I grew up with (repeats of) Lost in Space and 1960’s Spiderman (among other stuff) on Australian television.
But what drew me in was music.
This was the opening title of an Australian Police TV series that I heard when mum and dad watched it...
I remember so clearly when I heard this music in 1960’s Spiderman as a kid and was so excited. I loved this music. My tiny kid brain did not understand the concept of "library music" at that age but I remember being blown away by hearing the same piece of music in two separate shows.
OK...where is this going? I guess I have no real point to it. Maybe just to share an old memory.
We were listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" this weekend when at one point my wife suddenly blurted out, "This is the music when Gargamel is chasing the Smurfs!" She remembered that from her childhood and instantly made the connection, which blew me away. She's kind of a savant when it comes to musical memory.
Turns out they used a lot of different classical pieces in that series: https://smurfs.fandom.com/wiki/Smurfs_(1981_TV_series)/Classical_music_compositions
(You have to copy/paste the entire url into the address bar because of the underscores...no pun intended.)
It was Saturday night and we waited all week for "Chiller Thriller". It was preceded by "Perry Mason", which couldn't be over fast enough.
But to this day when I hear the closing theme of "Perry Mason" it's a little scary because of what used to come right after it. (Back in the days when scary was fun to a kid.)
I'm not drunk but can this still count as a musing?
We were listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" this weekend when at one point my wife suddenly blurted out, "This is the music when Gargamel is chasing the Smurfs!"
I've thought of "Scheherazade" as film music ever since I saw the silent "Thief of Bagdad" (in London decades ago) with live orchestra accompaniment by Carl Davis, who adapted the Rimsky-Korsakov work beautifully.
My early film - well television - music inductio must have used a lot of library music. Seasons 2 & 3 of Spiderman certainly did. I remember a Saturday morning cartoon I used to watch called The Devlins (I still remember the opening theme some 45 years later withough ever hearing it again outside the cartoon) but music within the episodes I am sure was reused across other cartoons from the same production company.
The names of other cartoon series from that company elude me....but an animated Lassie (?) series rings a bell.
We were listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" this weekend when at one point my wife suddenly blurted out, "This is the music when Gargamel is chasing the Smurfs!" She remembered that from her childhood and instantly made the connection, which blew me away. She's kind of a savant when it comes to musical memory.
Turns out they used a lot of different classical pieces in that series: https://smurfs.fandom.com/wiki/Smurfs_(1981_TV_series)/Classical_music_compositions
(You have to copy/paste the entire url into the address bar because of the underscores...no pun intended.)
I like that story Josh. It’s amazing how some things really stick with us over time.
I was born in 1965 and before John Williams got me in a headlock with JAWS and then punched me in the face with STAR WARS, the early music my kid brain locked onto was the Gerry Anderson puppet shows (THUNDERBIRDS, CAPT SCARLETT etc), THE PERSUADERS, SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN/BIONIC WOMAN and then...the PLANET OF THE APES TV series. That opening title with the Lalo Schifrin theme gave me chills of excitement.
I've seen your clip many times, Ray and it's excellent.
But "Chiller Thriller" was a very grassroots imitation that I believe originated in North Dakota and was carried up to Canada via the old KCND. It might have been a joint ND/Canada effort--I'm not certain. Anyway, the scary movie of the week was preceded by a very low-budget animated intro, but it was amazingly effective to this particular kid. As best as I can remember, it started with some invisible entity leaving black footprints on the ground, which lead up to a spooky old house. The doors blew open and a horde of bats flew into our faces--all synced up with the scary music. It goes on for a few more moments, but I can't remember what they were. I occasionally surfed around YouTube over the years, hoping someone would have taped it and saved it--but no luck to far. What I wouldn't give to see it again!