How was the early life of music composer Alfred Newman?
The eldest of ten children, Newman was born in New Haven, Connecticut. A musical prodigy, he began studying piano at the age of five, with Sigismund Stojowski. He was able to supplement his poor family’s income by playing in theaters and restaurants. He traveled the vaudeville circuit with performer Grace LaRue, billed as “The Marvelous Boy Pianist”. He also studied composition with Rubin Goldmark. By the age of twenty he was in New York, beginning a ten-year career on Broadway as the conductor of musicals by composers such as George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Jerome Kern. Then, in 1930, he accompanied Irving Berlin to Hollywood. In Los Angeles, he had private lessons from Arnold Schoenberg.
