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In the CBS stock music library resides 6 "undertones" by Wilfred Josephs.
"Fantasies" [2:11] "Soft legato unworldly bg." EZQ 151 Side 2, Track #40. CBS XII-66-D [2:11] Josephs, Wilfred
"Ostinato" Josephs, Wilfred [1:12] "Ominous deliberate motion becomes increasingly bizarre." EZQ 151 Side 2, Track #42.
"Dreams" Josephs, Wilfred [:20] "Soft dream fantasy fragment." EZQ 151 Side 2, Track #44. EZQ 134 Side 2, Track #64.
"Mausoleum" Josephs, Wilfred
"Safecracker" Josephs, Wilfred CBS 12-52-D
"Lone Vigil" Josephs, Wilfred
With the exception of brief snippets of music by René Garriguenc and Marius Constant, THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode "The Little People" utilizes all 6 of these pieces by Josephs throughout its duration as its core musical voice.
The end result is as if Wilfred Josephs tailored an original score for this segment without any credit.
The musical contribution by Wilfred Josephs, such as it is, to this series (portions are tracked into "One More Pallbearer", "4 O'Clock" and "The Trade-Ins") may not seem significant on its own. Nevertheless, there may not be any other composers whose music accompanied films by Hammer (Cash on Demand, Fanatic, etc.), Amicus (The Deadly Bees) and AIP (the U.K. version of Cry of the Banshee) as well as stock libraries for TZ and other CBS television programs (plus THE PRISONER, too!). Thoughts on this? (home video offers the bonus of an isolated music track on this story)
Here is a cue-by-cue breakdown that hails from The Twilight Zone Cafe:
Musical cues for "The Little People"
(using starting time stamps from Image Entertainment pre-Definitive Edition, preceded in blue with time stamps calculated to begin at :00)
Score assembled from stock library
Episode starts at :00/:12
:33/:45 Fantasies (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Dissolve to closeup of spaceship as William Fletcher descends its ladder. He walks over to Peter Craig, who is lying on the rocks.
Craig: "Well, how'd you do?"
Fletcher: "It's repairable. I won't be able to touch any of those gimbal bearings until they cool off. It's like a furnace in there now."
Craig: "And that grand moment will come when?"
Fletcher: "Maybe tomorrow night. The following morning."
4:34/4:46 Fantasies (Part 2)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Fletcher: "Uh-huh. I'll bet you would." He opens his canteen.
4:43/4:55 Mausoleum (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Cut to closeup of Craig, who suddenly hears faint noises. He walks away with a puzzled expression.
Fletcher: "What's the matter? What's the matter with you?"
Craig: "Did you hear that?"
Fletcher: "Hear what?"
Craig: "That sound."
Fletcher: "What sound?"
Craig: "Fletch, I heard something. I ... I heard a sound. A sound like, like --"
Fletcher: "A sound like what?"
Craig: "Voices. People." Pan over to Rod.
Rod: "The time is the Space Age, the place is a barren landscape of a rock-walled canyon --"
6:02/6:14 Mistral #1
Marius Constant
Rod: "... in space and time that's known as the Twilight Zone." Lead into commercial.
6:08/6:20 Fantasies (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Coming out of commercial, the episode title, producer, writer, and director are superimposed on a shot of the mountainous landscape that dissolves to Fletcher handling some equipment. Craig arrives.
Fletcher: "Well, where's my wandering boy been most of the day? You take a lot of walks, buddy."
Craig: "Something better to do?"
Fletcher: "Yeah, there is. Like, uh, checking over a radio --"
9:12/9:24 Fantasies (Part 2)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Fletcher looks closely at what's in Craig's box and walks over to test it.
Craig: "It's just a variety of lichen." Fletcher grabs Craig's wrist.
Fletcher: "You don't mind if I look at it through the magnifier, do you? Or have you done that already?" He angrily lets go of Craig and looks at the supposed variety of lichen through a magnifier, seeing what appears to be a forest.
Fletcher: "Trees!"
9:54/10:06 Safecracker (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig: "Yes, that's what they are: trees. I might as well go the whole route now. They were alongside of a stream that runs about a hundred feet. It's about two and a half inches wide. If you think that's something, look at this. (opening handkerchief and placing microscopic object onto his palm) Look at it!" Through the magnifier, Fletcher sees a truck.
