--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates Leonard Bernstein's 100th Birthday description: Google published a new Doodle honoring American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein on what would have been his 100th birthday. canonical: https://time.com/5378131/leonard-bernstein-google-doodle/ author: Annabel Gutterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-25T17:16:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:54.492Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Leonard Bernstein's 100th Birthday With 'West Side Story' Video og:description: He was the youngest conductor to ever lead the New York Philharmonic og:url: https://time.com/5378131/leonard-bernstein-google-doodle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28b94a06b9e9cb53/698938b2929fad8369bf169b/leonard-bernstein-google-doodle.png?branch=production&width=875&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 875 og:image:height: 492 og:image:alt: leonard-bernstein-google-doodle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Leonard Bernstein's 100th Birthday With 'West Side Story' Video twitter:description: He was the youngest conductor to ever lead the New York Philharmonic twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28b94a06b9e9cb53/698938b2929fad8369bf169b/leonard-bernstein-google-doodle.png?branch=production&width=875&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Celebrates Leonard Bernstein's 100th Birthday With _West Side Story_ Video > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_  by [Annabel Gutterman](https://time.com/author/annabel-gutterman/)  ## Annabel Gutterman Senior Editor Aug 25, 2018 5:16 PM UTC  Google celebrates what would have been Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday on Aug. 25, 2018. Google celebrates what would have been Leonard Bernstein's 100th birthday on Aug. 25, 2018.Google  by [Annabel Gutterman](https://time.com/author/annabel-gutterman/)  ## Annabel Gutterman Senior Editor Aug 25, 2018 5:16 PM UTC Google is celebrating what would have been the [100th birthday](http://time.com/5376731/leonard-bernstein-holocaust-survivors-concert/) of composer and conductor [Leonard Bernstein](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19570204,00.html) with Saturday’s Google Doodle. The Doodle features an animated Bernstein growing up through music, from being introduced to the piano to eventually writing and conducting. The score of Bernstein’s _West Side Story_ — one of his most well-known works — is playing throughout. > [](https://twitter.com/GoogleDoodles/status/1033202581215080453) The legacy of Leonard Bernstein includes several other Broadway shows as well, but _West Side Story_ was arguably his most successful — the musical received six Tony nominations in 1957\. Creating the music for _West Side Story_ propelled Bernstein into stardom, so much so that one [_Vanity Fair_](https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/01/leonard-bernstein-jerome-robbins-and-the-road-to-west-side-story)columnist wrote that “until his death, in 1990, Leonard Bernstein would be the most important musician in America, period.” In addition to writing music for the Broadway stage, Bernstein was also a prolific conductor. As the Google Doodle noted, Bernstein was the youngest conductor to lead the New York Philharmonic. He was just [25 years old](https://leonardbernstein.com/about/timeline) when he made his debut, substituting for Bruno Walter, at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Success followed Bernstein in the years that followed: he became director of the New York City Symphony in 1943, conducted on television in 1949 and won a Tony Award for _Wonderful Town_ in 1953. The Tony was just the beginning for Bernstein, who would go on to win a special Tony Award alongside Carol Burnett in 1969\. Bernstein was also nominated for [63 Grammys](https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/leonard-bernstein) for compositions, performances and even a spoken-word recording. He went on to win 16 Grammys, his last in 1992 for _Mahler: Symphony No. 9._ Bernstein was more than just a composer and conductor, as his website notes, he was also a [dedicated educator and humanitarian](https://leonardbernstein.com/about/accolades). 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