Herman Heller

From all accounts, Herman Sanford Heller was a beloved member of San Francisco's musical community for more than two decades. Born in Hungary, he received some training in Prague, Copenhagen and Agram. After emigrating to the U.S. he became first violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of its founder, Fritz Scheel. This was to last from 1900 to 1902, when he led the orchestra at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After traveling as conductor of a touring show, he settled in San Francisco around 1903 and took up positions as conductor in theatres and hotels. He married Irene Theresa Stern in 1909 and they took an apartment on lower Nob Hill. Heller referred to himself as composer, instrumentalist, teacher and "estheticist," but in fact, he was a pioneer on radio and an unheralded inventor of magnetic recording devices. In January 1909 Heller composed a score to Upton Sinclair's 1903 novel "Prince Hagan: A Phantasy," produced at the Valencia Theatre in San Francisco, where Heller had conducted for several years. By 1910 Heller was renown as conductor of the 30-piece orchestra at the Hotel St. Francis, facing Union Square. His composition "Hotel St. Francis March" was published in San Francisco in 1910 and dedicated to the general manager, James Woods. A few years later, St. Francis band leader Art Hickman would dedicate his "Rose Room Fox-Trot" to Woods. Heller's Sunday night concerts (in what was called the Francisca Café) featured music from the operas and light classics. California's largest music retailer, Sherman, Clay & Co., included Heller's photo and an endorsement for Steinway pianos in their advertising. During 1911 to 1913 he was also a violinist in the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. It is apparent that Heller had a love for ragtime and popular songs. According to a magazine article from 1926, Heller helped popularize the banjo in the dance orchestra in the days when jazz was being recognized on the Barbary Coast of San Francisco. As an inventor, he patented a tailpiece for stringed instruments such as violins and banjos (patent granted in 1919). In June, 1913 his wife gave birth to a daughter they named Gwendolyn (Gwen Heller). Soon after her birth he traveled to New York to oversee the installation of a device he invented for expediting subway traffic. After a brief residency in Portland, Oregon (1914) he and his wife and young daughter moved back to San Francisco where he became very active as composer and director of midnight shows at the Press Club. By 1918 Heller was a celebrated conductor of the shows at the California Theatre on Market and 4th Street. His draft application stated that his eyes were brown and his hair was black. In August 1920 Heller made history by conducting his Theatre Orchestra on the first public broadcast (radio-telephone) of its kind in San Francisco. By 1920 his family and one servant moved to 110-21st Avenue, near Lake Street. In 1921 he made frequent orchestra broadcasts from the California Theatre over 6XC, the local Lee De Forest Radiophone station. In 1924 Heller and family moved to Los Angeles for a short time before moving back to New York City, where he became musical director of the Warner Theatre, and his career turned toward motion picture music. For the Vitaphone Corporation's earliest sound pictures, Heller conducted the Vitaphone Orchestra for artists such as the tenor, Giovanni Martinelli (1926). The September 18, 1927 release The First Auto (1927) featured a synchronized musical score compiled and conducted by Herman Heller. Although filmed in California, it is likely that the score was recorded in New York where there were larger recording facilities. The music consisted of myriad popular songs of the day, intertwined with stock mood music and sound effects, much like the score to MGM's Spite Marriage (1929). By January 1932 Heller was back in San Francisco, where he had gained a loyal following for nearly 30 years. He provided the music at both the New Fillmore Theatre and the New Mission Theatre. In February, 1932 his name appeared on the list of musicians suspended from San Francisco's Musicians Union, Local 6. In 1934 Heller is listed as living with his second wife, Vera, in what became known as the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. In the mid-1930s he applied for U.S. patents pertaining to magnetic recording technology, including one (filed January, 1938) for a "multiple lane magnetic recording system." Lockheed Aircraft did some testing of a device made by Heller called a "Planetest Magnagraph," which allowed a pilot to dictate, on 7/32" steel tape, the details of his test flight without writing in a journal (1940). Little is known of his musical career after 1932 except that he played violin in the orchestras of motion picture studios in Los Angeles, where he died on August 31, 1959.