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I was always aware of the show's music as a kid. Certain cues were repeated throughout the seasons, as they represented danger, humour, etc. I'd love to see a 2CD set of this great music.
Me too!!
Do you remember that syncopated danger music on the bongo?
Can you point to an episode or moment where it's used? I'm not sure which one you mean.
Alas no, as I don't have access to the sitcom. But it appeared plenty of times, usually when the castaways were comedically running away from danger.
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double post
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Posted: |
Jan 21, 2021 - 3:59 AM
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By: |
Broughtfan
(Member)
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Not known
Flying theme used in The Pigeon and It's A Bird, It's A Plane (probably Don Ray, may have been recorded as a single cue on a Wild Wild West or Gunsmoke session).
As it turns out this cue is first heard in the "Androcles and Clon" episode of Schwartz' concurrent series, "It's About Time," the segment featuring a partial score composed "by committee," with Gerald Fried, Don Ray and Morton Stevens all contributing cues (as indicated on the CBS OM report). Because of certain noted affinities with Mort Stevens' cues composed for both GI's "The Producer" (recorded only a couple of weeks before) and certain SI "Hawaii Five-O" episodes, I've come to the conclusion that Mort Stevens probably composed the IAT "Flying Theme" cue used in the aforementioned 1967 GI episodes.
This was the only "mystery" I've been unable to solve regarding the better known "Gilligan" cues as the music for this cue was nowhere to be found in the UCLA CBS Collection of GI music. Now I know why: I wasn't looking in the right place.
Don Ray would usually compose most of the partials toward season's end. In GI's third season, Fried, who recorded all of his (GI) scores that season during the summer months (June through early September 1966) that year also scored eps of T.H.E. CAT, The Man From U.N.C.L.E (most shows that season), "It's About Time" (the lion's share of eps), single episodes of Mission: Impossible ("Odds on Evil") and "Star Trek" ("Shore Leave") AND the theme and first series eps of "Mr. Terrific" (CBS mid season replacement series). So he was busy.
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Broughtfan: The biggest surprise was seeing the dozens of pages of cues written by Don Ray, including some of my favorite "GI" themes such as the 'robot, walk' theme (very clever pizz strings, xylo and temple blocks idea), the hunter music and all of the Boris Balinkoff stuff (first episode only), including the "sea swept castle on the cliff motif."
Wow, Broughtfan! When it comes to Gilligan's Island, you slay it on the most rarefied cues!
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Posted: |
Jan 22, 2021 - 6:27 AM
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By: |
Broughtfan
(Member)
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interesting little factoid: Anytime you hear either orchestral strings or (French) horns in a S2/3 "Gilligan's Island" ep (the two seasons filmed in color) it's because these were partial scores recorded on a shared session with another CBS production, usually a drama such as "The Wild Wild West," "Gunsmoke" or a CBS-produced TV film or pilot (such as "Nightwatch," scored near the end of GI's second season by John Williams). Partials were almost always recorded later in the season and composed by either Don Ray or Mort Stevens. None of Gerald Fried's scores for the series (all three seasons he was engaged as composer) contain either horns or orchestral strings (save the solo violin in S2's "Castaways Pictures Presents") and, more or less used an instrumentation adapted from big band of 4 WW (unusually, standard WW quartet of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, recording with specialists instead of "doublers"), 5-6 brass (trumpets, trombones, sometimes tuba), guitar, bass/bass guitar, piano, 2 percussion (drummer/mallet player). This was pretty standard for sitcoms of the day though there were some deviations: For his sitcom scores, Earle Hagen typically used three (French) horns on "The Andy Griffith Show"/"Mayberry RFD," one horn on "Gomer Pyle" (don't know of any instance of horn being used by Hagen on "The Dick Van Dyke Show," which would, on occasion, have a small string orchestra). For "That Girl" Hagen (in his S4/5, a few S1 scores) didn't use horns (though Harry Geller and Dominic Frontiere did use them in their respective "That Girl" scores). Irving Szathmary always used six brass on "Get Smart" (2 trumpets, 2 horns, 2 trombones). As with the GI example, when Warren Barker had horns on "Bewitched" it was because his score was being recorded with another Screen Gems show (but not always, as the S4 premiere "Long Live The Queen", where Samantha is proclaimed 'Queen of the Witches,' was a stand alone session, one that included two horns).
