 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I believe this may have been a 1976 PBS show called The Hemingway Play, which presented full plays for TV, for which Goldsmith provided a theme. He was doing Islands in the Stream, which put him in a Hemingway mood perhaps. But there's also a full TV movie called The Hemingway Play for PBS, which also credits Goldsmith. So I'm thinking it was a show that only aired 2 plays, with the credit sequence scored by Goldsmith.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It is a very unique title theme indeed, for an interesting and also fairly unique Saul Bass sequence. I like it, I can tell it’s Goldsmith, but it’s also fairly unlike anything else I’ve heard from him.
You are probably confused with these three titles because IMDb does not seem to recognize the umbrella show Hollywood Television Theater that these individual play adaptations aired under. It only lists the individual installments kinda like TV movies…and might not list all of them (I haven’t checked), probably favoring those that were released on home video/DVD by Kultur. That said, if you search for “Hollywood Television Theater” on IMDb, while there’s no overall series listing a lot of these episodes do show up that way (probably included in an alternate title or something which is searchable).
Jerry Goldsmith only provided the title theme as far as I know (I’ve only seen a couple of these), but as has already been pointed out some other beloved film composers like Lyn Murray and Lee Holdridge scored some installments. Here’s a presumably complete list of installments:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/HollywoodTelevisionTheatre
Maybe someone can combine that with IMDb to come up with a complete-as-possible list of composers/scores…I wonder if Hollywood Television Theater score tapes might still exist and where they would be if so. Does KCET have a score archive waiting to be unearthed?
Here is the full “Six Characters in Search of an Author”, which I’m fairly certain has no score proper beyond the Goldsmith theme for the opening Saul Bass series title sequence:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7W31fFHS9Og&feature=youtu.be
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You are probably confused with these three titles because IMDb does not seem to recognize the umbrella show Hollywood Television Theater that these individual play adaptations aired under.
Thanks, Yavar! That's been a mystery to me for a long time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I searched the UCLA library archive online, and it turns out they have quite a few episodes of this series in their collection:
https://tinyurl.com/42wujehb
The degree of info/credits for each episode in their archive varies *wildly*, with many having very little info beyond a title and date... but for the following, I found score composition credits:
"Scarecrow" (copyright 1971, but probably aired in January 1972) - Mundell Lowe (who is credited with "music direction" on a number of these I'm not including here in this post, but here is just credited for "music" so I'm including):
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=19&bibId=51748
"Shadow of a Gunman" ("Record date: October 18, 1972") - Robert Prince:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=20&bibId=51749
"Winesburg, Ohio" ("Record date: Feb. 15, 1973") - Robert Prince:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=32&bibId=51760
"Steambath" ("1973-04-30", but TV Guide review in November 1973) - Lyn Murray:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=30&bibId=51754
"Edited version": https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=31&bibId=51753
"Incident at Vichy" (TV Guide review from December 1973) - Lyn Murray:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=36&bibId=209794
alternate listing: https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=37&bibId=51730
"Sty of the Blind Pig" (TV Guide review from May 1974) - Phil Moore:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=46&bibId=51755
"Ashes of Mrs. Reasoner" (copyright 1975, but probably aired in January 1976 going by the TV Guide review excerpt) - Lyn Murray:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=5&bibId=51712
"The Last of Mrs. Lincoln" (TV Guide review from September 1976) - Lyn Murray:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=59&bibId=51734
"Actor" (about Paul Muni, copyright 1977, but probably aired in February 1978 going by the TV Guide review excerpt) - Billy Goldenberg:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=1&bibId=51709
Norman Lloyd also apparently directed this "freewheeling, seriocomic musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks)" -- the notes specify that it's based on a 1973 musical "Philemon" from several years before, but if the rest of the original scores exist in some KCET archive somewhere, maybe the recordings for this musical exist there too:
https://cinema.library.ucla.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=75&recCount=50&recPointer=60&bibId=51742
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Except he provided the theme for the series, Hollywood Television Theater on KCET, not specifically “Six Characters in Search of an Author”.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Many other episodes survive, some also released officially by Kultur, some available because people recorded them off TV and have traded among themselves. I haven’t checked to see whether they *all* survive, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they did, in some archive somewhere.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have very fond memories of watching Six Characters and also Philemon. I was into theater back then, so great to see. Sadly, don't recall any of the others.
And weirdly enough, I was the assistant director of my high school's production of Philemon, which was quite an experience. Worth watching to see what a quasi experimental musical looked like in the mid 70's.
