From all accounts, Herman Sanford Heller was a beloved member of San
Francisco's musical community for more than two decades. Born in
Hungary, he received some training in Prague, Copenhagen and Agram.
After emigrating to the U.S. he became first violinist in the
Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of its founder, Fritz
Scheel. This was to last from 1900 to 1902, when he led the orchestra
at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After traveling as
conductor of a touring show, he settled in San Francisco around 1903
and took up positions as conductor in theatres and hotels. He married
Irene Theresa Stern in 1909 and they took an apartment on lower Nob
Hill. Heller referred to himself as composer, instrumentalist, teacher
and "estheticist," but in fact, he was a pioneer on radio and an
unheralded inventor of magnetic recording devices.
In January 1909 Heller composed a score to
Upton Sinclair's 1903 novel "Prince
Hagan: A Phantasy," produced at the Valencia Theatre in San Francisco,
where Heller had conducted for several years.
By 1910 Heller was renown as conductor of the 30-piece orchestra at the
Hotel St. Francis, facing Union Square. His composition "Hotel St.
Francis March" was published in San Francisco in 1910 and dedicated to
the general manager, James Woods. A few years later, St. Francis
band leader Art Hickman would
dedicate his "Rose Room Fox-Trot" to Woods. Heller's Sunday night
concerts (in what was called the Francisca Café) featured music from
the operas and light classics. California's largest music retailer,
Sherman, Clay & Co., included Heller's photo and an endorsement for
Steinway pianos in their advertising. During 1911 to 1913 he was also a
violinist in the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. It is apparent that
Heller had a love for ragtime and popular songs. According to a
magazine article from 1926, Heller helped popularize the banjo in the
dance orchestra in the days when jazz was being recognized on the
Barbary Coast of San Francisco. As an inventor, he patented a tailpiece
for stringed instruments such as violins and banjos (patent granted in
1919). In June, 1913 his wife gave birth to a daughter they named
Gwendolyn (Gwen Heller). Soon after her birth he traveled to New York
to oversee the installation of a device he invented for expediting
subway traffic. After a brief residency in Portland, Oregon (1914) he
and his wife and young daughter moved back to San Francisco where he
became very active as composer and director of midnight shows at the
Press Club.
By 1918 Heller was a celebrated conductor of the shows at the
California Theatre on Market and 4th Street. His draft application
stated that his eyes were brown and his hair was black. In August 1920
Heller made history by conducting his Theatre Orchestra on the first
public broadcast (radio-telephone) of its kind in San Francisco. By
1920 his family and one servant moved to 110-21st Avenue, near Lake
Street. In 1921 he made frequent orchestra broadcasts from the
California Theatre over 6XC, the local Lee De Forest Radiophone
station.
In 1924 Heller and family moved to Los Angeles for a short time before
moving back to New York City, where he became musical director of
the Warner Theatre, and his career turned toward motion picture music.
For the Vitaphone Corporation's earliest sound pictures, Heller
conducted the Vitaphone Orchestra for artists such as the tenor,
Giovanni Martinelli (1926).
The September 18, 1927 release
The First Auto (1927) featured a
synchronized musical score compiled and conducted by Herman Heller.
Although filmed in California, it is likely that the score was recorded
in New York where there were larger recording facilities. The music
consisted of myriad popular songs of the day, intertwined with stock
mood music and sound effects, much like the score to MGM's
Die unvollkommene Ehe (1929).
By January 1932 Heller was back in San Francisco, where he had gained a
loyal following for nearly 30 years. He provided the music at both the
New Fillmore Theatre and the New Mission Theatre. In February, 1932 his
name appeared on the list of musicians suspended from San Francisco's
Musicians Union, Local 6.
In 1934 Heller is listed as living with his second wife, Vera, in what
became known as the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. In the mid-1930s
he applied for U.S. patents pertaining to magnetic recording
technology, including one (filed January, 1938) for a "multiple lane
magnetic recording system." Lockheed Aircraft did some testing of a
device made by Heller called a "Planetest Magnagraph," which allowed a
pilot to dictate, on 7/32" steel tape, the details of his test flight
without writing in a journal (1940).
Little is known of his musical career after 1932 except that he played
violin in the orchestras of motion picture studios in Los Angeles,
where he died on August 31, 1959.
