Hilliard Gerald Adler (October 30, 1918 – March 13, 2010) was an American harmonica player whose performances have been used in numerous film soundtracks. As well as working in films he performed in concerts and vaudeville all over the world.
A remarkable virtuoso, Jerry Adler never quite got the same level of acclaim as his older brother Larry. This was due, in part, to the fact that his most-recognized performances can be found on movie soundtracks, where his name, if it appeared at all, was buried somewhere deep in the fine-print credits.
The son of a plumber, Hilliard Gerald Adler was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was inspired, no doubt, by his brother's example and began playing the harmonica at a young age. He got off to a flying start in the music business after winning a talent contest at a local theater at 13. It was the same contest, sponsored by The Baltimore Evening Sun, that Larry had won five years earlier, in 1927, and Jerry performed the same piece, Beethoven’s Minuet in G.“I was a very skinny, scrawny kid who couldn’t make it at all with the girls,” he told The Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 1997. “So I did this as a defense. And it worked.”
First prize was the chance to perform with the theater’s headliner, Red Skelton, for a week. A few years later, looking for work in Manhattan, Jerry talked his way into an audition with Paul Whiteman and soon began appearing with his orchestra at the Palace. Within two years, he was performing in front of King George V at London's Palladium Theatre. When introduced to the King, he reached out to shake hands instead of making the expected bow of deference, which got him blasted in the British tabloids. Jerry’s career paralleled his older brother, Larry’s, but Jerry’s forte was in popular music while Larry’s was classical.
He moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s and it became his base for the next forty years. His playing first appeared on screen in Frank Capra’s "You Can’t Take it With You" in 1938. During the Second World War Adler served in the US Army Air Corps as an entertainer. He toured the Pacific theatre and appeared on stage and on film in Moss Hart's patriotic revue, "Winged Victory." He also performed for troops in the Pacific as part of an entertainment unit called the Winged Pigeons.
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| Jerry with James Stewart |
Film became the focus of his work for over twenty years. He taught James Stewart and other actors how to mime playing the harmonica and worked as a session musician in numerous films. Among most noteworthy soundtrack performances were on "Pot o'Gold" with Stewart (1941), "Shane", and "The Alamo" (1960). One of his rare on-screen appearances was with Kirk Douglas in "The Juggler" (1953). Other films of note were “High Noon”, and the 1964 films” My Fair Lady” and “Mary Poppins.” He played at the White House in 1954 including a duet with President Truman on the piano.
Here’s “Perfidia“ from A Handful Of Blues.
He married Sylvia Gandel in 1947; they soon were joined by son Michael, now of Germantown, MD, and daughter Susan (Lantis), now of Capitola CA. Sylvia later joined Jerry on many of his cruises, and died of cancer in 1990. In 1991, Jerry married Jean Ruppa of Milwaukee, who died in 2009. His autobiography, “Living from Hand to Mouth,” was published in 2005.
In his elder years, he told the Herald-Tribune he played once a week and scaled back his collection of 3,000 mouth organs to a dozen or so. At 90, he was still putting on small shows for friends and neighbours. He died of prostate cancer on14 March 2010 at Manatee County’s Tidewell Hospice, aged 91.
Adler’s final music-making was singing along with his children from his hospice bed. He had been unable to communicate for days, but when his children sang a family favorite he joined in.
(Edited from The New York Times, Space Age Pop & Sarasota Herald Tribune)