TPIR Cliffhangers music:

[Brandon Brooks]

\"Well now, take down the fishin' pole
and meet me at the fishin' hole.
We may not get a bite all day,
but don't you rush away....\"

That has to be The Andy Griffith Show... it seems like it goes.

Brandon Brooks

[tvrandywest]

GS Warehouse, you are correct!!  (ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!) And we have an honorary mention to Brandon Brooks who apparently just wasn't fast enough with that buzzer. But nobody leaves empty-handed. We have Birdola Bird Feed for you. Remember, if birds bought the feed, they'd only buy Birdola. Use as directed!   ;-)


The theme to American Bandstand was originally composed by Les Algart and Charlie Albertine, and was and instrumental.  It was used on the show from the fifties to 1969, then again in the 70s.

The original by Les Elgart (correct spelling, iirc) and his band was indeed written as an instrumental. It's title is \"Bandstand Boogie\", and it was composed long before Dick Clark chose it. It had been used previously by disc jockeys as a radio theme.

And like Q's \"Chump Change\" / NYSI, Bert Kaempfert's (correct spelling) \"A Swingin' Safari\" predated MG and was a great choice of an earlier recording.

Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Jun 26 2003, 10:43 PM\']But nobody leaves empty-handed. We have Birdola Bird Feed for you. Remember, if birds bought the feed, they'd only buy Birdola. Use as directed!   ;-)[/quote]
Oh, I'm dyin'!!

Star Trek's theme's lyrics are interesting in that they were written after the fact, by Gene Roddenberry, solely to get half the royalties whenever the composition was performed, with or without lyrics.

(Use as directed.)

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Jun 26 2003, 10:43 PM\'] The original by Les Elgart (correct spelling, iirc) and his band was indeed written as an instrumental. It's title is "Bandstand Boogie", and it was composed long before Dick Clark chose it. It had been used previously by disc jockeys as a radio theme. [/quote]
 OK, someone's gotta know this.  In between the swing version of Elgart's original and Barry Manilow's rewrite with lyrics, AMERICAN BANDSTAND used an updated instrumental version of the theme (at the beginning, synthesized keyboards played very quickly as director Barry Glazer opened with a real tight shot of the lights on the AB logo).  Who did that piece of music (it also played through the closing credits until Clark used Manilow's rewrite at the end in late 1975/early 1976--Clark didn't use Manilow's version for the opening until 1977)?

Doug

[uncamark]

OK, someone's gotta know this.  In between the swing version of Elgart's original and Barry Manilow's rewrite with lyrics, AMERICAN BANDSTAND used an updated instrumental version of the theme (at the beginning, synthesized keyboards played very quickly as director Barry Glazer opened with a real tight shot of the lights on the AB logo).  Who did that piece of music (it also played through the closing credits until Clark used Manilow's rewrite at the end in late 1975/early 1976--Clark didn't use Manilow's version for the opening until 1977)?

Somehow, I remember the credit:  \"Bandstand Theme by Joe Porter.\"  Don't know if he did anything else.

And to wrap this all up, the theme that didn't sound like \"Bandstand Boogie\" from 1969 to 1974 was written by future California Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Jun 26 2003, 04:42 PM\']

Now, this begs a question.  I Dream of Jeannie has two themes -- one for the first season, and one for seasons 2-5.  Which one has lyrics?
---
I believe they both do.  Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote the first one, which seems to imply that there were lyrics, though I haven't been able to find them anywhere.

Dave Mackey, who I tend to trust more on these sort of things, says that a gentleman named Richard Wess wrote the first season theme, not Goffin and King.  As far as we know, no lyrics (although the first part of the theme seems like it was written for someone to sing \"Jeannie, Jeannie...\").[/quote]
Well, it turns out you're partly right and I'm partly right.

According to the book Dreaming of Jeannie by Steve Cox, the first season's theme was indeed the Richard Wess waltz.  (Wess, by the way, is probably best known as Bobby Darin's arranger and conductor during his Atco days, most notably on \"Mack the Knife.\")

However, Cox writes that a Goffin/King theme song was found tucked away in Sidney Sheldon's files many years later.  Apparently they submitted a theme song for the first season, but Sheldon rejected it in favor of the Wess composition.

[SamJ93]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 26 2003, 06:53 PM\']The Millionaire fanfare HAS to have been written with The Phrase in mind. Just HAS to be.

[/quote]
I remember reading somewhere (perhaps Michael Davies' \"Millionaire\" book?) that the theme was adapted from an obscure tune by Cole Porter (with lyrics, natch) of the same name...which would explain the title fitting in.

On an entirely unrelated note, this is my first post! Yay!  Well, I'm not really new, I posted to ATGS for a while, but...my first post on this new board.  Yeah. ;-)

[clemon79]

You know something that occurred to me last night, as I was watching some DVD's...

All of this talk of theme songs that have lyrics that most people don't know about, and we have yet to see someone mention \"M*A*S*H\".

