First composed and recorded by David Rose in 1942 at MGM Studios when he was a staff composer, the musical director of MGM at that time, Herbert Stothart, liked it so much he promoted Rose to managing composer and conductor, and then in 1943 Rose became the Music Director for MGM, a position he held until 1948, when he was replaced by Miklos Rozsa. David Rose''s "Holiday for Strings" was also featured in an MGM short musical film in 1945, and in 1947, in an MGM Musical feature titled "The Unfinished Dance".
David Rose had become a close personal friend of comedian Red Skelton at MGM in the 1940s, so when Red Skelton was offered the chance to have his own musical comedy variety show on CBS-TV in 1951, he called David Rose and offered him the job of Musical Director for the TV show, which ran until 1971. David Rose chose his "Holiday For Strings" to be the new theme song for the show, and that's where I first heard it as a boy in the 1950s.
I remember this lovely tune as the theme song for many an afternoon movie on TV in the 50's. Great song and great arrangement.
Makes you long for those days once again.
My great uncle was the first violinist and concertmaster for David Rose. As my grandmother tells the story. her brother wrote this as a practice piece and the rights were stolen from him. Not sure about that part but he was the first violinist.
