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FILM SCORE BLOGS [Blog # 30] It happens to be my long weekend off this weekend (Friday-Saturday) and no overtime for a change. I am normally scheduled then to report to work all six days next week (Monday thru Saturday), and then be off the following Monday, then the Tuesday the following week, then Wednesday the week after, and so forth. However, I put in for next Wednesday (a heavy Penny Saver day) to be off on Annual. Carriers can only carry over 11 weeks (440 hours) from a year before the new year commences. I still have about seven days over that, so I'll be taking my long week (another six-day work week) at the beginning of December on annual leave. Wednesday's leave will assure I am within the 440 hours and also thankfully break up that long work week that occurs every six weeks in the rotation schedule of scheduled days off. Pavenet is not working yet this morning (no e-mail/Internet access) so I decided to start a new blog until they come into the office and fix the problem. Probably this Blog # 30 will spread across various days (or even weeks) before I have enough material to then send to Sarah for an update. We'll see. Craig from Safire Internet Solutions e-mailed the renewal 12-month hosting account for my Film Score Rundowns site. Craig, like Sarah, lives in Fairfield, Iowa. Sarah became my site web-mistress because Craig knew her. I knew Craig and his wife when they lived in the San Diego area (we were all connected by being friends with Zip). The domain name of my site is filmscorerundowns.net but I believe the signature hosting is actually http://www.filmmusic.cjb.net/ So if you key in the second URL you'll still get to the site. Anyway, the Safire charge for the Oct 20 2006 thru Oct 20 2007 period is $210 plus another $30 to renew the domain name for another two years. It's an expense I can afford to support my educational, non-profit site but if there is a reader of my site with deep pockets who would like to back my music site long-term (like for the next hundred years!), then feel free to contact me! However I do not believe there can be a tax break since I am obviously not a California official non-profit status entity (educational charity). Actually I plan to keep on supporting this site long after I pass on. I plan to bequeath all of my music materials and correspondences to the Bill Wrobel Collection at UCLA and also some money to have the Internet site sustained yearly. Perhaps any monies acquired then from my music thru possible performances can be partially directed to sustain the site and help out film music research activities (and costs) at UCLA. We shall see! I do not know how long I will continue writing "rundowns" but I do know that once I retire from the Postal Service, I will have far freer time and energy to devote to personal music writing. I plan to keep on working at the USPS until about my birthday in July (maybe until the following mid-Fall before the rainy season) 2014 when I'm 64. Of course I cannot predict events and situations (such as health conditions, winning money, whatever) so I may retire even earlier. The likely probability will be about age 64 (maybe stretching it to age 65 but I rather doubt that!). Then my wife and I will move to Arizona somewhere (maybe Sedona or Prescott. Flagstaff is too high and north, and Phoenix is definitely too far south and hot & dusty! I compiled a pot pourri package of my spare film music research sheets (that I had in a hodge-podge box!) and mailed the package late yesterday afternoon to a site-fan named Phil. Hope it helps in his further appreciation of film music created by the "masters" (almost no new masters these days, however!). I also answered a few Twilight Zone score questions from a researcher named Carson who is doing his own personal research at UCLA Music Library Special Collections (CBS Collection). He sent me a few samples of his research, including "The Hitchhiker" episode. Here's a portion of it: TITLE - COMPOSER-CUE NUMBER-SOURCE-TIME-REFERENCE It's very gratifying seeing such independent research done of film (television) music. I did similar work on the first three seasons of Have Gun Will Travel (see my online paper) but Carson will do a definitive job on the more famous Twilight Zone series. I like to go a little deeper and provide a descriptive rundown analysis of the actual music heard so that the reader will know the "recipe" of how the music is constructed. You can browse the book before you buy on that site. Basically the book is a compilation of Notes & Letters from 1968 to 1988. Starting on page 13, however (after the Introduction), is the chapter titled "Film Music: Observations and Comments" for twenty pages. [new session Sunday, October 22 at 9 am] During