Given how big Wagon Train and The Virginian were back in the day, it's funny how they're taking a back seat to The Munsters here.
That’s because Jack Marshall (the clear focus of this release) was only one of many great composers on those other shows, whereas he was THE one and only composer on The Munsters, and it was essentially his biggest claim to fame. I’m sure there’s much more Munsters music on this two CD set, but it’s cool to see his work on other Universal TV shows represented here as well.
EDIT: According to IMDb, he was also the sole composer for THE DEPUTY. But as that's hardly remembered, and he only did one Wagon Train score and two scores for The Virginian, I think it makes sense how they're marketing this. Great cover too! Must be a Jim Titus job.
That is some damn gorgeous cover art. If that's not Jim Titus I'll eat my hat. And I'm 100% sure this is the release Mike Matessino was referring to with these comments: https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=119230&forumID=1&archive=0&pageID=1&r=741#bottom "More immediately there is a release that will be announced very soon that has been in the cooker for a long time, and I hope it will be well received for both what it is as well as for where it might potentially lead."
So yeah the way I read this is that bigtime Hollywood director/producer Frank Marshall (son of film/TV composer Jack Marshall, who worked with Mike Matessino to produce two previous albums of his father's music, and presumably helped get a note from JOHN WILLIAMS HIMSELF on the Thunder Road album) is using his Hollywood clout to help Mike Mattesino (and therefore La-La Land Records and other labels) access more things at Universal than were available previously... namely Universal TELEVISION (aka Revue).
Ever since the the Universal Classics series of mostly-premieres began half a decade ago, MV at LLL has been expressing hope of eventually getting into their TV holdings -- but this is the first time it's happened! (Yes, we had scattered examples before like Stu Phillips's Knight Rider work on FSM, but those were special cases.)
So Mike's "where it might potentially lead" could mean a set of Oliver Nelson's The Six Million Dollar Man scores, a title MV has expressed clear interest in. It could mean finally an official release of original music for Columbo, by Nelson/Goldenberg/Melle/DeBenedictis/etc.!
But it's not just about exciting 1970s TV music possibilities like those two titles. Not even remotely. Because we've heard composers like GOLDSMITH, WILLIAMS, SCHIFRIN, GRUSIN, and Quincy JONES reminisce about their camaraderie and time together working at Revue in the early-mid 1960s. These composers were in their PRIME back then, and there is now strong potential for PREMIERE releases of music in good sound, by ALL of them, from this important time period in their careers when they all had offices near each other at Revue and they were listening to what each other were doing. Oh and also...it wasn't just the new guys. Lots of amazing Golden Age veterans were also getting TV work at Revue during that same time period!
Now for The Munsters and The Deputy, Jack Marshall was THE composer as far as I can tell. No guest composers listed on IMDb anyways (thought that's not always accurate as we all know). But let's look at the other two series, because La-La Land and Mike Mattesino were able to access original Jack Marshall scores for WAGON TRAIN and THE VIRGINIAN for this release! That means they've got archive access to tapes for those series -- *they have both located and transferred tapes* for those two beloved western TV series, which ran for a whopping EIGHT and NINE seasons, respectively.
What premiere possibilities exist for those two series alone?
Well on The Virginian there were single scores by Franz Waxman, Hans J. Salter, Oliver Nelson, Patrick Williams, and Frank DeVol! Multiple scores by Bernard Herrmann, Fred Steiner, Dave Grusin, Russell Garcia, Morton Stevens, Harry Sukman, David Buttolph, Richard Shores, Lyn Murray, David Shire (some of his earliest Hollywood composing credits), and Leonard Rosenman! To say nothing of an amazing Ennio Morricone theme written for the final season when the show became "The Men from Shiloh"! What a lineup of talent!
But even that pales in comparison IMO to the potential of a Wagon Train set, folks... at least a HALF DOZEN original scores by none other than JOHN WILLIAMS! FIVE original scores by Jerome Moross (plus all the versions of his theme, of course). TWO original scores by JERRY GOLDSMITH! TWO original scores by Leigh HARLINE! FOUR by Ernest Gold! And, super exciting for me, a whopping SEVEN original scores by one of my favorite Golden Age composers, the underrated ROY WEBB -- these were actually his FINAL COMPOSITIONS for Hollywood!
Then there are a bunch of scores by other quality names like Morton Stevens, Lyn Murray, David Buttolph, Cyril Mockridge, Richard Shores, Conrad Salinger, Alexander Courage, Laurindo Almeida, Jeff Alexander, Hans J. Salter, Nathan Van Cleave, etc. And then single scores by perhaps bigger names like David RAKSIN, Frank SKINNER, Daniele AMFITHEATROF, Frank DeVOL, Gerald FRIED, John GREEN, Herman STEIN, William LAVA, and Lalo SCHIFRIN.
It is MIND-BLOWING to think of a potential 4CD set of premieres for this series... or hell why not go for a couple 4CD sets (and spread out the Williams and Goldsmith between them to help the sales)?
And then there are all the Revue series that Jack Marshall didn't work on as he did with those two. We could get a CD of 87th PRECINCT music by Morton Stevens + the single score for the series written by Jerry Goldsmith. We could get a CD of DESTRY, a short-lived single season western TV series with THREE original Goldsmith scores, plus a score each from Morton Stevens and Cyril Mockridge.
Then there are the anthology shows, with each episode treated almost like a mini-feature... CHRYSLER THEATER had original scores by WILLIAMS, HERRMANN, SCHIFRIN, and GOLDSMITH, among others. The various incarnations of KRAFT THEATER had original scores by WILLIAMS, WAXMAN, GOLDSMITH, SCHIFRIN, MURRAY, and HERRMANN, among others. and oh yeah maybe even the original tapes could be found for... THRILLER! SIXTEEN original scores by Goldsmith (which are much longer than the Tadlow suites would indicate), plus even more by Morton Stevens and Pete Rugolo (and one by William Lava).
There are many other fantastic 60s and 70s shows to consider as well, which I'm sure others here can supply. But the mind boggles at the possibilities...
If this story goes ahead and eventually does happen the way I hope it will, this would be a dream come true as UNIVERSAL TV music catalogue is huge, including my utimate holy grail THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, seconded by COLUMBO of course.
Can't wait for any further step regarding this ongoing mamouth project that would perfectly fit the Lalaland Records profile.
Perhaps Mike Mattesino could clarify a bit here around the issue if any with what he would be authorised to share as information?
MV and Mike, please get this thing eventually happen !!!
What about Kolchak, The Night Stalker which only is a single season?
Well, as we know from the film music labels regarding TV... the shorter the show is, the easier it is to tackle. So Kolchak is a good candidate from that perspective... but lemme bring up another thrilling possibility that might be even easier for a label to tackle: the short-lived (basically half a season, if that) show Convoy, which along with the first season of I Dream of Jeannie was the last show NBC produced in Black & White. Here's an episode given a GREAT score by none other than JOHN WILLIAMS:
Williams apparently wrote at least one other score for the series... and so did some little known Golden Age composers named BERNARD HERRMANN and FRANZ WAXMAN. Probably some other composers wrote original music for the series too, but info is quite spotty. But dang, based on those three names alone, SIGN ME UP for a two disc set, PLEASE!
Thank you Yavar for this totally unexpected John Williams CONVOY scored episode rarity. I never heard about it before. The music over the Gibraltar german air attack on ships is close to a 10 years in advance draft for MIDWAY! Nice archival and research job of yours.