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Posted: |
Jan 22, 2021 - 6:52 AM
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By: |
Broughtfan
(Member)
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Being a brass player I was always interested in learning about Hollywood sessions and, while living in LA, did a lot of research, talked to a number of the studio professionals active at the time. As I previously mentioned I looked at every GI cue I could find in UCLA Special Collections. A few years ago spent a week at the American Heritage Center (Laramie, WY) looking at TV scores (Get Smart, That Girl, Bewitched, Family Affair, Mission: Impossible, etc). My idea of "summer vacation." 
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Posted: |
Jan 22, 2021 - 7:59 AM
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By: |
Broughtfan
(Member)
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The William Dozier Collection was a genuine find as it's one of the few resources containing any info on Nelson Riddle's involvement with "Batman." I also recall seeing a letter in the collection from Rod Serling expressing his approval of Jerry Goldsmith scoring the theme and episodes of TCF's "The Loner" as well as a note from Roddy McDowell where he expresses appreciation to WD for adjusting the "Batman" filming schedule so that he could play The Bookworm.
Pretty cool. This is the kind of stuff you can't predict finding. The most important thing for "consumers" is it doesn't take an act of congress to get access or copies from the AHC, unlike other holding institutions that act like Fort Knox.
Among the other truly amazing finds there were Sol Kaplan's two "Star Trek" scores (eight-line, complete sketches), "The Enemy Within" and "The Doomsday Machine." Needless to say, I allocated a day each for those (the Enterprise fly by music looking very different from what I imagined!) A real "kid in the candy store" event for me.
Back to GI: Interestingly, the UCLA Collection has none of Fried's S1 music, these scores all part of the GF Collection at AHC, including the complete "So Sorry, My Island Now" and "Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy," the former being Fried's first score for the series (when he was hired for, supposedly, a one-off).
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Posted: |
Jan 22, 2021 - 10:03 AM
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By: |
Broughtfan
(Member)
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What was unexpected about the Trek scoring (if you can relate to a layman)?
The AHC has a pdf of the contents of Kaplan's boxes, which is helpful. His score for "Hollow Triumph" is there, but not the audio itself which I wanted.
It's just sometimes you imagine something to appear a certain way on the score page. It's interesting, for instance, to compare the "Star Trek" theme arrangements made by, respectively, Alexander Courage and Fred Steiner. Courage writes the opening horn fanfare as a 4/4 and a 2/4 bar whereas Steiner notated the fanfare as two bars of 3/4. In the case of the Kaplan example (recalling from memory as I don't have my notes in front of me) the swirly WW sextuplets are accompanied by glockenspiel and piano playing sixteenth notes, creating a polyrhythmic effect, albeit a subtle one, that one doesn't really hear on television speakers. Unlike Courage and Steiner in their S1 scores, Kaplan doesn't employ the organ. From a wind player's perspective those players really earned their money getting through, often, very difficult music...and they're sight reading to boot! Amazing! The other thing that was just astounding was to see the shear volume of music Frank DeVol composed for Family Affair and My Three Sons (not to mention the plethora of vocal-instrumental arrangements he made for artists in the 1950s). He would do very rough three line sketches from which he would produce his full scores. Where he found time to do this and do all those guest actor sitcom spots (Gidget, That Girl, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, etc) is anyone's guess - and he was funny! Just incredible.
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Posted: |
Jan 22, 2021 - 9:00 PM
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By: |
Broughtfan
(Member)
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As far as a speculative "Gilligan" collection release goes, I'd recommend a four-disk set (most of the cues people remember). Since the series was a half-hour sitcom, one in which 10-12 minutes of underscore would have been considered a "music heavy" show, it's conceivable this proposed four-disk collection would satisfy almost any fan of this music.
