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In 1966, he tookover the second season of the western-espionage series “The Wild Wild West” as a music director and was credited for his work of music supervision but, nevertheless, he arranged the main theme, composed three scores: music bits for the season 2 "The Night of the Returning Dead" (co-composed with Harry Geller that he will find again for “Hawaii Five-O”) and “The Night of the Watery Death” and a complete score for the season 3 “The Night of the Viper”.
WRONG. The latter two episodes were tracked to the skies (Stevens only got "Music Supervision" credit on "The Night of the Watery Death," and while he does have "Music by" credit on "The Night of the Vipers," the only bit of music that doesn't seem to be a tracked cue is one for the scene where Jim is put in the coffin).
"The Night of the Watery Death" features original portions by Morton Stevens and "The Night of the Vipers" contains a small score by Stevens too. Courtesy of Bob Wittrock.
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I certainly believe he wrote some stuff for "The Night of the Vipers," but I don't believe for a second that Stevens would only have gotten "Music Supervision" credit for "The Night of the Watery Death" if he wrote any original music for it.
I advise you to pay attention to the suspenseful music box composition heard in the harbour scenes.
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Composer Morton Stevens was born January 30, 1929 and passed away November 11, 1991.
Stevens started his career in the early 1950’s for television. He was the friend of composer Jerry Goldsmith and they worked together on many 1960’s shows: the horror anthology “Thriller” for Hubbell Robinson Productions at Revue Studios (aka Universal television) and three Arena productions in association with MGM (the medical drama “Dr. Kildare”, the espionage series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and the WWII series “Jericho”). Meanwhile, he co-composed a single score for the first season of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” entitled: “The Human Computer”. He was the head of the music department at CBS from 1965.
In 1966, he tookover the second season of the western-espionage series “The Wild Wild West” as a music director and was credited for his work of music supervision but, nevertheless, he arranged the main theme, composed three scores: music bits for the season 2 "The Night of the Returning Dead" (co-composed with Harry Geller that he will find again for “Hawaii Five-O”) and “The Night of the Watery Death” and a complete score for the season 3 “The Night of the Viper”. 1968 allowed Stevens to enter the history of television with his highly popular theme for the cop series “Hawaii Five-O” but wrote the biggest amount of original scores from season 1 to season 12, including the pilot, and he appeared as an actor playing heroin addict drummer Hank in the season 3 “Trouble in Mind” (9/23/1970).
THRILLER
Season 1
1. The Ordeal of Dr. Cordell
2. Trio for Terror
3. The Devil’s Ticket
4. Parasite Mansion
5. A Good Imagination
6. The Prisoner in the Mirror
7. Pigeons from Hell
Season 2
1. The Premature Burial
2. Letter to a Lover
3. A Third for Pinochle
4. Dialogues with Death
5. The Return of Andrew Bentley
6. The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk
7. Portrait Without a Face
8. An Attractive Family
9. WaxWorks
10. La Strega
11. The Storm
12. A Wig for Miss Devore
13. Cousin Tundifer
14. The Incredible Doktor Markesan
15. Flowers of Evil
16. Kill My Love
17. Man of Mystery
DISCOGRAPHY
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 1
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3053
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 2
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3623
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 3
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4082
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: THE FEATURE FILMS
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=6474
JERICHO
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4344
See my revised comment below.
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Composer Morton Stevens was born January 30, 1929 and passed away November 11, 1991.
Stevens started his career in the early 1950’s for television. He was the friend of composer Jerry Goldsmith and they worked together on many 1960’s shows: the horror anthology “Thriller” for Hubbell Robinson Productions at Revue Studios (aka Universal television) and three Arena productions in association with MGM (the medical drama “Dr. Kildare”, the espionage series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and the WWII series “Jericho”). Meanwhile, he co-composed a single score for the first season of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” entitled: “The Human Computer”. He was the head of the music department at CBS from 1965.
In 1966, he tookover the second season of the western-espionage series “The Wild Wild West” as a music director and was credited for his work of music supervision but, nevertheless, he arranged the main theme, composed three scores: music bits for the season 2 "The Night of the Returning Dead" (co-composed with Harry Geller that he will find again for “Hawaii Five-O”) and “The Night of the Watery Death” and a complete score for the season 3 “The Night of the Viper”. 1968 allowed Stevens to enter the history of television with his highly popular theme for the cop series “Hawaii Five-O” but wrote the biggest amount of original scores from season 1 to season 12, including the pilot, and he appeared as an actor playing heroin addict drummer Hank in the season 3 “Trouble in Mind” (9/23/1970).
