Main content
Eugene Ormandy family home movies
Notifications
Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Persons identified in or labeled as being in the films include:
Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985): Hungarian-American conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Born Jenő Ormándy-Blau.
Stephanie "Steffy" Goldner Ormandy (1896-1962): First wife of Eugene Ormandy, m.1922, div. 1947. Harpist in the Capitol Theater Orchestra and first female member of the New York Philharmonic.
"Baby" (1935-1935): Male child of Stephanie and Eugene Ormandy. Twice (twelve year apart), the couple had babies that subsequently died of Rh (Rhesus isoimmunisation) complications.
Rosa: The Ormandys' cook who came from Austria with them.
Harry: The Ormandys' chauffeur.
Patrick Noonan: The Ormandys' butler.
Rosalie (ca. 1876-1949) and Benjamin Blau (Ormandy) (ca. 1870-1943): Parents of Eugene Ormandy. Emigrated from Hungary to New York, NY in the late 1930s. Labeled as "Die Alten Ormandys" and "Mrs. Ormandy (Sr.)."
Emma "Alte" Adler Goldner (1868-1947): Mother of Stephanie Goldner. Also labeled as "Grossi."
Julia "Mady" Goldner Elbogen (1890-1981): Sister of Stephanie Goldner. Pianist and piano teacher.
Franz "Franzl" Elbogen (1889-1943): Husband of Julie Goldner. A famous Viennese cabaret singer.
Anna "Hanni" Elbogen (Forester) (b. 1922): Daughter of Julia and Franz Elbogen.
Mariedi Elbogen (Anders) (1915-2009): Daughter of Franz Elbogen from a previous marriage.
Thomas "Tommy" Anders (b. 1936): Son of Mariedi Elbogen Anders and Ernst Anders.
Herman Goldner (1891-1982): Brother of Stephanie Goldner.
Gertrude "Trudy" Goldner Gundert (1900-1985): Sister of Stephanie Goldner. Violinist.
Dr. Hermann Gundert (1894-1964): First husband of Gertrude Goldner. German psychoanalyst, never came to America.
Doris Gundert (Balant) (b. 1929): Daughter of Gertrude and Hermann Gundert.
Stephen "Steve" Gundert (1934-2000): Son of Gertrude and Hermann Gundert.
Gaston and Emanuel Van Cleeff: Cousin and Uncle, respectively, of Emma "Alte" Adler Goldner.
Margaret "Gretel" Hitsch (1909-1998): Eugene Ormandy's second wife, m. 1950. A licensed pilot from Vienna, Austria, she became a U.S. citizen and flew planes in the Navy.
Joseph "Pepi" Schildkraut (1896-1964): Silent and sound film actor, whom Herman Goldner assisted and traveled with.
Paul Lemay (1897-1944): Principal violist and assistant conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Died in WWII.
Scott: Label indicates "Scott's wedding." Perhaps the family of Verna Golden Scott, manager of the Minneapolis Symphony.
Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987): Famous Lithuanian-born American violinist.
Friedrich Schorr (1888-1953) and wife Anna: Famous Austrian-Hungarian bass-baritone.
Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989): Famous Russian-born American pianist.
Adrian Siegel (1898-1978) and Sophie Siegel (1901-1994): American cellist in the Philadelphia orchestra, also photographer active in Philadelphia. His wife, Sophie, a fixture in Philadelphia's arts society.
Alfred Reginald "Reggie" Allen, Jr. (1905-1988): General manager of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Mischa Levitzki (1898-1941): Famous Russian-born American pianist.
Hermann Busch (1897-1975) and wife Lotte: German-born American cellist and Doris Gundert's godfather.
Charlie "Charlie" O'Connell (1900-1962): RCA Victor music director and later associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra (mislabeled on canister as Charlie O'Connor).
Stefan Ehrenzweig (1896-1962): Art critic/scholar who owned Este Gallery in New York.
Corinne Mayer (1873-1956): Pianist from New Orleans, founder of the New Orleans Philharmonic Society.
Igminia "Bessy" Ignatia Everts Szekely (1898-1990): Dutch wife of Hungarian violinist and composer Zoltan Szekely.
Arthur Bennett Lipkin (1902-1974): Philadelphia Orchestra violinist and leader of the Philadelphia String Quartet.
Frederick "Fritz" Dorian (1902-1991): Austrian-American conductor and musicology professor at Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie Mellon University).
Saul Caston (1901-1970): Principal trumpet and associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Charles Gusikoff (1897-1966): Principal trombone of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Marcel Tabuteau (1915-1954): Principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
William Kinkaid (1921-1960): Principal flute of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Sol Schoenbach (1915-1999): Principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Samuel Lifshey (1889-1961): Principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Orville H. Bullitt (1894-1979) and wife Suzie: Banker and president of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Brother of William C. Bullitt, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to France, who facilitated Franz Elbogen's release from Dachau.
Harl McDonald (1899-1955): Composer and manager of the Philadelphia Orchestra and University of Pennsylvania music professor.
Persons not in the films:
Ernst Otto Anders (nee Aufricht) (1908-1975): Husband of Mariedi Elbogen Anders.
Desider David Goldner (1852-1921): Husband of Emma Goldner and father of Stephanie, Julia, Gertrude and Herman.
