A Noted Film Composer

 

Though Jerome Moross (1913-1983) is best known for his film and television music, the American composer also composed works for symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists, and musical theater, as well as orchestrating scores, usually uncredited, for other composers. 

Moross created distinctive themes featuring syncopation and percussion instruments that stress the ostinato rhythm. This soon became the signature element of his scores for many westerns. His best-known film score is that for the 1958 movie The Big Country, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. He expertly captured the wide-open spaces of the unchartered old west. His theme for television's short-lived 1966 series, Lancer, is reminiscent of that score. His other works include the music for the films The Mountain Road (1951), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960), The Cardinal (1963), The War Lord (1965), Rachel, Rachel (1968), The Valley of Gwangi (1969).

Transition to Television

There were solid performances by numerous B-movie actors but they never became major film stars. The new medium of television offered a career shift and kept them busy. Some became a household face if not a name. 

PAUL RICHARDS (1924-1974) 

Richards may be best known to television viewers for his roles as a criminal or using his distinctive voice and monotone delivery as a psychologically disturbed individual. The versatile actor may be most familiar in the saddle, however. Throughout the Fifties and Sixties, he appeared on nearly every Western series in the likes of The Rifleman, Have Gun–Will Travel, Bonanza, and The Virginian. Richards performed four times on Gunsmoke. In the very first episode, he is cast as a near-sighted, unemotional gunfighter who outdraws Matt Dillon, nearly ending the series.

His transition to television seemed to be an easy one give his dynamic and realistic performances on the small screen. Between three or four stealthy film roles, he had a minor role as a prisoner in the high-profile film, Demetrius and the Gladiators. He played an unsuccessful mugger to Ralph Meeker's character in Kiss Me Deadly, then a competing oil industry driller framed by Gene Barry in, The Houston Story. Beneath the Planet of The Apes (1970) is probably the worst of the original franchise but Richards, as the skinless mutant leader, makes a creepy impression. Only his voice can be identified.

It was not all Westerns, of course. He starred as Dr. McKinley Thompson in the medical drama Breaking Point (1963) then an appearance on The Fugitive. He later appeared as a villainous lawyer in a 1968 episode of Hawaii Five-O. The early Seventies provided gigs on Burke's Law, I Spy, Mannix, Banacek, McMillan, and Wife, with three appearances on The Mod Squad.

Notes: A native of Hollywood, Richards earned a psychology degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master's degree in drama, also from UCLA. He gained additional acting experience at the Theatre Wing in New York. For several years, Richards served as the commercial pitchman for General Motors' Pontiac Division. He was also the spokesman for Braniff Airways. In 1967 he was the narrator for a documentary on the building of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis called, Monument to the Dream. American Express hired him in the early 1970s as their commercial spokesman. Richard's single twenty-one-year marriage ended with his death in 1974.

My TV TRANSITION series has moved to Thursdays. Check out these earlier Monday posts from the previous site:

Merry Anders          Steve Brodie        Beverly Garland       
Jack Hogan         Peggie Castle       John Bromfield      
Dane Clark

This is Jim Rockford

 

It's Jack. The check is in the mail. Sorry it's two years late. Sorry I , miss-figured my checking account and I'm overdrawn. Sorry I stopped payment on it. So when it comes, tear it up. Sorry!

Jim's answering machine: The Hammer of C Block, 1976
Isaac Hayes guest star

The Abstract Dutch Master

 

On this date in 1940, Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), moved permanently to New York City. The Dutch painter and art theoretician is regarded as a pioneering artist of abstract art in the 20th century, influencing many others to follow. Though his early paintings reflected an impressionistic style, he changed direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, ultimately reaching a point where his artistic signature was reduced to the simplest geometric elements during the 1920s as shown above. Outside the artist community, his work was not entirely comprehended though his trademark of colorful, geometric paintings did become popular fashion design elements or for consumer products twenty years after his death. Works from his later period are visually complicated with more lines placed in an overlapping arrangement that is nearly cartographical in appearance. He obsessed over these paintings to the point where his own hands blistered or he made himself sick. Perhaps the mark of another misunderstood artistic genius.

