Robert W. Stringer

Composer, author and conductor Robert Wilson Stringer, a high-school graduate, took his music education in private study. A protégé of Herbert Stothart, he was a devotee of the music of Igor Stravinsky. While he was composing music for the concert hall, he was named chief of the music-editing department at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. At MGM, Stothart gave Stringer the opportunity to compose the musical setting ("The Spell", patterned by Stringer after the "Dance of the Nuns" from Stravinsky's "Petrouchka", orchestrated by Murray Cutter and conducted by Stothart) for the famous scene in "The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman dance through a poppy field towards the Emerald City. Stringer also wrote music for the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1956", radio scores for "Broadway Is My Beat" and "Studio One", and music for industrial films and commercials. Joining ASCAP in 1962, his popular-music compositions include "Theme from 'The Nurses'".