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The Louisville Historian A Publication of the Louisville Historical Commission and Society Winter 2007 RICHARD LA SALLE: PERFORMER, COMPOSER, AND LOUISVILLE NATIVE SON Bridget Bacon, Museum Coordinator Several familiar elements mark the history of Louisville, mak- ing it a continuous source of interest to area residents and others. These include its dangerous coal mining in- dustry, a largely immigrant work force with a strong Italian presence, a love of baseball, an inviting historic down- town and Main Street, and a tight knit community. Some may be surprised to learn that Louisville also has a connection to Hollywood movies and televi- sion through its native son, musician Richard W. La Salle. Far from being an anomaly in Louisville's history, La Salle was actually very .much a product of his environment. Richard La Salle came from a nonmusical family, but he clearly was born with a remarkable talent that was nourished in a community that, though small and working class, had strong musical traditions. Following years of having his own orchestra and developing a national reputation through the 1940s and 1950s, La Salle turned to composing for movies and television in the 1960s and 1970s and ultimately scored, by his count, over four hundred movies and television shows. Most significantly, he wrote the score for Martin Scorsese's 1974 film, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, which was nominated for three Academy Awards. Now 89, La Salle was recently contacted at his California home. Echoing the views of many Louisville natives, he wrote that he has wonderful memories of growing up in Louisville. La Salle, born in 1918,.was the only child of Antonio (Toney) and Katherine (Kitty). Toney worked as a coal miner as a young man and played semi-professional baseball until a leg injury in a car accident brought an end to his sports career. He began to sell radios and developed this line of work into a popular Main Street furniture and appliance store where he sold everything "from mattresses to toasters," according to one Louisville resident. When there was an explosion at the nearby Monarch Mine in 1936, Toney La Salle helped with rescue efforts. The extended La Salle family was devastated by the news that Dick La Salle is shown here in about 1970 conducting a score for an NBC televi- sion movie. Toney's sister's husband, Tony De Santis, was one of the eight miners killed. An early memory of Richard La Salle's was that when his grandmother babysat him, she would play music on the Victrola to help him go to sleep. He began to pick out the records that he wanted to hear. His father bought him an ac- cordion, and along with Vic Caranci he began to take lessons from Eliseo Jacoe ("the Professor"), who owned and operated the Jacoe Store that is now one of the four buildings that make up the Louisville Historical Museum. Jacoe had become a musician in his native Italy and played in bands in Louis- ville, Boulder, and Denver. As La Salle learned the accordion, he began to play for his father's friends and for his family. He may have been an only child, but as a member of the big La Salle family in Louisville, he had many aunts, uncles, and cousins who lived nearby. One of La Salle's teachers when he attended school in Louisville in the late 1920s and early 1930s was Violette McKenzie, who helped give direction to the obvious natural talents of La Salle and of his close friends, Vincent Damiana, Fred Nesbit, and Arnold Biella (whose parents operated the Continued on page 2