So we know CBS has kept decent archives on a lot of their TV programs -- witness numerous releases on FSM (The Homecoming/Rascals and Robbers, Hunters Are for Killing, etc.), Intrada (that great twofer of Brotherhood of the Bell/A Step Out of Line), and LLL (Wild Wild West).
This anthology series of filmed plays lasted three seasons and 12 installments, each 90 minutes long, similar to its predecessor Playhouse 90 from the previous decade (and I understand there was a later show called CBS Playhouse 90 that was a successor to both?)
It included original theme music by none other than AARON COPLAND (!), who was Emmy-nominated for his work. In fact I think this may have been his final Hollywood commission, as Something Wild (his final film score) was a few years before.
I have heard only one of these scores myself -- "The People Next Door" (1968) by Jerry Goldsmith. It was shocking to me because it includes a theme which I would call "proto-Chinatown". We acquired this with some difficulty for The Goldsmith Odyssey podcast, and we will be covering it but that's still a couple years away, at least. So until then, if you're curious to hear his main Chinatown-like theme, I recently discovered that we were not the first film music podcast to encounter it -- Settling the Score somehow also laid their hands on a copy, and they play a sample in their excellent podcast on Chinatown: https://www.settlingthescorepodcast.com/18-chinatown/
Now, Jerry Goldsmith's name on its own will guarantee some sales, but if that weren't enough this series also features a score by my favorite Star Trek *television* composer -- SOL KAPLAN ("Dear Friends", 1967) and also one by none other than JOHN WILLIAMS ("Saturday Adoption", 1968)! And who scored more episodes than anyone else (four), according to IMDb? None other than the great DAVID SHIRE!
It really doesn't get much better musical pedigree than this, and I think an enterprising label could definitely get decent sales if they produced say a 3 disc set of music from this series.
There are two other lesser known composers involved: George Kleinsinger ("My Father and My Mother", 1968), who I primarily know for his fine work on Tubby the Tuba -- I would be VERY interested to also hear his music for this. And finally, someone named Bernard Green scored a couple -- I've never heard of him before and don't know the first thing about him, but that doesn't mean his music is bad. (According to my math, this means that two installments of this series of filmed live plays were done without original music.)
So...who else might be interested in unreleased late 60s dramatic scoring from WILLIAMS, GOLDSMITH, SHIRE, KAPLAN, and oh yeah of course that main theme by AARON COPLAND?
And finally, someone named Bernard Green scored a couple -- I've never heard of him before and don't know the first thing about him, but that doesn't mean his music is bad..)
Yavar
Yavar never saw Zotz!
Bernard Green also wrote the score for All the Way Home.
From your lips to God's ears, Yavar! That is a superlative aggregation of composers for sure. Sol Kaplan is heard from and about far too little these days, so I'm especially glad he made the cut. What I'm happiest to read in your post, however, is the reference to George Kleinsinger. In 1964 he happens to have written what I consider one of the best 58 minutes of music in any medium for a one-off, commercial-free, all-star special called, "Americans: A Portrait in Verses" -- for CBS. I would love to hear anything he created. You mention his most popular title, of course, "Tubby the Tuba." Have you ever heard his song and orchestral score for "archy & mehitabel," recorded by Eddie Bracken, Carol Channing, and David Wayne? If not, I highly recommend it. Excuse me for a moment, please, while I go create a link to something else I think you might like...
Thanks Preston! Tubby the Tuba is the only Kleinsinger I have ever heard, although I've certainly heard his name attached to a few other things here (probably from you) and elsewhere...
For anyone interested, here is the delightful George Pal short film with score by Kleinsinger...there are TWO absolutely wonderful and memorable orchestral melodies at play in this brief score:
I'd love to hear what he wrote for CBS Playhouse, along with the more more "fan favorite" composers!
There are some additional materials there that are NOT in the finding aid, I have photos of the box contents, but I don't remember seeing much if any CBS Playhouse.
"A highlight of the collection are many scores for live Playhouse 90 dramas. The collection is currently being processed. The finding aid will be updated periodically."
Dare we hope that "CBS Playhouse" is also on the agenda to be processed?
I appreciate the info, Lukas, though since the catalogue of their holdings is hardly complete/exhaustive, I'm still going to hold out a *bit* of hope. Jeff Bond recently pointed out in another thread that this was probably Williams's final long form work for television, with the exception of Jane Eyre and two episodes of Amazing Stories in 1985.
Re: Playhouse 90, Preston, I'm guessing those are *written* scores in their collection? Since it was a live series, obviously the only cues available on tape would be if they were done later at a separate library music session (which is where Tomorrow and A Marriage of Strangers on the Prometheus Early Years Vol. 1 album came from, not the original film performances).
