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Awards · Academy AwardsFirst

First Jewish Recipients of an Academy Award for Scoring a Motion Picture

Record holder

Gus KahnPersonLouis SilversPerson

Record value

27 February 1935

Country represented: United StatesAchievement location: Los Angeles, California, United StatesAchievement date: 27 February 1935Current record

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Verified by Jewish World RecordsHow we verify records

  • Portrait of Gus Kahn at a piano.

    Gus Kahn

  • Portrait of film composer Louis Silvers.

    Louis Silvers

Official record definition

The earliest Academy Award for motion-picture scoring in which one or more Jewish recipients were credited as winners under the Academy's award record.

Measurement methodology

Chronological review of Academy Music (Scoring) winners combined with Jewish-recipient chronology; joint holders share the earliest qualifying award year.

Record story

Gus Kahn and Louis Silvers became the first Jewish recipients of an Academy Award for motion-picture scoring for their work on the film One Night of Love. The award for "Music (Scoring) — One Night of Love, 27 February 1935" was presented at the 7th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California. The official credit went to the Columbia Studio Music Department, which was headed by Louis Silvers, an American film-score composer. Gus Kahn, a German-born lyricist, was credited for his contribution to the thematic music, alongside Victor Schertzinger.

The record is established by a chronological review of Academy Music (Scoring) winners combined with a Jewish-recipient chronology. A historical survey of Jewish winners published by JINFO begins its chronology with Kahn and Silvers for the 1934 film year, confirming them as the joint holders for the earliest qualifying award.

Media

Record video
One Night of Love (1934) — archival film outtake featuring Grace Moore; related to the film that won Music (Scoring), not footage of the Academy Awards ceremony.

Gallery

  • Portrait of Gus Kahn at a piano.
    Gus Kahn, 1927.The Tampa Times / Wikimedia CommonsSourcePublic Domain
  • Portrait of film composer Louis Silvers.
    Louis Silvers, joint holder of JWR's earliest Jewish Academy scoring award.Wikimedia Commons archival imageSourcePublic Domain

How JWR verified this record

Verification status
Verified
Verification date
26 September 2026
Verification standard
JWR Verification Standard 1.0

Achievement evidence

The Academy's 1935 ceremony page records One Night of Love as the Music (Scoring) winner and names Louis Silvers as head of department and Gus Kahn in the thematic-music credit.

Superiority evidence

JINFO's Jewish scoring-recipient chronology starts with Gus Kahn and Louis Silvers for the 1934 film year / 1935 ceremony.

Jewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Jewish eligibility verification

Evidence establishing that the holder qualifies as Jewish for JWR purposes.

Gus Kahn

Eligibility evidence listed — verification not yet recorded

  • Gus Kahn creator record — Wikimedia Commons / authority records

Louis Silvers

Eligibility evidence listed — verification not yet recorded

  • Louis Silvers authority record — Wikimedia/Wikidata authority graph

Achievement / record verification

Evidence establishing that the holder achieved the result and holds the record as defined.

  • The 7th Academy Awards — 1935 — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Superiority / counter-candidate verification

Evidence comparing the result with other candidates relevant to the record claim.

  • Jewish Recipients of the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Motion Picture — JINFO

Jewish eligibility, achievement and superiority evidence retain their separate classifications and are never merged. Context and provenance are not presented as proof of the achievement. Restricted evidence and internal research notes are never published. Learn more about the seven-stage process on the verification page.

Have documented contrary evidence or a stronger counter-candidate? Submit a challenge for review.

View public sourcesChallenge this record

Sources & Verification

  • The 7th Academy Awards — 1935

    Official recordAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

    What this proves: Records One Night of Love as Music (Scoring) winner and credits Louis Silvers and Gus Kahn.

  • Jewish Recipients of the Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Motion Picture

    Reference databaseJINFO

    What this proves: Jewish-recipient chronology begins with Gus Kahn and Louis Silvers in the first qualifying award year.

  • Gus Kahn creator record

    Reference databaseWikimedia Commons / authority records

    What this proves: Provides authoritative biographical data for Kahn; Jewish-recipient status is cross-checked against JINFO.

  • Louis Silvers authority record

    Reference databaseWikimedia/Wikidata authority graph

    What this proves: Provides Silvers biographical and Academy-award metadata; Jewish-recipient status is cross-checked against JINFO.

History

  1. Verified

    Verified according to JWR Verification Standard 1.0.

  2. Publishedv1

    Published to the official JWR registry.

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