Familiar Tunes

Familiar Tunes I Newnam Dorothea Newnam Notre Dame Preparatory Familiar Tunes Jon Burlingame. TVS Biggest Hits. Schirmer Books, 1996. (338 pages. $25.00) If you liked the music from The Big Chill, you are going to love this scholarly book by Jon Burlingame, a knowledgeable and devoted fan of media history. TV's Biggest Hits is a trip down memory lane for a generation interested in nostalgia as they turn fifty and watch their lives celebrated in literature, film, and music. With just a word or a phrase, Burlingame captures familiar tunes reminiscent of a favorite show, and discusses the origin of many TV series' theme songs as diverse as Westerns, soap operas, comedies, hospital or science fiction dramas. "Out of the night, when the full moon is bright, comes the horseman known as Zorro," or "Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?" are two popular melodies, plus the themes from "St. Elsewhere," "Hill Street Blues," or "Opie's Theme." It is all here, well researched and documented. It is TV during the early period—fresh, innovative, experimental, and imperfect. It is also television at its best. Burlingame documents the professionalism ofJack Webb, Walt Disney, James Moser, Herbert B. Leonard, and Sheldon Leonard who were willing to demanded high standards. They knew quality and ordered that live, original music underscore their respective series. They got what they wanted because they had the clout to smooth-talk many musicians and orchestrators to work long hours for little pay and recognition to meet impossible deadlines. You do not have to be a music aficionado to appreciate the wealth of research and myriad interviews that went into this study or to understand the passion of musicians who amazed the public by using classical music for selected programs. Stories were based on literary works by Daphne Du Maurier, Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and Agatha Christie, and the scores included excerpts from Prokofiev, Saint-Saëns, and Berlioz, plus the indomitable William Tell Overture, the Lone Ranger's weekly signature for most children. In addition, the spontaneity and high energy of live television gave rise to original adaptations of thematic mood music hurriedly written and often performed inaugurally as the show was running, like Bernard Herrmann in a 1968 "Cimarron" episode titled "Knife in the Darkness." Burlingame also concentrates on television's musicians who became household names like Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, or QuincyJones. The book also celebrates the notso -famous like Hugo Friedhofer, one of the most revered composers in Hollywood, who scored many shows and films from 1946 through the late 1960s, winning Grammy and Emmy awards along the way. Indeed, you do not have to be a baby boomer to enjoy this survey oftelevision's history. There is something here for everybody. It follows television from The TwilightZone through 5tar Trek, from ILove Lucyto AllIn The Family and Cheers. Obviously, television has not been the vast wasteland it has been purported to be. Quite the contrary, Burlingame affirms that television has been responsible for a cultural bonding that spans generations as children today watch their parent's favorite syndicated shows as the baby boomers rediscover their youth. One has only to look at the recent production of movies based on these series such as Mission Impossible, Star Trek, The Brady Bunch, and The Fugitive to understand their popular culture significance. The power of this book is that it evokes those same memories. Vol. 26, No. 1-4, 1996 | 119 ...