Mischa Bakaleinikoff

Composer and accomplished double-bass player and cellist, Mischa fled his country after the October Revolution of 1917, along with his brothers Vladimir and Constantin. He arrived in America in 1926, and, five years later, got a job with Columbia in Hollywood. He was at first utilised as a musician, but his talents came to be more widely employed during the 1930's as orchestrator, conductor and (occasional) composer of film scores. More often, he created the incidental or linking music for numerous low-budget westerns, sci-fi's, horrors and serials. Mischa spent his entire career at Columbia, under contract as musical director from 1944, until his death in 1960. He often worked closely with other long-standing studio colleagues, George Duning and Morris Stoloff.