Lee Erwin, a theater organist who composed scores for more than 70 silent films and whose performances helped create a revival of interest in silent films during the 1970's, died on Thursday at his home in Greenwich Village. He was 92.
Mr. Erwin was an energetic musician who maintained a fairly busy performing schedule into his 90th year, but after a fall while touring was forced to retire. During his long career he composed for everything from comedies by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to epics by D. W. Griffith to classics like Lon Chaney's 1923 version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' and Fred Niblo's 1925 ''Ben Hur.''
He performed many times in silent film series presented by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and maintained a regular circuit of jobs that took him to theaters in Atlanta; St. Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Akron, Ohio; Wichita, Kan.; Boston; and Miami. He also appeared in Woody Allen's ''Radio Days'' as a roller rink organist.
''It is not overstating it to say that Lee helped change the way young people regarded silent films,'' said Jeff Weiler, a 41-year-old organist in Wichita who was one of Mr. Erwin's few students. ''I was dragged to a silent film when I was 16, and absolutely didn't want to go because I thought it would be a flickery, out-of-focus melodrama with someone wailing away on the piano. But Lee was the organist at that performance, and it made an enormous impression on me.''
Accompanying silent films was one of several musical careers that Mr. Erwin pursued. He was born in July 1908 in Huntsville, Ala. His mother was a church organist, but Mr. Erwin did not have his first church job until after he graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. By then he was an experienced theater organist, having started his career as a high school student in Huntsville.
When the regular organists at the two local theaters wanted an evening off, they enlisted Mr. Erwin as a substitute. During his conservatory years, he worked more steadily -- ''Seven nights a week for $20,'' he once told an interviewer, ''which more than paid the rent.''
In 1930 Mr. Erwin went to Paris to study with the French organist Andre Marchal. He also took composition classes with Nadia Boulanger, and spent his Sunday mornings first hearing Marchal perform an early Mass, and then taking the subway across Paris to hear Olivier Messiaen play at Trinity Church.
Mr. Erwin returned to Cincinnati in 1932, and the next year began a long radio career as a staff organist at a Cincinnati radio station, WLW, where he became famous for playing the music for ''Moon River,'' a late-night show that Mr. Erwin once described as ''pretty pop tunes and a man reading love poems.''
After 11 years at WLW, he moved to New York to join the staff of CBS radio and television, where he worked as an organist and arranger until 1966. Among his jobs was to appear on camera as Moneybags Erwin on the ''Arthur Godfrey Show.''
By the mid-1960's, when radio and television divested themselves of their staff orchestras and musicians, Mr. Erwin found his way back to the movie house. In 1967 the American Theater Organ Society -- an organization of organists and hobbyists who devoted themselves to the world of Wurlitzer organs and silent films in much the same way 1950's auto buffs devote themselves to cars with fins -- commissioned Mr. Erwin to compose a score for ''Queen Kelley,'' the 1929 Erich von Stroheim silent film starring Gloria Swanson.
''And then,'' he told an interviewer from The New York Times in 1990, ''I began doing the same things all over that I did when I was a kid.''
He was, however, a far more polished musician by then, and he had the benefit of modern equipment. Typically, he said, he prepared a score by watching a film several times on videotape, timing each scene with a stopwatch and taking copious notes. Some of his performance would be improvisatory, but the improvisations were held together with distinct themes tied to important scenes and characters. ''It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,'' he said.
''One thing I never do is use recognizable classical themes,'' he said in the 1990 interview. ''In the old days, organists would use themes from Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Grieg, and, of course, nobody wrote better storm music than Beethoven. But in those days, recordings were not so prevalent, and the audiences did not know this music as well. Today, when you play music that's known, the audience begins to think, 'Oh, he's playing the ''Moonlight'' Sonata,' and it detracts from the film.''
After ''Queen Kelley,'' dozens of requests for scores came his way. Among the films for which he composed were ''The Eagle,'' with Rudolph Valentino; ''My Best Girl,'' with Mary Pickford; ''Irene,'' with Colleen Moore; and the entire collection of Buster Keaton films. In the 1970's Mr. Erwin made several recordings for Angel Records, and some of his soundtracks were recorded by the BBC for both theatrical and home video releases.
He is survived by his partner, Donald T. Schwing; a brother, Joseph Erwin of Trion, N.C.; and two sisters, Sarah Hix of Huntsville and Mary Edwards of St. Louis.
