Blog Post

An Interview with Herman Stein

Randall D. Larson

Interview with Herman Stein (1915-2007) by Randall D. Larson

Interviewed May 6 , 1983; Originally published in CinemaScore 

The Film Music Journal Issue 13/14 (1985).


Born in Philadelphia in 1915, Herman Stein was a self-taught musician who became a noted arranger for jazz orchestras and radio programs in New York during the 1930s and 40s. In 1948 he moved to Los Angeles, where he studied formally with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, joining the music staff at Universal Pictures in 1951, where he remained until 1958. The Universal films of that period were scored by a team of composers working under music director Joseph Gershenson, who headed Universal’s music department throughout the 1950s and 60s. Interviewed in May of 1983, Stein explained the peculiarities of the Universal music factory and his experiences scoring many of the well-remembered B-movies of the period. Herman Stein died on March 15, 2007 – rdl.

You worked on many of the classic Universal science fiction films of the 50s, often in collaboration with many other composers…

Yes. There were a staff of composers in those days. There was me, Frank Skinner and Henry Mancini, and of course Hans Salter was frequently called in because he had been the director of the music department prior to my coming there. Heinz Roemheld and others would come in now and then when we needed more people, but I was on salary there with Frank Skinner and Hank Mancini, we were the main three, along with David Tamkin, the orchestrator, who was also on salary. The head of the music department was Joseph Gershenson. We’d grind pictures out like a factory in those days – of course it’s entirely different now. Sometimes two or three of us would work on a picture; one of us would come up with the main theme and the others would use that theme in the cues we’d do. Sometimes I would do a reel or Hank would do a reel, or Skinner would do a reel, that sort of thing. It was quite a collaborative effort.


Working with all those other composers, how was a musical consistency maintained throughout the film?
Sometimes somebody would inherit the "Main Title", and we would have a theme there. Whoever had to use that particular theme would compose it in his own particular way. For example, we did a picture called IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE that was a little different. I remember that I did the "Main Title" and some other cues, and we also used some library music. Everybody would do different things, but for continuity, somebody would come up with a certain theme for this character or that character. When the rest of us had to compose a cue that involved that particular character we based our writing on that theme. We actually used each other’s themes interchangeably but we would compose it in our own way.


When you take a theme and you compose something on it you are composing – the fact that you used another theme doesn’t mean that you are not a composer. I always think, as an example, of the beginning of Beethoven’s 5th. If somebody should say Ba-Ba-Ba-BOM and then you proceed to write the rest of the First Movement, you are a composer. But not according to ASCAP! That’s the strange thing about that whole system – whoever writes the melody is considered the composer, but that is not always meaningful. You could take a snatch of the melody and you can build all kinds of things on it, but you are a composer, that’s what you are doing.


Anyhow, for continuity that’s the way it would be. Somebody had a theme and whoever had a particular cue would use it. I would use Hank’s themes for something, or he would use something I wrote, or Frank Skinner wrote, or Hans would do it. We all would do it the same way. Sometimes we wouldn’t get credit for the music. We did an awful lot of pictures that way, where just the head of the department got credit for “music supervision”; there was no actual music credit, but that’s fair enough.


That’s why in many of those films only Joseph Gershenson is given music credit?
When his name appeared it would say “music supervision.” He was not a composer, he was a very excellent conductor and he had very excellent ideas. He assigned the music to us; he would say, “Hank, you do this reel” and “Frank, you do that.” He was an executive, actually, and a very splendid one, too, he had excellent taste, and I think we’re all very grateful to him. I am and I know that Hank Mancini is because he gave us both a job.


You scored a number of science fiction films for Universal, starting with IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE in 1953. Do you recall if you took any special approach on these kinds of films?
I should point out in the beginning that in 1953 films were different and the music would be different. Your approach would be different, you’d want a different sound, that’s why in IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE I used the theremin. The theremin had been used before, and today of course I wouldn’t think of using a theremin, I’d use something else. But you approach a science fiction film like you do any other film. Music is music, and if you compose for a dramatic situation, which happens to be a film, you approach it fundamentally the same way. The fact that it’s an outer space plot, or a supernatural one, really doesn’t matter to the composer. You’re composing music for a film, and you’re fulfilling the function of a film composer which is to intensify what you see on the screen – not necessarily to describe it or to identify it, but to get an overall effect. When you see a film with music and everything, the photography, the story, it all becomes a homogeneous whole, and everything contributes to that total effect. So it’s really no different writing for a science fiction picture than any other, it is not a specialty. The fact that you do it today with the synthesizer doesn’t make it more outer space. You can write the most conventional and lousy music for a synthesizer as you can for a violin! And I hear plenty of it! And writing sound effects doesn’t make it necessarily more eerie.


You can get a cretin to write a thirty-two bar tune and play it on a guitar, but that does not necessarily make him a film scorer. They may use it in the picture, but that doesn’t mean that he scored a picture. I have little patience with that, really. For example, Randall, you write, and I’m sure you have no patience with any so-called writer who can not write a simple, declarative sentence, and likewise I have no patience with a so-called artist who can not draw (even Picasso, and the most far-out guys in the world, all know how to draw), and I have no patience with a so-called composer who doesn’t take the time and sweat to learn his craft, and to learn how to orchestrate. You can tap out a melody and yet it does not make you a composer. A film composer has to be able to write music. You can’t just be a cretin and learn six chords on a guitar and then become a film scorer.


The nature of music, specifically for science fiction films, will change through the years. It already has. They wouldn’t make these rather naive outer space pictures, they make them differently today, and therefore the music is different, just as the photography and the effects are different. I’m thinking of Bernard Herrmann, for example, in PSYCHO, which is an excellent score, where he used sixty-five strings, and that wouldn’t be any more exciting if he had ten synthesizers! Of course, if you were writing it today you might use a synthesizer, but you would write differently. Whenever you compose music, you write your music in terms of what the instruments are. In other words, you don’t write something and say, “I’ll give that to a flute.” You conceive it for flute, you conceive it for strings, and ultimately (which they’re not doing yet), you’ll conceive synthesizer music precisely for that instrument. You will think in terms of synthesizer.


How would you describe the music you did provide for IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and some of these others?
I don’t know how to describe it. I remember I did quite a bit of the film, including the Main Title. There were others, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, for example. I remember Joe Gershenson and I discussing it, that’s the one that goes Bom-ba-BOM, that three note figure with the dissonance at the end. I think that was my particular theme, and then we had some others. Frank had one, and I think Hank had a few. In those days you had a theme for this and a theme for that; that’s not necessarily always the best way to go, that came from Wagner, you know, the idea of the leitmotif. In those early days, we laughed at a guy who’d say, “well, Wagner used the leitmotif, and I used a leitmotif, too; so therefore I write like Wagner!” That’s pretentious, really. The idea of using a particular theme for a particular thing is not always the way to go, but that was the thing to do at that time, and sometimes it did help. It is very useful sometimes, like the JAWS theme, for example – which of course is the ALEXANDER NEVSKY theme, I’m sure you’re familiar with that. Anyhow, that’s the approach I used, I don’t know how to describe it any further.


There were some others, I can’t remember all of them, but I know there were quite a few. THE MONOLITH MONSTERS – well, that doesn’t count so much – THIS ISLAND EARTH; that one I did the whole picture except the last reel. There was a lot of dialog in there and the idea was just to get a sustained mood, there was nothing particularly different about that. I remember I did a lot of cues on THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, some of them were just straight dramatic cues, that’s all. I don’t know what music you’d use for a person getting smaller, you can’t get too literal with that thing. We had things like TARANTULA, THE DEADLY MANTIS – we all worked on that, will Bill Lava and Hank Mancini.


