7/29/2019 Remembering Charles Wolcott
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SHEILA W. BANANI SANTA MONICA,
[email protected]
25 December 2012
Dawn Breakers International Film Festival
Dear friends:
Our family was very pleased to learn that this years Dawn
Breakers Intl Film Festival, tobe held in Switzerland, will be
honoring my father, Charles Wolcott. This is the 25th yearsince his
passing in Haifa, Israel in January 1987.
My father and mother became Baha'is in Los Angeles, California
in August 1938 afterbeing introduced to the Faith when they were
living in New York and he was working asan arranger on radio for
such big bands as Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey.Becoming
fascinated with Walt Disneys animated films he decided to move the
family tothe West Coast (my sister Marsha and I were still little)
and he became head of the DisneyStudios Music department as well as
conducting the orchestras and composing music forDisney films.
During the early period just prior to World War II, he traveled
with Disneyand a few other artists to South America to absorb the
cultures and bring back ideas forDisney films such as Saludos
Amigos and The Three Caballeros.These films were nominated for an
Academy Award (Oscar) for best musical score andsong. He also
worked on Fantasia, Pinocchio and Bambi.
In 1950 he moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio where he worked
as General MusicDirector, heading the Music Department at MGM, and
conducted the studio orchestra
and composed film music for such movies as Dream Wife,
Blackboard Jungle, KeyWitness and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
While working in Hollywood he composed musical settings to
Baha'i prayers such asFrom the Sweet-Scented Streams, O Thou By
Whose Name, and Blessed is the Spot.His Baha'i service began with
appointments to various U.S. national committees as well aselection
to the Los Angeles Baha'i Assembly (1948-1960). In 1953 he was
elected to theU.S. National Spiritual Assembly on which he served
as vice-chairman. In 1960 he waselected secretary of the U.S.
National Assembly and resigned his position as head of theMusic
Department at MGM and moved, with wife Harriett, to Wilmette,
Illinois to takeup his duties as secretary.
When he was elected to the International Baha'i Council in the
Holy Land for a two-year
term (1961-1963), he and my mother did not realize that their
service in the Faith wouldkeep them there for another 26 years
until his death in 1987, since he was elected to thefirst Universal
House of Justice in 1963 and re-elected in subsequent terms. He is
buriedon Mount Carmel in the Baha'i Cemetery after a half-century
of service to the Faith.
With loving Baha'i regards,Sheila
