Authorship of the TPIR theme - Kalehoff's story

[TServo2049]

Hello,

Back in 2006, I had the honor of talking to Edd Kalehoff over the phone about some of the stuff he did. (It was just a casual call, not a serious interview.) While we were talking, we ended up discussing his work on TPIR.

I have brought this topic up before (not on this forum), and even tried to add the info to Wikipedia, but someone (who I shall not name) deleted it and pointed me out as having "fabricated" information in the past. (I admit, I used to make unfounded claims on ATGS, but I was 12 years old and my maturity and reasoning skills had not fully developed yet. I apologize for all of that.) Well, I will tell you right now, I am not making this up. I actually talked w/ Edd over the phone back in '06.

Anyway, the gist of it is that Edd claims that he was the sole author of the TPIR theme (while under contract to Score Productions), and that Robert Israel basically denied him credit, attaching his and/or Sheila Cole's name to the work. He said various negative things about his opinion on Israel, his treatment of Score's composers, and his music writing capacity, which I won't repeat here.

Edd also claimed that it was Goodson's idea to put "Edd Kalehoff for Score Productions" in the credits, because of the fact that Edd had written all of the music for the show, but was not given credit by Israel.

Edd even recounted going to the UK to record the music tracks. (I think he said they were done at Pye, but that is something I forgot.)

Edd also claimed to have left Score in 1972 after this whole TPIR brouhaha. (This may be an inaccurate memory - BMI does co-credit Israel for the Concentration '73 music. Except that I thought it was established that Score had nothing to do w/ that one)

I don't want to be dismissed as a liar this time, because I'm not. All of what I have just said, Edd really told me. I left out Edd's various comments toward Robert Israel, since I have no opinion either way of Mr. Israel or his composing capabilities. I have no negative opinion toward Mr. Israel, and out of respect to Mr. Kalehoff, I will keep private those things which he told me in private.

I will say that, considering that Charles Fox is also not officially credited for the TTTT '69 theme, the info Edd gave me about having not been given credit by Score would seem to be plausible.

I want to start an enlightened discussion about Edd Kalehoff, Score, the authorship of the TPIR theme, and the extent of Edd's involvement at Score. (For example, if he did leave Score that early, I don't think he wrote Double Dare '76/Card Sharks '78, Varese liner notes info notwithstanding. CS '86 sounds much more "Kalehoff" to me, could that be the CS theme he wrote?)

To close, all the info I have given was indeed related to me by Mr. Kalehoff, with whom I really had a conversation in 2006. Please don't dismiss me this time, because I promise you that am not making anything up.

-J.

[snowpeck]

It doesn't strike me at all strange that Israel wasn't letting his composers take credit for their work.  That was a common practice of production music houses at the time.  Most of the production music put out by Capitol, for instance, at the time (most of it has since been attributed to the proper composers) was credited to either William Loose or John Seely.  Reportedly, while Loose did indeed compose some pieces in the library, Seely never wrote any music at all.

That said, I don't blame Kalehoff for ending his association with Israel.  Those practices were becoming more and more unfair to the various composers, and the fact that Goodson insisted on crediting Kalehoff just adds another item to the list of reasons to hold him in high regard.

Greg

[Chief-O]

[quote name=\'TServo2049\' post=\'202625\' date=\'Dec 1 2008, 10:58 AM\']
(For example, if he did leave Score that early, I don't think he wrote Double Dare '76/Card Sharks '78, Varese liner notes info notwithstanding. CS '86 sounds much more "Kalehoff" to me, could that be the CS theme he wrote?)
[/quote]

Edd's sonic signature is all over the CS '86 theme. I doubt he ever had to do with CS '78/DD '76. If anything, he may have played the Moog during the session, but I'd think they used a different player.

[TServo2049]

To clemon79 and Modor,

I admit that I did attempt to assert my veracity one too many times. But then, I'm apparently marked as a dubious information source by a segment of the game show community for some really stupid statements I made years ago, back in the alt.tv.game-shows days.

Over the years, I have learned to deal with symptoms of ADHD and possibly Asperger's, which impaired my ability to communicate maturely and rationally, and which contributed to my tendency to make rash, impulsive statements, often confusions of speculation with fact. Looking back on my past actions within the game show community, I acknowledge my mistakes and fully repudiate all false statements I made on ATGS.

To Robert Hutchinson,

Looking back on my attempt to add that info to Wikipedia two years ago, I admit that it was a mistake, and that I didn't think it through. Having had much more experience with Wikipedia since then, I actually agree with you.