"A highlight of the collection are many scores for live Playhouse 90 dramas. The collection is currently being processed. The finding aid will be updated periodically."
Dare we hope that "CBS Playhouse" is also on the agenda to be processed?
The CBS library is very difficult to work with. Most of the tapes only have recording log numbers and dates, which need to be matched up against log books of the contents...and those log books have, from time to time, been misplaced/inaccessible. It's a lot of guesswork and very frustrating.
I appreciate the info, Lukas, though since the catalogue of their holdings is hardly complete/exhaustive, I'm still going to hold out a *bit* of hope. Jeff Bond recently pointed out in another thread that this was probably Williams's final long form work for television, with the exception of Jane Eyre and two episodes of Amazing Stories in 1985.
And the end credits theme for THE SCREAMING WOMAN.
I've been aware of "Saturday Adoption" for some time, although I've been unable to verify Williams' involvement. I've not been able to locate the episode. But yes, it's after LAND OF THE GIANTS, and as such may very well be his last effort in freelance TV work before he retired from this particular form (untill 1985).
I would be interested in a set like this for the Williams episode, but by golly -- there are so many earlier Williams TV things I'd like to see released instead.
Well, sure...like his work for Gunsmoke or Alcoa Premiere, if they survive. But you gotta realize producing a set for either of those series would be a far more monumental undertaking than producing a set for this one, which only constituted 12 episodes/apparently 10 scores. One wouldn't have to curate such a set, even. I bet every cue would fit on a three disc set.
All this time of listening to The Goldsmith Odyssey has made me very anxious to see the surviving early works of Goldsmith see a proper restoration. I have to think that his Twilight Zones and Thrillers in particular would get a strong commercial response. Perhaps the amount of work it would involve would cost too much. But as the Odyssey has proven, it's all important.
Whoa, out of left field but Caldera Records has just released a David Shire CD containing his 1961 feature film scoring debut, plus excerpts from FIVE of his scores for this anthology series!
Some of these episodes aren’t even credited to Shire on IMDb, though they are in the episode listing for the series, so Shire was even more the series’ primary composer than I thought. Very interesting. I hope the Goldsmith and Williams scores can be paired and released someday.
So are the tapes for all the old scores by Williams, Goldsmith et al alive and well? The Caldera blurb states they got theirs from David Shire's own personal archive.
If yes, the Goldsmith might be easier to release, as he can't physically block any such venture, unlike John Williams, who I doubt would greenlight something like this while he still sits on stellar stuff like STORY OF A WOMAN, SUGARLAND EXPRESS, SECRET WAYS...
So are the tapes for all the old scores by Williams, Goldsmith et al alive and well?
We don't know! A lot of historical CBS stuff seems to survive (which is why we got releases like Rascals & Robbers/The Homecoming from FSM or A Step Out of Line/Brotherhood of the Bell from Intrada) but alas the cataloguing of the material is incomplete, and I get the impression that either things move really slowly at CBS at present or they aren't working with the labels like they used to.
I know for a fact that both of Jerry Goldsmith's Have Gun--Wil Travel scores survive in complete form, as well as all six of Jerry Goldsmith's scores for Gunsmoke! The latter would pack a single CD nicely, but nobody has done it yet. So that to me tells me it's not so much an issue of elements, but licensing and approvals. Apart from Star Trek reissues, has anything "new" been licensed from CBS by the labels since LLL's successful Wild Wild West box set? I honestly don't remember.
The Caldera blurb states they got theirs from David Shire's own personal archive.
Yes, and this makes sense because they work with Shire a lot but I don't think they've ever worked with CBS (please correct me if I'm mistaken).
If yes, the Goldsmith might be easier to release, as he can't physically block any such venture, unlike John Williams, who I doubt would greenlight something like this while he still sits on stellar stuff like STORY OF A WOMAN, SUGARLAND EXPRESS, SECRET WAYS...
He might not block it if it's a single episodic score in a series set. After all, he didn't stand in the way of all his music for Lost in Space/Land of the Giants/The Time Tunnel being released! But heck if for some reason he would block a release of his score, I'd still buy a disc with the Goldsmith/Kaplan/Kleinsinger scores in an instant! (It seems like everything Shire wanted released of his CBS Playhouse scores is on this new Caldera disc. I asked Caldera on FB whether they might release any of Shire's other work for the series, and they replied: "David also has tapes for SHADOW GAME, which he did not wish to have released." So I think this represents everything Shire wanted out, that he actually had tapes for.
IMDb is user contributed. The missing episodes credits probably reflect episodes not readily found online (if at all) and therefore nobody knew who was the composer and could make the submissions. I'll do that today.