SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 32,689
- Like
- 62,969
When I grew up in the 60’s there were a lot of great TV themes, (these days they don’t bother with them: more time for commercials). Many of them were based on jazz but with full orchestras to back them up. I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane and check out some of them, with some backstory where there is one.
NAKED CITY/ ROUTE 66
In 1945 a book appeared called “The Naked City”, a series of photographs of New York taken by photographer Arthur Fellig, known as “Weegee” for his tendency to show up in a timely fashion where newsworthy events were taking place, as if he had a Ouija board.
Weegee - Wikipedia
The book caused a sensation and Producer Mark Hellinger decided to make a movie based on it. He decided that a police story would be the best way to show the city off in movie shots inspired by Weegee’s photographs and the result would be the classic film noir, “The Naked City”, (1948). Here is how that movie opened:
And here is how it closed:
the naked city 1948 ending
(The clean-up guy at the end is portrayed by one Arthur Fellig. The narrator is Mark Hellinger, who died of a heart attack before the film was ever shown.)
Not much jazz there. But a decade later when it was decided to create a TV show based on the movie. They hired veteran movie composer George Duning , (Picnic, The World of Suzie Wong), to create a very jazzy theme for the new show, the first of three by three different composers:
The Naked City Ending Theme Songs 1958-1959 1960-1963
(It’s the first one: more about the second below)
Duning produced an album with themes from the show and other music, (a not uncommon thing in those days). It included a very different coral version of Duning’s theme:
This is the Naked City
The show was initially a half hour show with John McIntyre and James Franciscus, both of whom preferred working on the west coast. They both left the show and it was off for a year when it came back as an hour show starting Horace McMahon and Paul Burke with another theme that became the most famous of the show’s themes, “Somewhere in the Night” by Billy May, a former big band trumpet player who had become one of the top music arrangers in the business:
Naked City Theme - Billy May
This became a huge hit and was ‘covered’ by many performers in the 60’s. Here’s Maynard Ferguson’s version:
Maynard Ferguson - Naked City Theme 1964
Meanwhile the producers of the show, Herbert Leonard and Sterling Silliphant, created another classic show with an even more classic theme. In fact, the theme from Route 66 is my favorite TV series theme of all time. They had wanted to use Bobby Troup’s tune “Route 66:
Bobby Troup - Route 66
…but couldn’t get the rights to it. So they asked Nelson Riddle, the most famous arranger and accompanist of the time, (and probably all time) , to write something that conveyed an image of two guys riding in a car down a highway, not knowing what adventures awaited them as they traveled around the country. And that’s exactly what he did:
NELSON RIDDLE Route 66 Theme
They then asked Riddle to come up with still another Naked City theme. Riddle produced a kind of fanfare that morphed into a lament for the fate of the characters in the “8 million stories of The Naked City”:
Naked City (ABC crime drama) - end title (12-19-62)
Later Riddle did a more relaxed version of both Billy May’s and his own themes for Naked City. I kind of like to listen to it and watch it, (the actual shots of New York are from the beginning of the 1948 movie), just before I go to bed as it kind of relaxes me:
NELSON RIDDLE & ORCHESTRA - Two Naked City Themes
NAKED CITY/ ROUTE 66
In 1945 a book appeared called “The Naked City”, a series of photographs of New York taken by photographer Arthur Fellig, known as “Weegee” for his tendency to show up in a timely fashion where newsworthy events were taking place, as if he had a Ouija board.
Weegee - Wikipedia
The book caused a sensation and Producer Mark Hellinger decided to make a movie based on it. He decided that a police story would be the best way to show the city off in movie shots inspired by Weegee’s photographs and the result would be the classic film noir, “The Naked City”, (1948). Here is how that movie opened:
And here is how it closed:
the naked city 1948 ending
(The clean-up guy at the end is portrayed by one Arthur Fellig. The narrator is Mark Hellinger, who died of a heart attack before the film was ever shown.)
Not much jazz there. But a decade later when it was decided to create a TV show based on the movie. They hired veteran movie composer George Duning , (Picnic, The World of Suzie Wong), to create a very jazzy theme for the new show, the first of three by three different composers:
The Naked City Ending Theme Songs 1958-1959 1960-1963
(It’s the first one: more about the second below)
Duning produced an album with themes from the show and other music, (a not uncommon thing in those days). It included a very different coral version of Duning’s theme:
This is the Naked City
The show was initially a half hour show with John McIntyre and James Franciscus, both of whom preferred working on the west coast. They both left the show and it was off for a year when it came back as an hour show starting Horace McMahon and Paul Burke with another theme that became the most famous of the show’s themes, “Somewhere in the Night” by Billy May, a former big band trumpet player who had become one of the top music arrangers in the business:
Naked City Theme - Billy May
This became a huge hit and was ‘covered’ by many performers in the 60’s. Here’s Maynard Ferguson’s version:
Maynard Ferguson - Naked City Theme 1964
Meanwhile the producers of the show, Herbert Leonard and Sterling Silliphant, created another classic show with an even more classic theme. In fact, the theme from Route 66 is my favorite TV series theme of all time. They had wanted to use Bobby Troup’s tune “Route 66:
Bobby Troup - Route 66
…but couldn’t get the rights to it. So they asked Nelson Riddle, the most famous arranger and accompanist of the time, (and probably all time) , to write something that conveyed an image of two guys riding in a car down a highway, not knowing what adventures awaited them as they traveled around the country. And that’s exactly what he did:
NELSON RIDDLE Route 66 Theme
They then asked Riddle to come up with still another Naked City theme. Riddle produced a kind of fanfare that morphed into a lament for the fate of the characters in the “8 million stories of The Naked City”:
Naked City (ABC crime drama) - end title (12-19-62)
Later Riddle did a more relaxed version of both Billy May’s and his own themes for Naked City. I kind of like to listen to it and watch it, (the actual shots of New York are from the beginning of the 1948 movie), just before I go to bed as it kind of relaxes me:
NELSON RIDDLE & ORCHESTRA - Two Naked City Themes
Last edited:
