:46:01
songs by George Frederick Handel,
and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade,
:46:05
all to be hammered into
original operatic form.
:46:08
Handel was determined public domain.
:46:10
Grieg was still in copyright in all
foreign countries, as was Tchaikovsky,
:46:14
as was Rimsky-Korsakov.
Worldwide clearance was critical.
:46:18
"This is important in foreign countries."
:46:20
"If they get a motion-picture company
in court there,
:46:23
the damages run into real dollars."
:46:27
By early January, with filming
already begun, a panic was on.
:46:30
César Franck's Symphony in D Minor
was on the table,
:46:33
along with Ippolitov-Ivanov's Caucasian
Sketches, as basis for a Russian opera.
:46:39
Franck's publisher was in Paris and could
not be contacted due to the occupation.
:46:43
Glazunov's Concerto in A Minor
was suggested,
:46:46
but it too was still in European copyright.
We know by this point
:46:50
that Claudin's music was supposed to be
forward-Iooking and modern,
:46:53
but nothing can explain
the craziest music note of all:
:46:56
"Urgently await word on
'The Caissons Go Rolling Along'."
:47:03
By mid-January
a decision had to be made.
:47:06
Martha was public domain. Chopin
melodies out of copyright were chosen,
:47:10
and a deal was made to close rights
for Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony -
:47:14
public domain in America, but as
the Russian opera was already designed,
:47:18
European rights were bought
for the Éditions Salabert.
:47:27
The art direction for Phantom
was by Alexander Golitzen,
:47:30
a White Russian,
the son of a doctor, who as a boy
:47:32
escaped the Russian Revolution
with his mother.
:47:35
Trained as an architect,
he got a job at MGM in the 1930s,
:47:39
then assisted art director Richard Day at
Goldwyn on pictures like The Hurricane.
:47:44
At Goldwyn, he met his wife Francis,
who worked in the story department.
:47:48
Alex, known as Sacha, then went under
contract to producer Walter Wanger,
:47:53
for whom he did Stagecoach and
Foreign Correspondent, among others.
:47:57
An independent producer, Wanger made
a turnkey deal at Universal in the 1940s,