Mr. Erwin was an energetic musician who maintained a fairly busy performing schedule into his 90th year, but after a fall while touring was forced to retire. During his long career he composed for everything from comedies by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to epics by D. W. Griffith to classics like Lon Chaney's 1923 version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' and Fred Niblo's 1925 ''Ben Hur.''
He performed many times in silent film series presented by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and maintained a regular circuit of jobs that took him to theaters in Atlanta; St. Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Akron, Ohio; Wichita, Kan.; Boston; and Miami. He also appeared in Woody Allen's ''Radio Days'' as a roller rink organist.
''It is not overstating it to say that Lee helped change the way young people regarded silent films,'' said Jeff Weiler, a 41-year-old organist in Wichita who was one of Mr. Erwin's few students. ''I was dragged to a silent film when I was 16, and absolutely didn't want to go because I thought it would be a flickery, out-of-focus melodrama with someone wailing away on the piano. But Lee was the organist at that performance, and it made an enormous impression on me.''
Accompanying silent films was one of several musical careers that Mr. Erwin pursued. He was born in July 1908 in Huntsville, Ala. His mother was a church organist, but Mr. Erwin did not have his first church job until after he graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. By then he was an experienced theater organist, having started his career as a high school student in Huntsville.
When the regular organists at the two local theaters wanted an evening off, they enlisted Mr. Erwin as a substitute. During his conservatory years, he worked more steadily -- ''Seven nights a week for $20,'' he once told an interviewer, ''which more than paid the rent.''
In 1930 Mr. Erwin went to Paris to study with the French organist Andre Marchal. He also took composition classes with Nadia Boulanger, and spent his Sunday mornings first hearing Marchal perform an early Mass, and then taking the subway across Paris to hear Olivier Messiaen play at Trinity Church.
Mr. Erwin returned to Cincinnati in 1932, and the next year began a long radio career as a staff organist at a Cincinnati radio station, WLW, where he became famous for playing the music for ''Moon River,'' a late-night show that Mr. Erwin once described as ''pretty pop tunes and a man reading love poems.''
After 11 years at WLW, he moved to New York to join the staff of CBS radio and television, where he worked as an organist and arranger until 1966. Among his jobs was to appear on camera as Moneybags Erwin on the ''Arthur Godfrey Show.''
By the mid-1960's, when radio and television divested themselves of their staff orchestras and musicians, Mr. Erwin found his way back to the movie house. In 1967 the American Theater Organ Society -- an organization of organists and hobbyists who devoted themselves to the world of Wurlitzer organs and silent films in much the same way 1950's auto buffs devote themselves to cars with fins -- commissioned Mr. Erwin to compose a score for ''Queen Kelley,'' the 1929 Erich von Stroheim silent film starring Gloria Swanson.
''And then,'' he told an interviewer from The New York Times in 1990, ''I began doing the same things all over that I did when I was a kid.''
He was, however, a far more polished musician by then, and he had the benefit of modern equipment. Typically, he said, he prepared a score by watching a film several times on videotape, timing each scene with a stopwatch and taking copious notes. Some of his performance would be improvisatory, but the improvisations were held together with distinct themes tied to important scenes and characters. ''It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,'' he said.
''One thing I never do is use recognizable classical themes,'' he said in the 1990 interview. ''In the old days, organists would use themes from Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Grieg, and, of course, nobody wrote better storm music than Beethoven. But in those days, recordings were not so prevalent, and the audiences did not know this music as well. Today, when you play music that's known, the audience begins to think, 'Oh, he's playing the ''Moonlight'' Sonata,' and it detracts from the film.''
After ''Queen Kelley,'' dozens of requests for scores came his way. Among the films for which he composed were ''The Eagle,'' with Rudolph Valentino; ''My Best Girl,'' with Mary Pickford; ''Irene,'' with Colleen Moore; and the entire collection of Buster Keaton films. In the 1970's Mr. Erwin made several recordings for Angel Records, and some of his soundtracks were recorded by the BBC for both theatrical and home video releases.
He is survived by his partner, Donald T. Schwing; a brother, Joseph Erwin of Trion, N.C.; and two sisters, Sarah Hix of Huntsville and Mary Edwards of St. Louis.
