The Magnificent Elmer: My Life with Elmer Bernstein

Written by his wife of twenty years, The Magnificent Elmer is the first book about Elmer Bernstein, aseminal figure of movie music. Elmer wrote music for more than two hundredfilms, including the scores for Hawaii, The Carpetbaggers, The Great Escape, The MagnificentSeven, The Man with the Golden Arm, TheSweet Smell of Success, The Ten Commandments, The World of HenryOrient, To Kill a Mockingbird, True Grit, and Walkon the Wild Side, just toname a few. He was nominated for fourteen Oscars and won for his score to ThoroughlyModern Millie. He also won two Golden Globes and was nominated for two GrammyAwards.In this book, Elmer's former wife Pearl tells in vivid anecdotesof their move from a fifth-floor Manhattan walk-up to the red carpets ofHollywood-not an entirely timely move, as Joe McCarthy was at the peak of hispowers and the studios were in their death throes. Pearl participated in theups and downs of Joe McCarthy, Will Hays, and Otto Preminger. And she presentsan array of Hollywood's leading men, warts and all, from Sinatra to Odets, fromDeMille to Elmer's eponymous rival, Leonard Bernstein.