Description
Frank Skinner (1897-1968), born in Meredosia, IL, wrote several dozen film scores for Universal Studios during the period 1937-1966. These include Son of Frankenstein (1939), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Harvey (1950), Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), and Man of a Thousand Faces (1957). His brother Wilbur Albert (Al) Skinner donated several hundred scores, recordings, and books in summer 1969.
The collection includes 83 film scores (typically condensed conductor scores in black-line or diazo reproduction, with cue sheets affixed inside front covers) by Skinner. In addition, a group of privately produced 78-rpm records of Skinner’s works (43 10-inch discs, presently grouped within 10 albums) includes performances of significant portions of Saboteur, Spring Parade, House of the Seven Gables, Arabian Nights, and Back Street, as well as individual selections from numerous other motion pictures.
Location /Access
Music and Performing Arts Library
- Selected commercial recordings, books, and scores not by Skinner, which may be located via the online catalog.
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
- Bound film scores and privately-produced 78-rpm records of Skinner’s works. Also see the finding aid Music and Performing Arts Library Frank Skinner Movie Scores and Sound Recordings, 1937-1966.
- Frank Skinner scrapbook and newsletter clippings are described in Series 1, Box 6 of the finding aid Music and Performing Arts Library Small Special Collections, 1911-1981 Finding Aid.
Index terms
- Motion picture music
See also
Wright, H. Stephen. “The Frank Skinner collection at the University of Illinois.” In Cue Sheet 5:2, May 1988, p. 54-56.