Stanley Wilson was never a name in film music to compare with, say, Bernard Herrmann or Miklos Rozsa, or even for that matter, David Raksin. He seldom worked for any of the major studios and when he did, he wasn't in what might be called their "A" divisions. Born in New York City, he entered music as a trumpet player specializing in Dixieland jazz, which (along with its offshoot, swing music) was booming as he came of age in the mid-'30s.
He went out to Hollywood in 1945, initially joining MGM's music department, but a year later he jumped to Republic Pictures, the biggest of the Hollywood "B" studios. He spent the next eight years at Republic, scoring feature films, mostly B-Westerns and adventure films running under 75 minutes, which were the meat of Republic's release schedule in those days, as well as serials and short subjects. From Sundown in Santa Fe in 1948 through The Woman They Almost Lynched in 1953, Wilson composed, arranged, or orchestrated more than 80 films.
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