The only thing I object to in science fiction pictures is when the music just becomes sound effects. That does not help. There’s one generality that I’d like to make, and it’s not only about science fiction pictures but about all film music, and I think it’s an important one, and that is this: music can be a good piece of music, played away from the film, and it may not help the picture because it may not be right, but if it is bad as music, it can never, never help a picture. I don’t know if anybody else ever made this observation but I make it twenty times a day! If it is bad music it is not going to help. A lot of pictures work not because of the music but in spite of it, and I’ve heard many pictures that would have been better if the music had been better.


I think of a picture like THE GREAT MAN, that’s one of the few that I got a credit on, we just wrote a main title theme, and that set a kind of mood. I think that’s a good illustration. The music has to set a mood for you, sometimes right from the main title. It will set a mood that will grab you right away, whether it’s a science fiction picture or a horror picture or a dramatic picture or, for that matter, a comedy. There was one picture I did and I guess it’s one of the best ones, called THE UNGUARDED MOMENT, an Esther Williams picture, and that had a lot of frantic stuff in it. Similar music could be written, I guess, for a science fiction picture, as well.


The Universal pictures used a lot of music library material over and over, didn’t they?
Some things we did just with library stock. Some bad ones, too, because they ground out a lot of junk in those days! It was a studio that needed an awful lot of music because they turned out so many pictures. I think Gershenson should get all the credit on that, because he ran the department, and he said “you have to pick the right people to do it and you have to look over them.” I know I did a lot of things like THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH, I worked on that, too. Hans did and everybody else did, and we did a lot of Abbott & Costello and Ma & Pa Kettle. I did many of those. I was looking at that Themes From Horror Movies album, [Coral CRL 57240/Varese VC 81077] where they used some of these things, but I didn’t like the way they were orchestrated. This was not the orchestration we used in the pictures.


Are there any of these films you’re especially proud of?
I did a complete picture for Roger Corman, called THE INTRUDER, and I’m happy that Roger Corman was pleased with that film because when he speaks of his pictures, and he’s done so many, he says that the one he always likes, his pet picture, was THE INTRUDER; but that’s one nobody’s ever heard of, I suppose. It was from a book written by Charles Beaumont. I had written the music to that, and I’m very proud of it, but it doesn’t play around very much anymore. William Shatner was the star, and he was superb. We were all proud of that picture, everybody who worked on it. It’ll never mean a thing to us, but everybody has a little pet picture, and THE INTRUDER, for Roger Corman, is my pet. I think that was a fine picture, for the time. 


How would you describe the music you wrote for it?
It was dramatic, and I like it very much. The main title was something that they use a lot now, and we used a similar thing in THE UNGUARDED MOMENT, that pulsating kind of a thing. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s pulsating and exciting.


You worked in television in the mid 1960s…
Yes. After Universal, I just free-lanced for a while and did different television series at Fox. On these shows, whenever I would get a segment I would do the whole segment. On LOST IN SPACE, it wasn’t a collaborative effort, we each wrote a whole segment, and Johnny Williams wrote the theme. But I agree with Ernest Gold in CinemaScore [#10], I hate television! I don’t like the idea of the rush.


These horror and science fiction pictures we’ve discussed were, of course, only a portion of your overall output for films. Can you comment about some of the other types of films you’ve scored and any particular impressions that may stand out?
I can only say that there were all kinds. There were something like eighty-five different titles that I’ve worked on. When you worked on a studio staff, and they turned out so many pictures a year, like sixty pictures a year, you worked on a lot. I worked on MISTER CORY with Hank, MAN WITHOUT A STAR, that was with Hans Salter. I got a credit on SLIM CARTER, which was a western. There’s a whole bunch of pictures. THE TOY TIGER was one that I did with Hank – there was a picture called THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON and Hank wrote the theme for the main title, and then I took Hank’s eight bars, wrote a middle, and I orchestrated a main title that became THE TOY TIGER. That, with me and Hank, was a purely collaborative effort.


What are your current musical activities? I note you’re no longer scoring films.
In the 60s, I just withdrew from the business altogether, and sort of dropped out. I got involved in mathematics and that drove me to financial commodities, and I spend a lot of my time with that, now. There are only two things, if I live long enough, that I want to finish. There’s a ballet, from a story by Ben Hecht, he wrote a novel called Count Ruga, and within that novel there was a little story about a magician, and it’s a magnificent story. In fact the one who called it to my attention was Chuck Beaumont (I knew some of the writers, I knew Chuck, and I know Dick Matheson, a very fine writer). I always wanted to do a ballet, and I remember speaking to Ben Hecht once, just over the telephone (I never met him), and I said “I love your beautiful little story and I would love to do a ballet on it” and asked if I could have his permission. He said, “Yes, all I want is fifty percent of the losses!”, and that was cute.


Another thing that I’m working on is an opera. Princess Pamela, based on a novel by Ray Russell, whose quite a good science fiction writer. If I can do that ballet and the opera I think I would die happy. I’m not involved in the business too much now – I’m still in the Academy, of course, and I get to hear what’s being done. Some of it is very good, and most of it is very bad, as always. But that’s with anything, the good stuff is about ten percent, the mediocre is about eighty, and the junk is a good portion too. But what is good is very good, and I’m sure this was true in the time of Mozart, Bach and Paleolithic Man!


Finally, would there be any other comments or recollections you’d care to share about your career as a film composer?
After I drifted away, I kept my interest in film music – I can’t lose it any more than I can lose interest in music in general; after all, I started very young. I played the piano at an embarrassingly early age, and I’ve always been involved in music until just recently. The only thing about film music in general, to repeat my earlier comments, I should just point out that thirty years from now, pictures will be different and the music will be different, too. Certain basic things will always be the same, they always were and they always are, and that is that the function of music in a film is to intensify what you’re seeing. That will always be the function no matter what tools are being used. And, again, as far as the synthesizers go, I think we have yet to hear them used properly. It hasn’t been done yet, it’s been used, but I’m sorry it’s just been, more or less, an effect. It’s a wonderful device. The only reason I’d like to live a thousand years is to hear what it’s going to be like! I’m very curious, aren’t you, Randall?


Yes, that would be very interesting!
Well, then, I’ll see you a thousand years from now and we’ll check it out!

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Nearly all of these Universal films, as was their practice during the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s, were jointly scored by a team of composers supervised by music director Joseph Gershenson. Many of these scores included re-used library music, or “track,” in addition to or instead of original composition, often in the form of short cues re-used from previous films owned by the same studio (which is why composers such as Miklos Rozsa turn up, 20 or 30 seconds worth, in films like FRANCIS COVERS THE BIG TOWN!) Credit listings on the films themselves often credited only the music director or the composer who had the most music in the film in question; the other contributing composers receiving no credit.


The following filmography lists all of the films in which Herman Stein’s music appeared. It was compiled from ASCAP cue sheets which list every musical cue in each film, and I have noted the other composers whose work also appears in the same films, though I have not listed source music and songs–only “background” scoring. Those films in which library or track music appeared are indicated as such after either the title or the composer’s name, all other work should be considered original composition for the film in question. Selected films of particular musical importance list the titles of the cues after their composer, in the interests of knowing precisely who wrote what. Author of the main title cue is also usually indicated, as this often reflects authorship of the score’s main theme. My thanks to Heran Stein for allowing me to meticulously investigate his file of cue sheets and thus providing this complete record of his feature film appearances. – R.D. Larson

1951


THE STRANGE DOOR (horror)

Stein (arranged Mozart cue for “March of the Priests” only); rest of score is all track by Paul Dessau, William Lava (incl. Main Title), Charles Previn, Miklos Rozsa, Hans Salter, Paul Sawtell, Frank Skinner, Edward Ward.

