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Author Topic: Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?  (Read 4194 times)

TimK2003

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Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?
« on: June 19, 2005, 09:51:18 PM »
If you want Tommy Oliver to play at your next "Name That Tune" or "Face The Music" Party, check out this e-Bay find:

click here

I was surprised to see that Tommy was directing bands/orchestras looong before the 70's "Name That Tune" came around.

Matt Ottinger

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Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2005, 12:01:27 AM »
[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jun 19 2005, 09:51 PM\']I was surprised to see that Tommy was directing bands/orchestras looong before the 70's "Name That Tune" came around.[/quote]
The cool thing is that about half those tracks could EASILY have have been songs used on NTT or FtM at one time or another!
This has been another installment of Matt Ottinger's Masters of the Obvious.
Stay tuned for all the obsessive-compulsive fun of Words Have Meanings.

davemackey

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Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2005, 07:49:11 AM »
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jun 20 2005, 12:01 AM\'][quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jun 19 2005, 09:51 PM\']I was surprised to see that Tommy was directing bands/orchestras looong before the 70's "Name That Tune" came around.[/quote]
The cool thing is that about half those tracks could EASILY have have been songs used on NTT or FtM at one time or another!
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Tommy Oliver first came to prominence when he arranged and conducted the hit song "Johnny Get Angry" for the singer Joannie Sommers. There's an instrumental break with kazoos in the middle and you can just imagine some of the guys who played with TO in the 80's doing that kind of stuff on "Face The Music".

tvrandywest

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Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2005, 09:29:59 AM »
[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Jun 20 2005, 03:49 AM\']Tommy Oliver first came to prominence when he arranged and conducted the hit song "Johnny Get Angry" for the singer Joannie Sommers. There's an instrumental break with kazoos in the middle and you can just imagine some of the guys who played with TO in the 80's doing that kind of stuff on "Face The Music".
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Nicely researched! And while Joanie Sommers only had that one hit, her voice was one of the most heard up and down the radio dial in the 1960s. She was the voice for countless Pepsi-Cola singing commercials. "Now it's Pepsi. for those who think young".

A comment on Face the Music. Producer Ray Horl was driven to drink (it was walking distance) by the backstage insane antics of Executive Producer Sandy Frank. The best thing about my contestant appearance on that show was watching "the man" in his purple velvet suit rant and rave... in front of the contestants.

Sandy's ego and antics are legendary in the world of television syndication. So much so that NATPE released a video tape about the history of the business and it's most colorful characters that includes the well known legend about Sandy needing to keep an appointment with a TV programmer at a station in or near Ohio. The story goes that he got aboard the only flight scheduled to leave New York early enough to keep the appointment; it was a non-stop, coast to coast flight. Ray forced the plane down in the city of his appointment by feigning a heart attack 30,000 feet over the approximate location the TV station and telling the crew that his cardiologist was in that city.

He made the appointment. He denies the story to this day. At least two people I've met who worked for Sandy say they have zero doubt that it's true.

Television game shows: show business only one notch above the circus!


Randy
tvrandywest.com
« Last Edit: June 20, 2005, 09:31:29 AM by tvrandywest »
The story behind the voice you know and love... the voice of a generation of game shows: Johnny Olson!

Celebrate the centennial of the America's favorite announcer with "Johnny Olson: A Voice in Time."

Preview the book free: click "Johnny O Tribute" http://www.tvrandywest.com

uncamark

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Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2005, 05:41:18 PM »
[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jun 19 2005, 11:01 PM\'][quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jun 19 2005, 09:51 PM\']I was surprised to see that Tommy was directing bands/orchestras looong before the 70's "Name That Tune" came around.[/quote]
The cool thing is that about half those tracks could EASILY have have been songs used on NTT or FtM at one time or another!
[snapback]89477[/snapback]
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I had some doubts about the date, since I thought that Warner Bros. Records didn't start until 1960 or 1961.  Since Warner Music Group's web site says that the company was founded "close to fifty years ago by the great Jack Warner," perhaps the 1958 date is correct.  Perhaps if the guy selling the album had the back cover pictured, we'd know for sure.

The Ol' Guy

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Doing a NTT or FtM Home Version?
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2005, 06:04:59 PM »
Warner Brothers announced their new record division in March of '58, coasting the first couple of years using talent the company had under contract, like Connie Stevens, Edd Byrnes and the like. One of my personal favorites from that time was the 1958 release of the so-dreadful-it's-funny collection "You're My Girl - Romantic Reflections by Jack Webb", who reads the song lyrics behind a schmaltzy orchestra. Rhino re-released it (Now if MCA would only re-release the Telly Savalas albums, we could have a bad lyric narrative record contest). When WB picked up the Everly Brothers and Bob Newhart in '60, they started getting a little respect.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2005, 08:48:28 PM by The Ol' Guy »