes

for elementary schools from 1928 through the 1970s. He played himself in the 1979 film The In-Laws as the conductor of the fictitious Paramus Philharmonic Orchestra.ĭragon conducted the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and they performed on The Standard School Broadcast, broadcast on NBC radio in the western U.S. In his obituary published March 29, 1984, the New York Times noted: 'In 1964 he won an Emmy for producing the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Christmas Special on NBC.' He made a popular orchestral arrangement of 'America the Beautiful' and also re-arranged it for symphonic band. With Morris Stoloff, he shared the 1944 Oscar for the popular Gene Kelly/ Rita Hayworth musical Cover Girl, which featured songs by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin. He was very active in pop music conducting and composed scores for several films, including At Gunpoint (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Night into Morning (1951), and Kiss Tomorrow Good-bye (1950). (A newspaper article erroneously identified the composer as 'a high school girl, Carmen Dragon'.) Film Forward, Antioch! was performed between acts of a school play on February 28, 1930. He attended Antioch High School and, while a student there, composed a song for the school. Carmen Dragon (J– March 28, 1984) was an American conductor, composer, and arranger who in addition to live performances and recording, worked in radio, film, and television.ĭragon was born in Antioch, California, the son of Rose and Frank Dragon, who were Italian immigrants.

America the beautiful carmen dragon program notes