Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Victor Young

Gulliver’s Travels Movie Music & More on KWAX

I haven’t had time to post today, because I had some deadlines to meet and then I had to hightail it up to the Bard Music Festival for the opening night of “Martinů and His World” — music of Bohuslav Martinů and friends at Bard College. So I’ll just interject briefly that today is the birthday of film composer Victor Young. Some of my favorite Young scores include those for “Scaramouche,” “The Quiet Man,” and “Around the World in 80 Days.”

This week on “Picture Perfect,” however, we’ll enjoy selections from his score to the Fleischer Brothers’ production of “Gulliver’s Travels” (1939). Based on the novel by Jonathan Swift, the film was given the greenlight thanks to the success of Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The brothers, responsible for those classic “Popeye,” “Betty Boop,” and “Superman” cartoon shorts, here may have bitten off more than they could chew with this, their only animated feature.

Victor Young’s music will be bookended by that of Bernard Herrmann for “The Three Worlds of Gulliver” (1960), a film also notable for its special effects by legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, and John Addison’s riotous score for Tony Richardson’s picaresque romp “Tom Jones” (1963), based on the novel by Henry Fielding.

You don’t have to be Lilliputian to find these big shoes to fill. It’s music from movies inspired by two beloved 18th century British literary classics, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

August 8, 2025
Irish Movie Music The Quiet Man and More

Bad luck for Victor McLaglen. Still three days away, but John Wayne will pound his face so hard that he’ll still be spitting teeth on St. Patrick’s Day.

McLaglen gets his lathering in the epic climax of John Ford’s “The Quiet Man.” Victor Young’s score will be one of the highlights this week, on “Picture Perfect,” which will be devoted to films with Irish settings and Irish themes.

“The Luck of the Irish” (1948) stars Tyrone Power as an American journalist who travels to Ireland, where he gets in touch with his roots – and a full-size leprechaun, played by Cecil Kellaway.

No “Darby O’Gill”-style special effects here. Kellaway is just some guy in a leprechaun hat. When Power comments, “Say, aren’t you rather large for a leprechaun?,” Kellaway responds, “That’s a page of me family history I’d rather we not go into.” It was hoped that Barry Fitzgerald would have taken the role – and how perfect would that have been? – but he couldn’t be secured. In the event, Kellaway was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The music is by the English-born Cyril J. Mockridge, who was Alfred Newman’s assistant at 20th Century Fox. Mockridge is probably best known for his score to “Miracle on 34th Street.” “The Luck of the Irish” is full of Celtic-style folk melodies and some shimmering leprechaun music, but why it quotes “Greensleeves” is anybody’s guess. Probably at the request of a producer. (Green = Irish, right?)

John Williams wrote a gorgeous, melancholy score for “Angela’s Ashes” (1999), adapted from Frank McCourt’s bestselling memoir. It’s refreshing to hear Williams give free rein to his lyrical side, beyond the context of lightsabers, magic wands and rampaging dinosaurs. The recording we’ll hear is from the difficult-to-acquire international release. The version issued stateside was marred by dialogue from the film. (Why do they do that?)

You can’t have an hour of Irish film music without including something with The Chieftains. “Circle of Friends” (1995) is based on the novel by Maeve Binchy, about three childhood friends, who reunite in college, and their adventures with the young men they find there. The film stars Minnie Driver, Chris O’Donnell, Alan Cumming and Colin Firth. Michael Kamen wrote the score, but it’s The Chieftains, obviously, that lend it an air of authenticity.

Finally, Victor Young’s palette is all green in “The Quiet Man” (1952). John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, and a Mulligan stew of American and Irish character actors flesh out what must be John Ford’s most delightful film. It earned him his fourth Academy Award for Best Director, and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture.

The alternately romantic and boisterous, folk-inflected score perfectly complements Ford’s tone of sustained whimsy, for what is essentially a love story unfolding in the face of cultural differences. Also the face of Victor McLaglen.

Shamrocks will shake amidst the blarney rubble, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

March 14, 2025
Victor Young Forever The Composer Remembered

He may have died in 1956, but his music is forever Young. Victor Young was born in Chicago on this date in 1900.

The composer of “Stella by Starlight” and “When I Fall in Love” was classically trained and thoroughly drilled: a violinist from the age of 6, he studied at the Warsaw Imperial Conservatory and found employment (following further training on the piano at the Paris Conservatory) while still a teen in the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

His talent was admired by Czar Nicholas II, but his ability to capitalize on the connection was sharply curtailed as Russia boiled over into revolution, and Young barely escaped with his life. He fled to Warsaw and then Paris, and he didn’t stop running until he reached the United States.

Here, he acted as a conductor and arranger of popular music. He was responsible for transforming Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust,” which had previously been played as an up-tempo dance number, into a romantic ballad, which secured its status as a mega-hit. “Stardust” went on to become one of the most-recorded songs of all time.

