42nd St. Moon Blog

In Part I we covered Susanna's memories of the original production of The Golden Apple. Today in Part II a little more about Susanna's father, composer Jerome Moross, and what it was like growing up with him.

We spent lots of time going back and forth between New York and L.A. In fact, I was born in L.A. We lived in L.A. when he wrote films. When he was writing for films he worked at the studio, but otherwise, he worked at home. The piano was in the living room. There was a card table next to it, with an ash tray and his cigarettes at the side. He had the ability to tune everybody out. We knew when he had his tongue in his cheek he was composing.

I just went about my business, like any other kid's situation. The only thing I couldn’t do was play records. But I had friends over; I talked to mother: I went in and out.

My parents were very very close. Whenever he got idea or come up with a melody he would call mom in to listen to it. She was not a musician, but she was the ultimate audience member and his chief fan. When my mom died, father actually thought and said that he was going to live for another 15 years, but he couldn’t. He died 4 months later. This was in 1983.

My father considered himself a composer - not a film composer or theatre composer or any other kind, but just a composer. He did particularly love writing for theatre...it was his first true love. That's why he didn’t stay out in Hollywood and came back to NY...even after the success of "Big Country." He didn’t want to spend his whole career doing films.

Stay tuned for Part III: How Susanna keeps thelegacy of her father and his music alive...