C. Bakaleinikoff

Constantin Romanovich Bakaleinikov (also spelled “Bakaleynikov” and “Bakaleinikoff”) was a Russian-born composer. Bakaleinikoff was from a large musical family. His brothers were Nikolai Bakaleinikov (flautist, composer and conductor), Vladimir Bakaleinikov (violist, composer and conductor), and Mikhail (Mischa) Bakaleinikoff (composer). He studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Following the Russian revolution he migrated to the United States with his brother Mischa. He worked as a conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic before beginning his Hollywood career as a freelance composer. At the 1927 premiere of director Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings at Hollywood's famed Grauman's Chinese Theater, the audience was treated to a concert of film music classics conducted by him. With the arrival of sound, the Bakaleinikoff brothers became studio maestros. Mischa joined Columbia Pictures, while Constantin became a musical director at Paramount Pictures, followed by MGM. Constantin also worked briefly at Columbia, and later for independent Grand National Pictures. In 1935, Bakaleinikoff participated in making the earliest dance film, Spring Night. He conducted Joseph Achron's score for this first experimental ballet film, which featured the choreography and dancing of David Lichine, who had danced with Colonel de Basil's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Nana Gollner, the Texas-born ballerina, was his partner. This pioneering film, which emerged from the Diaghilev sphere of influence,…