Siren City: Sound and Source Music in Classic American Noir

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

Siren City Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd i Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd i 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd ii Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd ii 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM Siren City Sound and Source Music in Classic American Noir ROBERT MIKLITSCH Rutgers University Press NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd iii Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd iii 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Miklitsch, Robert, 1953– Siren city : sound and source music in classic American noir / Robert Miklitsch. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8135-4898-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8135-4899-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Film noir—History and criticism. 2. Motion pictures—Sound effects. 3. Motion picture music—History and criticism. I. Title. PN1995.9.F54M55 2010 791.4302'4—dc22 2010013760 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. Copyright © 2011 by Robert Miklitsch All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law. Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu Manufactured in the United States of America Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd iv Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd iv 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM For Catherine B. Miklitsch, poet laureate of Niagara Falls Now listen. Was that a freight train or a 155 millimeter shell passing overhead? Now listen carefully. A door latch or the cocking of a .45 caliber pistol? A jungle bird or a falling bomb? Someone tapping on a champagne glass or Swiss bells? —instructor administering sound test to O.S.S. agents in 13 Rue Madeleine (1947) GRETA BALLENTINE (SUSAN HAYWARD): You like music too, Miss Carlson? VERNA CARLSON (RITA JOHNSON): I can take it or leave it. GRETA: Didn’t you like the polka? I think Shostakovich is so exciting. TRENTON (TOM POWERS): I’m afraid Verna prefers the music of Harry James. —They Won’t Believe Me (1947) Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd v Miklitsch_pi-xxiv_fm.indd v 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM 12/8/10 4:19:55 PM ...