the late evening I decided to write a reply to a post re: Jeff Dane's new book on Rozsa. I'll reproduce it below: Then scroll down to Browse Before You Buy and click. You'll be able in this case to read (and print, if you wish) up to page 32. This includes the Preface (xvii starting), Forward, Introduction, and "Film Music: Observations & Comments" (pages 1-32). This feature is better in most cases than Google's Book Search that allows at best several pages to preview. Dane's book appears to have a lot to offer. The main segments are three "Notes & Letters" periods. You cannot preview samples of these pages. It's a pity there is not a similar book and structure for Bernard Herrmann. Of course I do not know if Herrmann ever had any close friends he corresponded with over a long period of time! Word is that he tended to alienate many friends and acquaintances. I liked very much what I read so far. The exception (in terms of being out-of-place) is the Preface that tended to dwell overlong on Dane's frustrations over not being able to find a traditional publisher for his dedicated work. It's tone is almost like the famous Rodney Dangerfield line, "I get no respect" (from all those publishers I submitted my manuscript to). Perhaps it could've been subtitled: "Preface (Stupid Commercial--Especially American--Publishers). I guess Dane wanted to get his frustrations off his chest, and it DOES make for interesting reading, but I think it would be far more suitable as a blog entry, say, than as a preface to a serious book and its real subject matter (Rozsa). Perhaps a commercial Editor would've pointed that out (I don't know) and suggested that this "Poor Me" section and attitude be cut out. The material is quite readable and not pretentiously "scholarly." After all, it is not a technical analysis of the music itself (although I personally would've really liked reading some) nor is it a biography but instead a deep "personal remembrance" of the composer. It was not designed to be similar to Smith's bio on Herrmann, for instance... You can really sense Dane's emotional attachment to Rozsa in the Introduction. While I have absolutely no sense of feeling attachment to my favorite composers (Herrmann and Steiner) and prefer to focus on their works (not their personalities), I appreciate the value of learning how the composer's views of his art and life itself can bestow a better idea of the dynamics behind his works. Of course we cannot always blindly accept what a person "says" as truth. An example was Herrmann's denial that he ever self-borrowed from himself! Sometimes the outer personality is like a mask or construction (a persona), and it's when the artist self within comes out in the act of creation that perhaps the real self is evident. Less defenses are constructed as a screen when interacting with others. So you can really feel Dane's innate and also cultured sensibility to quality composers such as Rozsa, Bernstein, and others. It's like an insider's deep music appreciation of the masters (primarily Rozsa of course in this book). He writes on page 2 about his first cognizant recollections of film music's impact when he saw "Samson & Delilah" at age 6 in 1949 and then later "The Robe" at age 10, then "The Ten Commandments." I related because I felt the same way at age 7 when I watched Have Gun Will Travel and listened to Herrmann stock music, and Steiner's "Hanging tree" in 1959, and Herrmann's "Mysterious Island" in 1961. We were fortunate to be so young and impressionable during the height or sophistication of the "classical" Age of film music back then. I remembered seeing "Ben-Hur" when it was first released but I was more into the colors and pageantry of the movie instead of the music. Rozsa did not "resonate" with me as much as it certainly did with Dane (Rozsa is probably my fourth or fifth favorite film composer). He briefly mentions Jerry Goldsmith on page 4, the only successful student of Rozsa's who made it BIG! I don't know if Dane interviewed Goldsmith while he was still alive. If not, it would've been quite interesting to hear Goldsmith's detailed comments on those student days with Rozsa under Dane's sensitive questioning. That would've been an important document of information. Of course, perhaps Rozsa speaks more of Goldsmith in his letters within this book? The feeling I get of Rozsa (added by Dane's glowing assessment of the man) is similar to the stature of the noted writer and clairvoyant, Geoffrey Hodson, most highly regarded by everyone who knew him (high caliber of character and talent). This is the association I get personally and immediately. Probably one can say the same historically about certain statesmen and other artists. I think Rozsa had it "together" far more than, say, Herrmann, on a