Editing Nathaniel Shilkret (section)

==Early career==
Shilkret (originally named '''Natan Schüldkraut''') was born in [[New York City]], United States, to parents who emigrated from Lemberg (now [[Lviv]] in [[Ukraine]]).<ref name=shilkret1>Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Shell, Niel and Barbara Shilkret, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8108-5128-8}}</ref><ref name=shilkret2>Shilkret, Nathaniel, Barbara Shilkret, and Niel Shell, ''Feast or Famine: Sixty Years in the Music Business'', archival edition of Shilkret autobiography, 2001 (copies deposited in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The City College of New York Archival Library, The New York Philharmonic Archives, The Victor Archives (SONY)).</ref> His father played a number of instruments, and made certain that Nat and his three brothers were all accomplished musicians at an early age. Older brother Lew Shilkret was a fine pianist who also worked in the insurance industry. Younger brother Jack Shilkret had a career that paralleled Nathaniel's career: he played clarinet and piano, recorded extensively, and conducted and played piano on the radio and in motion pictures. The youngest brother Harry Shilkret was a medical doctor who worked his way through school playing trumpet, and continued to play trumpet frequently in Nathaniel's orchestras, particularly for radio broadcasts, long after he was a practicing allergist. Nathaniel Shilkret's brother-in-law, Nathaniel Finston, was a violinist in many organizations in his youth and was musical director for [[Paramount Pictures]] and later for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], at one time being Nathaniel Shilkret's boss.

Shilkret was a child prodigy, touring the country with the New York Boys' Orchestra from the ages of seven to thirteen as their clarinet soloist. From his late teens to mid-twenties he was a clarinetist in the best New York music organizations, including the [[New York Philharmonic Society]]<ref name="LarkinGE"/> (under [[Vasily Safonov]] and [[Gustav Mahler]]), the [[New York Symphony Orchestra]],<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=[[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]|publisher=[[Guinness Publishing]]|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=2253/4}}</ref> the [[Metropolitan Opera]] House Orchestra,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> the Russian Symphony Orchestra, [[Victor Herbert]]'s Orchestra, [[Arnold Volpe]]'s Orchestra, [[John Philip Sousa|Sousa]]'s Grand Concert Band,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> [[Arthur Pryor]]'s Band,<ref name="LarkinGE"/> and [[Edwin Franko Goldman]]'s Band. He was also a rehearsal pianist for [[Walter Damrosch]], playing for stars who included dancer [[Isadora Duncan]].

In June 1914, he married Anne Finston ''(née'' Anna Finston ''aka'' Finkelstein; 1895–1958), sister of a fellow musician Nathaniel Finston ''(né'' Nathaniel William Finkelstein; 1890–1979). Nathaniel Shilkret and Anna Finston had a son, Arthur Shilkret (1915–1982).<ref name=shilkret1/><ref name=shilkret2/>

He joined the Foreign Department of the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] (later [[RCA Victor]]) around 1915, and soon was made manager of the department.<ref name=shilkret1/><ref name=shilkret2/><ref name=shell>Shell, Niel, ''Nathaniel Shilkret: A Most Prolific and Diverse Creator of Recorded Sound'', ARSC Journal, '''39''' (2008), 80—90.</ref>

In 1926, Shilkret became "director of light music" for Victor.<ref name="AMG"/> He directed thousands of recordings, possibly more than anyone in recording history. His son Arthur estimated the sales of these records was of the order of 50 million copies. He formed, wrote arrangements for, and conducted the Victor Salon Orchestra and the [[International Novelty Orchestra]] between the late 1920s up to the mid 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Metason |title=International Novelty Orchestra |url=https://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=International%20Novelty%20Orchestra |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=ArtistInfo |language=EN}}</ref><ref name="AMG"/> He was the conductor of choice for many of Victor's innovative recordings. He conducted Victor's first record made by the electrical process in 1925, the first commercial (albeit unsuccessful) Victor Long Playing record in 1931, and was the first conductor to successfully dub an electrically recorded orchestral accompaniment over the acoustically recorded vocals of [[Enrico Caruso]], Victor's star recording artist, who died in 1921, before electrical recording was developed. The premiere recording of [[George Gershwin]]'s symphonic poem ''[[An American in Paris]]'', in 1929, was one of five conducted by Shilkret that later earned [[Grammy Award]]s. Shilkret also conducted [[Paul Whiteman|Paul Whiteman's Orchestra]] in the first electrical recording of Gershwin's ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'' in 1927 (after Whiteman refused to conduct following a disagreement with Gershwin).<ref name=shilkret1/> 
[[File:VictorSalonOrchBainMicrophone.jpg|thumb|300px|Shilkret (center holding baton) with the Victor Salon Orchestra, c. 1925]]