THRILLER
Season 1
1. The Ordeal of Dr. Cordell
2. Trio for Terror
3. The Devil’s Ticket
4. Parasite Mansion
5. A Good Imagination
6. The Prisoner in the Mirror
7. Pigeons from Hell
Season 2
1. The Premature Burial
2. Letter to a Lover
3. A Third for Pinochle
4. Dialogues with Death
5. The Return of Andrew Bentley
6. The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk
7. Portrait Without a Face
8. An Attractive Family
9. WaxWorks
10. La Strega
11. The Storm
12. A Wig for Miss Devore
13. Cousin Tundifer
14. The Incredible Doktor Markesan
15. Flowers of Evil
16. Kill My Love
17. Man of Mystery
DISCOGRAPHY
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 1
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3053
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 2
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3623
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 3
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4082
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: THE FEATURE FILMS
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=6474
JERICHO
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4344
He succeeded Herschel Burke Gilbert, who left C.B.S. due to corporate meddling.
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I've never gotten that silly-sounding clarinet/trombone variation of the "Smorgasboard" theme out of my head - and can visualize the scene for which it was written as I type this. Mort could write some chilling stuff, like cues in 5-0's "Hookman", "The Bells Toll At Noon", No Bottles, No Cans, No People" and "The Listener", but could alternately write very catchy, light-hearted things like the aforementioned "Smorgasboard" and the theme to "Apple's Way" as well as make beautifully crafted arrangements for John Williams and the Boston Pops and performers such as Sammy Davis Jr. I'm sorry he never got the big film opportunities. He had soooo much music in him.
It was Sammy Davis Jr. who got Stevens his first big break when he asked Revue Television's Stanley Wilson to assign Stevens to score an episode of "General Electric Theater" ("The Patsy"), and this sufficiently impressed Wilson to assign Stevens to score episodes of "Thriller" He was Davis' musical director (in fact he backed many of his albums) until Davis' death in 1990. One point I like to make: Are you sure Stevens composed the theme to "Apple's Way"? I thought it was Arthur Morton.
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A lot of the music that was heard in "The Night Of The Vipers" actually comes from music that Mort Stevens composed for a 1967 Gunsmoke episode ("Major Glory"), for which Stevens was nominated for an emmy (a great score, BTW)...:-)
He also scored the 11th season episode with Bette Davis (title unknown) and also composed the arrangement for the theme for "Gunsmoke"'s 12th season (the best of all the arrangements of the theme). Didn't Bruce Broughton also appear in an episode of "Gunsmoke" for which he also scored?
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Posted: |
Mar 3, 2010 - 12:12 AM
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By: |
filmusicnow
(Member)
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Composer Morton Stevens was born January 30, 1929 and passed away November 11, 1991.
Stevens started his career in the early 1950’s for television. He was the friend of composer Jerry Goldsmith and they worked together on many 1960’s shows: the horror anthology “Thriller” for Hubbell Robinson Productions at Revue Studios (aka Universal television) and three Arena productions in association with MGM (the medical drama “Dr. Kildare”, the espionage series “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and the WWII series “Jericho”). Meanwhile, he co-composed a single score for the first season of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” entitled: “The Human Computer”. He was the head of the music department at CBS from 1965.
In 1966, he tookover the second season of the western-espionage series “The Wild Wild West” as a music director and was credited for his work of music supervision but, nevertheless, he arranged the main theme, composed three scores: music bits for the season 2 "The Night of the Returning Dead" (co-composed with Harry Geller that he will find again for “Hawaii Five-O”) and “The Night of the Watery Death” and a complete score for the season 3 “The Night of the Viper”. 1968 allowed Stevens to enter the history of television with his highly popular theme for the cop series “Hawaii Five-O” but wrote the biggest amount of original scores from season 1 to season 12, including the pilot, and he appeared as an actor playing heroin addict drummer Hank in the season 3 “Trouble in Mind” (9/23/1970).
THRILLER
Season 1
1. The Ordeal of Dr. Cordell
2. Trio for Terror
3. The Devil’s Ticket
4. Parasite Mansion
5. A Good Imagination
6. The Prisoner in the Mirror
7. Pigeons from Hell
Season 2
1. The Premature Burial
2. Letter to a Lover
3. A Third for Pinochle
4. Dialogues with Death
5. The Return of Andrew Bentley
6. The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk
7. Portrait Without a Face
8. An Attractive Family
9. WaxWorks
10. La Strega
11. The Storm
12. A Wig for Miss Devore
13. Cousin Tundifer
14. The Incredible Doktor Markesan
15. Flowers of Evil
16. Kill My Love
17. Man of Mystery
DISCOGRAPHY
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 1
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3053
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 2
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=3623
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., vol. 3
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4082
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.: THE FEATURE FILMS
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=6474
JERICHO
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4344
Morton Stevens' real name was Morton Aaron Suckno
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Posted: |
Mar 3, 2010 - 12:29 AM
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By: |
Bach-Choi
(Member)
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I've never gotten that silly-sounding clarinet/trombone variation of the "Smorgasboard" theme out of my head - and can visualize the scene for which it was written as I type this. Mort could write some chilling stuff, like cues in 5-0's "Hookman", "The Bells Toll At Noon", No Bottles, No Cans, No People" and "The Listener", but could alternately write very catchy, light-hearted things like the aforementioned "Smorgasboard" and the theme to "Apple's Way" as well as make beautifully crafted arrangements for John Williams and the Boston Pops and performers such as Sammy Davis Jr. I'm sorry he never got the big film opportunities. He had soooo much music in him.