Thank you all for posting about this. I had no idea of Goldsmith's involvement, however peripheral.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aside from UCLA having a bunch of Hollywood Television Theater in their library archive (many besides what I listed above -- I only included the ones that credited original music besides Jerry's theme) here are the ones I could find that were commercially released, with links:
Pilot
The Andersonville Trial (May 17, 1970)
https://www.amazon.com/Andersonville-Trial-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B0000A0DTC/
Season 1
Big Fish, Little Fish (January 5, 1971)
The Andersonville Trial (February 2, 1971; repeat of the pilot episode)
Montserrat (March 2, 1971)
Poet Game (April 6, 1971)
U.S.A. (May 4, 1971)
Season 2
The Typists (October 7, 1971)
https://www.amazon.com/Typists-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B00006JMQN/
The Police (October 14, 1971)
Lemonade (October 21, 1971)
https://www.amazon.com/Lemonade-James-Ddku-D2713-Prideaux/dp/076979713X/
Birdbath (October 28, 1971)
Beginning to End (November 4, 1971)
Enemies (November 11, 1971)
https://www.amazon.com/Leokums-Enemies-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B01GWCGB34/
Neighbors (November 18, 1971)
https://www.amazon.com/Neighbors-Broadway-Theatre-Archive-Fielder/dp/B01GWCM7A0/
The Standwells: About Love (November 25, 1971)
The Bread and Puppet Theatre (December 2, 1971)
Young Marrieds at Play (December 9, 1971)
The Picture (December 16, 1971)
The Plot to Overthrow Christmas (December 23, 1971)
Day of Absence (December 30, 1971)
Chekhov Live from Hollywood (January 3, 1972; "The Marriage" and "The Boor")
The Scarecrow (January 10, 1972)
https://www.amazon.com/Scarecrow-Broadway-Theatre-Archive-Nina/dp/B0000BV1YZ/
A Viewer's Guide to Samuel Beckett (February 28, 1972; special shown before a repeat of Beginning to End)
Awake and Sing (March 6, 1972)
https://www.amazon.com/Awake-Broadway-Theatre-Archive-Kultur/dp/B00UGPSPKQ/
Invitation to March (May 30, 1972)
Season 3
Another Part of the Forest (October 2, 1972)
The Shadow of a Gunman (December 16, 1972)
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Gunman-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B0000AGWQH/
Carola (February 5, 1973)
https://www.amazon.com/Carola-Broadway-Theatre-Archive-Michael/dp/B00006CXGU/
Winesburg, Ohio (March 5, 1973)
Steambath (April 30, 1973)
Season 4
The Man of Destiny (November 21, 1973)
Me (November 28, 1973)
Incident at Vichy (December 5, 1973)
https://www.amazon.com/Incident-Vichy-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B00006JMQL/
The Carpenters (December 19, 1973)
Gondola (January 9, 1974)
Double Solitaire (January 16, 1974)
https://www.amazon.com/Double-Solitaire-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B0000AGWRE/
Sty of the Blind Pig (May 29, 1974)
https://www.amazon.com/Sty-Blind-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B0000DI87E/
Nourish the Beast (June 7, 1974)
Season 5
The Chinese Prime Minister (October 23, 1974)
The Lady's Not for Burning (November 18, 1974)
For the Use of the Hall (January 2, 1975)
https://www.amazon.com/Use-Hall-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B0000AGWQB/
Requiem for a Nun (February 10, 1975)
The Ladies of the Corridor (April 10, 1975)
Knuckle (June 2, 1975)
The Chicago Conspiracy Trial (July 12, 1975)
Shakespeare Wallah (July 19, 1975)
Season 6
The Ashes of Mrs. Reasoner (January 22, 1976)
The Hemingway Play (March 7, 1976)
Wanda (March 21, 1976)
Season 7
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (September 16, 1976)
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Lincoln-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B00006CXGV/
Six Characters in Search of an Author (September 23, 1976)
https://www.amazon.com/Characters-Search-Broadway-Theatre-Archive/dp/B00006CXGW/
The Fatal Weakness (September 30, 1976)
Philemon (October 7, 1976)
Season 8
The Ascent of Mt. Fuji (January 10, 1978)
And the Soul Shall Dance (February 7, 1978)
Actor (February 21, 1978)
Many of these Amazon links will also show you the back cover of the release, which say "A presentation of KCET/Hollywood Television Theater" and "Copyright [year] Community Television of Southern California". Once again, I got the above list from the following link, which I think is the full list of everything broadcast in this series:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/HollywoodTelevisionTheatre
So that's at least 15 episodes of this series available commercially, plus more which survive in the UCLA archive and no doubt in many people's personal collections...
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Just reminded me that I saw Steambath on first broadcast, and The Andersonville Trial for the first time in the 90's.
Both are worth watching, if one enjoys taped theater in a soundstage (I do, shockingly enough). Andersonville has a brief and pretty humble introduction from director George C. Scott, who does not perform in the production.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I had no idea of Goldsmith's involvement, however peripheral.
I mean... it was just as "peripheral" as his involvement with Star Trek: Voyager! 
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
I had no idea of Goldsmith's involvement, however peripheral.
I mean... it was just as "peripheral" as his involvement with Star Trek: Voyager!
Yavar
Well, not really, as composers quoted the Voyager theme all the dang time. Vs. this'un.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah but that wasn’t Goldsmith actually being involved himself, aside from cashing a check I guess! I mean, I wouldn’t say he was involved at all with The Next Generation, since others simply arranged his 1979 Trek theme.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dude, cashing checks is what it's all about!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