1952


BACK AT THE FRONT (aka WILLIE & JOE IN BACK AT THE FRONT) (comedy)

Stein (incl. Main & End Title); Henry Mancini.


BILLY MAY AND HIS ORCHESTRA (short)

Stein (5 seconds only), rest of score is songs/swing music.


CONNEE BOSWELL & ADA LEONARD (short)

Stein, Everett Carter & Milton Rosen.


THE DUEL AT SILVER CREEK (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title); plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Milton Rosen, Miklos Rozsa (short cues from BRUCE FORCE, etc), Leith Stevens, Everett Carter, Oliver DRake, Jimmy Wakely, Paul Sawtell, Walter Scharf.


FRANCIS GOES TO WEST POINT (comedy)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title, some track); Milton Rosen (some track); Nicholas Nuzzi; Charles Zimmerman; plus track by Leith Stevens, Walter Schumann, Paul Van Loan.


HAS ANYBODY SEEN MY GAL? (musical)

Stein; Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); plus track by Frank Skinner, Milton Rosen, Hans Salter.


HERE COME THE NELSONS (drama)

Stein (most of score); Milton Rosen; plus track by Walter Scharf, Edgar Fairchild, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Walter Schumann, Gus Kahn & Charles Previn, Hans Salter, Leith Stevens, Frank Skinner, Lloyd Akridge, Paul Sawtell.


HORIZON’S WEST (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Milton Rosen, Henry Mancini; plus track by Arthur Lange, Walter Scharf, Hans Salter, Miklos Rozsa, Frank Skinner.


JUST ACROSS THE STREET (comedy)

Stein; Milton Rosen (some track); Inez James & Sidney Miller; plus track by Frank Skinner, Walter Schumann, Leith Stevens.


KNIGHTS OF THE HIGHWAY (newsreel)

Stein (5 second End Title only); rest is track by Milton Rosen, Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Miklos Rozsa, Everett Carter, Walter Scharf, Leith Stevens, Elizabeth Firestone.


THE LAWLESS BREED (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Milton Rosen; plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Everett Carter, Arthur Lange, Miklos Rozsa, Walter Scharf, William Lava.


LOST IN ALASKA (Abbott & Costello comedy)

Stein (track only); Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); Milton Rosen (some track); plus track by Hans Salter, Arthur Lange, Frank Skinner, Leith Stevens, Walter Schumann, Edgar Fairchild.


MEET ME AT THE FAIR (musical)

Stein; Milton Rosen (most of score); plus track by Hans Salter, Frank Skinner, Charles Maxwell, Charles Previn, Edward Ward.


THE RAIDERS (aka RIDERS OF VENGEANCE) (western)

Stein; Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen.


THE REDHEAD FROM WYOMING (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; plus track by Arthur Lange, Walter Scharf, Paul Sawtell, Henry Mancini, Frank Skinner, Miklos Rozsa, Leith Stevens (latter three in “Black Bart” cue only).


SON OF ALI BABA (fantasy)

Stein (incl. Main Title); plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Milton Rosen, Harry Lubin.

1953


ABBOTT & COSTELLO GO TO MARS (comedy/science fiction)

Stein (Main Title incl. some track); Robert Stolz; plus track by Milton Rosen (incl. End Title); Henry Mancini, Frank Skinner, Alexandre Tansman, J.R. Shannon & Frederic Knight Logan.


ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET DR.JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (comedy/horror)

Stein (mostly track); Paul Sawtell; rest all track by Frank Skinner (mostly cues from ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN), Miklos Rozsa (cues from KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS), Daniele Amfitheatrof, Walter Scharf, Henry Mancini, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes, Hans Salter, Leith Stevens, Johnny Green, Walter Schumann, Eric Zeisl (cues from THE INVISIBLE MAN’S REVENGE and FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES).


ALL I DESIRE (period drama)

Stein; Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); David Lieberman (incl. End Title); Milton Rosen; Frank Skinner; Daniele Amfitheatrof; Henry Mancin; Hans Salter; Earl Lawrence; Edward Ward (some of these may be tracked); plus track by Miklos Rozsa (track, from A DOUBLE LIFE).


BOW RIVER VALLEY (short)

Stein; Frank Skinner; plus track by Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


BROOKLYN GOES TO CHICAGO (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Leith Stevens, Walter Scharf, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes, Johnny Green, Edgar Fairchild.


CITY BENEATH THE SEA (science fiction)

Stein; Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes; Milton Rosen; plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter.


COLUMN SOUTH (western)

Stein (incl. Main and End Titles); Henry Mancini; plus track by Frank Skinner, Walter Scharf, Hans Salter.


EAST OF SUMATRA (adventure)

Stein (most of score, incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini, Irving Gertz.


FRANCIS COVERS THE BIG TOWN (comedy)

Stein; Edgar Fairchild (incl. Main Title); Everett Carter; plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Walter Scharf, Miklos Rozsa.


GIRLS IN THE NIGHT (drama)

Stein (incl. some track); Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title; some track); Harold Adamson & Jimmy McHugh; Frederick Herbert; Laird Mason; plus track by Harry Lubin, Milton Rosen, Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Miklos Rozsa, Paul Sawtell.


THE GLASS WEB (crime thriller)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Frank Skinner; Milton Rosen; Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown.


GO SOUTH AMIGO (short)

All track: Stein, Walter Scharf, Jack Brooks, Frank Skinner, Miklos Rozsa, Milton Rosen.


THE GOLDEN BLADE (swashbuckler)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Hans Salter; Milton Rosen; Henry Mancini; Frank Skinner; Arnold Hughes; Irving Gertz.


THE GREAT SIOUX UPRISING (western)

Stein (most of score, incl. Main Title); Milton Rosen (some track); Henry Mancini; plus track by Hans Salter, Frank Skinner.


GUNSMOKE (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title; some track); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen (some track); Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes; plus track by Hans Salter, Henry Mancini, Arthur Lange, Miklos Rozsa.


IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (science fiction)

Stein (incl. Main Title & End Cast, cues: Sand Rock, Visitors From Space, The Thing Follows, Globs Gives Instructions, Prospector Globbed, The Thing).

Irving Gertz (cues: Star Gazing, Mysterious Desert, Dr. Snell Disappears, Kidnapping Ellen, Killing Glob Ellen, Glob Frank Killed).

Henry Mancini (cues: John’s Discovery, Talking Wires, The Thing Strikes, Zombie George, George’s Double, Telephone Message, Desert Rendezvous, Visitors, Rescued, End Title).


IT HAPPENS EVERY THURSDAY (comedy)

Stein (track only); Milton Rosen; Harold Adamson & Jimmy McHugh; Henry Mancini (incl. End Title); Frank Skinner (track, incl. Main Title and most of score).


LAW AND ORDER (western)

Stein (track only); Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


THE LONE HAND (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title; some track); Elizabeth Firestone; Henry Mancini (some track); plus track by Frank Skinner, Paul Sawtell, Miklos Rozsa, Leith Stevens, Hans Salter.


MA AND PA KETTLE ON VACATION (comedy)

Stein (track only, incl. End Title); Frank Skinner; plus track by Milton Rosen, Walter Schumann, Walter Scharf, Hans Salter, Danielle Amfitheatrof (source music only).


