Leopold Mannes
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Leopold Mannes, Pianist, Dies
Special to The New York Times
AUGUST 12, 1964
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass., Aug. 11—Leopold Mannes, pianist, president of the Mannes College of Music and co‐inventor of the Kodachrome color process, died of a cerebral hemorrhage this morning in Martha's Vineyard Hospital. He was 64 years old.
Mr. Mannes, who was spending the summer at his home in Menemsha, entered the hospital last night.
There will be no funeral services, and he will be buried in the Chilmark cemetery, in the family plot of his widow, the former Evelyn Sabin.
Influential in U. S. Music
Leopold Damrosch Mannes was the son and grandson of famous musicians, and besides being a performing artist, an inventor and ,an educator, he was also an influential figure in America's musical life. In 1961 he succeeded William Schuman as president of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, and last year he became chairman of the music panel of the cultural presentations program of the State Department.
He succeeded his father, David Mannes, as director of the well‐known school, which his father and mother, the former Clara Damrosch (daughter of Leopold Damrosch) established in 1916. Under the son's leadership the school became the Mannes College of Music in 1953 and expanded still further in 1960, when it was merged with the Chatham Square Music School.
Mr. Mannes was a tall handsome man with dark hair and dark eyes. He was urbane and perhaps a little reticent with strangers, but among friends he was noted for his sense of humor. His dignity and sense of propriety were revealed in 1958 when Van Cliburn returned from the Soviet Union in triumph, after winning the International Tchaikovsky prize. At that time, a tickertape parade was proposed for the young pianist. Mr. Mannes disapproved.
“If it were an academic procession in cap and gown,” he said, “that would be different. Everyone wishes Cliburn well and would gather in a hall, for instance, to pay him tribute, but not in a parade.”
Nevertheless, when the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was held in Fort Worth two years ago, Mr. Mannes was the chairman of the jury. It was characteristic of him, for he believed in fostering young talent and he served on many juries. Often he helped pick the winners of the Edgar M. Leventritt young musicians award and the Naumburg Foundation, which he headed, is devoted to the cause of helping musicians in their careers.
Another Famous Father
The co‐inventor of the Kodachrome process with Mr. Mannes was Leopold Godowsky Jr., another son of a famous musician, the pianist Leopold Godowsky. Their process, which made it as easy to take pictures in color as in black and white, was announced in the spring of 1936. It brought them both wealth. But Mr. Mannes preferred to be known as a musician, and in April, 1941, after 10 years spent mostly in the laboratory, he resumed his career as a pianist.
Chiefly, he was known as a performer of chamber music and in 1949, together with Vittorio Brero, violinist, and Luigi Silva, cellist, he formed the Mannes Trio. A year or so later, when Bronislav Gimpel became the violinist in the ensemble, it became known as the Mannes‐Gimpel‐Silva Trio. As late as 1955 they appeared together with the Little Orchestra Society, performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto.
Mr. Mannes was born in New York the day after Christmas, 1899. His father was already well‐known as a violinist and his mother was too, as a pianist. The conductors Walter and Frank Damrosch were the brothers of his mother. Mr.
Leopold began playing the piano at the age of 4. His teachers included Elizabeth Quaile, Guy Maier and Alfred Cortot. He studied at his parents’ school and later at the Institute of Musical Art (a forerunner of Juilliard), then an academy, which his uncle Frank founded in 1904.
When he was 15 he became interested in photography as a hobby, particularly the problems of color. Leopold Godowsky Jr. was a schoolmate. When they found they had the same ideas about photography, they joined forces and created an experimental laboratory of their own.
Mr. Mannes was graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1920. He began teaching at his parents’ school, as well as playing the piano and composing. In 1926 he won a Guggenheim Fellowship although he also continued to work on color photography \vith Mr. Godowsky.
Encouraged by Kodak
In 1930 Dr. C. E. K. Mees, director of the Kodak laboratory, became impressed with the work of the young men and he persuaded them to go to Rochester to work full time in an industrial laboratory. Six years later, their invention, Kodachrome, which used very thin film coated with five layers of color emulsion, was announced.
Mr. Mannes seldom talked about his scientific achievements, but he continued as a Kodak consultant after returning to music. In 1941, he patented a sound track of gold that improved the sound of colored motion pictures. Last spring he and Mr. Godowsky were awarded the Progress Award of the Royal Photographic Society of London.
The two men were planning to go to England to receive their award. Mr. Godowsky, who lives in Westport, Conn., said yesterday that he and Mr. Mannes had planned to start writing their joint memoirs in the fall. Mr. Godowsky is the husband of Frances Gershwin, sister of George Gershwin.
Mr. Mannes's compositions included a Suite for Two Pianos, which he wrote in Paris in 1924, a String Quartet, two ! madrigals for chorus and incidental music for Shakespeare's “The Tempest.” This music was presented in 1933 when the 'Shakespearean play was given by students of the King‐Coit School.
When his mother died in 1948, Mr. Mannes, who had been a co‐director of the school with his parents, became president. His father continued active, with the title of founder. Mr. Mannes Sr. died in 1959 at the age of 93.
The college plans to present 'a memorial concert for Mr. Mannes in the school in the fall. The school is closed at present because there is no summer session. It occupies four converted brownstone houses, beginning at 157 East 74th Street. It has an enrollment of 133 in the college level, 325 in the preparatory school and 125 in the extension division.
Mr. Mannes's first marriage to Edith Vernon Mann Simonds ended in divorce in 1933. In 1940 he married Miss Sabin. They had one daughter, Elena Mannes. A sister, Mrs. Marya Mannes Clarkson, a writer, also survives.
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