Sources: Internal; Ancestry.com; "Principal Musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra" (on http://www.stokowski.org/); correspondence with Thomas Anders, Doris Gundert Balant, and Hanni Elbogen Forester; John Ardoin, ed., The Philadelphia Orchestra: A Century of Music (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999); Herbert Kupferberg, Those Fabulous Philadelphians: The Life and Times of a Great Orchestra (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1969); Adrian Siegel, Concerto for Camera: A Photographic Portrait of the Philadelphia Orchestra (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Orchestra Association, 1972).
The Eugene Ormandy family home movies were shot between 1932 and 1947 by conductor Eugene Ormandy on his own hand-held camera and by others when Ormandy appears in the films. Film 44, dated 1947, was shot by Ormandy's brother-in-law Herman Goldner, who received the camera, films and a projector after Eugene and Steffy Ormandy divorced. In 1982, after Herman Goldner died, the camera, films and projector came to Ormandy's niece Doris Gundert Balant. The films remained in a closet in her home in Maine for 30 years until they were donated to the University of Pennsylvania.
During the time period represented in the films, Eugene Ormandy served as the conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (1931-1936) and as associate conductor (1936-1938) and music director (1938-1980) of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The content of the films includes scenes of Ormandy conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Also included are arrivals and departures at train stations along with musicians from his two resident orchestras. Otherwise, the content of the films is primarily scenes of leisure. The locales include his home in Minneapolis, European cities such as London, Vienna, and Stockholm, and several vacations in the Austrian alps, as well as vacations in Florida, Bermuda, and New Hampshire. There are also several scenes aboard passenger ships on his way to or from Europe. The people included in his films are primarily his first wife, Stephanie, as well as her mother, sisters and brother, her sisters' spouses and children, and friends of the family, many of them musicians. Of note, the films include the only known video of Ormandy conducting the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra; views of the German city of Nuremberg before its bombing in WWII; and scenes of construction of the 1933 to 1934 "Century of Progress" Exposition in Chicago, IL.
It is also notable that during this time period, and represented by these films, Eugene Ormandy took great efforts to bring wife Steffy's Jewish relatives to the United States and safely out of reach of the Nazis. Chronologically, the Goldner family made its way to the United States in the following order: December 1936: Gertrude "Trudy" Goldner Gundert and Doris Gundert (Balant) left Stuttgart for Vienna (the Gunderts divorced and Dr. Hermann Gundert never came to the United States). Summer 1937: the Ormandys rented a house in Strobl, Austria. Present were Emma "Alte" Adler Goldner, Gertrude "Trudy" Goldner Gundert, Doris Gundert (Balant), Stephen "Steve" Gundert, Eugene and Stephanie "Steffy" Goldner Ormandy, and Anna "Hanni" Elbogen (Forester). According to Doris Gundert Balant "This was a kind of staging period, waiting to get the necessary emigration papers." September 1937: Stephanie "Steffy" Goldner Ormandy, Gertrude "Trudy" Goldner Gundert, Doris and Stephen "Steve" Gundert sail from Cherbourg, France to New York, NY, on the S.S. Queen Mary (Eugene Ormandy returned later the same month to the United States). May 1938: Emma "Alte" Adler Goldner and Anna "Hanni" Elbogen (Forester) sail from Rotterdam, Holland to New York, NY, on the S.S. Volendam. July 1938: Mariedi Elbogen (Anders) and Ernst Aufricht (Anders) with their son Thomas arrive in New York, NY on the S.S. Volendam from Rotterdam. March 1939: Herman Goldner sails from Southampton, England to New York, NY, on the S.S. Veendam, after what Doris Gundert Balant calls "a long, anxious wait in Italy for papers." November 1939: Franz "Franzl" Elbogen and Julia "Mady" Goldner Elbogen finally sail on the S.S. Saturnia from Naples, Italy to New York, NY. According to Doris Gundert, "by that time emigration was almost impossible. Mady had been waiting for Franzl to get permission to leave, instead of which he ended up in Dachau for six months. He was released from there when Ormandy enlisted the help of William C. Bullitt, U.S. Ambassador to France, through Bullitt's brother, Orville H. Bullitt (a friend and supporter of the Philadelphia Orchestra)."
Sources: Internal and correspondence with Thomas Anders, Doris Gundert Balant, and Hanni Elbogen Forester.
Gift of Doris Balant, September 2013.
In 2014 the films were transferred to digital video at George Blood Video, Philadelphia, PA. They were recorded using the codec H.264/MPEG-4 AVC at a resolution of 1920 x 1090 ppi and a frame rate of 24 FPS. They may be viewed as MP4s on the Penn Libraries Kaltura MediaSpace video portal at the following data rates: .5Mbs, .6Mbs, .9Mbs, 1.6Mbs, 2.5Mbs, and 4 Mbs. The original film has been rewound onto new spools and the original film boxes and their original labels have been preserved. Streaming video of Films 9, 37, and 43 have been edited to remove images of unclothed minors.
People
Organization
- New York Philharmonic
- Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
- Philadelphia Orchestra
- Century of Progress International Exposition (1933-1934 : Chicago, Ill.)
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- John F. Anderies
- Finding Aid Date
- 2015 March 4
- Access Restrictions
-
Due to deterioration, the original film reels were reformatted in the summer of 2014. For preservation puposes and to prevent further degradation, they are restricted from use. The reformatted digital versions, however, are available for streaming via the Penn Libraries Kaltura MediaSpace video portal. The empy film boxes and their original labels are available for use in the Reading Room.
- Use Restrictions
-
Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.