Or have enough people seen the original movie to remember the \"Suicide Is Painless\" sequence? A lot of y'all weren't even BORN yet (Hell, was I? The original movie was '72, right? IMDB seems to think so.), so that would surprise me...

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 27 2003, 04:28 PM\']You know something that occurred to me last night, as I was watching some DVD's...

All of this talk of theme songs that have lyrics that most people don't know about, and we have yet to see someone mention \"M*A*S*H\".

Or have enough people seen the original movie to remember the \"Suicide Is Painless\" sequence? A lot of y'all weren't even BORN yet (Hell, was I? The original movie was '72, right? IMDB seems to think so.), so that would surprise me...[/quote]
Actually, Chris, that's a good call.  M*A*S*H for whatever reason didn't occur to me and probably should have.  But for what it's worth, the TV series started in 1972--the movie came out in 1970.

ObGameShows:  Many of the cast members of M*A*S*H put in at least one game show appearance over their storied careers.  Alda did WML and IGAS72, Swit did MG (and I'm pretty sure she did PYRAMID), Farr did GONG, SP, PYRAMID, SCRABBLE and WORDPLAY (among others), Burghoff did MG, Stevenson did a littany (sp?) of shows.  Can't recall a game show appearance for Mssrs. Farrell, Stiers, Linville, Rogers, Morgan (Harry, not Henry) or Christopher offhand.

Doug

[bossjock967]

I had totally forgotten about M*A*S*H... I just watched the movie a few weeks ago.  And... yes... I remember the movie... even though I wasn't born until 1977.  :-)

[Matt Ottinger]

I remember reading somewhere (perhaps Michael Davies' \"Millionaire\" book?) that the theme was adapted from an obscure tune by Cole Porter (with lyrics, natch) of the same name...which would explain the title fitting in.

I guess this is one of those \"It's only obscure if you don't know it\" moments.  

The Cole Porter song \"Who Wants to be a Millionaire\" was featured in the movie \"High Society\" and was performed by Celeste Holm and the ever-obscure Frank Sinatra.  The movie also starred Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, two more obscure performers.

I'm old enough to have made that connection from the time I heard the title of the game show.  And from the first time I heard the game show's eight-note fanfare, I've wondered if the composer -- consciously or not -- was ripping off (excuse me, \"adapting\") the Porter song's first line.  I would sure like to get the impressions of our show-music-savvy members.  Clay Zambo for sure, maybe Randy West has a thought as well.

Meanwhile, everybody sing along!  (In the film, the two working class reporters covering a high society wedding are making fun of their opulent surroundings.)

Who wants to be a millionaire?
I don't.  
Have flashy flunkeys everywhere?  
I don't.
Who wants the bother of a country estate?  
A country estate is something I'd hate!

Who wants to wallow in champagne?  
I don't.  
Who wants a supersonic plane?  
I don't.
Who wants a marble swimming pool too?  
I don't.  
And I don't `cause all I want is you.

[zachhoran]

as far as MASHers on game shows, Farrell and Linville did  Pyramid(Linville is in one of the Cullen shows on the trading circuit), Christopher did Celeb Bullseye, and Rogers did at least one of the GSN-aired nighttime Marshall HS shows.

From the MASH movie, John Schuck has done Pyramid, Cross-Wits, Marshall and Davidson HS, and P+.

[ChuckNet]

Can't recall a game show appearance for Mssrs. Farrell, Stiers, Linville, Rogers, Morgan (Harry, not Henry) or Christopher offhand.

Farrell at least did $20K/$25K Pyramid and Showoffs.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")

[Matt Ottinger]

Some more M*A*S*H game show credits (since I had some time on my hands tonight):

Alda, Rogers, Stevenson and Swit were all Mystery Guests at one time or another on the syndicated \"What's My Line?\" (Alda, of course, was a frequent panelist before M*A*S*H came along.)

Hollywood Squares:  Rogers, Stevenson, Swit, Farr, Farrell, Christopher, Burghoff, Linville.  
(Oddly, according to the Marshall book, Alan Alda never did Hollywood Squares.)

In addition, Larry Linville was on \"The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour\"

To the best of my knowledge and research, David Ogden Stiers and Harry Morgan are the only two with absolutely no game show credits.

Finally, extensive research has conclusively proven that there was no celebrity game show on which Jamie Farr did NOT appear.   [Please adjust your sarcasm detector to the previous sentence.]

[Dan Sadro]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jun 28 2003, 10:05 PM\'] To the best of my knowledge and research, David Ogden Stiers and Harry Morgan are the only two with absolutely no game show credits. [/quote]
 That seems very likely to me.

I'm very curious, as a M*A*S*H fan, about what all series William Christopher did.  Until this discussion, I wasn't aware that William Christopher did any series besides Shoot for the Stars, and that suprised me as he wasn't documented as appearing on 70s Pyramid.