Jay Blackton

Jay Blackton
Born	Jacob Schwartzdorf (1909-03-25)March 25, 1909 New York, U.S.
Died	Granada Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Composer, conductor
Spouse(s)	Louise Blackton
Children	2

Jacob Schwartzdorf (March 25, 1909 – January 8, 1994) was an American composer and conductor. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for one more in the category Best Original Score for the films Oklahoma! and Guys and Dolls. He was the music director, orchestrator or arranger for more than 25 Broadway productions and national tours.

Born Jay Schwartzdorf in New York City, he studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School. He began his career in opera, as an assistant conductor at New York Opera Comique and then as the conductor at St. Louis Municipal Opera from 1937 to 1942. In 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein hired him to orchestrate and conduct Oklahoma! on Broadway, and he followed this engagement as music director and often orchestrator or arranger of such musicals as Annie Get Your Gun, Call Me Madam, Guys and Dolls, Hello, Dolly! and George M!. In addition, he toured with Bob Hope and others.

Blackton died in January 1994 of heart failure at the Granada Hills Community Hospital in Granada Hills, California, at the age of 84.

Selected filmography

• The Merry Widow (1952)
• Oklahoma! (1955; co-won with Robert Russell Bennett and Adolph Deutsch)
• Guys and Dolls (1955; co-nominated with Cyril J. Mockridge)
• Androcles and the Lion (1967)

External links

• Jay Blackton at the Internet Movie Database