personality level, although both were quite equal colleagues in their artistic expression. Both personified excellence in their music. As Dane wrote on page 6, "He was one of the finest men I've ever met." By the way, I wonder if Rozsa in those letters within the book ever gave "new" information and insights on Herrmann. Although Dane in the Preface states that there will be no "dirt" sensationalism in this book, he did bring up on page 10 a sort of mini-sensationalism personally by stating he seemed to have acquired an enemy who was jealous of his long-term association with Rozsa. This resentment started in the Seventies and continues up to the present. This is a curious tease. Why bring it up? I mean, the old saying is that if you're going to start something, then finish it! In other words, name the person. I'm curious. Curious minds like to know (once you bring up the subject or side issue). Seriously, if I was a commercial Editor, I probably would've suggested that this paragraph be deleted. It's too much of a "personal" (negative) thing and doesn't have a valid place in this Rozsa book. Put it in a blog or in a personal diary for release after passing, but it's an unnecessary teaser here. Next is the chapter titled "Film Music: Observations and Comments." It starts almost like an enthusiastic Terry Teachout review of a movie and score he may've liked. In Dane's case, it is BEN-HUR. I probably would've liked to have read more such reviews or critical (yet personal) assessments of various other scores and their films. I liked page 19 when he starts to talk about Rozsa's unique style (the "Rozsa sound"). He soon discusses how various composers gave different musical treatments of Alamo feature films (such as Steiner's THE LAST COMMAND). This really got my interest. Perhaps if Rozsa had composed it (or THE ALMO, actually composed by Tiomkin), he would've indeed been far more subtle in his approach, into authenticity. Steiner was probably more instinctual in his dramatic approach (and commercial) but I'll have to think about that. I think Goldsmith once commented (very mild criticism) how most listeners of his music were not aware of the subtleties. I think I heard that in his dvd commentary of that invisible man scifi movie (forgot the title right now). Of course Herrmann tried to make it a point to be authentic with his period piece or ethnic movies, so this trait is not necessarily unique for Rozsa. Although I would've preferred if Dane offered more insights about Rozsa's signature as a unique composer, I liked this chapter. Well, that's as far as I was allowed to read from iUniverse. I can see, after reading the Preface, why Dane was sensitive or secretive about this labor of love project (not even notifying the Rozsa Forum as a "heads up" announcement). He couldn't find a (standard commercial) publisher after a long period attempting. So he decided to pay the fee and go POD. This is understandable and probably quite common. I recall how the excellent "Journal of Film Music" tried to find a University Press or some other Institution to finance the journal for years, but no luck. They had to self-publish. I recall how Ed on this Forum expressed the wish to write a personal account of his years at the studio he worked for, the famous people he knew, etc. I don't think he will have any better luck, and he may also have to go thru iUniverse. Actually I really like what iUniverse has to offer. There are a lot of terrific books there. Some very interesting titles: http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-19429-X There are many others worth perusing. I write an equivalent of three books a year that I "self-publish" in my Film Score Rundowns site. I believe in free education (perhaps the best things in life are indeed "free") and desire no money up front for people to read my specialty items. If only one person got value out of it, then I'm pleased. But there's nothing wrong with money attained from one's works for those who prefer it, so I certainly wish Dane success in this fine work. It deserves reading. I plan to buy it myself but waiting until I get more money together (I have property taxes and house insurance to pay for soon!). I'd like to buy it in conjunction with that soon-to-be-available Scarecrow book on Korngold's ROBIN HOOD I mentioned in a different post. "Time for bed!" ************************ Anyway, I plan to read the entire Dane book on Rozsa. I may change my mind about waiting for more money to buy the printed version for $22.95 and order on Wednesday (another day off) the Adobe eBook version for $6. That way I can read it far sooner (and it's less expensive as well). I wouldn't want to do that if it happened to be a book with plenty of score examples (such as Cooper's The Ghost & Mrs