NAT “KING” COLE AND RUSS MORGAN’S ORCHESTRA (short (mostly source music))

Stein (incl. Finale, source music); Henry Mancini; plus track by Leith Stevens (incl. Main Title).


PERILS OF THE FOREST (short)

All track: Stein, Robert Emmett Dolan (incl. Main Title), Walter Scharf, Frank Skinner, Leith Stevens, Miklos Rozsa.


RIP VAN WINKLE RETURNS (short)

All track: Stein, Arthur Lange (Main Title), Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Robert Emmett Dolan, Henry Mancini.


SEMINOLE (western)

Stein (all track); Milton Rosen; plus track by Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); Walter Scharf, Frank Skinner.


THE STAND AT APACHE RIVER (western)

Stein (2 tracked cues only); Frank Skinner (some track); plus track by Hans Salter, Henry Mancini.


TAKE ME TO TOWN (western)

Stein; Henry Mancini; Milton Rosen.


THREE YEARS TO VICTORY (short)

All track: Stein (End Title only), Robert Emmett Dolan, Charles Previn.


TUMBLEWEED (western)

Stein (Incl. Main Title, some track); Henry Mancini (some track); Milton Rosen; plus track by Hans Salter, Frank Skinner.


THE VEILS OF BAGDAD (swashbuckler)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Milton Rosen (some track); Henry Mancini; plus track by Frank Skinner, Hans Salter.


WAR ARROW (western)

Stein, Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); William Lava; plus track by Henry Mancini, Oliver Drake & Jimmy Wakely & Milton Rosen.

1954


BENGAL BRIGADE (period adventure)

Some track: Stein; Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); Stanley Wilson; Danielle Amfitheatrof; Milton Rosen; Frank Skinner.


BLACK HORSE CANYON (western)

Stein; William Lava (incl. Main Title); Frank Skinner; Hans Salter; Everett Carter & Milton Rosen.


THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (swashbuckler)

Stein (about 15 mins worth); Frank Skinner (incl. Main & End Titles); Hans Salter.


BORDER RIVER (western)

Stein (incl. Main & End Titles); William Lava; plus track by Frank Skinner, Milton Rosen, Henry Mancini.


BROOKLYN GOES TO PHILADELPHIA (short)

All track: Stein, Henry Manini (incl. Main Title), Frank Skinner, Charles Previn, Walter Scharf, Hans Salter & classical (Donizetti).


THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (horror)

Stein (cues: Main Title, Prologue, The Webbed Hand, That Hand Again, Kay and the Monster (tracked from CITY BENEATH THE SEA), End Cast (16 seconds tracked from THE REDHEAD FROM WYOMING), plus track from IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE.)

Henry Mancini (cues: The Diver, Marine Life, Digger’s Failure, Unknown River (tracked from EAST OF SUMATRA), Monster Speared, Monster Gets Mark, Monster Caught.)

Hans Salter (cues: Almost Caught, The Monster Strikes Back, Monster Attacks, Monster Aboard, Doping the Monster (tracked from GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN), Kay’s Last Peril, End Title.)

Robert Emmett Dolan (1 cue tracked from MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID).

Milton Rosen (3 cues tracked from CITY BENEATH THE SEA, THE GLASS WEB and RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO).


DAWN AT SOCORRO (western)

Mostly track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Everett Carter, Milton Rosen, Oliver Drake, Jimmy Wakely, Jack Brooks, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


DEAR MYRTLE (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Frank Skinner, Walter Scharf, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Miklos Rozsa (from A DOUBLE LIFE), Alexandre Tansman.


DESTRY (western)

Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini.


DRUMS ACROSS THE RIVER (western)

Stein (most of score, incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; Milton Rosen; Hans Salter; Frank Skinner, Walter Scharf.


FIREMAN SAVE MY CHILD (comedy)

Stein (2 mins. only); Henry Mancini (most of score, incl. Main Title); William Lava (much of score).


FOUR GUNS TO THE BORDER (western)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Hans Salter; Henry Mancini.


THE GLENN MILLER STORY (biography)

Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini.


JOHNNY DARK (racecar drama)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Hans Salter; Henry Mancini; William Lava (incl. some track); plus track by Frank Skinner, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


MA AND PA KETTLE AT HOME (comedy)

Stein (incl. some track); Milton Rosen; Henry Mancini; William Lava; plus track by Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title from MA AND PA KETTLE ON VACATION).


MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (drama)

Stein (2:30 mins only); Frank Skinner (rest of score, incl. Main Title).


NAKED ALIBI (crime drama)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Hans Salter; plus track by Henry Mancini, Blake Reynolds.


PLAYGIRL (crime drama)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; (Main theme by Milton Rosen, Laird Mason & Frederick Herbert); plus track by Henry Mancini, E. Firestone.


RAILS INTO LARAMIE (western)

Stein; Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes (incl. Main Title song, “Laramie”); Henry Mancini; Milton Rosen; plus track by Oliver Drake & Jimmy Wakely & Milton Rosen.


RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO (western)

Stein (some track, incl. Main Title); Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes (song: “Wanted”); Milton Rosen; plus track by Hans Salter, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini, Edward Ward.


SASKATCHEWAN (western)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); William Lava; Henry Mancini; Hans Salter.


SIGN OF THE PAGAN (historical adventure)

Stein (3 cues); Frank Skinner (most of score, incl. Main Title); Hans Salter.


SO THIS IS PARIS (musical)

Stein; Henry Mancini; songs by Pony Sherrell & Phil Moody


TANGANYIKA (adventure)

Stein; Hans Salter; Henry Mancini; William Lava.


TROUBLE BRUIN’ (sort)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini, William Lava.


YELLOW MOUNTAIN (adventure drama)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; Stanley Wilson; Everett Carter & Milton Rosen.

1955


ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE KEYSTONE KOPS (comedy)

Stein; Henry Mancini; William Lava; plus track by Miklos Rozsa (4 seconds from THE KILLERS), Franz Waxman (7 seconds from FURY).


AGAINST THE STREAM (short)

All track: Stein; Frank Skinner; et al.


BLUE COAST (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Alexandre Tansman.


CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT (swashbuckler)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Hans Salter; Heinz Roemheld.


DREAM ISLAND (short)

All track: Stein, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes, Leith Stevens, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Henry Mancini.


DUST EATERS (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Frank Skinner, Charles Previnm, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Henry Mancini.


THE FAR COUNTRY (western)

Stein (incl. some track); Frank Skinner (most of score, incl. Main Title); Milton Rosen; Henry Mancini.


FEMALE ON THE BEACH (mystery)

Some track: Stein; Sonny Burke (incl. Main Title); Heinz Roemheld.


KISS OF FIRE (period drama)

Stein; Hans Salter (incl.Main Title); Heinz Roemheld (Main Theme by Lester Allen & Robert Hill, adapted from A.G. Villoldo).


LITTLE LOST SCENT (aka BABY SKUNKS) (short)

All track: Stein, Arthur Lange (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, William Lava, Milton Rosen, Frank Skinner.


MA AND PA KETTLE AT WAIKIKI (comedy)

Stein; Milton Rosen; plus track by Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, Walter Scharf, Hans Salter.


MAN WITHOUT A STAR (western)

Stein; Hans Salter; Theme song by Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes; plus track by Henry Mancini.


MODERN MINUTE MEN (short)

All track: Stein, Hans Salter, William Lava, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes, Frank Skinner.


MOOSE COUNTRY (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), William Lava, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON (drama)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; William Lava; Stanley Wilson; Nicholas Nuzzi.


