A Circuitous Route for the Movie's Music

You may recall a few years back when I posted an e-mail (reference via the search engine above) from recording artist and composer Andrew Gold, son of famed composer Ernest Gold.  I would not have posted the note, but for the unfortunate fact that Andrew died soon after corresponding with me, and it was historically relevant at that point to document his words.

I had found his e-mail address on his Web site, and thought it couldn't hurt to inquire as to the location of his late father's music for "U.F.O."  Andrew's incredibly kind response was more than forthcoming, for while he pretty much considered the music an "oldie" and seemingly not a piece particularly up front in his mind, he astounded me, a complete stranger, by promising he would send me the music if he found it!

Obviously, this never happened and the world grew sad the day Andrew Gold, popular composer/performer of such songs as "Thank You for Being a Friend" and "Lonely Boy" passed away.

A little time went by, when one day there appeared among my e-mails a note from Monstrous Movie Music about re-releasing the movie's music, perhaps a re-orchestration from the original score.  This was truly amazing news, because Ernest Gold's lively and emotional, yet sympathetic score conducted by Emil Newman provided pure magic to prop up a motion picture production which, I readily confess, sometimes thirsted for great music to accentuate slow and even tedious portions.

More time, years, slid by, but no project occurred, and finally it came to my attention that the original score was indeed missing, gone, apparently irretrievably.  To a long-time motion picture music fanatic such as myself, this was devastating news, and I even conjured in my head a scenario where a super-computer might rewrite Gold's score based upon a digital perusal of his previous work and style (Verdict:  Unlikely, and very expensive in any case to even attempt it).

Yet, there was a modicum of good news.  The original tapes containing Newman's music were apparently intact, even with some "raw track" selections on acetate, and the music recordings are or were in possession of at least one person, a music producer who actually included four pieces of the movie's music a few years ago in a CD entitled, The Ernest Gold Collection, Volume One (Dragon's Domain Records, DDR738).  David at Monstrous Movie Music does not know why the entire music soundtrack was not included among the many other Gold selections on the CD.

I attempted to get a response from a source at the CD distributor's location, but nobody responded and, as is the usual dilemma, a troublesome number of years have passed anyway.  If I learn more, I'll note it here.

(From the dark side: At least one pirate Internet site which will not be identified and whose location I have nevertheless forgotten posted two music selections from the movie.  I was surprised and had not searched out of curiosity until I knew about the CD's release.  I'm well aware how pirate sites grab new music and post it immediately, depriving artists of royalties, but the last things I would have expected to find would be selections from the now relatively obscure "U.F.O."  Then again, Ernest Gold's music was probably the draw because of his fame and reputation.)

In the meantime, the two visuals here impart a little more historical information about the music, including standard union payments and individual musicians involved when a definitive recording session finally took place in November, 1955. Chappell and Co. owned rights to the music for a time, as indicated in a list of the movie's music titles (we posted two pages of titles with further info a few years ago).


(My appreciation to David at Monstrous Movie Music for vital information regarding the music cannot be overestimated.)

When "Powers" Went Viral

Like many sources, when the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) prepared this information sheet regarding the movie, the actor's name was listed as Tom Powers instead of Towers.  Some confusion likely stemmed from the fact that, as we have mentioned on numerous occasions, there actually once was a Hollywood character actor of some repute named Tom Powers, who surely would have enjoyed these recurring episodes of misdirected publicity in 1956.

There's more to be said about the motion picture's music, coming up next time.

(Thanks to David and Monstrous Movie Music for this ASCAP document.)

The Mystery of the Missing

The premiere of "U.F.O." elicited a number of reactions, and if an "ornamental iron specialist" was encouraged to developed some instrument to aid in contacting "the visitors" -- ? -- because of the movie, who can fault him?

On the more serious side, however, again we find a newspaper article certifying that the producers placed "documents and official records" with the Title Insurance Company of Los Angeles.  I have never been able to determine what these items comprised, and even a letter to the Title Insurance Co. back in the 1970s only resulted in their response that they no longer had any of this material on file.

Yes, we can obviously assume that the producers eventually retrieved this material, but still have no record of the contents.  There may have been some gems there.

 

Cr:  Barry Greenwood