Editing Jon Appleton (section)

==Early life==
Appleton was born in [[Los Angeles, California]], on January 4, 1939, to [[Jewish]] parents: Helen Jacobs Appleton (born in [[Philadelphia]], 1908) and Charles Leonard Appleton (born Chaim Epelboim in [[Kishinev]], [[Bessarabia]], July 14, 1900). His mother was employed by [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] and his father by [[Twentieth Century Fox]] film studios. His father left his family the year Appleton was born and he spent his first years in Mrs. Bell's (an orphanage) and with his brother (Michael Charles Appleton, born 1932) at Palomar [[Military Academy]]. When he was six years old his mother married Alexander "Sasha" Walden (born in [[Ufa]], [[Russia]], in 1897), a [[double-bass]] player in the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] orchestra. He was the greatest musical influence in Appleton's young life seeing that he studied piano, encouraging him to compose music and taking him to multiple concerts. Appleton's parents were true believers in the [[Soviet Union]] and active members of the multiple [[left-wing]] organizations including the [[Communist party]]. In the 1950s both his parents were [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]] by the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] and lost their jobs. As a child Appleton studied piano with [[Jacob Gimpel]] and [[Theodore Saidenberg]] but preferred composing his own music rather than playing the works assigned to him (e.g. [[Chopin]], [[Domenico Scarlatti|Scarlatti]], [[Prokofiev]]). However, he developed a deep, lifelong affection for [[Music of Russia|Russian music]].