Page - 103 - in Der Filmkomponist Max Steiner - 1888 - 1971

1.1. Maximilian Raul Walter Steiner 103 Selznick detailliert dar, warum und wie er gezielt Druck auf Steiner ausübte und sich gleichzeitig dahingehend absicherte, falls Steiner dem Druck nicht standhalten sollte. „Steiner has again told us he can't meet the date. We discount this very largely because Steiner is notorious for such Statements and works well under pressure, and I am indined to take the chance that we can drive him through, particularly with the precautionary measures we are taking with Waxman and others. However, the reason we are continu- ing with him is because of my belief, to which I still cling in spite of everything, that his work will be a great deal better than it sounded on a few pieces. Tomorrow, Friday, he is recording the first several reels. If quality is disappointing, this, together with his pessimi- stic Statements, would warrant pulling him off, particularly in view of fact that Herbert Stothart is dying to do the Job and guarantees he would get it through on time, and from intimate knowledge of Stothart I knowhis Statements can be relied upon. Stothart was my second choice for the Job and it is my regret now of course that he was not first choice, although a couple of months ago when we were ready to switch, due to first Warner ma- noeuvres with Steiner [Steiner war bei Warner unter Vertrag und hatte, wie sein Brief beweist, Schwierigkeiten, sich für Gone With the Wind freizumachen; d. A.], we were told by MGM Stothart was not available [Stothart war bei MGM unter Vertrag; d. A.] and therefore clung to Steiner, because I do not feel there is anybody scoring pictures who is in same dass with Stothart and Steiner. [ Tatsächlich war Steiner die allererste Wahlßir diesen Job; d. A.] ... Very secretly we ran the picture for him (Stothart) today and he is simply frantic with ea- gerness and enthusiasm to do it ... Since we do not want to decide on the switch until we hear Steiners work over weekend, we are losing precious time with Stothart if he is to do the Job. What I would like to do is to Start Stothart selecting and writing in the morning with his füll knowledge that he may not go ahead if we decide to proceed with Steiner Sunday or Monday. Or it might be desirable to have him go ahead and write those reels which Steiner is not working on, in case of further trouble with Max and as our best pos- sible insurance of completion. As a third alternative, we might have him collaborate with Steiner on score, although not at all certain this would work out. In any event, I would be relieved of my depression about the quality of the score and considerably relieved of all our worries about completion of score if Stothart could Start to work with us in the morning. "l8° 180 Brief von David Selznick an John Hay Whitney vom 9. November 1939. Aus: Rudy Behlmer (Hrsg.): Memo from, David O. Selznick. Samuel French Publishing. Hollywood, 1984. S. 228—230.