21 replies to this topic

[Jay]

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

[TheTennisBallKid]

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

[crocodile]

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

 

Karol

[Incanus]

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.

[king mark]

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)

[Omen II]

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?

[indy4]

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.

[Thor]

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).

[king mark]

Sounds like "golden age" film music

 

So JW is part Canadian. I knew his genius must come from somewhere

[Thor]

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?

[Stefancos]

Yes, our resident Kanadian, for ages now!

[karelm]

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? 

[indy4]

I heard JW was nearly killed around this time.  Has anyone heard more details of this incident? 

Huh??!

[hornist]

 

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? 

[Thor]

 

I heard JW was nearly killed around this time.  Has anyone heard more details of this incident? 

Huh??!

 

 

Indeed. Huh x 2?!

[karelm]

 

 

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.

[indy4]

Where did you hear about that?

[Thor]

Yeah, I'm curious too. Has he mentioned that in any interview?

 

Williams was never in Korea during the war.

[filmmusic]

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?)

[Thor]

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.

[filmmusic]

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..

[Thor]

Yes.

 

For now.