Muir: A Film Score Guide). [resume Wednesday, Oct 25 at 6:03 pm] I finished reading Dane's book, "A Composer's Notes: Remembering Miklos Rozsa" this morning. If you don't have the discretionary money to purchase the paperback version, I recommend that you buy the online eBook version for only $6. It's fast, convenient, and the "right" price (although the book deserves more than $6). Now: I can partially see why Dane had great difficulty in "selling" this book to normal commercial publishers (with the frustration showing out-of-place in the Prelude). As given, it is a personal recollection (not a biography or score analysis) of a 20th century composer (who is probably not instantly or that-well-known to the public) written by an author who is not known by most people. If a celebrity offered a book like this (Bill Clinton, say, or—you name him!), then it would've been easily picked up! Publishers probably felt that a "personal remembrance" (even backed up by a wealth of reproduced letters, etc) from an "unknown" about a composer would not sell very well and hence not justify the risk of publishing it. Fortunately in this digital (or digitalk) age, Dane was able to find a suitable venue for his quality book thru iUniverse POD (although it does not have the same traditional respectability and influence as a commercial publisher). Would a book by Dane on Rozsa have traditionally sold if it was a specific film score analysis (such as the Scarecrow series)? Probably (and I would definitely buy it). Would a book by Dane on Rozsa have sold if it was a definitive biography? Perhaps. But a personal recollection type of book is a far harder sell it appears. Incidentally, you can access on the Internet many of Dane's essays from Inditer.com. Go to: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/202/300/inditer/2001/06-04/dane/dane.htm The "Notes on Film Music" essay is quite interesting. It was written in 2001 but a good deal of that essay was lifted verbatim (word-for-word) for the Rozsa book (unless the Rozsa book was written first?). This includes the discussion on the Alamo music (see page 22 starting of "A Composer's Notes").The "Retribution" and "A True Story" essays are also an interesting read, though not connected to music. There are, however, several essays on distant and contemporary composers. Dane has a good command of the written word. Whether he has a good command as being an Editor of his own work on Rozsa, well, not entirely. As given earlier, I think he needs to edit out the bulk of his Prelude and its intense focus on lamenting that he could not find a commercial publisher. This is the obvious flaw or mar in the otherwise high-merit book. It's not a suitable prelude on the subject of Rozsa but more of a sour-grapes exercise. I don't think it's a good first impression. Put it instead in one the essays in the Inditer archives because it is out-of-place in the serious (and reverential) Rozsa book. Those aside, let's discuss this otherwise excellent book. Now: The overall general impression I immediately get after reading the entire book is Dane's "feeling" approach. This is not an abstract, cool "head" exposition of a composer but a rather personalized "heart" approach. Indeed, as given on page 281, he stated that he devoted his avocational life to music largely because of Rozsa. The composer became quite a significant other (although Dane admits that they were not necessarily intimate or very close friends on a systematic level). Rozsa made a tremendous emotional and artistic impact on his life, and it shows very clearly in this book. The impression I get, in analogy, is a sort of Disciple-Master relationship in essence that you read about in certain contexts (such as Hindu readings). You really can't get closer than that because you certainly don't take a "master" for granted or get into a personality conflict or engage in heated arguments, and so forth. It's a rather reverential approach, almost a form of idealized image (say, sainthood). It's not turning someone in a god but a real deep respect and appreciation of somebody's presence and creative gifts. I'm speculating that if Edgar Cayce was still around and gave a reading, there would probably be noted a strong karmic or reincarnational connection between Dane and Rozsa. That's the intuitive feeling I get. Put differently, the feeling I get after reading this fine book is a sense of spiritual love evident within the written words, a sort of "bhakti" (Hindu terminology) or devotional love for the man and the artist. It's not a "manas" or mental approach. In a sense, this book is a meditation on Rozsa. It's not an un-feeling pure "head" or "knowing about" approach, but a personal "heart" accounting of communing with the "Master." There's an old saying