Lee Erwin, a theater organist who composed scores for more than 70 silent films and whose performances helped create a revival of interest in silent films during the 1970's, died on Thursday at his home in Greenwich Village. He was 92.
Mr. Erwin was an energetic musician who maintained a fairly busy performing schedule into his 90th year, but after a fall while touring was forced to retire. During his long career he composed for everything from comedies by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to epics by D. W. Griffith to classics like Lon Chaney's 1923 version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' and Fred Niblo's 1925 ''Ben Hur.''
He performed many times in silent film series presented by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and maintained a regular circuit of jobs that took him to theaters in Atlanta; St. Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Akron, Ohio; Wichita, Kan.; Boston; and Miami. He also appeared in Woody Allen's ''Radio Days'' as a roller rink organist.
''It is not overstating it to say that Lee helped change the way young people regarded silent films,'' said Jeff Weiler, a 41-year-old organist in Wichita who was one of Mr. Erwin's few students. ''I was dragged to a silent film when I was 16, and absolutely didn't want to go because I thought it would be a flickery, out-of-focus melodrama with someone wailing away on the piano. But Lee was the organist at that performance, and it made an enormous impression on me.''
Accompanying silent films was one of several musical careers that Mr. Erwin pursued. He was born in July 1908 in Huntsville, Ala. His mother was a church organist, but Mr. Erwin did not have his first church job until after he graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. By then he was an experienced theater organist, having started his career as a high school student in Huntsville.
When the regular organists at the two local theaters wanted an evening off, they enlisted Mr. Erwin as a substitute. During his conservatory years, he worked more steadily -- ''Seven nights a week for $20,'' he once told an interviewer, ''which more than paid the rent.''
In 1930 Mr. Erwin went to Paris to study with the French organist Andre Marchal. He also took composition classes with Nadia Boulanger, and spent his Sunday mornings first hearing Marchal perform an early Mass, and then taking the subway across Paris to hear Olivier Messiaen play at Trinity Church.
Mr. Erwin returned to Cincinnati in 1932, and the next year began a long radio career as a staff organist at a Cincinnati radio station, WLW, where he became famous for playing the music for ''Moon River,'' a late-night show that Mr. Erwin once described as ''pretty pop tunes and a man reading love poems.''
After 11 years at WLW, he moved to New York to join the staff of CBS radio and television, where he worked as an organist and arranger until 1966. Among his jobs was to appear on camera as Moneybags Erwin on the ''Arthur Godfrey Show.''
By the mid-1960's, when radio and television divested themselves of their staff orchestras and musicians, Mr. Erwin found his way back to the movie house. In 1967 the American Theater Organ Society -- an organization of organists and hobbyists who devoted themselves to the world of Wurlitzer organs and silent films in much the same way 1950's auto buffs devote themselves to cars with fins -- commissioned Mr. Erwin to compose a score for ''Queen Kelley,'' the 1929 Erich von Stroheim silent film starring Gloria Swanson.
''And then,'' he told an interviewer from The New York Times in 1990, ''I began doing the same things all over that I did when I was a kid.''
He was, however, a far more polished musician by then, and he had the benefit of modern equipment. Typically, he said, he prepared a score by watching a film several times on videotape, timing each scene with a stopwatch and taking copious notes. Some of his performance would be improvisatory, but the improvisations were held together with distinct themes tied to important scenes and characters. ''It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,'' he said.
''One thing I never do is use recognizable classical themes,'' he said in the 1990 interview. ''In the old days, organists would use themes from Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Grieg, and, of course, nobody wrote better storm music than Beethoven. But in those days, recordings were not so prevalent, and the audiences did not know this music as well. Today, when you play music that's known, the audience begins to think, 'Oh, he's playing the ''Moonlight'' Sonata,' and it detracts from the film.''
After ''Queen Kelley,'' dozens of requests for scores came his way. Among the films for which he composed were ''The Eagle,'' with Rudolph Valentino; ''My Best Girl,'' with Mary Pickford; ''Irene,'' with Colleen Moore; and the entire collection of Buster Keaton films. In the 1970's Mr. Erwin made several recordings for Angel Records, and some of his soundtracks were recorded by the BBC for both theatrical and home video releases.
He is survived by his partner, Donald T. Schwing; a brother, Joseph Erwin of Trion, N.C.; and two sisters, Sarah Hix of Huntsville and Mary Edwards of St. Louis.
