Paul Schoop

In the 1930s, Swiss composer, pianist and conductor, Paul Schoop, was mainly known as a composer of ballet music for the pantomime dances of his sister Trudi Schoop.  In 1940 he emigrated to Los Angeles, where he worked as a freelance composer and as a conductor and concert pianist, as he had done in Europe before. 

During the war, Paul Schoop toured the “barracks, hospitals and camps” on behalf of the American soldier aid organization, USO, and delighted the soldiers with his piano playing. “With a piano running on rubber wheels, he went to bed with the wounded from bed to audition their favorite song.”