Hans J. Salter (1896-1996) was never as well known as Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, or Miklos Rozsa, but he was a composer or orchestrator on more than 150 movies in a 30-year career. Viennese born and a graduate of that city's Academy of Music, he was music director of Vienna's Volksoper and later with the Berlin State Opera, before joining Germany's UFA studios in 1929. He left Germany after Hitler came to power, and in 1937 he arrived in Hollywood, where he made his career at Universal Pictures. One reason that Salter never achieved much recognition was that he arrived at Universal just when the studio's fortunes were on the wane, following its near bankruptcy. It was also common practice at Universal for music already in its library to be re-used and "tracked" into other composers' work; Salter and composers such as Frank Skinner and, later, Henry Mancini found their work mixed together, even if only one person got credit.
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