Mr. Erwin was an energetic musician who maintained a fairly busy performing schedule into his 90th year, but after a fall while touring was forced to retire. During his long career he composed for everything from comedies by Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin to epics by D. W. Griffith to classics like Lon Chaney's 1923 version of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' and Fred Niblo's 1925 ''Ben Hur.''
He performed many times in silent film series presented by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and maintained a regular circuit of jobs that took him to theaters in Atlanta; St. Louis; Oakland, Calif.; Akron, Ohio; Wichita, Kan.; Boston; and Miami. He also appeared in Woody Allen's ''Radio Days'' as a roller rink organist.
''It is not overstating it to say that Lee helped change the way young people regarded silent films,'' said Jeff Weiler, a 41-year-old organist in Wichita who was one of Mr. Erwin's few students. ''I was dragged to a silent film when I was 16, and absolutely didn't want to go because I thought it would be a flickery, out-of-focus melodrama with someone wailing away on the piano. But Lee was the organist at that performance, and it made an enormous impression on me.''
Accompanying silent films was one of several musical careers that Mr. Erwin pursued. He was born in July 1908 in Huntsville, Ala. His mother was a church organist, but Mr. Erwin did not have his first church job until after he graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. By then he was an experienced theater organist, having started his career as a high school student in Huntsville.
When the regular organists at the two local theaters wanted an evening off, they enlisted Mr. Erwin as a substitute. During his conservatory years, he worked more steadily -- ''Seven nights a week for $20,'' he once told an interviewer, ''which more than paid the rent.''
In 1930 Mr. Erwin went to Paris to study with the French organist Andre Marchal. He also took composition classes with Nadia Boulanger, and spent his Sunday mornings first hearing Marchal perform an early Mass, and then taking the subway across Paris to hear Olivier Messiaen play at Trinity Church.
Mr. Erwin returned to Cincinnati in 1932, and the next year began a long radio career as a staff organist at a Cincinnati radio station, WLW, where he became famous for playing the music for ''Moon River,'' a late-night show that Mr. Erwin once described as ''pretty pop tunes and a man reading love poems.''
After 11 years at WLW, he moved to New York to join the staff of CBS radio and television, where he worked as an organist and arranger until 1966. Among his jobs was to appear on camera as Moneybags Erwin on the ''Arthur Godfrey Show.''
By the mid-1960's, when radio and television divested themselves of their staff orchestras and musicians, Mr. Erwin found his way back to the movie house. In 1967 the American Theater Organ Society -- an organization of organists and hobbyists who devoted themselves to the world of Wurlitzer organs and silent films in much the same way 1950's auto buffs devote themselves to cars with fins -- commissioned Mr. Erwin to compose a score for ''Queen Kelley,'' the 1929 Erich von Stroheim silent film starring Gloria Swanson.
''And then,'' he told an interviewer from The New York Times in 1990, ''I began doing the same things all over that I did when I was a kid.''
He was, however, a far more polished musician by then, and he had the benefit of modern equipment. Typically, he said, he prepared a score by watching a film several times on videotape, timing each scene with a stopwatch and taking copious notes. Some of his performance would be improvisatory, but the improvisations were held together with distinct themes tied to important scenes and characters. ''It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle,'' he said.
''One thing I never do is use recognizable classical themes,'' he said in the 1990 interview. ''In the old days, organists would use themes from Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Grieg, and, of course, nobody wrote better storm music than Beethoven. But in those days, recordings were not so prevalent, and the audiences did not know this music as well. Today, when you play music that's known, the audience begins to think, 'Oh, he's playing the ''Moonlight'' Sonata,' and it detracts from the film.''
After ''Queen Kelley,'' dozens of requests for scores came his way. Among the films for which he composed were ''The Eagle,'' with Rudolph Valentino; ''My Best Girl,'' with Mary Pickford; ''Irene,'' with Colleen Moore; and the entire collection of Buster Keaton films. In the 1970's Mr. Erwin made several recordings for Angel Records, and some of his soundtracks were recorded by the BBC for both theatrical and home video releases.
He is survived by his partner, Donald T. Schwing; a brother, Joseph Erwin of Trion, N.C.; and two sisters, Sarah Hix of Huntsville and Mary Edwards of St. Louis.
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