It was Sammy Davis Jr. who got Stevens his first big break when he asked Revue Television's Stanley Wilson to assign Stevens to score an episode of "General Electric Theater" ("The Patsy"), and this sufficiently impressed Wilson to assign Stevens to score episodes of "Thriller" He was Davis' musical director (in fact he backed many of his albums) until Davis' death in 1990. One point I like to make: Are you sure Stevens composed the theme to "Apple's Way"? I thought it was Arthur Morton.
The Apple's Way, Police Woman, Storefront Lawyers, Banjo Hackett and Spencer's Pilots (and maybe Code Red?) themes were all included on his comprehensive mid-eighties demo along with a cue he composed for Outland, all of his mini series themes, a Masada suite, Poor Devil montage, Coffee Tea or Me (song), suites from Hardly Working, Smorgasboard, Slapstick of Another Kind and cues from the Hawaii Five-0 pilot, Hookman, How To Steal A Masterpiece, and Turkeyshoot At Makapuu and something called "Hobgoblin." An amazing overview of the man's seventies/early eighties career.
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Nice thread - always glad to see the great Morton Stevens noticed for his outstanding contribution to Television Music.
As always, it would be wonderful to see his scores from HAWAII FIVE-0 and POLICE WOMAN released - also, his emmy-nominated score WHEELS would be a great, great release. If we can get that and his scores from THRILLER out on CD, that would be wonderful. Also, as mentoned, any of his CBS-TV work would be great to have, as well.
Some other great Morton Stevens scores:
THE MANIONS OF AMERICA (TV, 1981)
BACKSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE (TV,1979)
HARDLY WORKING (Jerry Lewis film, 1981)
FUGITIVE FAMILY (TV Movie, 1980)
THE STRANGERS IN 7A (TV MOVIE, 1972)
The titles above are some of Stevens' best work - these woud make great CD releases. Also, Morton Stevens wrote the score and song arrangements to the 1985 TV version of Irwin Allen's ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
I'm still hoping that we will see some Morton Stevens CD releases this year - such a underrated Composer - it's about time.
By the way, the version of "Alice In Wonderland" that Stevens scored was just put out on D.V.D..
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If ever there was a man deserving of a boxed set of his TV output, it's Stevens. (I certainly wouldn't turn down sets on Grusin, Goldenberg, or Melle either!)
By the way, the "Call To Danger" cut on the HAWAII 5-O album was originally composed as the theme for a busted pilot with that title with Peter Graves that was probably produced around '66-'67 but was blown off with some other CBS pilots (Schifrin's BRADDOCK included) in the summer 0f '68. It was another series built around the government scooping some unsuspecting civilian up to help in some criminal case where their particular talent could be of help.
I would like to see a Herschel Burke Gilbert boxed set, too!
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Posted: |
Mar 6, 2010 - 3:12 PM
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By: |
MRAUDIO
(Member)
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Nice thread - always glad to see the great Morton Stevens noticed for his outstanding contribution to Television Music.
As always, it would be wonderful to see his scores from HAWAII FIVE-0 and POLICE WOMAN released - also, his emmy-nominated score WHEELS would be a great, great release. If we can get that and his scores from THRILLER out on CD, that would be wonderful. Also, as mentoned, any of his CBS-TV work would be great to have, as well.
Some other great Morton Stevens scores:
THE MANIONS OF AMERICA (TV, 1981)
BACKSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE (TV,1979)
HARDLY WORKING (Jerry Lewis film, 1981)
FUGITIVE FAMILY (TV Movie, 1980)
THE STRANGERS IN 7A (TV MOVIE, 1972)
The titles above are some of Stevens' best work - these woud make great CD releases. Also, Morton Stevens wrote the score and song arrangements to the 1985 TV version of Irwin Allen's ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
I'm still hoping that we will see some Morton Stevens CD releases this year - such a underrated Composer - it's about time.
By the way, the version of "Alice In Wonderland" that Stevens scored was just put out on D.V.D..
Actually, I've had this DVD for a couple of years now...before that, I had it on VHS...:-)
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