Very interesting. I’d always known that actor Lionel Barrymore was also a composer, but this is the first time I’ve been able to locate any of his music. Barrymore, of course, was part of the great acting dynasty that also included his famous siblings, John and Ethel Barrymore. He is the great-uncle of Drew Barrymore.
Lionel was a fabulous character actor, who played a variety of roles on screen, though he seemed to specialize in curmudgeons. He played the irascible Dr. Gillespie in the “Doctor Kildare” movies of the 1930s and ‘40s. He was Ebenezer Scrooge in annual radio broadcasts of “A Christmas Carol.” Of course, he is probably most familiar these days as the soul-crushing capitalist Mr. Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Barrymore, born in Philadelphia in 1878, won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931). Despite his natural aptitude and widely acknowledged success in the field, it had never been his ambition to act. Instead, he was interested in being a visual artist. He even trained in Paris, and his prints and etchings were widely circulated.
As a composer, several of his piano works were published. Apparently his “Tableau Russe” was played, in both its piano and orchestral versions, in the film “Dr. Kildare’s Wedding Day.” His orchestral piece, “In Memoriam,” written to the memory of his brother John, was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. He also wrote an historical novel, “Mr. Cantonwine: A Moral Tale.”
Barrymore died in 1954. He had suffered from crippling arthritis for decades, which is why you’ll generally see him a wheelchair in most of his later films. He also broke his hip twice. He required morphine and cocaine to get through a shoot and to get to sleep at night. It was only through frequent injections of painkillers that he was able to get through “You Can’t Take It With You” on crutches.
Barrymore’s “Halloween Suite” can be heard here, beginning at the 36 minute mark.
http://randsesotericotr.podbean.com/2009/10/29/hollywood-bowl-pgm-78/
Barrymore is the narrator. Mario Lanza also appears on the concert. Miklós Rózsa conducts.
