Based on a play by Paddy Chayefsky (the Oscar-winning MARTY and NETWORK), THE CATERED AFFAIR is a kitchen-sink drama starring Ernest Borgnine and Bette Davis as a Bronx cabbie and his wife whose daughter Debbie Reynolds (now that’s some gene pool!) is getting married. Borgnine wants to use his savings to buy his own cab, [...]

Voters probably had André Previn and Joseph Gershenson‘s musical numbers in mind when they awarded Elmer Bernstein the Oscar for his original score to THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (1967). And you can see why. Much as Bernstein’s score does, Previn’s arrangements and Gershenson’s musical direction make the numbers sparkle even when the film struggles to do so. This tongue-in-cheek [...]

April was a momentous month for film score fans. Andre Previn celebrated his 80th birthday, Kritzerland released his score for TWO FOR THE SEESAW while  Film Score Monthly released a 2-CD set of the composer’s brilliant INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1965). Based on a novel by Gavin Lambert, Natalie Wood stars as Daisy Clover, an overnight teenage [...]

The bodies of deposed religious icons litter the landscape of pop culture. If ELMER GANTRY appears small-fry compared to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jim Jones, and Jimmy Swaggart (note a pattern here?) , he didn’t seem so in 1927 when Sinclair Lewis’  scathing indictment against religious corruption brought cries of “blasphemy” ringing around the globe. Americans don’t take kindly [...]

Just in time for Andre Previn’s 80th birthday celebration this week, Film Score Monthly has just announced the release of Previn’s score for INSIDE DAISY CLOVER. The film stars Natalie Wood as Daisy Clover, an overnight singing sensation in 1930s Hollywood who struggles against the dark forces of showbiz.  Like Wood’s title character, Previn also got [...]

On his 80th birthday, we celebrate the often overlooked career of one of my favorite film composers—André Previn. Previn has found success in nearly every facet of music, including film, jazz, and the concert hall. He has won four Academy Awards and ten Grammy Awards in the classical, jazz, pop, and soundtrack fields. Born on April [...]

The Music of A Streetcar Named Desire Published in Film Score Monthly Online May 2006 To step aboard A Streetcar Named Desire is to take an emotional and musical journey. Tennessee Williams’ poetic dialogue is music to the ears. And he set his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama in the New Orleans French Quarter, the sounds of [...]