Victor Clarence Schoen (March 26, 1916 – January 5, 2000) was an American bandleader, arranger, and composer whose career spanned from the 1930s until his death in 2000. He furnished music for some of the most successful persons in show business including Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Les Brown, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, George Shearing, Jimmie Lunceford, Ray McKinley, Benny Carter, Louis Prima, Russ Morgan, Guy Lombardo, Carmen Cavallaro, Carmen Miranda, Gordon Jenkins, Joe Venuti, Victor Young, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, and his own The Vic Schoen Orchestra.
Schoen arranged and recorded with well-known artists such as The Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Irving Berlin, Marion Hutton, Betty Hutton, Perry Como, Dick Haymes, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Jolson, Maurice Chevalier, Enzo Stuarti, Lauritz Melchior, Mary Martin, Bob Crosby, The Weavers, Burl Ives, Eddie Fisher, Mildred Bailey, Peggy Lee, Patti Page, the McGuire Sisters, the Sherman Brothers, and Kay Starr.
Schoen wrote TV specials for Jack Carson Show, The Dave King Show, Ethel Merman, The Big Record with Patti Page, The Dinah Shore Show, Shirley MacLaine, Shirley Temple, Andy Williams, and Pat Boone. He is probably best remembered as the musical director and arranger for the Andrews Sisters.
Early years – 1930s
Vic Schoen was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents. He is one of the very few composer-arrangers who was self-taught. Early in his life, he learned to play trumpet and would bring music into his high school classes, which annoyed his teachers. Upon noticing that Schoen was not paying attention in class and writing music, his chemistry teacher stopped by his desk and said, "Someone needs this chair more than you do." He eventually dropped out of high school and started playing in nightclubs in New York City and in the bands of Leon Belasco, Gene Kardos, and Billy Swanson. He also learned how to write big band arrangements at this time by "trial and error". During this time Schoen met George Gershwin at a party in New York City in the mid-1930s.
Schoen also wrote many of Count Basie's earlier arrangements in the mid-1930s. He commented on the time when Basie paid him for some of his arrangements: "He owed me some money one night after a gig. I had written several arrangements for him and he paid me one hundred dollars in single dollar bills. I walked out of that Harlem club with the biggest wad of cash in my pocket. I had never been so scared in my life."
Schoen was also extremely impressed with the sound of the Basie band, "There was quite a large difference in the way that the white bands played versus the black bands. When I would show up to Basie's rehearsals to hear my arrangements sometimes I didn't even realize they were playing one of my charts. The unique way they played and phrased was so different than what I was used to hearing."
The Andrews Sisters
Schoen met The Andrews Sisters while playing trumpet in Leon Belasco's society orchestra in 1936. The sisters made only one 78 side with Belasco, early in 1937, which was not well received. The girls were packing their bags to go back home to Minneapolis when Schoen, who was then with Billy Swanson's orchestra, invited them to sing on a radio program in New York City. Decca Records A&R vice president Dave Kapp heard the broadcast and invited the sisters to his office. After a short audition he signed them to a contract. They made their first recording for Decca in October 1937 with Schoen arranging for their musical backup. Schoen described the earlier arrangements he wrote for the Andrews Sisters as having a quasi Dixieland feel.
Schoen was backstage at a Yiddish Theatre in New York looking through a large crate of sheet music. He found the song Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen written by Sholom Secunda with Yiddish lyrics by Jacob Jacobs. Schoen was attracted to the song because he liked that his "name was part of the title". After adding his own English lyrics, Schoen arranged the song for the Andrews Sisters and soon they had their first number one hit earning them a Gold Record, the first ever to a female vocal group. Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, a novelty tune, was originally recorded as a B-side. After the success of the record's release, the Andrews Sisters were asked to sign autographs outside a record store in New York. When Schoen arrived to join in, he noticed lyricist Sammy Cahn next to them also signing his name on the newly released record. Schoen was puzzled and asked a Decca Records producer why Cahn was present. The response was, "We figured that if we put his name down as the lyricist then we'd sell a few more copies."
