Victor Schertzinger (1888-1941)
Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Violin prodigy who performed with John Philip Sousa and later became a film director and composer. He pioneered the use of original music for films, and his film "One Night of Love" won best musical score and sound recording Oscars in 1934. He composed the pop standard "Tangerine." Among many films he directed were two of the Hope and Crosby "Road" movies. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His childhood home was here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
A violin prodigy who once shared the stage with John Philip Sousa, Victor Schertzinger grew up in the anthracite town of Mahanoy City before finding his calling in early Hollywood. He was a pioneer of the film score, among the first to compose original music written expressly for motion pictures, and his 'One Night of Love' took Academy Awards for its score and sound in 1934. He also directed and wrote the pop standard 'Tangerine,' earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Why it matters
Schertzinger helped invent the very idea of the movie soundtrack, shaping how American film would tell stories through music.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Victor Schertzinger
- · John Philip Sousa
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Valley Furnace
New Philadelphia, PA · est. 1948
In 1836 the Valley Furnace became the first ironworks to smelt using anthracite alone, drawing on the hard coal that lay all around Schuylkill County. The method had been patented three years earlier by Dr. F.W. Geissenhainer, and it soon proved itself in continuous use at the nearby Pottsville, or Pioneer, Furnace. It was a breakthrough that married Pennsylvania's coal to its iron.
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Albany Township, PA · est. 2019
The ridge at Hawk Mountain sits astride a major migration corridor, and for years hunters gathered there to shoot passing raptors by the thousands—a slaughter encouraged by a 1929 bounty on goshawks. In 1934 conservationist Rosalie Edge bought the land and turned the killing ground into the world's first refuge for birds of prey. With early supporters like Richard Pough, she transformed it into a center for raptor research, education, and hawk-watching that draws nature lovers from around the globe.
Montour County
Danville, PA · est. 1982
Carved from Columbia County in 1850, Montour County took its name from Madame Montour, the influential Native interpreter and diplomat who moved between Indigenous nations and colonial officials. In the industrial age its seat, Danville, became a cradle of American iron, where the first iron T-rails for the nation's booming railroads were manufactured. The county also claims Christopher Sholes, born here, whose later work produced the typewriter that transformed the modern office.
Christopher Sholes
Danville, PA · est. 1948
Born in the Susquehanna Valley in 1819, Christopher Latham Sholes learned the printer's trade in Danville before heading west to Wisconsin as a young man. There, tinkering with type and machinery, he devised the first practical typewriter, receiving his initial patent in 1868. His invention put the familiar keyboard into offices across the world and helped open clerical work to a new generation of workers.