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"You Are Welcome" - John Williams film score from 1954

Started by Jason LeBlanc, Dec 21 2013 06:46 PM
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#1 Jason LeBlanc

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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


-Jay

#2 TheTennisBallKid

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 06:52 PM

 This must be the only JW scored film with a suitcase as a central character.


#3 crocodile

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 06:59 PM

Hey, that music sounds like Superman's theme from Max Fleischer's cartoons.

 

Karol


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“I think I’ll quote a famous line of Eric Clapton’s that he said on the street when someone asked him if it bothered him when people criticized him. He said, ‘No, other people’s opinions of me are none of my business.’ I don’t like some of the reviews that have been written about my symphony and about the work I did with Metallica and in fact about some of my film scores. But it’s not my business— the real truth is that people are walking up and down the street humming several of my tunes, and that gives me more pleasure than any review can. It’s not important for a reviewer to do anything other than express their opinion of someone’s work and if they like it to encourage them to do more and make it better. I think that concert halls are filled with theoretical music and some of it may be interesting and some of it may be valuable. But very little of it is memorable, and melody, I believe, is the core of music’s role in our lives.” - Michael Kamen, 2002

 

#4 Incanus

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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. ;)


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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-

#5 king mark

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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)


#6 Omen II

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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?


His mouth is full of bees!

#7 indy4

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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.


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#8 Thor

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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).


#9 king mark

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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


#10 Thor

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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?


#11 Stefancos

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Posted 22 December 2013 - 02:00 PM

Yes, our resident Kanadian, for ages now!


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#12 karelm

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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? 


#13 indy4

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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??!


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#14 hornist

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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?  :blink:


#15 Thor

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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?!


#16 karelm

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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.


#17 indy4

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Posted 23 December 2013 - 01:40 AM

Where did you hear about that?


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#18 Thor

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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.


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