Fletcher: "And ... the voices?"
Craig: "You wanna see more, Fletch?"
Fletcher: "Yeah, yeah, I sure do."
Craig: "Come on!"
10:49/11:01 Ostinato (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig leaves, followed by Fletcher. They arrive at a small clearing, where Fletcher sees and points at a microscopic civilization.
Fletcher: "It's fantastic!"
Note: There is a slight overlap with "Safecracker."
13:44/13:56 Ostinato (Part 2)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig crushes houses with his foot.
Fletcher: "Stop it! (grabbing Craig and knocking him out with one punch) You're no god, Craig! That's not what you are at all. --"
13:55/14:07 Fantasies (Version A)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Fletcher: "... The only trouble is that by now you've probably gotten them to believe in the Devil. (addressing the microscopic beings) I'm sorry. --"
14:06/14:18 Dreams (Part 3)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Fletcher (kneeling): "... I'm truly sorry. Please forgive us. Forgive, please!"
14:15/14:27 Lone Vigil (Part 3)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Lead into commercial.
14:29/14:41 Fantasies (Part 3)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Fletcher descends the spaceship ladder.
Fletcher: "Craig! Craig! Craig!" Getting no response, he walks away.
15:03/15:15 Ostinato (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Dissolve to Fletcher as he arrives at the clearing and sees a statue of Craig. He looks it over until Craig interrupts him.
18:17/18:29 Safecracker (Part 2)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig fires his gun, missing Fletcher but blowing the head off of the statue.
Craig: "You're down to eight minutes, Commander. You're still here eight minutes from now, I'm gonna have to kill you. This is a monotheistic --"
18:32/18:44 Safecracker (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig: "... society here, just room for one god. Take off!"
Fletcher: "Craig, I feel sorry for you, buddy. I really do." He takes a glance at the statue's head and walks away.
18:57/19:09 Suspense (Neuro)
René Garriguenc
Cut to Craig grinning smugly as he lowers his gun. He places his helmet onto the decapitated statue. He picks up the statue's head and admires it. He walks over to the civilization.
19:46/19:58 Fantasies (Version A)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Cut to closeup of Craig's foot hovering over the civilization.
Craig: "All right, my little friends, comes now the new age. The age of ... the age of --"
19:49/20:01 Martenot Improvisation #3
CBS
Cut to Craig.
Craig: "... comes now the new age. The age of ... the age of Peter Craig." He begins to hear Fletcher take off.
Note: This cue mostly overlaps "Fantasies," beginning three seconds later and ending six seconds later.
20:45/20:57 Martenot Improvisation #3
CBS
20:45/20:57 Ostinato (Part 2)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig starts laughing and kneeling down.
Craig: "There'll be periodic moments where I must remind you that you must not anger me. That's important now. You must not anger me." He falls to the ground, convulsed with insane laughter.
Note: These two cues begin simultaneously, but "Martenot Improvisation #3" stops right after Craig stops talking, while "Ostinato" continues through the end.
21:29/21:41 Fantasies (Version A)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Craig: "Let us begin to build the statue again. Let us commence to begin." He is interrupted by the beginning of the sound of a spaceship.
21:33/21:45 Martenot Improvisation #3
CBS
Craig: "... statue again. Let us commence to begin." He is interrupted by the sound of a spaceship. He looks up at the mountains.
Note: This cue largely overlaps "Fantasies," but whereas "Fantasies" ends at the instant the spaceship is heard, "Martenot Improvisation #3" continues until the spaceship sound becomes a steady high pitch.
22:46/22:58 Ostinato (Part 1)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Cut to two giant spacemen towering over the mountains.
Craig: "Go away! You can't stay here! Go away! Don't you understand? I'm the god! I'm the god! Don't you understand?" One spaceman reaches down with his hand. Cut to Craig, who screams as a shadow covers his face. Cut back to spacemen, as the one who reached down opens his fist.
First Spaceman: "Whadda ya got?"
Second Spaceman: "A little man, a tiny little man."
First Spaceman: "Why, you crushed him --"
23:24/23:36 Fantasies (Version A)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
First Spaceman: "... to death."
Second Spaceman: "I didn't mean to. Say, do you suppose there are any more of them down there?"
