All of us have watched thousands of hours of television programming. Jon Burlingame’s Music for Prime Time is the most comprehensive book I’ve ever read that traces the origins of all the TV theme music for those TV programs.
I’m a big fan of Peter Gunn–both the TV show and the theme music created by Henry Mancini. Here’s an example of Burlingame’s approach:
“Mancini happened to be getting a haircut on the Universal lot when he ran into [Blake] Edwards, who as then planning Peter Gunn. Edwards casually asked if the out-of-work composer might be interested in writing the music. His positive response altered the direction of television scoring practically over night. Peter Gunn was an entirely jazz-based score. Reflecting later on the choice, Mancini said, “It was an idea that, I think, was obvious. Blake had set it in a jazz club. The minute that hit, the rest of it all fell into place.” (p. 34)
Even though Peter Gunn was a half hour program, there was often 15 minutes of music in those episodes. “By early 1959, The Music from Peter Gunn reached Number 1 on the Billboard popular album charts, spending 10 weeks at the top and 117 weeks on the chart overall.” (p. 37)
The level of detail Burlingame infuses into his survey of TV theme music is astonishing! And, as an unexpected bonus, AMAZON is offering Music for Prime Time–$37.00 everywhere else–for $17.00! What a bargain! I’ve ordered my copy, you should order yours before the price goes up!
Do you have a favorite TV theme song? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Acknowledgments — vii
Introduction — 1
1. “Hi-yo, Silver!”: The Birth of TV Music — 5
2. “Book ’em, Danno”: Cop and Detective Shows — 33
3. “Head ’em up! Move ’em out!” The Westerns — 84
4. “You are traveling through another dimension”: Fantasy and Science Fiction — 115
5. “Man, woman, birth, death, infinity”: Drama — 159
6. “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale”: Comedy — 187
7. “Your mission, should you decide to accept it”: Action-Adventure — 253
8. “You are there”: Documentaries, News and Information Programming — 282
9. “Flintstones! Meet the Flintstones!” Cartoons in Prime Time — 311
10. “My name is Kunta Kinte”: Made-for-TV Movies and Miniseries — 325
11. “Mrs. Peel, we’re needed”: British shows aired in the U.S. — 374
12. “I couldn’t possibly comment”: Music in contemporary television — 399
Afterword — 426
Photo Credits — 429
Bibliography/Sources — 431
Index — 447
Sounds great. By coincidence, I heard two favorite TV instrumental theme songs on Sirius last week: “Hawaii Five-O” (and, yes, as it ended, I said, “Book him, Danno”) and “Mission: Impossible.”
In the late ’50s and early ’60s, a lot of shows seemed to have themes that explained the premise of the show, whether Gilligan’s Island or The Patty Duke Show or The Beverly Hillbillies, or even The Real McCoys. Robert Klein did a bit about seeing a rerun of Gilligan’s Island in a hotel room: “Stranded on an island with six schmucks” was his take on the song.
Jeff, the stories of how the theme songs to HAWAII FIVE-O and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE are very curious. Chance plays a big part in the creation of many of these TV themes.
I could have sworn that portions of Frede Grofe’s GRAND CANYON SUITE had been used as a theme for more than one western, but no. It had been used in commercials and incorporated into various shows but never as a theme, so I got nothing.
That being said, I kind of like the theme from THE MUNSTERS. Not because it’s good music but because I am weird…and also the MIGHTY MOUSE theme as sung by Andy Kaufman.
Jeff, I was–and still am–a big fan of the them to THE ADDAMS FAMILY!
No TV shows, but they did use the “Grand Canyon Suite” in the score of A CHRISTMAS STORY.
An aspect of the Grofe as theme to a radio western seems like it’s gnawing around the edges of what’s left of my memory.
What’s really weird, Jerry (and George), us that my brain still retains stupid theme songs from shows that were moronic 60 years ago, like My Mother The Car.
“A 1928 Porter,
That’s my mother dear.
She helps me through everything I do,
And I’m so glad she’s near.”
One of many classics cheated out of a Grammy Award, Jeff.
Jerry, exactly!
Jeff, you have a mind like a steel trap!
Easily the most memorable aspect of the series, I gather, aside from its idiocy. My father was a car guy, and fond of sitcoms, but MMTC held a special place in his anti-pantheon, along with THE MOTHERS-IN LAW. Maternal relevance might not have helped. (He certainly liked my mother much better than his own or my mother’s, and it was not the worst judgment he made.)
Todd, I was also fond of THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E theme song.
At least three versions of that during the series’ run.