that one minute of God-contact is worth hundreds of hours of reading "about" such a personal contact. The same applies here in this approach to writing. It's as though Dane admirably was implicitly stating, "I am always at your service" from this disciple stance. A biography would be far more detached or "knowing about" whereas Dane's personal remembrance is far more experiential, an almost mystical approach, in that he wanted to convey something deeper. So he writes this book from the heart and is understandably upset when this "pearl of great price" (manuscript) was cast upon the "swine" (stupid commercial publishers!) who were dense and unappreciative. Dane was writing from the depth of his being in his deep respect and homage to this particular man and artist. You can tell from reading the comments on Rozsa's letters that Dane had a very deep longing to be associated with Rozsa, an almost water urge to absorb and be absorbed, to assimilate and be assimilated in this high-quality association. Some critics may thinks it's overly sensitized or a fawning-over the composer (overly-accommodating), but I feel that it's more a sense of what John Burroughs wrote once in a poem, "My own shall come to me." The law of attraction (like attracts like) brings you together with certain people thru psycho-spiritual similarities. I certainly could never write a book like this. My approach is decidedly far more "air" or mental. Herrmann is my favorite composer but I really had no desire to know him personally or emotionally. If my memory serves me, I wrote to him only once, telling him how much his music had affected me deeply, and then asking him a specific question about the alleged Krebs reference he cited (according to Palmer) for "The Bird" cue in Mysterious Island. Well, Herrmann never replied back! I can see why if indeed (as discussed recently in Talking Herrmann) Benny played a big joke on Palmer! After reading about Herrmann's irate tendencies, I probably would not have even "liked" him on a personality level, let alone "love" him! And he probably would dismiss me heatedly once I started asking him technical questions (such as his tendency to self-borrow, etc)! I rather be entranced by his works than entranced by his personality. Whereas Dane wrote in a far different approach, and this is excellent because I can learn from it. It's almost as if he wrote a book alternately titled, "At the Feet of the Master: Miklos Rozsa". However, one can become deeply immersed in the "world view" of Herrmann (or "Rozsa" or whomever) in other approaches than the devotional feeling or Bhakti approach. It all depends on one's character whether you're "built that way" to approach life or individuals in a certain characteristic manner. Different strokes for different folks. So the book is essentially a homage conveying many happy memories and many thanks. -Page 62 shows a photo dated October 15, 1976 in New York. I see it lists John Fitzpatrick. He appears to have a Jimmy Stewart physique or body build. He seems tall too. I wonder what the height is? Well, I think that's enough of my personal impressions of Dane's fine book. I wonder if John Fitzpatrick is going to write a book on Rozsa as well. That's it for the review. I'll see if there are any replies. Maybe Dane himself will reply although I don't believe he ever posted there (probably being a "lurker"). I wish there was a similar book on Bernard Herrmann.. Please credit Warner Bros. Pictures (Home Office) for the account of Music Publishers Holding Corporation in the amount of $8,750.00 covering the cost of music clearances for the following production: Prod. "ICE PALACE" Very truly yours, Wow! That's a lot of money back then for just music clearances. According to the inflation calculation, that amounts to about $55,000 today. [resume Monday, October 30 at 2:03 pm] Now: Last Thursday in the mail I received a mysterious package (no sender attached to it) with a vhs-video within. I put it in my VCR and discovered that it was the second pilot for the proposed CBS series, Jarrett of K Street. The music was by Leith Stevens but the opening and end titles were composed by Bernard Herrmann. Here's the post I submitted to Talking Herrmann: I just had the good fortune of finally being able to see the second of two pilots of the proposed series, JARRETT OF K STREET, produced by CBS and Gallu Productions in 1959. This second pilot was composed by Leith Stevens (dated by Leith on November 17, 1959) whereas the first pilot was composed by Herrmann (dated April 1959). Unfortunately I still haven't seen this first pilot that Herrmann titled in his score, "House on K Street." Fortunately you can still hear Herrmann's music in the second pilot. The end credits showcard states, "Main and End Theme--Bernard