Yesterday, I posted about Virgil Thomson. On this date in 1948, the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the first performance of Thomson’s “Louisiana Story Suite.” As I mentioned, “Louisiana Story” was the first – and so far only – film score to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Robert Flaherty’s semi-documentary, commissioned by the Standard Oil Company, whitewashes the impact of oil drilling in the bayous, which barely impacts a Cajun boy’s adventures with his pet raccoon. Much more irksome is a pesky alligator, for which Thomson composed a fugue.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to give a belated nod to Eugene Ormandy, whose birthday I missed on Nov. 18. Ormandy, of course, was music director and conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years.

Praise be! Somebody posted Ormandy’s recording of “Louisiana Story” on YouTube. I’m not sure that it’s ever appeared on CD. At any rate, it is currently unavailable.

Here’s the complete film, if you’re interested. The print, posted by a Russian(!), is much better than an alternative, murkier print, also posted, if you can forgive the foreign subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSvBQOSqHGI

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Be careful driving!