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Posted: |
Apr 2, 2022 - 7:12 AM
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By: |
rjc
(Member)
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You are correct in that assessment Yavar and I have been saying that for years. Varese underestimated the popularity of Herrmann and I also feel that 2000 copies would've been more than enough for people to buy it and sell out.
I agree, though in hindsight. Perhaps it was a financial threshold, as 14 CDs is a lot, or a contractual thing that limited it to a 1000; I don't know, just speculation. A good amount of the music was already available, so perhaps that influenced the quantity. But from my armchair, yeah, 1500 surely would've allowed me to nab a copy.
But yeah, whenever I like to torture myself, I look up what it's going for. Crazy! Of the three copies available on Amazon right now, one is at $300, another $835 and...how about one for $1,035.95 plus 3.99 for delivery!!! I know, Amazon, but that boggles my mind.
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What's clear to me is that Robert Townson and Varese had been stung deeply over the actual demand for the SPARTACUS box set in 2010. As Townson's dream project, perhaps, it was too lavishly produced -- and licensed for too high a quantity at 5,000 copies -- because he tragically overestimated the number of collectors willing (or motivated) to spend the original price.
I can relate that to my own disaster in high school: when I wildly overspent, in my final semester, to bring what at the time were my three favorite movies (ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, THE WILD BUNCH, and THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE) to my high-school film series... two of them in 35mm prints, because they weren't yet available for 16mm rental. Despite all the posters, flyers, and heralds that we put up inside and outside the school, and regardless of the glowing reviews I wrote as the critic for my school newspaper, I simply had spent too much money on the rentals for film (AND 35mm projectors) to earn back the cost. Ultimately I had lost track of the possibility that my 1971 high-school audience might not support or share my own values. My excesses also drained the account for my successors the following year, for which I still feel bad.
The fact of Varese having to discount however many copies of the SPARTACUS set they did, just to get unsold inventory off the shelves, must have been a painful influence on their licensing and pricing decisions for their HERRMANN AT FOX box the following year. (Once so badly bitten...) We can comment today on how the market interest in Herrmann "should" have been anticipated as higher. Yet so soon after the blow of those SPARTACUS sales, it's very understandable that the label decided not to bet on realistically being able to move more than 1,000 sets.
Yes, that Herrmann set is gorgeous and beautifully packaged. But having been out of work for some time when it was announced, it was tough for me to spend $200 on it the day it was announced; and I still regret that I didn't scratch together enough for a second copy for a friend who would have loved it, but was a divorced, single father. However, I felt even worse when I saw sealed copies of the set not just being listed, but selling for $400 each on eBay, less than a month after they had shipped. And for several months afterward, in fact.
How do you think the Varese folks must have felt about that, over not having trusted in a higher quantity for the Herrmann set? They couldn't have felt great -- and I don't think they deserve criticism in hindsight over their decision at the time.
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I would have purchased this, but there was that day in December of 2011 when someone rang the doorbell and I was away from my computer for five minutes.
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Posted: |
Apr 2, 2022 - 2:56 PM
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By: |
rjc
(Member)
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How do you think the Varese folks must have felt about that, over not having trusted in a higher quantity for the Herrmann set? They couldn't have felt great -- and I don't think they don't deserve criticism in hindsight over their decision at the time.
I agree, though no criticism of Varese was really intended. Only a personal disappointment, and that's not their problem.
Like your high school experience, the SPARTACUS set and countless others, it's impossible to anticipate what people will ultimately support. And in the case of the BH at 20th, the silver lining is that a lot of the music was and still is available in some form, whether complete or abbreviated. One example: BLUE DENIM, on the FSM CD paired with EB's A VIEW FROM POMPEY'S HEAD, still at regular price. So all is well, if sometimes accompanied with bittersweet nostalgia for what could have been...perfectly suited for some of the kind of lyricism Herrmann excelled at writing.
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Got my set under the wire from MovieMusic. Had to pay a hair more for it, but I knew it would be worth it considering the scalpers pouncing all over it. Hearing Ghost and Mrs. Muir with such resplendent sound remains a frequent spin.