Organist Transplant

 

London-born musician/composer Rex Koury (1911-2006) and family came to the United States in 1913, settling n New Jersey. He was an organist during the silent film era from 1927-1929 and featured organ soloist throughout New York state from 1929-1934. He held cinema organ positions at several theaters, including a contract with RKO Proctor's Fourth Street Theatre in Troy, Ohio where he was billed by the theatre as "The Youngest Professional Organist in America." As the cinema organ industry was starting to wind down, he moved to Hollywood and worked as a conductor, pianist, and composer for movie studios. He found steady work composing music for numerous popular radio programs. By the early Fifties, he composed his most famous theme, the slow western melody "The Long Trail," for the CBS radio show "Gunsmoke" (above with William Conrad)  A theme that continued for the half-hour television CBS show in 1955. Eventually, a faster-paced version was created then a more contemporary arrangement for the remainder of the show's run. Koury had a long association with church music as an organist. He retired to Casper, Wyoming in the Seventies where he commanded one of the largest pipe organs at the First Presbyterian Church.

Transition to Television

There were solid performances by numerous B-movie actors but they never became major film stars. The new medium of television offered a career shift and kept them busy. Some became a household face if not a name.

Stacy (Stanley) Harris (1918-1973) 

Harris was a Canadian-born actor with hundreds of television appearances. Prior to his acting career, he was a newspaper reporter, boxer, sailor, and a staff cartoonist for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Before television, Harris was best known for his role as an FBI agent on ABC Radio's This is Your FBI. His reserved vocal interpretation gave the special agent a calm authority. The radio series Dragnet also benefited from his vocal work. It is speculated that he met Jack Webb during those radio days. The two would become close personal friends.

He hit the ground running in his first film, Appointment with Danger (1950) with fellow co-stars, Harry Morgan, Paul Stewart, and Jack Webb. Alan Ladd headlined the film. In between numerous television appearances, he starred in The Mountain (1956) with Spencer Tracy. However hard he tried, his acting ability could not save the sleazy, low-budget New Orleans After Dark (1958). 

Television kept him busy with roles from westerns to crime dramas with appearances on Have Gun - Will Travel, Zane Grey Theatre, and a mayor on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp for twenty-three episodes. Away from the Old West were The Untouchables, 77 Sunset Strip with multiple roles on Dragnet 1967 to name a few. His life was cut short by an apparent heart attack at age 54.

Note: My TV TRANSITION series moved to this blog, now on Thursdays. Check out this first set of Monday posts below from my other site:

Harry Townes    Rudolpho Acosta    Harry Lauter     

Patricia Blair   Myron Healey    Richard Denning   

Tall In The Saddle

Standing 6' 7", Don Megowan (1922-1981) was one of the few actors who saw eye to eye with Clink Walker on his series, Cheyenne, as a six-time guest star splitting his time portraying good and bad men. The supporting actor benefitted from a great voice, a comic book hero face, and a quiet demeanor. A perfect fit for television's western "hay" days. His saddle never cooled much with roles on Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Tall Man, Maverick, Cimarron City, frequenting Have Gun–Will Travel, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Rifleman, Lawman, Colt .45, Bonanza, and Rawhide. Megowan guest-starred on several modern-day dramas and even a sitcom or two. His film career was very sparse, notable only for his appearance in Blazing Saddles and least recognizable as the Gill-man on land in The Creature Walks Among Us, the third and final installment of the black lagoon creature trilogy. 

The Backus Fortran

This date in 1954 marked the first run of a FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) program. Originally developed by John W. Backus and an IBM team, it quickly became the dominant language for programming used for scientific calculations during the "punch card" era. Backus was working on the IBM 701 for computing missile trajectories when he started work on a system to make it easier to write programs. He wanted a programming language that was closer in appearance to human language, resembling a combination of English shorthand and algebra. FORTRAN (today as Fortran) remains the top language in scientific and industrial programming. The latest version being Fortran 2018.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Stone is an American police drama that aired on ABC Monday nights for nine episodes in 1980, not including a television pilot movie. The series focused on Det. Sgt. Daniel Stone, a police officer who wrote best-selling novels on police work based on his own experiences. The forgotten series was a Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Gerry Productions, Inc. for Universal Television and was created by Cannell, Richard Levinson and William Link. Mike Post and Pete Carpenter were tabbed for the cool guitar-heavy theme that remains more interesting than the series itself. A hard-hitting theme seemingly over-the-top for Weaver's acting style.

