Arthur Morton

Arthur Morton was an American music composer and orchestrator for film and television. Born on August 8, 1908, in Duluth, at the southern end of Lake Superior, 150 miles from Minneapolis, he was also known as Arthur Goldberg. He attended West High School at 2808 Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis, which closed in 1982.

Morton continued his education at the University of Minnesota, located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, where he played in jazz bands. He graduated in 1929, and after a year studying law and undertaking further graduate work in philosophy, he moved to Los Angeles. There is no record of him receiving an advanced musical education. In 1935, he married Emmy Lou Hellman, the daughter of screenwriter Sam Hellman and the sister of Verna Fields, the Academy Award-winning film editor of *Jaws*.

Morton's 65-year career in Hollywood began in the music departments of Hal Roach Studios—famous for *Laurel and Hardy*—and at Columbia Pictures, where he composed and orchestrated uncredited stock music. His first credited film score was for *Night Life of the Gods* (1935). While at Columbia, he began collaborating with George Duning, also known as George Dunning, composing additional music for films such as *Lust for Gold* (1949), and eventually becoming Duning’s orchestrator. During this time, he composed and orchestrated music for over fifty films, including *From Here to Eternity* (1953), *The Man From Laramie* (1955), *Kismet* (1955), and the cult film *Ocean's Eleven* (1960), starring The Rat Pack.

In 1955, he orchestrated what may be the most famous of George Duning’s scores for the film *Picnic*, which included the hit song *Theme from Picnic*, blended in the film with the 1930s standard *Moonglow*. The score was nominated in 1956 for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.

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