Herrmann." The "Closing Theme" utilizes Bars 1-2 (skipping 3-8), then Bars 9-23 (end Bar 23 on the score). Stevens' score (located in Box 49 at UCLA in the CBS Collection) temporarily borrows from the theme composed by Herrmann. I have several cue titles but cannot find my notes at this moment, but I named them in a blog or even here in the Talking Herrmann archives. This second episode is titled in the score as the "Last Bomber Story." The score also referred to "House" (not "Jarrett") of K Street, so the producers obviously decided to change the title of the proposed series in post-production. The episode opens in the office of the Air Ministry in Canada where Atley Dunston (played by Kent Smith) is fist-angry about the discovery of a Canadian WWII bomb that disappeared in 1944 and suddenly appears in a desert, practically intact. Dunston wants to know why the government is not investigating it faster. So the Air Ministry invites Dr. Morgan Jarrett (played by action-figure Dean Jagger!) to snoop into the matter. His assistant is the lovely Claire Madison (played by Lori March). Then we see the Air Ministry official (Mr. Parkhurst played by Ned Wever) in Ottawa showing Jarrett and his lovely (and young!) assistant to that mysterious bomber that was lost 16 years ago with only two survivors who bailed out. One survivor is blind Hugh Purvis (played by Don Gordon). The other survivor is Gunnerson (played by Wally Cassell) who was murdered shortly after Jarrett asked him questions. The episode was directed and produced by Sam Gallu, written by Frank Waldman. I can see why the series never made it. It was pretty dull! I wonder what the first pilot was like. Some of the cue titles sound interesting: "Murder," "The House," "Microscope," "The Pencil,", "Stone's House," The Shack," and "The Fight." Incidentally there was a microscope in the second pilot. I guess this was Jarrett's trademark scene where he bends over a microscope investigating murder or mystery evidence. In a sense, it's like a "CSI--Washington, D.C."! It's not alien abduction as in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS but a humdrum murder investigation. You can probably guess who the murderer was since there's only a handful of stars." The culprit is actually Mr. Dunstan, aka the co-pilot of the bomber who sabotaged the plane for gain who later took on the new identity of Mr. Dunstan. I partially read a long article by Peter Kalkavage titled "The Neglected Muse" in the Fall 2006 edition of the American Educator. He discusses how music pervades life, how strongly it influences the young, impressionable mind, and how it liberates us from vulgarity and commonness. "Liber" means to free, to liberate. The statement, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is both true and false. Beauty is best perceived or appreciated by the educated beholder, although a lot depends on one's own acquired aesthetic taste. Music is not just another sound. It conjures a spell, an atmosphere, and perhaps nostalgia (such as older film music fans prefer the "Golden Age" of film music). -Herrmann's clever use of polytonal chords (two simultaneously heard or over-lapped) chords in the Twilight Zone theme for the first season. Call it the Twilight Zone harmonic haze since the scene sounds a fog-like sort of haze and Herrmann conveyed this with the ambiguous chords (I believe E maj and E minor chords were used but I'll have to recheck). Here are the cue titles in Goldsmith's The Shadow written sketch score: That's as far as my notes and time took me. Stephen and Jane late afternoon yesterday liked the gentle Eskimo music in Ice Palace, Reel 6/5. Lento in 4/8 time, we hear the simple rhythmic beat played by the large Tom Tom and cymbal with soft stick. The harp plays p Great octave A/small octave E 8ths up to small octave A/Line 1 E 8ths (repeated same bar and repeated next bars). After an 8th rest, 12 violins pluck pizz small octave A/Line 1 E 8ths (followed by an 8th rest) to A/E 8ths again (repeated next several bars). Four violas pluck mp small octave E 8th (followed by an 8th rest) to same E 8th (followed by an 8th rest). Four celli pluck Great octave A 8th (followed by an 8th rest) to A 8th (followed by an 8th rest). After a "3" triplet value 8th rest in Bar 3, the top staff harp plays Line 1 A-B triplet value 8ths up to Line 2 D-E-G# "3" triplet value 8ths to (Bar 4) A quarter note (followed by a quarter rest). Repeat in Bars 5-6. In Bar 6, the solo flute plays Line 2 A 8th to "3" triplet value 16ths G#-D-E 16ths down to Line 1 B quarter note tied to quarter note and 8th next bar 9followed by an 8th rest). The flute is especially highlighted in Bar 46 as the melody line begins. The flute plays dolce Line 2 C down to Bb 16ths up to C 8th tied to quarter note