First Spaceman: "I don't know. What's the difference? We're not here exploring. We're here making repairs. Come on. Come on, let's get outta here." The second spaceman tosses Craig's body onto the ground below. Rocks fall onto his body.
23:51/24:03 Fantasies (Part 3)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
The statue lands on Craig's body. Rod does his outro.
24:08/24:20 Lone Vigil (Part 3)
Wilfred Josephs, from "Six Undertones"
Closing music.
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There may be other composers who made similar wide ranging contributions, but probably none were also a dentist.
Yeah! I read that Roberto Nicolosi was also a dentist, but when his Italian film music came into the States it got kicked in the teeth by Les Baxter.
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I just rewatched this episode specifically to hear the Josephs music. First thing that struck me was that, even if we must suspend disbelief because we're in The Twilight Zone, this one is incredibly silly. But it has good reviews, so it must be me who's wrong. Again.
Sometimes the silliness of it distracted me from the music, but I got back on track most of the time. I think the only thing worth noting is that, in retrospect, it seems a little odd that none of this score was familiar to me at all, and "Six Undertones" had been tracked into numerous episodes. Perhaps in the others the cue excerpts were just a few seconds long? The only music that seemed to me to make any forceful comment was the "Martenot Improvisatin 3" heard two or three times towards the end, and credited simply to "CBS". I'm not criticising the Josephs pieces here - they were perfectly functional for the episode, but no more.
I still don't really get why the producers felt the need to use a complete set of library cues from the same composer. Had that been done for other TZ episodes?
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Whenever I think of Wilfred Josephs I think of the music used in his 26-part documentary series for "The Great War" (BBC-1964). He got a general music credit but it may have been built around library music contributions. 26 x 50+ minute episodes on the First World War. Can you imagine that ever happening today ?. They'd sum it up in 2 hours, and home for Xmas. My favourite piece was played in one of the early episodes and wasn't repeated til the end of the war coverage. If I were to title it I'd say "Celebration".
There was an LP of his work "TV and Film Themes" in 1974 which has not made it to CD that included 3 of his Great War themes. It was on the Polydor label, so I guess it is in the same bottomless pit that the acclaimed 3 x Stereo Rozsa LP volumes are in.
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I still don't really get why the producers felt the need to use a complete set of library cues from the same composer. Had that been done for other TZ episodes?
I don't think any other 'tracked' episode had music only from one composer. This is why I felt motivated to create this thread because this seems unique for a TZ episode.
Perhaps the 6 Undertones were a 'new' entry for the CBS library in 1961, and the music editors fell in love with them because they feel spacey and futuristic and ideal for TZ.
Who knows? Maybe Lud Gluskin wanted to use them for a whole story to help him decide whether or not he should commission Josephs to write for a specific episode?
If so, then things didn't work out that way for a British composer who likely was not a member of U.S. Musicians Unions.
Those pieces do sound rather like abstract chamber music and not (melo)dramatic enough for American television.
6 Undertones sound as though they could have been stock music for early William Hartnell DOCTOR WHO serials, though.
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Posted: |
Aug 3, 2020 - 10:50 AM
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By: |
Last Child
(Member)
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Despite Graham's poo-pooing review, I like this episode. The scifi trappings of a broken down space ship is pure pulp, and outer space offers an explanation (and thin disguise) for the Gulliver's Travels effect and allegory. The music really helps being both alien and disturbing, including a brief excerpt of a René Garriguenc cue that sounds like a crazy calliope (6:52 - 7:40). Lastly, one of Claude Akins few normal, nice guy guest appearances.
Which isn't to say it's a great episode. The visual effects are pretty poor. And Graham will be happy to know the "I'm the god!" line was mocked in MST3k.
I uploaded the music to youtube but terrible software censoring, or some freak (Graham?), claimed the music upload was "Spam, deceptive practices & scams" and got it removed. Possibly "Little People" somehow suggested child exploitation, so I removed the title and uploaded again, got a copyright infringement from CBS, although there are other TWZ music uploads. 
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I uploaded the music to youtube but terrible software censoring, or some freak (Graham?), claimed the music upload was "Spam, deceptive practices & scams" and got it removed.
Ha ha! Good one, but it wasn't me, honest your honor. But I am very trigger happy with spambots here, in fact that robot who (that) spammed all those FSM releases posts today has been sentenced to death by slow rusting
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