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Colin Wark

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Colin Wark
Born1896
London, England
Died1939 (aged 42–43)
United Kingdom
OccupationFilm composer

Colin Wark (1896 – 1939) was a British composer of film scores, theatre music and light music, born in Ealing, West London and educated at Berkhamsted School.[1][2] Many of the films he scored were "quota quickies", mostly low-cost, low-quality, quickly-accomplished films commissioned by American distributors active in the UK or by British cinema owners purely to satisfy the quota requirements.[3]

Wark was also the composer of the score for Tulip Time, a comedy with music based on the play The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown by Robert Buchanan (1841-1901) and Charles Marlowe.[4] Tulip Time opened at the Alhambra Theatre in London on August 14, 1935 and ran for 425 performances.[5]

In 1932 he was responsible for launching and managing Pasquale Troise and his Mandoliers, an orchestra of about 16 mandolin, accordion, guitar and tuned percussion players that made a series of BBC broadcasts between 1932 and 1933, and which went on to be the most frequently used band on the long-running BBC series Music While You Work (1940-1967).[6]

Wark's light music compositions include the novelty intermezzo Animal Antics,[7] Bouncing Ball (xylophone or piccolo solo), and Chrysanthemums for orchestra and piano. The Wedding of the Three Blind Mice, song/foxtrot, composed with Walter Williams and Bruce Sievier, was published in 1931. Philip L Scowcroft has suggested that Wark used the pseudonym Michele Lesley for some compositions, such as Waltz Serene.[8]

Wark worked for 12 years as musical advisor to the publishers Ricordi. He was married to actress Violet Kearney (1907-1985) who appeared as a dancer in the 1934 film Say It with Flowers, scored by Wark. There was one child, a son.[2] Wark died in 1939 in Hendon, Middlesex.[9]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "Colin Wark". Bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b Who's who in Music and Musicians' International Directory (1937)
  3. ^ Low, Rachael. History of the British Film: Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985. ISBN 9780047910425
  4. ^ The Literary Encyclopedia
  5. ^ Tulip Time entry, Guide to Musical Theatre
  6. ^ Radio Times, Issue 486, 20 January 1933, p 154
  7. ^ Recorded on Animal Antics, Guild Music CD 5143 (2008)
  8. ^ Scowcroft, Philip. 'A 349th Garland of British Light Music Composers' (2003)
  9. ^ 'Colin Wark', biography, IMDb


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