In the mid-‘30s, Young made the move to film, where his gift for melody served him well. Over the course of the next two decades, he received 22 Academy Award nominations. Twice, he was nominated four times within a single year. Young holds the record for the most nominations prior to a win.

Unfortunately, the honor of Oscar gold would be bestowed posthumously. His score for “Around the World in 80 Days” was recognized in 1957. Young died of a cerebral hemorrhage in November of 1956.

In 20 years, he managed to compose 300 scores, among them those for “Reap the Wild Wind,” “The Glass Key,” “The Palm Beach Story,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “The Uninvited,” “State of the Union,” “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” “Sands of Iwo Jima,” “Samson and Delilah,” “Rio Grande,” “The Greatest Show on Earth,” “Scaramouche,” “The Quiet Man,” “Shane,” “Three Coins in a Fountain” and “Johnny Guitar.”

In 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1970, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Happy birthday, Victor Young. What you might have accomplished had you lived to be old!

Nat King Cole singing “When I Fall in Love”

“Scaramouche” (1952)

“The Quiet Man” (1952)
https://www.youtube.com/watch…

“Around the World in 80 Days” (1956):

PHOTO: Orson, Bing and Young

August 8, 2019
Irish Film Music St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day death wish: try to keep pace with Barry Fitzgerald.

As you turn over the rules for this year’s “The Quiet Man” Drinking Game, consider joining me for music from the John Ford classic about a “quiet, peace-loving man, come home to Ireland to forget his troubles.” Of course the film culminates in one of the great fist fights in cinema history.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll have an hour of music from movies with Irish settings and Irish themes.

“The Luck of the Irish” (1948) features Tyrone Power as an American journalist who travels to Ireland, where he gets in touch with his roots – and a full-size leprechaun, played by Cecil Kellaway.

No “Darby O’Gill”-style special effects here. Kellaway is just some guy in a leprechaun hat. When Power comments, “Say, aren’t you rather large for a leprechaun?,” Kellaway responds, “That’s a page of me family history I’d rather we not go into.” It was hoped that Barry Fitzgerald would have taken the role – and how perfect would that have been? – but he couldn’t be secured. In the event, Kellaway was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

The music was by the English-born Cyril J. Mockridge, who was Alfred Newman’s assistant at 20th Century Fox. Mockridge is probably best known for his score to “Miracle on 34th Street.” “The Luck of the Irish” is full of Celtic-style folk melodies and some shimmering leprechaun music, but why it quotes “Greensleeves” is anybody’s guess. Probably at the request of a producer. (Green = Irish, right?)

John Williams wrote a gorgeous, melancholy score for “Angela’s Ashes” (1999), adapted from Frank McCourt’s bestselling memoir. It’s refreshing to hear Williams give free rein to his lyrical side, beyond the context of lightsabers, magic wands and rampaging dinosaurs. The recording we’ll hear is from the difficult-to-acquire international release. The version issued stateside was marred by dialogue from the film. (Why do they do that?)

You can’t have an hour of Irish film music without including something with The Chieftains. “Circle of Friends” (1995) is based on the novel by Maeve Binchy, about three childhood friends who reunite in college, and their adventures with the young men they find there. The film starred Minnie Driver, Chris O’Donnell, Alan Cumming and Colin Firth. Michael Kamen wrote the score, but it’s The Chieftains, obviously, that lend it an air of authenticity.

The balance of the show will be devoted to “The Quiet Man” (1952). John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, and a whole slew of Irish character actors flesh out what must be John Ford’s most delightful film. It earned him his fourth Academy Award for Best Director, and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture.

Victor Young provided an alternately romantic and boisterous, folk-inflected score, perfectly complementing the tone of sustained whimsy, in what is essentially a love story unfolding in the face of cultural differences.

Irish eyes are smiling, even as Victor McLaglen spits teeth, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

March 16, 2018
Irish Film Music Quiet Man Angela’s Ashes

“He’s a nice, quiet, peace-loving man come home to Ireland to forget his troubles.”

John Wayne gives Victor McLaglen a lathering in the epic climax of John Ford’s “The Quiet Man,” and composer Victor Young’s palette is all green. Join me for this alternately romantic and boisterous, folk-inflected score, alongside music for Ford’s “The Informer,” a very different film, a black-and-white study of guilt and paranoia, that earned Ford, McLaglen, and composer Max Steiner Academy Awards. (Ford was honored with his fourth Academy Award for “The Quiet Man.”)

We’ll also feature two films with music by John Williams: an adaptation of Frank McCourt’s autobiographical book, “Angela’s Ashes,” and Ron Howard’s big screen historical fiction, inspired by his ancestors’ journey to America, “Far and Away.” The latter soundtrack features the talents of The Chieftains.

We land a few for St. Patrick’s Day this week on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

March 17, 2017

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