Composer, author and conductor Robert Wilson Stringer, a high-school
graduate, took his music education in private study. A protégé of
Herbert Stothart, he was a devotee of
the music of
Igor Stravinsky. While he
was composing music for the concert hall, he was named chief of the
music-editing department at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. At MGM, Stothart gave
Stringer the opportunity to compose the musical setting ("The Spell",
patterned by Stringer after the "Dance of the Nuns" from Stravinsky's
"Petrouchka", orchestrated by
Murray Cutter and conducted by Stothart)
for the famous scene in "The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy, the Cowardly
Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman dance through a poppy field
towards the Emerald City. Stringer also wrote music for the Broadway
revue "New Faces of 1956", radio scores for "Broadway Is My Beat" and
"Studio One", and music for industrial films and commercials. Joining
ASCAP in 1962, his popular-music compositions include "Theme from 'The
Nurses'".