and tied to 8th next bar to E-F-C 8ths to (Bar 48) Bb-A 16ths to Bb dotted quarter note tied to 8th next bar to C-D-Bb 8ths, and so forth. Then the solo oboe takes over in Bar 53. -There was some sort of discussion on Herschel Burke Gilbert on Talking Herrmann. I happened to come upon old notes and saw that Gilbert became the President of the Society of the Preservation of Film Music (SPFM) I believe sometime in 1989. Bill Rosar was the President and Founder of it since the Society was formed sometime in 1983. I guess he stepped down in order to become the Executive Director. I forgot the exact issue but the old Soundtrack periodical had an interview with Rosar specifically about the Society. Fred Steiner, however, was the principal originator back in 1977 of the idea to form such a Society but it wasn't actually founded until 1983 by Rosar. Clifford McCarty was the Vice President; Leslie Zador, Secretary; John DeNault III, Treasurer. Other Directors by 1988 was Henry Adams, Clyde Allen, Kevin Fahey, Herschel Burke Gilbert, John Hora, Eddy Lawrence Manson, Jack Nelson, Robert O. Ragland, Ronald Stein, Fred Steiner, and Tony Thomas. ADVISORS included Rudy Behlmer, Elmer Bernstein (eventually to become the President), Ken Darby, Ernest Gold, Jerry Goldsmith, Jack Haley, Jr., Quincy Jones, Robert Knutson, Chris Kuchler, Henry Mancini, David Newman, Alex North, Basil Poledouris, Roy Prendergast, David Raksin, Miklos Rozsa, Herbert Stothart II, Alan Ulrich, Elridge R. Walker, and John Waxman. Also included are James D'Arc of BYU, Stephen Fry, Linda Mehr, Iris Newsom, Jon Newsom, and Anne Schlosser. Many of these are quite familiar names. Anyway there was apparently a LOT of bad blood and power-struggle in-fighting in the old Society, especially between Gilbert and Rosar (according to that Soundtrack interview) and others. I think that if a book should be written about the whole affair, especially in the transition period of power change in 1989/1990. It would make for interesting reading! A lot was discussed about the Society later on too in Filmus-L about how the Society was run by a new Executive Director (Jeannie Pool), and so forth. If an impartial writer decided to take the assignment, I could offer my own stories when I had difficulty with SPFM about their CBS materials they refused to let me hear. I am sure many people have stories to tell! Personally I much preferred the old years with Rosar running it and the interesting Cue Sheet periodical articles then. Although I never attended one, there were achievement awards that first started with Miklos Rozsa being the honoree, and the dinners became an annual affair. Soon it became a fund raiser event as well. The Elmer Bernstein Award Dinner earned SPFM about $20,000, while the John Williams one garnered them $30,000. According to the article, Gilbert erroneously felt that the job of the Executive Director was to be a fund raiser, and this concept butted heads with Rosar (the first Executive Director or E-D-to-be on a fulltime basis) who never agreed to this in the first place, so apparently Gilbert started a power-struggle feud that ended up with two camps: one that saw things Herschel's way, and those who saw things Rosar's way. Rosar lost. This was because Herschel's supporters came to dominate the Board and eventually ousted him. Some people whom he thought were his friends and supporters went to the power-side (Gilbert). Strange how an idealistic or good-minded society can create a bed of power-struggles. Anyway, if anybody writes a book about it (which I doubt!), I would certainly buy it and read it. Thanks for your time! Informative Rosar gave me the heads-up me on a new book coming out within a week or two titled Hitchcock's Music by Jack Sullivan: The Table of Contents can be viewed from the Library of Congress here: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0611/2006010348.html A poster named "Mark" discusses the author's Waxman's article in Chronicle of Higher education, found at: http://artsandfaith.com//lofiversion/index.php/t956-50.html I plan to purchase the book. It looks promising! I hope there are many full-score or at least conductor score examples in the book (much as what Cooper did in his Ghost & Mrs. Muir analysis in the Scarecrow Press book). Other news: Dvds of the Cimarron Strip series are available at the following site: http://www.cimarronstrip.com/Cimarron%20Strip%20DVD.html This includes the Herrmann-scored episode, "A Knife in the Darkness." I contributed a post on that episode, including a mini-rundown of the score at Talking Herrmann that I wrote seven years ago: http://herrmann.uib.no/talking/view.cgi?forum=thGeneral&topic=2537 [Edited, reduced version of an earlier version of this blog] < Back to BLOG LIST : Next BLOG > |
