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Posted: |
May 10, 2023 - 1:22 AM
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By: |
leslie
(Member)
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Many decades ago now, I paid a visit to New York's Museum of Television and Radio and viewed the two Bernstein-scored General Electric Theatre segments they had in their collection - " The World's Greatest Quarterback", whose music is featured on the wonderful "Themes from the General Electric Theatre" album, and " Auf Wedersehen" whose music is not on the album.
For some time now, I have hoped the latter episode, a World War Two drama with Sammy Davis Jr., would pop up on YouTube and now it has finally made an appearance.
Anything by Bernstein is always worth hearing and this score is no exception, with two features of particular interest.
Firstly, the opening martial theme has hints of the grand march from "Kings Go Forth".
Secondly, while I had always assumed the Progress theme which closes each episode and also the album was simply a closing theme for the entire series, the lovely theme actually features in the underscore of this episode, scored for strings and woodwinds in Bernstein's most warmly lyrical style.
Fingers crossed for "Train to Tecumseh" to make an appearance.
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And I too agree completely. Somewhere in my reel-to-reel collection is a tape I made of Lou Costello in "Blaze of Glory," and Elmer's contribution is pure delight. I'll bet that virtually every one of Elmer's miniature GE scores is a gem, and I'd love to hear more of them.
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Ditto here! Ideally the original GE Theater tapes survive and we could get a release of the original recordings some day. Certainly a lot of great film composers worked on that series (including Jerry and John), with Elmer doing the most original scores of any of them I suspect.
Yavar
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A nice find, Leslie, and thanks for the info. Enjoyed the watch, and it was well-presented compared to other G E Theater offerings that have preceded it on Youtube or on privately-produced DVDs.
The remarks made by Ronald Reagan about Sammy Davis Jr would suggest that this episode pre-dated Anna Lucasta.
I would like to see "The World's Greatest Quarterback" episode, if only for Ernie Kovacs. Maybe one day...
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James
All you need to do is hop on a plane to NYC and visit what is now the Paley Center for Media. "The World's Greatest Quarterback" is still in the collection!
Although I saw it a very long time ago, I still remember that the album track is a straightforward collage of the cues and so what you hear on the album is essentially what you get from the television score.
Blaze of Glory", mentioned by Preston remains on YouTube as does my own favorite "Nobody's Child" with its quintessentially touching Bernstein score. Surprisingly, the Vera Miles episode "Nora" now appears to have vanished from YouTube, something which underlines the importance of downloading as soon as something rare and valued makesits appearnce.
Chance would be a fine thing, Leslie! Almost twenty years have passed since I visited NYC. Loved it...
Anyway, The General Electric Theater - I watched "Blaze of Glory" on PNJ's recommendation. Nice, but the canned laughter was irritating. Reminded me of a previous episode, "The Great Jewel Robbery" which starred The Marx Brothers and was similarly afflicted with the canned laughter. Not many people know that Elmer Bernstein scored the last appearance of the three Marx Brothers together.
Wasn't "The Stone" also on Youtube in previous times? I had it on a DVDR, along with the ghost story "At Miss Minner's".
Also, notice that at the end of "Auf Weidersehen", Ronald Reagan tells of "next week's presentation", in which he himself appears as the boss of a wagon train - the episode titled "The Castaway". I did find this on Youtube -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1_Xw9bQC-k
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Posted: |
May 16, 2023 - 10:57 AM
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By: |
leslie
(Member)
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James
Thank you for your much-appreciated response.
I did a YouTube search after seeing "Auf Wedersehen" and, as you did, tracked down The Castaway." Discovering a relatively obscure Bernstein score is always a bonus and even more so when it's a 'lost' western, particularly one involving the work of the noted novelist of the West, Ernest Haycox.
In view of the episode's comparatively sombre content and tone, the composer was clearly constrained from displaying the unbridled exuberance so evident in classic film scores, as was the case with his single score for "Gunsmoke." This was also a feature of the 6/7 scores for "Wagon Train" composed by Jerome Moross, apart from " The Stagecoach Story."
The episode's burst of characteristic Bernstein action music is welcome as his readiness to utilise the 'onwards to Oeregon' principal theme as source or semi-source music in appropriate scenes such as the campfire sequence.
"The Stone" with its germ of the "Cast A Giant Shadow" theme has indeed disappeared from YouTube along with "Nora", although it is still available on one of the unofficial DVD compilations Of GET episodes.
By my reckoning, we still have around 18 episodes of Season 7 ( 1957/58) still to emerge so we can only hope.
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"Anyway, The General Electric Theater - I watched "Blaze of Glory" on PNJ's recommendation. Nice, but the canned laughter was irritating."
***
I hope you liked the music.
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"Anyway, The General Electric Theater - I watched "Blaze of Glory" on PNJ's recommendation. Nice, but the canned laughter was irritating."
***
I hope you liked the music.
Yes! Preston. Of course...
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"Anyway, The General Electric Theater - I watched "Blaze of Glory" on PNJ's recommendation. Nice, but the canned laughter was irritating."
***
I hope you liked the music.
Yes! Preston. Of course...
***
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