And to clemon79, when I said I would not repeat the statements Mr. Kalehoff made about Mr. Israel, I meant that I would not repeat the specific statements. I felt that simply saying that he has a negative opinion of Mr. Israel was the best way to get the information across without having to repeat statements which are solely Mr. Kalehoff's opinion, and which may be construed as personal attacks.

Now then, can we please stop this discussion about me, and move on to the actual matter at hand?

Though I do not know enough to make a true judgment of Robert Israel, I will say that I don't doubt that he may have been guilty of actions lacking in integrity in the past, and that I don't find it implausible that he did deny Kalehoff official credit for the TPIR theme music.

To provide another example besides the aforementioned TTTT '69 theme, the Press Your Luck theme has been widely accepted among the game show community as having been composed by Lee Ringuette. However, the official BMI registration only lists Israel as composer; could it not be implausible that Israel took sole credit for Ringuette's composition?

And Robert Israel has even been sued for plagiarism over Score's theme to Monday Night Football from the 80s. Listen to the Cortner/Silberman/Sicurella theme, then listen to Israel's theme (at 0:20), and make of it what you will.

And all that aside, I would be willing to believe that Kalehoff composed the TPIR theme, if only because the TPIR theme sounds so much like all the other cues from the original 1972 TPIR cue library, all of which we know Kalehoff composed.

Also, did Kalehoff write the car cue from which the Family Feud backing melody is derived? Though that doesn't count as legal plagiarism (since Score owns the music), it certainly counts as artistic plagiarism...

[Chief-O]

[quote name=\'TServo2049\' post=\'202650\' date=\'Dec 1 2008, 07:05 PM\']
To provide another example besides the aforementioned TTTT '69 theme, the Press Your Luck theme has been widely accepted among the game show community as having been composed by Lee Ringuette. However, the official BMI registration only lists Israel as composer; could it not be implausible that Israel took sole credit for Ringuette's composition?
[/quote]

I couldn't tell you.

However, to slightly change subject, I can say that the PYL theme was itself derived from a piece of library music, composed by Keith Mansfield [as per TQ's site]. The library piece was used on the pilot, and sounds eerily similar to the series theme.

Hmm..........

[TServo2049]

Oh yes, I forgot about that library cue that was the PYL library theme. Kind of like how Bob Cobert derived his Pyramid theme from "Tuning Up."

Also, has it ever been discussed here whether Edd Kalehoff composed the 1971 Password theme? It seems very like his Moog stuff as heard on TPIR, Concentration, Tattletales, etc...

[robsearson]

As we know, Mr. Kalehoff is still around and is still active in the biz (http://www.kalehoff.com/) -- has anybody thought about inviting him to participate directly in a discussion here on GSF, like Dick DeBartolo did some months ago?  That could turn into one hell of an interesting thread.

[Chief-O]

[quote name=\'robsearson\' post=\'202662\' date=\'Dec 1 2008, 09:35 PM\']
As we know, Mr. Kalehoff is still around and is still active in the biz (http://www.kalehoff.com/) -- has anybody thought about inviting him to participate directly in a discussion here on GSF, like Dick DeBartolo did some months ago?  That could turn into one hell of an interesting thread.
[/quote]

I did remember that his son Max had become a member here a while ago....it wouldn't surprise me if, thanks to him, Edd does know about our little community....

[davemackey]

[quote name=\'TServo2049\' post=\'202655\' date=\'Dec 1 2008, 09:04 PM\']
Oh yes, I forgot about that library cue that was the PYL library theme. Kind of like how Bob Cobert derived his Pyramid theme from "Tuning Up."

Also, has it ever been discussed here whether Edd Kalehoff composed the 1971 Password theme? It seems very like his Moog stuff as heard on TPIR, Concentration, Tattletales, etc...
[/quote]
It's on his demo reel, so he must have done it. When TVPMM had its directory in a more exposed state, I downloaded lots of the Kalehoff demo cuts and the air version of the "Password" theme is one of them, as confirmed by the GSN airing of one of the few extant episodes.

[chris319]

[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'202668\' date=\'Dec 1 2008, 08:17 PM\']
I did remember that his son Max had become a member here a while ago....it wouldn't surprise me if, thanks to him, Edd does know about our little community....[/quote]
Edd knows about our little coffee klatsch all right. You have our old buddy MasterKey to thank for that.

[quote name=\'robsearson\' post=\'202662\' date=\'Dec 1 2008, 09:35 PM\']
As we know, Mr. Kalehoff is still around and is still active in the biz (http://www.kalehoff.com/) -- has anybody thought about inviting him to participate directly in a discussion here on GSF, like Dick DeBartolo did some months ago?  That could turn into one hell of an interesting thread.[/quote]
It's been tried and it's not going to happen. Believe me, it's been tried.

This thread has been continued in another section of the board.