THE PURPLE MASK (swashbuckler)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Heinz Roemheld; Eric Zeisl; Hans Salter (2 cues only).


REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (horror)

Stein (original Main Title, rest all tracked from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON); William Lava (4 cues); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; plus track by Henry Mancini (from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON), Milton Rosen (from CITY BENEATH THE SEA and RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO), Frank Skinner (from FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS), Hans Salter (from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON), Nicholas Nuzzi.


RUNNING WILD (crime thriller)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, Frank Skinner, Milton Rosen.


SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS (crime thriller)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Title song by Jeff Chandler & Henry Mancini.


THE SPOILERS (western)

Stein (some track); Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; Henry Mancini; plus track by Oliver Drake & Jimmy Wakely & Milton Rosen.


SWING HI, SWING LO (aka PAUL HAHN GOLF) (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Charles Previn, Henry Mancini, William Lava.


TARANTULA (horror)

Stein (most of first 4 reels, incl. Main Title, most track); plus track by Henry Mancini (most of last 4 reels).


WHATEVER GOES UP (short)

All track: Stein, Frederick Herbert & Milton Rosen, Jeff Chandler & Henry Mancini, Frank Skinner.


WHITE MAGIC (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Eric Zeisl, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.

1956


BACKLASH (western)

Stein (complete score)


BROOKLYN GOES TO DAVIS (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Milton Rosen, Henry Mancini, Walter Scharf, Walter Schumann, William Lava, Irving Gertz.


BROOKLYN GOES TO LAS VEGAS (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Everett Carter, Milton Rosen, Henry Mancini, Jeff Chandler.


THE CREATURE WALKS AMONG US (horror)

Stein (incl. first part of Main Title which is tracked from REVENGE OF THE CREATURE); Heinz Roemheld (incl. rest of Main Title); Henry Mancini (most of score); Hans Salter; Irving Gertz.


A DAY OF FURY (western)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Irving Gertz (scored last reel); Henry Mancini; plus track by Everett Carter, Oliver Drake, Milton Rosen, Jimmy Wakely.


EVERYTHING BUT THE TRUTH (comedy)

Stein; Henry Mancini (most of score, incl. Main Title); Irving Gertz.


FOUR GIRLS IN TOWN (drama)

Stein; Alex North (most of score, incl. Main Title); Frank Skinner; Lenny Adelson; Jeff Chandler; Sammy Fain; Irving Gertz; Milton Rosen; Frederick Herbert; Laird Mason.


FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE (comedy)

Stein; Frank Skinner (most of score, incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; Everett Carter & Milton Rosen.


THE GREAT MAN (drama)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; Don Raye.


I’VE LIVED BEFORE (fantasy)

Stein (most of score); main theme by Don Roseland & Ray Cormier.


THE KETTLES IN THE OZARKS (comedy)

Stein (incl. Main Title, some track); Henry Mancini (some track); plus track by Frank Skinner.


THE MOLE PEOPLE (horror)

Stein (incl. partial Main Title); Heinz Roemheld (incl. rest of Main Title); Hans Salter.


OUTSIDE THE LAW (crime thriller)

Stein (all tracked); Henry Mancini (mostly track); Stanley Wilson; plus track by Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Hans Salter.


ROCK, PRETTY BABY (pop musical)

Stein (1 min. of track); Sonny Burke (main title song); Henry Mancini (most of score; plus songs.


SHOWDOWN AT ABILENE (western)

Stein (mostly track: incl. Main Title, Henry Mancini (mostly track); plus track by Frank Skinner (1 cue), Hans Salter.


SMALL WONDERS (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini (most of score), Lou Maury, Frank Skinner.


THERE’S ALWAYS TOMORROW (drama)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Heinz Roemheld; Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; plus track by Frank Skinner.


THIS ISLAND EARTH (science fiction)

Stein (incl. Main Title, all of reels 1-7, most of reel 8); Henry Mancini (2 cues in reels 8 and 9); Hans Salter (rest of reel 9).


THE TOY TIGER (comedy)

Stein & Henry Mancini (most, incl. Main Title); Frank Skinner; Heinz Roemheld; Stanley Wilson.


THE UNGUARDED MOMENT (drama)

Stein (most, incl. all of reels 8,9,10); Frank Skinner; Henry Mancini.


VOLUNTEER FIREMAN (short)

All track: Stein, Irving Gertz, Frank Skinner, William Lava, Henry Mancini, Hans Salter.


WALK THE PROUD LAND (western)

Stein; Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); plus track by Henry Mancini, Oliver Drake & Jimmy Wakely & Milton Rosen, William Lava.

1957


ARCTIC GEESE (short)

All track: Stein, Leith Stevens, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini.


BATTLE OF FLOWERS (short)

All track: Stein, Henry Mancini, Walter Scharf, Frank Skinner, Alex North, Daniele Amfitheatrof, Hans Salter.


BEAR CUBS GO RURAL (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini.


BEHIND THE TICKER TAPE (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), William Lava, Henry Mancini, Alexandre Tansman, Irving Gertz.


BRIEF CASE (short)

All track: Stein, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes, Henry Mancini, Milton Rosen.


BROOKLYN GOES TO DETROIT (short)

All track: Stein, William Lava, Henry Mancini, Alexandre Tansman, Frank Skinner.


THE GIRL IN THE KREMLIN (espionage thriller)

All track: Stein, Hans Salter (incl. Main Title), Heinz Roemheld, Irving Gertz, Daniele Amfitheatrof, William Lava, Henry Mancini.


HOT REELS (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, Hans Salter, Frank Skinner.


HURRAY ALL BOATS (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), William Lava, Stanley Wilson, Irving Gertz, Hans Salter.


THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (science fiction)

Stein (2 cues, some tracked: Life or Death, End Title)

Hans Salter (cues: Main Title intro, Ray of Hope, Wee Two, Cat & Spouse, Vittles, His Prison, Decision, Challenge).

Foster Carling & Earl E. Lawrence: (main theme, “The Girl in A Lonely Room)

Earl E. Lawrence (various cues)

Irving Gertz (cues: Mist-I-Fied, He’ll Be Mist, Spouse Trap, The Hairy Monster, Arms & The Man, Fearful Foe, After the Deluge, To The Death, Death of Fear.


ISTANBUL (adventure drama)

Stein; Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); John Neel; Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; Heinz Roemheld; Irving Gertz; Frederick Herbert (source music); Henry Mancini (source music); plus track by Edward Heyman & Victor Young.


IT’S A TOUGH LIFE (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Leith Stevens, William Lava, Henry Mancini, Lloyd Akridge, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


JOE DAKOTA (western)

Stein; Henry Mancini; Hans Salter; Irving Gertz; Main Title Theme by Mack Davis & Ray Joseph.


JUNIOR JAMBOREE (short)

All track: Stein (incl. End Title), Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Daniele Amfitheatrof, Charles Previn.


THE KETTLES ON OLD MACDONALD’S FARM (comedy)

Stein (some track); Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title); Irving Gertz; plus track by Frank Skinner, Miklos Rozsa.


KING WINTER (aka WINTER CARNIVAL) (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, William Lava, Frank Skinner.


THE LAND UNKNOWN (fantasy)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Heinz Roemheld; Hans Salter; Henry Mancini (1 cue).


LOVE SLAVES OF THE AMAZON (fantasy)

Stein; Stanley Wilson; Andre S. Brummer; Henry Vars; Irving Gertz. Main Title song, “Song of the Amazons”, by Radames Gnattali.


MAN IN THE SHADOW (western)

Stein; Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); plus track by Henry Mancini.


MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES (biography)

Stein (organ music from PHANTOM OF THE OPERA scene only); full score by Frank Skinner.


THE MIDNIGHT STORY (aka APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW) (mystery thriller)

Stein (track only); Hans Salter (incl. Main Title); Frank Skinner; plus track by Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini.


MISTER CORY (drama)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; Frederick Herbert & Milton Rosen; Laird Mason.


THE MONOLITH MONSTERS (science fiction)

Stein (all of reel 6, partial reel 7); Irving Gertz (incl. Main Title and all of firat 5 reels, partial reel 7, all reel 9, End Title); Henry Mancini (reel 8); plus track by William Lava (from THE DEADLY MANTIS).


THE NIGHT RUNNER (crime thriller)

Stein (incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini; Frank Skinner; Heinz Roemheld; Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


OLD WORLD SPORTS (short)

All track except Mancini, most from BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini (original fanfare), Hans Salter, Daniele Amfitheatrof.


PARROTT JUNGLE (short)

All track: Stein, Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title), Heinz Roemheld, William Lava, Gus Kahn & Robert Stolz, Frank Skinner.


QUANTEZ (western)

Stein (entire score). Songs by Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes & Joseph Gershensen.


SKI TOWN U.S.A. (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, William Lava, Heinz Roemheld, Stanley Wilson.


SLIM CARTER (drama)

Stein (entire score).


WEST POINT OF THE SOUTH (short)

All track: Stein. Frank Skinner, Irving Gertz, Everett Carter & Milton Rosen.


WHAT A SAFARI (short)

All track: Stein, Hans Salter, Irving Gertz, William Lava.


YOUR ZOO (short)

All track: Stein, William Lava, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini.

1958


BARNYARD FROLICS (short)

All track: Stein, Henry Mancini, Irving Gertz, Frank Skinner.


BETWEEN THE CONTINENTS (short)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini, Terry Gilkyson, Hans Salter.


BROOKLYN GOES TO NEW ORLEANS (short)

All track: Stein, Hans Salter, Frank Skiner, Milton Rosen, Heinz Roemheld, Henry Mancini.


CYCLOMANIA (short)

All track: Stein, Hans Salter, Henry Mancini, Charles Previn, Frank Skinner, Irving Gertz.


DAMN CITIZEN (crime thriller)

Stein (10 seconds only); Henry Mancini (most of score, incl. Main Title); Everett Carter & Milton Rosen; polus track by Frank Skinner.


DOWN THE MAGDALENA (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Frank Skinner, Hans Salter, Eric Zeisl, Irving Gertz.


THE FEMALE ANIMAL (drama)

Stein (track only); Hans Salter (most of score, incl. Main Title); William Loose; Ralph Freed & Frank Skinner; plus track by Henry Mancini.


THE LADY TAKES A FLYER (aka A GAME CALLED LOVE) (drama)

Stein (most of score, incl. Main Title); Heinz Roemheld; plus track by Henry Mancini.


LAND OF THE MAYA (short)

All track: Stein, Heinz Roemheld, Hans Salter, Henry Mancini, Henry Vars.


LAST OF THE FAST GUNS (aka THE WESTERN STORY) (western)

Stein; Hans Salter (incl. Main Title).


MONEY, WOMEN & GUNS (western)

Stein (most of score, some tracked); Irving Gertz; Henry Vars; Eric Zeisl; Main Theme, “Lonely Is The Hunter” by Jimmy Wakely & Howie Horwitz; plus track by Henry Mancini.


MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS (science fiction/horror)

All track: Stein, Frank Carling & Earl Lawrence (from INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, incl. Main Title), William Lava, Irving Gertz, Heinz Roemheld, Henry Mancini, Hans Salter, Frank Skinner, Paul Dessau.


RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL (western)

Stein (track only); Stanley Wilson; plus track by Hans Salter, Irving Gertz.


ROUNDUP LAND (western)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.


THE SAGA OF HEMP BROWN (western)

Stein (entire score, some tracked)


STEP DOWN TO TERROR (mystery thriller)

Stein (all track); Henry Mancini (some track); plus track by Hans Salter, William Lava, Heinz Roemheld.


THE THING THAT COULDN’T DIE (horror)

Stein (all track, incl. Main Title); Henry Mancini (mostly track); plus track by Irving Gertz, Hans Salter.


THIS IS RUSSIA (documentary)

Stein (incl. Main Title); William Loose; Heinz Roemheld.


VENEZUELA HOLIDAY (short)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, Hans Salter, Eric Zeisl, Frank Skinner.


WILD HERITAGE (western)

Stein (all track, incl Main Title); Henry Vars; Henry Russell; Maurice Goldman; Hans Salter; Irving Gertz.

1959


NO NAME ON THE BULLET (western)

Stein (first 6 reels); Irving Gertz (last 2 reels).


A STRANGER IN MY ARMS (drama)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, William Lava, Henry Mancini, Frank Carling & Earl Lawrence, Irving Gertz, Hans Salter, Henry Vars, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes (main theme).

1960


MIDNIGHT LACE (murder mystery)

Stein (track only); Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title); Joe Lubin & Jerome Howard (title theme); Maxwell Anderson & Allie Wrubelo; plus track by Heinz Roemheld, Irving Gertz.


SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN (western)

Stein (track only); William Lava (most of score, incl. Main Title); Irving Gertz; plus track by Henry Mancini.

1961


THE INTRUDER (aka THE STRANGER in U.K.) (drama)

Stein (entire score)


POSSE FROM HELL (western)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), William Lava, Irving Gertz, Hans Salter, Henry Mancini, Frank Carling & Earl Lawrence, Henry Russell.


SIX BLACK HORSES (western)

Stein (all track); William Lava (some track); plus track by Hans Salter (incl. Main Title), Irving Gertz, Henry Vars, Henry Mancini.

1964


BULLET FOR A BADMAN (western)

All track: Stein (incl. Main Title), Hans Salter, Frank Skinner, Irving Gertz, William Lava, Henry Mancini.


KITTEN WITH A WHIP (crime drama)

Stein (all track); Carl Stalling; William Loose; plus track by Henry Mancini (incl. Main Title), Hans Salter, Frank Skinner.


TAGGART (western)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Hans Salter, Henry Mancini, William Lava.

1965


THE SWORD OF ALI BABA (fantasy)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Hans Salter, William Lava, Henry Mancini, Milton Rosen.


THE WORLD OF ABBOTT & COSTELLO (comedy compilation)

All track: Stein, Vic Mizzy (incl. Main Title), William Lava & Henry Mancini, Milton Rosen, Lou Maury, Edgar Fairchild, Frank Skinner, Charles Previn & Hans Salter.

1966


GUNPOINT (western)

Stein (all track); Arnold Schwarzwald & Frederick Herbert (incl. Main Title; some track); plus track by Henry Mancini, William Lava, Hans Salter, Irving Gertz, Eric Zeisl, Heinz Roemheld, Frank Skinner.


INCIDENT AT PHANTOM HILL (western)

All track: Stein, Hans Salter, Frank Skinner, Henry Mancini, Paul Sawtell.


LET’S KILL UNCLE (black comedy)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner, Milton Rosen, Heinz Roemheld, Henry Mancini, Hans Salter, Irving Gertz, William Lava, Stanley Wilson, Hugo Friedhofer.

1967


GUNFIGHT IN ABILENE (western)

Stein (42 seconds of track only); Shorty Rogers (incl. Main Title); Bobby Darin.


RIDE TO HANGMAN’S TREE (western)

All track: Stein, Frank Skinner (incl. Main Title), Henry Mancini, Hans Salter, Irving Gertz, Frederick Herbert & Arnold Hughes.

