GODOWSKY, LEOPOLD

GODOWSKY, LEOPOLD (1870–1983), pianist. Born in Soshly near Vilna, he was a child prodigy and early embarked on a widely acclaimed international concert career. His enquiries into the fundamentals of pianistic technique led him to the composition of etudes and pieces for both the elementary and virtuoso level, with special attention to left-hand technique. He also edited some of the standard etude works. His son, also called LEOPOLD GODOWSKY (1900–1983), was a U.S. violinist and co-inventor, with leopold mannes , of the Kodachrome color process. Though photography was only Godowsky's hobby, he was best known for his pioneering work in the development of color film. He was born in Chicago, but spent much of his youth in Berlin and in Vienna, where his father held prominent positions for several years. Godowsky met Leopold Mannes in a school in Connecticut when they were both 16 years old. While still at school, they began experimenting to find a successful method of producing color film. They built a camera with three lenses and three filters, one for each primary color, and superimposed them on a single plate. Eventually, they produced a double-layered plate on which part of the spectrum could be photographed. Working at the Eastman Kodak laboratories in Rochester, N.Y., they succeeded by 1935 in developing three-color motion-picture film, and soon after followed with the process for stills. In 1938 they initiated research for Kodacolor, Ektacolor, and Ektachrome film and in 1939 they left Rochester. Godowsky built his own laboratory on his estate in Connecticut for further experiments. In addition, Godowsky was the first violinist of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and played in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.