Gaylord Carter

Gaylord Carter (August 3, 1905 – November 20, 2000) was an American organist and the composer of many film scores that were added to silent movies released on video tape or disks.

Early life

Gaylord Carter was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, the son of a musician. His family soon emigrated to the United States, settling in Wichita, Kansas, where his father opened a conservatory of music and also served as a church organist.

Young Gaylord displayed the family talent for music and became a soloist in a church choir, until his voice changed. He also played the organ in another church from the age of ten. By the time he was fourteen he was playing at a local movie theater, accompanying the silent films at children's matinees.

Silent movie era career

The family remained in Wichita until 1922 and then moved to Los Angeles, California, where 16 year old Gaylord was enrolled at Lincoln High School in the Lincoln Heights district. Gaylord found employment at a local theater accompanying movies on the piano and then, as the theater prospered, a new organ. After graduating from Lincoln High, he attended UCLA where, by 1926, he was engaged in pre-law studies. He continued playing in theaters to finance his education.

Carter was playing accompaniment to Harold Lloyd's move "The Kid" at the Seville Theater in suburban Inglewood when he was spotted by the star himself, who had dropped in to see how the movie was doing. Impressed by Carter's playing, Lloyd recommended him to Sid Grauman, who offered the 21 year old $110 dollars a week to be the full time organist at his downtown Los Angeles movie palace, the Million Dollar Theatre. Carter accepted the offer and left school. Though he later paid for the college educations of his brother and sister, he never completed college himself.

Radio career

Through the remainder of the 1920s, Carter played at the Million Dollar and other theaters, including Sid Grauman's larger downtown venue, Grauman's Metropolitan, the most capacious movie palace ever built in Los Angeles. The introduction of sound films, and then the onset of the depression, led to a declining demand for theater organists, and by the mid-1930s Carter had launched a career in the booming new medium of radio. He played on several network shows and also had his own local music show on Los Angeles station KHJ. He also made a film appearance in 1937, as himself, in the movie "Sunday Night at the Trocadero".

He spent the war years serving in the Army as a film officer in Alaska. Following the war he resumed his radio career, playing for such shows as The Whistler and Suspense. He then moved on to television where he was the musical accompanist on the Pinky Lee Show, and in 1961-1962 had another local show of his own, "Everybody Sing with Gaylord" on Los Angeles channel KCOP-TV. During these years he also continued to perform occasional live organ concerts, both at those few theatres which still maintained their silent era organs, such as South Pasadena's Rialto Theatre and Seattle's Paramount Theatre, as well as public venues with theatre organs, such as the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. He also made recordings on a number of these old instruments, releasing several albums.

Silent movie revival

In the 1960s and beyond, Carter helped fuel a revived public interest in silent movies with his production company, Flicker Fingers Productions. In the 1970s, Carter was hired to provide recorded scores for theatrical re-releases of several Mary Pickford movies. With the arrival of home video players, recorded versions of classic silent movies became available and Carter recorded scores, many of his own composition, for a variety of these films. Among them were many movies made by his early benefactor and old friend Harold Lloyd. In the 1980s, he scored a dozen silent classics for home release by Paramount Pictures.

Final years

Gaylord Carter remained active into the 1990s. He made tours of North America, Europe, and Australia, performing on many of the world's surviving theater organs. In 1975, he was inducted into the hall of fame of the American Theatre Organ Society. In 1987, he was the first organist to perform for the "Last Remaining Seats" program, which had been launched by the preservation organization, the Los Angeles Conservancy, playing the organ at the Orpheum Theatre in that city's Broadway Historic Theatre District, a few blocks from the Million Dollar Theatre which had been the scene of his first great success. In his last years he also performed occasionally at the Warner Grand Theatre, which was fairly near his home.

Carter suffered a stroke in 1993, but recovered sufficiently to perform again. His last major performance was a concert on the occasion of his 90th birthday, at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California. He spent his final years in his home in the Los Angeles district of San Pedro, where he had long resided in a house designed for him by architect Richard Neutra. He died there at the age of 95.