Disk 1
Gilligan's Travels (original unaired GI pilot, re-edited into S1's "Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk") - John Williams (rec. TCF 1/64)
Gilligan's Island (series music, mostly rec. CBS Studio Center, Studio City, CA, cues recorded September 1964 - January 1967)
S1 Main Title (Schwartz/Wyle) - arr. by Ernest Hughes
President Gilligan - Lyn Murray (contains S1 "Ginger Theme," rec. Goldwyn, complete)
Two on a Raft/Goodnight Sweet Skipper (partials) - Frank Comstock
Goodbye Old Paint (partial) - Mort Stevens
Don Ray/Morton Stevens S1/2 JW "Marina" theme adaptations (used for act-ins, "Wasps")
Composed by Don B. Ray (S2 partial scores)
The Friendly Physician (mad scientist)
V for Vitamins
Gilligan's Living Doll (robot)
The Chain of Command
Forward March
Composed by Gerald Fried (S1, Fried scores complete unless otherwise indicated):
So Sorry, My Island Now (Japanese sailor)
X Marks The Spot (partial)
Disk 2
Composed by Gerald Fried
Season 1 (cont.)
Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy (heavily tracked into latter S1 shows)
How to Be a Hero (partial)
Diamonds Are an Apes Best Friend (partial)
Season 2 (mostly complete scores)
Beauty Is as Beauty Does (beauty contest, contains several cues tracked into S2)
Agonized Labor
Gilligan's Mother-In-Law
The Sweepstakes
The Little Dictator (rec. Desilu-Gower 'F')
MIne Hero (partial, G tows mine out to sea cue)
Castaways Pictures Presents (partial, castaways make silent film)
Nyet, Nyet, Not Yet (cosmonauts on island)
Season 3 (Fried, complete)
Voodoo (witch doctor)
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Disk 3 (Season 3 cont.)
Composed by Fried, Don B. Ray
Rev. Main Title (S2/3) - arr. by Ian Freebairn-Smith, cond. Mort Stevens
(Gerald Fried S3 cont., all complete scores)
Pass the Vegetables, Please (radioactive seeds)
Where There's A Will
Gilligan VS Gilligan (look-alike enemy agent on island)
Ring Around Gilligan (mad scientist returns)
Up At Bat (vampire bat/dream sequence)
Don Ray (partial/complete)
Topsy-Turvy (G sees double)
Man with a Net (butterfly hunter, largely complete)
The Invasion (secret agent dream sequence)
Disk 4 (Ray/Stevens/Extras)
The Producer (underscore) - Stevens/Ray
Gilligan, The Goddess (w/Stevens)
Composed by Don Ray
Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho (search plane music, also used in "Splashdown," teaser cue, "Murder" comp. Fried)
Splashdown (signaling space capsule with Prof's tandem bike transmitter)
Court Martial (Lord Admiral Gilligan dream sequence)
The Hunter
The Kidnapper (Don Rickles)
Lovey's Secret Admirer (Cinderella dream sequence)
Slave Girl
The Pigeon (giant spider music)
Composed/Arranged by Mort Stevens
The Pigeon (flying cues originally recorded for "It's About Time")*
'Hamlet cast' pre-recordings arrangements for "The Producer" (recorded with Fred Steiner "Gunsmoke" score)
* - speculation (as to cue composer)
S2 End Title (arr. Freebairn-Smith)
Extras (a few ideas)
Music Hath Charms (Fried - bottle orchestra)
Sailing, Sailing (arr. by Fried from "Quick Before it Sinks")
Gypsy Fortune Teller Music (Richard Shores, comp. for "Perry Mason," used in "Ship Ahoax")
CBS Sunday/Wednesday Night at the Movies Theme (comp. Stevens, used in "Hi-Fi Gilligan")
Mosquitoes Rock (instrumental heard in "Don't Bug the Mosquitoes")
Side note: many cues heard in S1 were taken from the CBS library (from productions as far back as the early 1950s).
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