Feel The Burn

 

Inspired by Louis Pasteur's ideas on microbial infection, the English doctor Sir Joseph Lister demonstrated in 1865 that the use of carbolic acid on surgical dressings would significantly reduce rates of post-surgical infection. Lister's work inspired St. Louis-based doctor Joseph Lawrence to develop an alcohol-based formula for a surgical antiseptic. in honor of Lister, Lawrence named his antiseptic "Listerine" in 1879.

Lawrence licensed his brown formula to a local pharmacist named Jordan Lambert in 1881. Lambert subsequently started the Lambert Pharmacal Company, marketing Listerine. Listerine was promoted to dentists for oral care in 1895. By 1914, it was the first over-the-counter mouthwash sold in the United States.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Kimball is employed as a "cut man" for a boxer, James Edwards, who suffers from memory loss. Suspecting brain damage, he advises Edwards not to box again. Also going for a knock-down is a detective, posing as a reporter, who suspects the boxer has mob ties. Kimble is in his element for this episode until the detective uncovers the identity of Kimble. 

Decision In The Ring, 1963

Ruby Dee, James Dunn guest star

The Empire Builder

The Great Northern Railway reached the Pacific Northwest in the late 19th century, and for this feat, their flagship passenger train was nicknamed "The Empire Builder." They also adopted "Rocky" as their mascot logo. The railway placed new streamlined and diesel-powered trains in service by the Forties that cut the scheduled 2,211 miles between Chicago and Seattle to 45 hours. The schedule allowed riders views of the Cascade Mountains and Glacier National Park, a park established through the lobbying efforts of the Great Northern. The advertisement shows an A-B-B-A set of EMD F7 diesel units in its stunning Omaha orange and Pullman green design. 

A Noted Film Composer

 

Dimitri Tiomkin (1894-1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. After his move to Hollywood, he became best known for his scores for Western films, including Duel in the Sun, Red River, High Noon, The Big Sky, 55 Days at Peking, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. He could not be pigeon-holed into one style. From sweet melodies to his pounding "rolling thunder" timpanis, his music enhanced a film. It all worked well for contemporary dramas or science fiction such as Dillinger, Champion, D.O.A., The Thing from Another World, Giant, and Dial M for Murder.  

Tiomkin received 22 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars, three for Best Original Score for High Noon, The High and the Mighty, and The Old Man and the Sea, and one for Best Original Song for "The Ballad of High Noon" from the former film. During the 1950s Tiomkin was the highest-paid film composer, composing nearly a picture each month. Between 1948 and 1958, his "golden decade," he composed 57 film scores. 

Note: Tiomkin composed for television as well, most famously for his memorable theme song for Rawhide. Initially he was not interested in the television medium. The now-famous legend has it that when the producer told him it would star Eric Fleming, Tiomkin was all-in. His broken English translating only heard, Errol Flynn. He said, "Oh, for Mr. Fleen I will do it!"

You Knead The Yellow Spread

Margarine was created in 1869 by a French chemist named Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès. His invention was in response to a competition run by the French government under Napoleon III. They wanted a cheap and stable substitute for butter. In the US, Nucoa had been manufacturing a butter product made with coconut oil and not watered down with milk or whey powder. Jaeger-Kunnert company gained local publicity in the 1920s by being the first of three wholesale grocers to offer Nucoa margarine for those who could not afford butter, which had risen to more than a dollar a pound. The dairy industry threw a fit and passed legislation that margarine could not be the same color as butter. They suggested pink. Proving that legislation can be a toothless control device, Nucoa came with a coloring bean or wafer in the package so customers could knead into the margarine to color it yellow in the privacy of their own homes.

Advertisements often used the tagline, The Wholesome "Thrift Spread" with Vitamin A. Nucoa ran a series of family-oriented advertisements in the 1950 style above. Nucoa's midwest facilities have long since closed through corporate consolidation or buyouts. Most Nucoa varieties still contain no milk and today include Omega-3. Some other butter substitute brands have followed suit. Though available online, over-the-counter sales are available only in five western states currently.