Constantin Bakaleinikoff

Dr. Constantin Bakaleinikoff (1898 – 1966) was a Russian-born composer. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, and following the Russian revolution he came to America with his older brother, composer Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Constantin Bakaleinikoff (pronounced back-a-LAIN-a-koff) worked as a conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic before beginning his Hollywood career as a freelance composer. Director Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings 1927 premiere at Hollywood's famed Grauman's Chinese Theater, where movie fans filled the boulevard, was hosted by D.W. Griffith and speakers DeMille and Mary Pickford. The audience was treated to a concert of film music "classics" conducted by Constantin Bakaleinikoff.

When sound movies came in, the Bakaleinikoff brothers became studio maestros. Mischa joined Columbia Pictures, while Constantin became a musical director at Paramount Pictures and then MGM. Constantin worked briefly at Columbia, and then for independent Grand National Pictures; he received an Academy Award nomination for scoring the James Cagney feature on Something to Sing About.

Bakaleinikoff soon became the senior musical director at RKO Radio Pictures, where he spent most of his motion picture career. He earned Academy Award nominations for his work on The Fallen Sparrow, Higher and Higher, and None But the Lonely Heart. On Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946), starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Bakaleinikoff's score complements the director's elements of suspense and danger throughout the film.

Constantin Bakaleinikoff, always billed as "C. Bakaleinikoff," appeared on camera as himself in RKO's backstage musical Ding Dong Williams (filmed 1945, released in April 1946).

He remained at RKO until the studio folded in 1956. He was married to silent film actress Fritzi Ridgeway.

Soundtracks

Theatrical poster of Notorious.

• Something to Sing About (1936) Grand National Pictures
  • James Cagney

• The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) RKO Radio Pictures
  • Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

• Tall in the Saddle (1941) RKO
  • John Wayne

• The Big Street (1942) RKO
  • Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball

• Stage Door Canteen (1943) RKO
  • All-star cast

• Tarzan's Desert Mistery (1943) RKO
  • Johnny Weismuller, Nancy Kelly, Johnny Sheffield

• Higher and Higher (1943) RKO
  • I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night - Frank Sinatra, Stanley Wrightsman (Piano), The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • The Music Stopped - Frank Sinatra, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • I Saw You First - Frank Sinatra, Marcy McGuire, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening (With Orchestra) - Frank Sinatra, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening (Piano & Vocal) - Frank Sinatra, Stanley Wrightsman (Piano)
  • You're on Your Own - Frank Sinatra, Dooley Wilson, Mel Tormé, Marcy McGuire, Michèle Morgan, Victor Borge, Cast, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • You're on Your Own (Reprise) - Frank Sinatra, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Finale: I Saw You First/A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening/The Music Stopped - Frank Sinatra, Marcy McGuire, Barbara Hale, Chorus, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff

• Step Lively (1944) RKO
  • Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are - Frank Sinatra, Gloria DeHaven, Chorus, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • As Long as There's Music - Frank Sinatra, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Where Does Love Begin? - Frank Sinatra, Anne Jeffreys, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Some Other Time - Frank Sinatra, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Some Other Time (Duet Version) - Frank Sinatra, Gloria DeHaven, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • And Then You Kissed Me (Outtake) - Frank Sinatra, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Finale: As Long as There's Music/Some Other Time/As Long As There's Music/Where Does Love Begin? - Frank Sinatra, Gloria DeHaven, George Murphy, Chorus, RKO Radio Studio Orchestrra, C. Bakaleinikoff

• Show Business (1944) RKO
  • Eddie Cantor, Joan Davis, Nancy Kelly, Constance Moore, George Murphy

• Murder, My Sweet (1944) RKO
  • Dick Powell, Claire Trevor

• Back To Bataan (1945) RKO
  • John Wayne, Anthony Quinn

• Dick Tracy vs Cueball (1946) RKO
  • Morgan Conway, Anne Jeffreys

• The Spiral Staircase (1946) RKO
  • Dorothy McGuire, Ethel Barrymore, Rhonda Fleming

• Notorious (1946) RKO
  • Gary Grant, Ingrid Bergman

• Ding Dong Williams (1946) RKO
  • Piano Concerto in A Minor, Opus 16 -Played by the RKO studio orchestra conducted by C. Bakaleinikoff with prodigy Richard Korbel at the piano

• Born To Kill (1947) RKO
  • Lawrence Tierney, Claire Trevor

• Out of the Past (1947) RKO
  • Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer

• Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) RKO
  • Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave

• The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) RKO
  • Cary Grant, Mirna Loy, Shirley Temple

• Tycoon (1947) RKO
  • John Wayne, Laraine Day

• Crossfire (1947) RKO
  • Robert Young, Robert Mitchum

• Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House (1948) RKO
  • Cary Grant, Mirna Loy

• I Remember Mama (1948) RKO
  • Irene Dunne

• Man on the Eiffel Tower (1949)RKO
  • Charles Laughton, Burgess Meredith

• The Set Up (1949) RKO
  • Robert Ryan

• Mighty Joe Young (1949) RKO
  • Terry Moore, Ben Johnson

• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) RKO
  • John Wayne

• Flying Leathernecks (1951) RKO
  • John Wayne

• Double Dynamite (1951) RKO
  • It's Only Money - Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Kisses And Tears - Frank Sinatra, Jane Russell, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff
  • Finale: It's Only Money - Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx, Jane Russell, The RKO Radio Studio Orchestra, Constantin Bakaleinikoff

• Macao (1952) RKO
  • Robert Mitchem, Jane Russell

• Clash at Night (1952) RKO
  • Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe

• The Hitch Hiker (1953) RKO
  • Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy

• Susan Slept Here (1954) RKO
  • Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds

• The Conqueror (1956) RKO
  • John Wayne, Susan Hayward

• The Bachelor Party (1957) United Artist
  • Carolyn Jones, Don Murray, E.G. Marshall, Jack Warden

• St. Louis Blues (1958) Paramount
  • Saint Louis Blues -Performed by Nat 'King' Cole and Pearl Bailey
  • Later sung by Eartha Kitt, then Nat 'King' Cole, with orchestra conducted on-screen by C. Bakaleinikoff

External links

• Allmovie bio
• Constantin Bakaleinikoff at the Internet Movie Database
• Composers Lyricists Database
• Artist Direct Film Soundtracks
• Grave and death history