This afternoon I heard the Peninsula Symphony program of film scores by the composer John Williams including Jaws, Close Encounters, E-T, Harry Potter, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was my first time at the modern San Mateo High School auditorium, which had good sight lines and clear sound. The orchestra evoked the movies so well that you could feel and almost see the action. That combination of sight and sound is powerful, with music reinforcing the dramatic tension and supporting the narrative.
During the concert, I thought about how movies these days use popular and familiar music rather than have a composer create a custom score, perhaps for economy or to create co-marketing opportunities. The familiarity of a memorable tune may create an association as I still have an ear worm from Grand Tour that I saw two weeks ago at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Bobby Darin’s Beyond the Sea played over the credits and was a poignant way to close the film.
As the program concluded, I thought of the first orchestral score I could remember — the work of Richard Rodgers and Robert Russell Bennett for Victory At Sea, the award winning TV series first shown in 1952/53. I was squeezed in next to Dad in his big easy chair with the brown upholstery and wide arms as we watched on the RCA Victor console TV. I was about 4 years old and absorbed by the story of naval conflict during World War II and the leitmotifs that carried through. I still cherish that shared experience with my Dad, and the music and imagery has stayed with me for almost seventy years.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that my earliest memory is of that very TV being delivered. It was after dinner and my 3 year old self was leaning on the radiator, peering out the living room window. A panel truck was parked under the street lamp and two men hefted a big box and brought it into the living room, bringing TV into my young life. Mom would let me curl up in Dad’s chair to watch American Bandstand, live from Philadelphia, while she took her afternoon nap. I remember the teenagers dancing, artists performing, and Dick Clark asking the audience to rate and review the songs: “It’s got a beat and you can dance to it.”
That TV was also my introduction to being my Dad’s assistant when the TV went “on the fritz.” He would take off the back panel and use his “cheater cord” to power up the set to see if any tubes looked bad. My job was to hold the flashlight steady without getting too close, since there was exposed high voltage. In my recollection, I was supposed to anticipate where he would look next, and I often felt chastised that I wasn’t helping him the right way. After he identified a few suspect tubes, we would drive over to the ALCO Electronics store at 154 Hicksville Road near Hempstead Turnpike, which had a tube tester. Then it was back home to finish the job.