Posted 21 December 2013 - 06:46 PM
Check it out:
http://fpdownload.ad.../image/2603.mp4
I found the link via Lukas Kendall at Film Score Monthly:
Longtime FSM reader and friend Thomas Uschtrin sent me a link to John Williams's first film project, a 21-travel travel documentary "You Are Welcome," done when J.W. 22, in the army and stationed in Canada. Watch it if you dare!
http://www.filmscore...mID=1&archive=0
Regular Poster
Posted 21 December 2013 - 06:52 PM
This must be the only JW scored film with a suitcase as a central character.
A part-time Horner apologist
Posted 21 December 2013 - 06:59 PM
Hey, that music sounds like Superman's theme from Max Fleischer's cartoons.
Karol
The One True John Williams Believer, Keeper of the Faith
Posted 21 December 2013 - 07:39 PM
Heh a terrific historic find. 
And what a great main character! So expressive! Which leaves a lot of the story to be told by music. Nice to see Williams was mickey mousing with xylophones already back in 1954.
I never knew that Newfoundland was so important a spot. Now this has been corrected.
You can totally hear the greatness in this stuff. 
Ars superior est vita hominum.
"We pop out and come into the world and music is there. We didn't invent it - it's all organised in the atmosphere by divinity or whatever. It's a miracle." - John Williams-
I think music is a stream of some kind. It could be blood. It could be water. It could be ether. Whatever it is it seems to be a living, organic force that’s in motion, that serves humanity and is part of humanity and part of what describes us as humans. We sing, play, dance, all the things that we do. And there is a vibrant and great literature we have been given. ... As musicians, we join the stream. We swim in the stream with all the other millions of music makers. It’s a life force, a strong one, surrounding us and we are part of it. -John Williams-
Supreme Priestmaster of JWfan
Posted 21 December 2013 - 08:19 PM
Hey that's way back in the days before he changed his name to Johnny Williams
ooh polished seal skin, politically incorrect movie
(that music doesn't sound like the JW we know)
Frequent Poster
Posted 21 December 2013 - 11:00 PM
Nice! The voiceover reminds me a little of the ones that Telly Savalas did about Portsmouth, Birmingham and Aberdeen.
Was anyone else waiting for a great white to come out of the water at about the 19:50 mark and drag the hapless Charlie screaming into the murky brine?
Grand Master
Posted 22 December 2013 - 12:03 AM
Wow that was great to see, thanks for sharing! According to the Q&A JW's people send out when you request an autograph, this is the first film JW ever scored.
Frequent Poster
Posted 22 December 2013 - 12:43 AM
Yes, it is, although it was basically a one-off (he didn't score another movie, and had no real ambition to do so, untill the spring of 1958). Some of us have had the film for some time. We had to be kind of secretive about it (for various reasons), but now the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, so I guess it's alright to discuss it. As I wrote on FSM:
It's an intriguing glimpse into his past, even though the majority of the score is adaptations and arrangements of local folk melodies. The whole thing is rather 'newsreel'-style. He scored it some time between 1953 and early 1954, while he was stationed at Pepperell air force base at St. Johns, Newfoundland (which was subsequently closed for good just a couple of years after Williams was there). He stayed at this particular base for quite a long time -- maybe close to two years. I keep speculating that he wanted a transfer here because of his Canadian ancestry on his mother's side (some of which actually also resided in St. John's).
Supreme Priestmaster of JWfan
Posted 22 December 2013 - 01:32 AM
Sounds like "golden age" film music
So JW is part Canadian. I knew his genius must come from somewhere
Frequent Poster
Posted 22 December 2013 - 12:39 PM
Sounds like "golden age" film music
So JW is part Canadian. I knew his genius must come from somewhere
He, he...I assume that means you're Canadian?
The Road Goes Ever On And On
Posted 22 December 2013 - 02:00 PM
Yes, our resident Kanadian, for ages now!
Regular Poster
Posted 22 December 2013 - 10:03 PM
This was very cool to see because I was always very curious about it. Not much indication of the genius to come though there is a sweet innocence to the score. So basically this seems to be a film to make people not scared to go to Newfoundland Timbuktu? It's crazy to think this was in the era of Vaughan Williams (Symphony No. 8 and 9 were yet to come), Shostakovich, etc. Hollywood must have seemed like a million miles away.
I heard JW was nearly killed around this time. Has anyone heard more details of this incident?
Grand Master
Posted 22 December 2013 - 10:26 PM
I heard JW was nearly killed around this time. Has anyone heard more details of this incident?
Huh??!
.Next One Banned
Posted 22 December 2013 - 10:29 PM
Sounds like "golden age" film music
So JW is part Canadian. I knew his genius must come from somewhere
He, he...I assume that means you're Canadian?
Eh... you have both been here in this forum like...almost twelve years? 
Frequent Poster
Posted 22 December 2013 - 10:52 PM
I heard JW was nearly killed around this time. Has anyone heard more details of this incident?
Huh??!
Indeed. Huh x 2?!
Regular Poster
Posted 23 December 2013 - 12:39 AM
I heard JW was nearly killed around this time. Has anyone heard more details of this incident?
Huh??!
Indeed. Huh x 2?!
An accident I believe.
Grand Master
Posted 23 December 2013 - 01:40 AM
Where did you hear about that?
Frequent Poster
Posted 23 December 2013 - 08:26 AM
Yeah, I'm curious too. Has he mentioned that in any interview?
Williams was never in Korea during the war.
Frequent Poster
Posted 25 March 2014 - 12:20 PM
I was just wondering:
Is the music for this film the FIRST Williams recording we have of his own music? (official or unofficial)
I mean, there is that piano solo "Hello" which is in the Jazz beginnings album, and was recorded in 1956. Maybe it was written before 1954 (thus making it the first one)?
(I don't have the liner notes to that cd, so maybe it says when it was composed?)
Frequent Poster
Posted 25 March 2014 - 05:14 PM
Depends on how you define 'recording'. Obviously, YOU ARE WELCOME was never recorded for album release, only as part of the film. "Hello" and "Aunt Orsavella", on the other hand, were clearly recorded for album. No composition date is given for these two tracks in the liner notes, only recording dates, but we can assume they were composed after YOU ARE WELCOME in late 1953 or 1954. If I were to guess, I'd say they were either specifically composed for the albums in 1956 or leftovers from his setpieces at New York jazz clubs in 1955.
Frequent Poster
Posted 25 March 2014 - 06:35 PM
yes, when I mean recording, i mean either in a cd (unofficial or official), or in a film.
So, "You're welcome", is the first known music we have from Williams..
Frequent Poster
Posted 25 March 2014 - 09:50 PM
Yes.
For now.
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