Mark Warnow

Mark Warnow (April 10, 1900 – October 17, 1949) was a violinist and orchestra conductor, who performed on radio in the 1930s and 1940s.

Mark Warnow
Warnow in 1946.
Born(1900-04-10)April 10, 1900, Ukraine, Russia
DiedOctober 17, 1949(1949-10-17) (aged 49)
New York City, New York, U.S.
OccupationViolinist, orchestra conductor

He was the older brother of composer and bandleader Raymond Scott (b. Harry Warnow), and is credited with steering his younger (and eventually also very famous) brother into a career in music.[1]

Early years

Warnow was born in Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire) to Jewish parents, and came with them to the United States when he was 9 (according to other sources, age 5).[2] Warnow grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Public School 100 and Eastern District High School, where he was a soloist as a violinist in the school's orchestra.[3]

Career

When he was 17, Warnow became the Massel Opera's musical director. From that, he became the Ziegfeld Follies' musical director. That was followed by a stint as bandleader for the Music Box Revue.[3]

Radio

Warnow enjoyed a lengthy and versatile career with the CBS Radio network. He was CBS music director in the early 1930s, and hired his younger brother Harry as a keyboardist in 1931.

On July 2, 1935, a CBS program debuted with singer Virginia Verrill starring and Warnow's orchestra accompanying her.[4]

Warnow conducted the orchestra on the CBS radio program Your Hit Parade from 1939 to his death in 1949. A 1941 newspaper article described Warnow as "the busiest man in radio," noting that his conducting duties included not only Your Hit Parade, but Helen Hayes Theatre and We, the People.[5]

He also conducted his orchestras for The Jack Berch Show,[6] the "Matinee Theatre" program, and Ed Wynn's "Happy Island" program.

Mark Warnow also conducted the orchestra for the "Sound Off" Radio show, 1946, New York City, sponsored by the U.S. Army to encourage post World War II recruitment. Emcee Arno Tanney, aka "The Chant" would sing/chant army recruiting commercials like a drill seargeant in his signature booming baritone to the rapid fire rhythm of the "Duckworth Chant" - "Join the Army, it's for you, better pay and college too, Sound Off!, 1, 2, Sound Off! 3, 4, - 1, 2, 3, 4, Sound Off...Sound Off!"

Stage

Warnow also produced a Broadway musical-comedy, What's Up? (1943-1944).[7][8]

Film

Warnow appeared as himself with his band in the Paramount Pictures release Paramount Headliner: The Star Reporter (1938).[9]

Recordings

In the 1940s, Warnow conducted and arranged for Frank Sinatra while the singer was signed to Columbia Records, then owned by the CBS network. He was also a composer and recording artist.

In 1949, Warnow and his orchestra recorded a Capitol Records album, Sound Off, named for the Sound Off Chant, which was featured on the album along with some marches and other patriotic music.[10]

Personal life

Warnow married twice. His second wife was the former Helen McGowan. They divorced in August 1948. He had five children, three from his first marriage and two from his marriage to McGowan.[2]

Death

Warnow died October 1, 1949, of a heart attack in Polyclinic Hospital in New York City, aged 49.[2]

gollark: How bozzar.
gollark: ALL THE ~~NEBULAE~~XENOWYRMS
gollark: I think their goal is 250.
gollark: Okay then, yes, there are probably not many people doing weird xenowyrm lineages.
gollark: It would be astrapi child vs mageia child, in the rare case in which you got a biome-from-non-xeno-parent egg.

References
  1. IMDB entry
  2. http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1949/10/18/page/36/article/mark-warnow-radio-musical-director-dies
  3. "Swing or Symphonic--It's All Same to Mark Warnow". New York, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 21, 1940. p. 6. Retrieved December 3, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Hall, Larry (June 30, 1935). "A.A.U. Meet Rates Top on Weekly Airwave Offerings". Nebraska, Lincoln. The Lincoln Star. p. 20. Retrieved April 3, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Meet Broadcasting's Busiest Music Man--Mark Warnow". Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Harrisburg Telegraph. January 25, 1941. p. 23. Retrieved December 3, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. P. 30.
  7. "Mark Warnow". Playbill Vault. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  8. IBDB entry
  9. IMDB entry
  10. "Mark Warnow, Group 'Sound Off' In New Album". Texas, Amarillo. Amarillo Daily News. January 21, 1949. p. 11. Retrieved December 3, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
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