Television


DANIEL BOONE – tv series, 1965-1970

Stein (various episodes), & others.


LEGEND OF JESSE JAMES – tv series, 1965-1966

Stein (various episodes), & others


LOST IN SPACE – tv series, 1965-1968

Stein (various episodes), & others.


VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA – tv series, 1965-1968

Stein (various episodes), & others.

Charles Gerhardt & Classic Film Scores

by Pascal Dupont • 10 May, 2024
Charles Allan Gerhardt English version adapted by Doug Raynes - FRENCH VERSION AND COLLECTION had a reputation as a great conductor, record producer and musical arranger. His major work at RCA on the Classic Film Scores series earned him recognition from film music devotees of Hollywood’s Golden Age, as well as other renowned conductors of his day. Born on February 6, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan, Charles Gerhardt developed a passion for music and percussion instruments from an early age. At the age of five, he took piano lessons, and by the age of nine, had established a solid reputation as an orchestrator and composer. He spent his early school years in Little Rock, Arkansas, then after 10 years, having completed his schooling, moved with his family to Illinois for his military duties, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as a chaplain's aide in the Aleutian Islands, then became an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He went on to study at the University of Illinois, at the College of William and Mary, and later at the University of Southern California. Throughout his time at school Gerhardt was attracted not only to music, but also to the sciences. Passionate about the art of recording, he joined Westminster Records for five years, until the company ceased operations, and then joined Bell Sound. One day, he received a phone call from George Marek to meet with the heads of Reader's Digest, to discuss producing recordings for their mail-order record business; a contact that was to secure his musical future and a rich career spanning more than 30 years. Gerhardt's first job for Reader's Digest was to produce a record; “A Festival of Light Classical Music”; a 12 LP box set that he produced in full. One of Gerhardt's finest projects was the production of another 12 LP box set, “Les Trésores de la Grande Musique (Treasury of Great Music)”, featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by some of the leading figures of the day: Charles Munch to Bizet and Tchaikovsky, Rudolf Kempe to Strauss and Respighi, Josef Krips to Mozart and Haydn, Antal Dorati to Strauss and Berlioz, Brahms 4th Symphony by Fritz Reiner and Sibelius’ 2nd Symphony by Sir John Barbirolli. In the 1950s he conducted works by Vladimir Horowitz, Wanda Landowska, Kirsten Flagstad and William Kapeli. In the early 1960s, Gerhardt lived in England, where he made most of his recordings, but kept a foothold in the United States, mainly in New York. Often, when he went to the United States after a period of recording sessions, he would stop off in Baltimore and spend some time listening to cassettes of his new recordings. Gerhardt loved percussion instruments, especially tam-tams. One of his favorite recordings was the Columbia mono disc of Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic. He had great admiration and respect for the many conductors he worked with, starting with Arturo Toscanini, with whom he worked for several years before the Maestro's death. It was Toscanini who suggested that Gerhardt become a conductor, which he did! His career as an orchestra director began when he had to replace a conductor who failed to show up for rehearsals. It was a position he would later occupy for various recording sessions and occasional concerts. His classical recordings include works by Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Ravel, Debussy, Walton and Howard Hanson. Hired by RCA Records, he transferred 78 rpm recordings of Enrico Caruso and other artists to 33 rpm. He took part in recordings by soprano singer Kirsten Flagstad and pianist Vladimir Horowitz. He worked with renowned conductors such as Fritz Reiner, Leopold Stokowski and Charles Munch, from whom he learned the tricks of the trade. Still at RCA, he assisted Arturo Toscanini, with whom he perfected his conducting skills. Then, in 1960, he produced recordings for RCA and Reader’s Digest in London, and joined forces with sound engineer Kenneth Wilkinson of Decca Records (RCA's European subsidiary), The two men got on very well and shared a passion for recording and sound quality, making an incredible number of recordings over a 30-year period. Also in 1960, RCA and Reader's Digest entrusted him with the production of a 12-disc LP box set entitled “ Lumière du Classique (A Festival of Light Classical Music) ”, sold exclusively by mail order. With a budget of $250,000, Gerhardt assumed total control of the project: repertoire, choice of orchestras and production. He recorded in London, Vienna and Paris, and hired such top names as Sir Adrian Boult, Massimo Freccia, Sir Alexander Gibson and René Leibowitz. The success of this project, in terms of both musical quality and sound, earned him recognition from his employers. Other projects of similar scope followed… A boxed set of Beethoven's symphonic works with René Leibowitz and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A boxed set of Rachmaninoff's works for piano and orchestra with Earl Wild, Jascha Horenstein and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the above mentioned 12 LP disc set “Trésor de la Grande Musique (Treasury of Great Music)” with the Royal Philharmonic conducted by some of the greatest directors of the time: Fritz Reiner, Charles Munch, Rudolf Kempe, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Antal Dorati and Jascha Horenstein, with whom Gerhardt had sympathized. In January 1964 in London, Gerhardt joined forces with Sidney Sax, instrumentalist and conductor, to form a freelance orchestra. This successful group went on to join the National Philharmonic Orchestra of London, an impressive line-up that would later become Jerry Goldsmith's orchestra of choice. With Peter Munves, head of RCA's classical division, he conceived the idea of recording an album devoted exclusively to the film music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, one of his favorite composers. Enthusiastic about the project, Munves gave Gerhardt carte blanche, and was offered a helping hand by George Korngold, producer and son of the famous Viennese composer, who owned all the copies of his father's scores. The Adventure Began : The Sea Hawk: Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. For this first disc, Gerhardt selected 10 scores by Korngold, which he recorded in the Kingsway Hall Studio in London, renowned for its excellent acoustics. The disc thus benefits from optimal recording conditions, favoring at the same time the performances of the National Philharmonic (and its leader, Sidney Sax), a formidable orchestra made up of London's finest musicians and freelance soloists. Each album was recorded in the same studio, with Kenneth Wilkinson as sound engineer and George Korngold as consultant/producer. As soon as it was released, the album's success received strong acclaim in classical music circles and received a feature in Billboard No. 37, a first in this category in December 1972. It took no less than a year to sell the first 10,000 copies in all the specialist record suppliers and the album went on to sell over 38,000 copies, making it the fifth best-selling album in the “classical” category in 1973. On the strength of this success, Peter Munves and RCA entrusted Charles Gerhardt with the production of further discs devoted to other world-renowned composers of Hollywood music. The program includes several albums dedicated to Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold plus one each to Miklos Rozsa, Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin and Bernard Herrmann, followed by 3 volumes associated with specific film stars such as Bette Davis, Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart. Then, a disc devoted to Alfred Newman, a composer who was a pillar of the famous Hollywood sound, who Gerhardt admired and had met: “Newman was a charming man, full of good humor. He was friendly, fun and always had a joke. With his eternal black cigar in hand, he was a composer by trade, down-to-earth, discussed little about himself but was a first-rate advisor in my life. “ Gerhardt would consult certain composers in advance about how to recreate suites from their works, or when this wasn't possible, he would rearrange the suites himself and submit them to the composers for approval. "Some critics complained that my suites were too short, but my aim in the case of each album was to present a well-split 'portrait' of the composer, highlighting his many creative facets". Although Korngold, Newman and Steiner were no longer around to lend their support, Gerhardt was lucky enough to still work with Herrmann, Rózsa and Tiomkin as consultants who turned up at the recording studio to lend a hand. Gerhardt also had the idea of creating albums focusing on a single film star. Three specific volumes were devoted to music from the films of Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn and Bette Davis. Although these albums suffer from too great a diversity of genres, they still offer the chance to hear and discover rare and previously unpublished compositions. The best conceived album was arguably the one devoted to Bette Davis. Conscious of the important role played by music in her films, the legendary actress took part in the conception of the album, knowing that it favored scores by Max Steiner designed for Warner Bros. The Collection Begins ! Gerhardt's passion for certain composers knows no bounds, but he soon envisages a disc devoted to Miklos Rozsa, including suites for “Spellbound” and “The Red House”, one of his favorite scores, which he will exhume to create one of the longest suites in the series. At the same time, he received various fan wish lists and films to watch, such as “The Four Feathers”, which he had never seen and which gave him the opportunity to discover a splendid score by Miklos Rozsa that he had never heard before. He was disappointed, however, not to be able to conceive a longer “Spellbound” sequel for rights reasons. Despite RCA's full approval, Gerhardt realized that it was not easy to record film music in its original form, as few were ever edited, played and made available for rental. For The Sea Hawks album, things were simpler, as Georges Korngold had copies of his father's scores, and Warner Bros had also archived material in good condition. From the outset, Gerhardt encountered other major problems in the search for and discovery of scores hidden away in other studios, often with the unpleasant surprise of discovering missing or incomplete conductors, or others heavily modified by orchestrators during recording sessions, or the surprise of discovering, in certain cases, instrumentation information noted in shorthand on the edges of the conductor score. For the disc dedicated to Max Steiner, for example, the conductor score for “King Kong” had disappeared from the RKO archives, having been shipped in 1950 to poorly maintained warehouses in Los Angeles where it had become totally degraded and illegible. With the help of Georges Korngold, Gerhardt was able to reconstruct a substantial suite from the piano models left by Steiner at the time. This experience was repeated when the conductor score for Dimitri Tiomkin's “The Thing” was discovered in the same warehouse, in an advanced state of disintegration. Fortunately for Gerhardt, Tiomkin, who was still alive, had been able to provide precise piano maquettes with orchestration information in shorthand, revealing a complex and highly innovative style of writing. Tiomkin always composed at the piano, inscribing very specific information and signs on the edges of the scores in pencil, an ingenious system of his own invention that was difficult to decipher. “Revisiting the score of ‘The Thing from Another World’ was a complex task, involving experimental passages and an unorthodox orchestra. You can understand that I had a huge job on my hands. When I approached the recording sessions, it was not without some trepidation. However, the composer present made no criticism or comment on my work, and was delighted. He was delighted.” For “Gone With The Wind”, Steiner was against the idea of remaking a complete soundtrack, as he felt that too many passages were repeated. It was an opportunity for him to revisit his own score, integrating his favorite melodies. This synthesis gave him the opportunity to revitalize his music by eliminating the least interesting parts of the score. Conceived as long suites or isolated themes, the discs reflect the essence of the composers' work. The “Classic Film Scores” series by Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann and Miklos Rozsa etc will become a big hit with collectors. For Gerhardt, this will be an opportunity to unearth forgotten or rare scores such as Herrmann's “The White Witch” and “On a Dangerous Ground”, Hugo Friedhofer's “The Sun Also Rises” and early recordings for Waxman's “Prince Valliant” and Rozsa's “The Red House”, all with new, impeccable acoustics. For “Elisabeth and Essex”, Erich Korngold had already prepared a suite in the form of an Overture, which was given its world premiere in a theater. The suite for “The Adventures of Robin Hood” also pre-existed. Franz Waxman created his own suite for “A Place in the Sun”, which was also performed in concert. Dimitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa and Bernard Herrmann acted as consultants and contributed arrangements to their scores. For the continuation of “White Witch Doctor”, Bernard Herrman added percussion to link the different musical tableaux. He did the same for the different parts of “Citizen Kane”. Miklos Rozsa saw an opportunity to add a male choir to the suite from “The Jungle Book”, based on an idea by Charles Gerhardt. For the record dedicated to Errol Flynn, Gerhardt re-orchestrated the theme “The Lights of Paris” from Hugo Friedhofer's “The Sun also Rises”, as the original was no longer available. “I wanted to go back to that time and systematically explore the very substance of the great film scores of the late 30s and 40s, sending them back directly to their images as dramatic entities. The desire to rediscover tunes we know and to take into account the contexts in which they were originally used. I decided to recreate these scores with their original orchestrations, and this could only be done by returning to the ultimate sources, as the composers had originally conceived them.” Keen to open up the collection to other genres, such as science fiction, Gerhardt dedicated two further albums to the series in 1992. The first featured contemporary sequels to “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, promoting the work of John Williams, a leading composer of new film music. Then another called “The Spectacular World of Classic Film Scores”, presenting a disappointing compilation of scores that had already been recorded, except for the creation of a sequel to Dimitri Tiomkin's “The Thing From Another World” and Daniele Amfitheatrof's rarely heard theme “Dance of the Seven Voiles” from Salome. In 1978, the collection was published in Spain by RCA Cinema Treasures. In the USA and Europe, the Classic Film Scores LP series was reissued in the early 80s with a black art deco cover and colored star index. All Volumes in the First Series Were Reissued : By the end of the '80s, the series was running out of steam, and Charles Gerhardt planned to relaunch his collection with albums dedicated to famous American actresses, a new volume for Max Steiner and the Western, a volume reconstructing the score of Waxman's “The Bride of Frankenstein”, followed by volumes devoted to Alex North, Hugo Friedhofer, Victor Young and Elmer Bernstein... But RCA would not support Gerhardt in these projects, preferring to release the collection on CD for the first time. In early 1990, RCA asked Gerhardt to supervise and co-produce the collection, which he saw as an opportunity to revisit some of the volumes, inserting tracks that had not appeared on the LPs or extending certain suites. The volume devoted to Franz Waxman, “Sunset Boulevard”, was the first to be released. The CD did not benefit from any particular promotion, but sold very well, as did the other CDs that followed... A collection marked by a new design in silver pantone. The CDs series was reissued in 2010, still under the RCA Red Seal label, but distributed by Sony Music Entertainment. RCA Victor's Classic Films Scores series represents a unique collection in the history of film music recordings. 14 recordings of rare quality, produced by Georges Korngold and Charles Gerhardt to become one of the revelations of the reissue phenomenon. Other Concepts... Later, Gerhardt spent most of his time in London, continuing to make recordings. After retiring from RCA in 1986, he returned to independent work for Readers Digest and other record labels, a position he held in production and musical supervision until 1997. Since 1991 he had lived in Redding, California. In later years, he did not appear professionally, refusing all public invitations because of his desire to remain discreet. In his entourage he was close to three cousins, Lenore L Engel and Elizabeth Anne Schuetze, both living in San Antonio, and cousin Steven W Gerhardt of St. Pete Beach, Florida. In late November 1998 Charles Gerhardt was diagnosed with brain cancer and died of complications following surgery on February 22, 1999. He was 72 years old. Thus ends this tribute to Charles Gerhardt and the most famous collection of film music records: The Classic Film Scores series.

Exodus

by Doug Raynes • 24 Jan, 2024
Following on from Tadlow’s epic recording of El Cid, the same team – Nic Raine conducting and James Fitzpatrick producing – have turned their attention to a completely different type of epic film for the definitive recording of Ernest Gold’s Academy Award winning score for Otto Preminger’s Exodus (1960). The score is something of a revelation because aside from the main theme, the music has received little attention through recordings. Additionally the sound quality of the original soundtrack LP was disappointing and much music was deleted or cut from the film.
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