Television music of the sixtied was actually more of a musical gateway for me than the radio. As soon as I learned to read I began watching the composer credits on shows and John Williams was the first musician whose name I learned. That decade was the golden era of theme music and scores with an astonishing array of composers defining the sound of the medium: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Lalo Schiffrin, Quincy Jones, etc., etc. More than a few shows of the era had hit soundtrack albums or unofficial recordings by lights music composers of the day. “Peter Gunn” was easily one of the most brilliant and probably the most successful. FYI: Henry Mancini was a contract composer for Universal at the time, cranking out scores for their production line of low budget sci-fi/horror titles in the fifties.
By the middle of the seventies it really began to wind down. After Billy Goldenberg’s “Harry O” and Gil Melle’s “Night Gallery” and “Kolchack” (the later repurposed from his theme to Gene Roddenberry’s “The Questor Tapes” pilot) it was slim pickings. The last shows I can recall that used a legitimate orchestra were the “Star Trek” spinoffs of the 90s, “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager.” Television scores today are nothing more than ambient synth noodling. So sad.
This looks like a great read and I’ll take a good look at it. You might want to take a glance at the Screen Archives website. They sell a lot of great soundtrack CDs issued by small boutique labels including a sizeable amount of television from the sixties.
Byron, I will certainly check out SCREEN ARCHIVES website for TV themes from the 1960s! It was the Golden Age!
I ALWAYS notice soundtracks – TV and movies.
I have at least one boxed set of TV theme songs. Now that I’m old, it may take me a while to come up with the series but those theme songs always take me back.
Cap’n Bob and I have discussed the cowboy show themes. One of my favorites is the signature music for Cheyenne.
Beth, I like the theme music for CHEYENNE, but I love the theme music for MAVERICK!
Route 66; 77 SUNSET STRIP, Have Gun Will Travel,
Patti, I grew up watching 77 SUNSET STRIP and my favorite TV western was HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL!
Me too! I watched it with my mother.
“Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man,
A knight without armor in a savage land.”
Jeff, my parents would’t let me stay up to watch HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL. But my uncle, who was a frequent Baby Sitter for my sisters and me, allowed me to watch HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL with him. It was his favorite Western TV series, too!
I still remember old TV themes from the early 60s while forgetting the names of people I used to work with 10 years ago. Mancini’s theme for MR LUCKY for example! Or GUESTWARD HO! or HOTEL DE PAREE.
Sad!
Music imprints harder for some of us than names, alas…certainly true of me.
I loved Earl Holliman’s hat with the ring of shiny silver dollars in Hotel De Paree.
Fred, all great TV theme music! You have great taste!
Neal Hefti, Laurie Johnson, the aforementioned Mellé and Mancini, Vince Guaraldi, John Lewis, Dave Brubeck (notable how the Brubeck Quartet recorded the them to MR. BROADWAY, but Brubeck’s own piano was overdubbed by a harpsichord, while Gene Wright, Joe Morello and Paul Desmond’s parts could be heard in the TV theme), Quincy Jones, Ray Anthony and others in the jazz world…odd how no one jumped on John Lewis to do some TV work, given all his film scoring, including for at least one UN documentary and such dramatic films as ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW.
I might have to check this out.
Among the first to really catch my ear, after BATMAN ’66 and THE MONKEES, was Ron Grainer’s theme for THE PRISONER. I think I saw the UN doc “Exposure” on a PBS station, hence my including JL in one phrase and noting his absence in another…
A little something: https://www.ipm.org/show/nightlights/2019-09-11/heard-tv-jazz-takes-television-themes
And I liked both the harpsichord theme for DANGER MAN/SECRET AGENT and the Johnny Rivers rock song “Secret Agent Man”…the latter clearly written for the title “Danger Man” but made even catchier by including the extra two syllables.
Todd, Johnny Rivers had a hit with “Secret Agent Man.” Plenty of radio airplay back in the day!
And definitely another vote for Lalo Schifrin (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and MANNIX alone, of course, would be enough but add the film scores…).
Todd, you would be dazzled by the depth of information on TV themes in MUSIC FOR PRIME TIME. My copy from AMAZON is on its way! Best $17 bargain of the month!
Sounds fascinating. I’m with Jerry and remember fondly Andy Kaufman and the mighty mouse theme song. A lot of really good memorable ones, which I love to hear again
Don’t forget RAWHIDE and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD! I also liked RIVERBOAT and THE VIKINGS!
Bob, all great theme music!
To say nothing of WHEN THINGS WERE ROTTEN, the Mel Brooks Robin Hood TV series with an amusing theme (the series ran low on octane too quickly, sadly.