Jerry Adler, Harmonica Virtuoso, Dies at 91
Matthew Kruk
Jerry Adler, Harmonica Virtuoso, Dies at 91 By WILLIAM GRIMES
Jerry Adler, a harmonica virtuoso whose pure, open sound can be heard on
the soundtracks to "Shane," "High Noon," "Mary Poppins" and other films,
but who labored in the shadow of his more famous harmonica-playing older
brother, Larry, died on March 13 in Ellenton, Fla. He was 91 and lived
in Sarasota.
The cause was prostate cancer, his son, Michael, said.
Mr. Adler got off to a flying start in the music business after winning
a talent contest at a local theater at 13. It was the same contest,
sponsored by The Baltimore Evening Sun, that Larry had won five years
earlier, in 1927, and Jerry performed the same piece, Beethoven's Minuet
in G.
"I was a very skinny, scrawny kid who couldn't make it at all with the
girls," he told The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 1997. "So I did this as a
defense. And it worked."
First prize was the chance to perform with the theater's headliner, Red
Skelton, for a week. A few years later, looking for work in Manhattan,
Jerry talked his way into an audition with Paul Whiteman and soon began
appearing with his orchestra at the Palace.
Unlike Larry, who devoted himself to classical music, Jerry stuck with
popular tunes. He was highly sought after as a soloist in films from the
1940s through the 1960s. His credits include the soundtracks for
"Shane," "High Noon," "The Alamo," "You Can't Take It With You," "Mary
Poppins" and "My Fair Lady."
When stars needed to pick up the instrument for a film role, he showed
them how to fake it with conviction, secure in the knowledge that he
would be recording the notes offstage. He tutored Jimmy Stewart in "Pot
o' Gold" (1941) and Van Johnson in "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" (1947).
In the 1953 Kirk Douglas film "The Juggler," he appeared on screen
taking a solo in a campfire scene.
Hilliard Gerald Adler was born on Oct. 30, 1918, in Baltimore. After
establishing a solo career, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was
assigned to an entertainment unit in Santa Ana, Calif., which cast him
in "Winged Victory," Moss Hart's star-packed Broadway morale-booster
about pilots in training. He also appeared in the film version, directed
by George Cukor, which was released in 1944.
Eager to go overseas, Mr. Adler volunteered for a small entertainment
unit called the Winged Pigeons, which toured most of the Pacific islands
immediately after, and in some cases during, their liberation by
American forces.
In 1947 he married Sylvia Gandel, who died in 1990. His second wife,
Jean Ruppa, died in 2009. In addition to his son, Michael, of
Germantown, Md., he is survived by a daughter, Susan Lantis of Capitola,
Calif. Larry, his brother, died in 2001.
Beginning in the 1950s, Mr. Adler found steady work performing on cruise
ships, which provided a good living for decades. In the 1980s, when the
cruise ships became too onerous, he began performing on the Florida
condo circuit. He often appeared with pops orchestras, usually
performing the music of George Gershwin.
His autobiography, "Living From Hand to Mouth," was published in 2005.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
BobF
[Default] On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:50:15 -0600, "Matthew Kruk"
<nob...@home.com> magnanimously proffered:
>March 22, 2010
>Jerry Adler, Harmonica Virtuoso, Dies at 91 By WILLIAM GRIMES
My first thought was "I'm sure he died years ago." Then I realised
that I was still confusing Jerry with Larry, who DID die years ago.
I love the harmonica. It's the only instrument I know how to play ...
even though I learned to play it backwards. Which, when I think about
it, is not surprising for someone with dyslexia.
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
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Hawthorne
> March 22, 2010
> Jerry Adler, Harmonica Virtuoso, Dies at 91 By WILLIAM GRIMES
>
> Jerry Adler, a harmonica virtuoso whose pure, open sound can be heard on
> the soundtracks to "Shane," "High Noon," "Mary Poppins" and other films,
> but who labored in the shadow of his more famous harmonica-playing older
> brother, Larry, died on March 13 in Ellenton, Fla. He was 91 and lived
> in Sarasota.
>
Not to be confused with the actor Jerry Adler, 81 ("Sopranos"," Mad
About You").