Voyage into Fog

This chapter juxtaposes Steiner’s intense correspondence with his estranged wife—then living in New York, and hoping to begin a singing career at age 35—with the emotional power of his scores of the time. They include They Died with Their Boots On, starring Errol Flynn (a rare western Steiner loved scoring, thanks to its rich characterizations), and Now, Voyager, the peak of his work with Bette Davis. The latter score earned Steiner a second Oscar, and partially fulfilled one of his unrealized ambitions: authorship of a popular song. After nearly a decade of battles with ASCAP—which still refused to collect royalties for film music—Now, Voyager’s hit song “It Can’t Be Wrong” yielded Steiner much-needed royalties from sheet music sales and recordings. But these earnings could not save him from mounting debt or convince Louise to return to him.