Yes, that Herrmann set is gorgeous and beautifully packaged. But having been out of work for some time when it was announced, it was tough for me to spend $200 on it the day it was announced; and I still regret that I didn't scratch together enough for a second copy for a friend who would have loved it, but was a single father. However, I felt even worse when I saw sealed copies of the set not just being listed, but selling for $400 each on eBay, less than a month after they had shipped. And for several months afterward, in fact.
Given that Intrada's print-on-demand program has now lasted years, I'm gladly assuming that it's the preferred model of gauging customer interest. Strange that they're the only label still doing this.
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Im very happy with this set.
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Is there a breakdown of this set? Is most of this released as single cds now or is the box set still largely exclusives?
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Is there a breakdown of this set? Is most of this released as single cds now or is the box set still largely exclusives?
To the best of my knowledge, Jane Eyre, Hangover Square (with additional music not on the box set), Five Fingers, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Snows of Kilimanjaro, White Witch Doctor, and Beneath the 12 Mile Reef were reissued by Kritzerland, while The Egyptian was reissued by LLL. Most of the other scores from the set are owned in perpetuity by Varese and have yet to be reissued individually (Journey to the Center of the Earth did have a very limited reissue which sold out almost immediately a few years ago). Also, while Anna and the King of Siam and Blue Denim have individual CDs (Blue Denim paired with an Elmer Bernstein score), the remastered editions of those scores remain exclusive to the box set. I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will fill in any gaps I unintentionally left in this post.
Edit: I forgot LLL did a reissue of Day the Earth Stood Still a few years after the Kritzerland sold out.
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Is there a breakdown of this set? Is most of this released as single cds now or is the box set still largely exclusives?
To the best of my knowledge, Jane Eyre, Hangover Square (with additional music not on the box set), Five Fingers, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Snows of Kilimanjaro, White Witch Doctor, and Beneath the 12 Mile Reef were reissued by Kritzerland, while The Egyptian was reissued by LLL. Most of the other scores from the set are owned in perpetuity by Varese and have yet to be reissued individually (Journey to the Center of the Earth did have a very limited reissue which sold out almost immediately a few years ago). Also, while Anna and the King of Siam and Blue Denim have individual CDs (Blue Denim paired with an Elmer Bernstein score), the remastered editions of those scores remain exclusive to the box set. I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will fill in any gaps I unintentionally left in this post.
Edit: I forgot LLL did a reissue of Day the Earth Stood Still a few years after the Kritzerland sold out.
Thank you very much. I was debating buying that boxset from the Brent Armstrong sale, I will visit Krtizerland's discs instead.
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Is there a Herrmann composed finale for TENDER IS THE NIGHT that does not incorporate the Fain/Webster title song? And was it Lyn Murray (in Rudy Behlmer's Selznick book) who mentioned Herrmann's attempt to write the title song?
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Thank you very much. I was debating buying that boxset from the Brent Armstrong sale, I will visit Krtizerland's discs instead.
If you can afford the set you should get it. Only a single title in the set (Hangover Square) was dramatically improved (expanded) by Kritzerland afterwards, and fully half of that box set remains exclusive to Varese so if you want remastered/fixed Ghost and Mrs. Muir, or complete remastered versions of many other scores such as the superb Garden of Evil, the box set is the only way to get those.
Missing out on the Herrmann@Fox set is still one of my biggest film music collecting regrets.
Yavar
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Has anyone made high quality scans of the individual CD covers by any chance?
I am kind of hoping the custom artwork creators on the boards create some interesting poster art style covers for each film title.
Yeah, would love to have the custom covers if anyone created them...
When it came out, one of the members (Hermit) made lovely covers for each score. But he hasn't been active here and his Photobucket account comes u p with the 404 error.
Try Album Art Exchange, they have some covers which may work for you.
https://www.albumartexchange.com/covers?fltr=ALL&sort=TITLE&q=bernard+herrmann+at+20th+century+fox&page=0
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Would anyone (with a US address) be interested in trading a (preferably) sealed copy of the La La Land Star Trek OS box for a sealed copy of the Herrmann set?
We might be able to work something out if you still have your Herrmann box. Email is in my profile.
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