Tammy and the Bachelor; Interlude

Back to our series of 50s soundtracks on 12-inch LPs. Here we have two Frank Skinner scores that haven't reappeared since the original issue in 1957 - odd, considering that the theme music from Tammy and the Bachelor was quite a big hit for Debbie Reynolds, who played the title character.

The Tammy theme and lyrics were actually the handiwork of the inescapable Livingston and Evans, not Skinner. As was noted by Carevaggio in a recent comment, Universal had a collaborative culture where several composers might contribute to the final product.

In that regard, Soundtrackcollector.com suggests that Henry Mancini was involved in the Interlude score, but there is no evidence of that on the record. Also no indication of who is playing the piano part.

I'm particularly fond of the cover of this LP; actually two covers, as sometimes happened with soundtrack albums of this vintage. A nice photo of the young Reynolds above. Below we have Rossano Brazzi looked ardent and June Allyson looking unconscious.

As a bonus, I've included the McGuire Sisters' hit recording of the Interlude theme.

Note (July 2025): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo. There also is a separate track devoted to Reynolds' singing of the Tammy theme.

LINK to ambient stereo remastering

Written on the Wind; Four Girls in Town

One more in our ongoing series of Hollywood soundtracks from the 1950s on 12-inch LPs. This one brings together several of the biggest names in film scoring.

The music for Written on the Wind seems to have been written by committee. The main theme, here in a pseudoemotive version by the Four Aces, is by Victor Young, with words from that lyric machine Sammy Cahn. The "background music," which presumably means everything else, is by Frank Skinner. Everything, that is, except for the Nacio Herb Brown standard Temptation, which gets inserted here and there.

The real attraction, at least for me, is the other side of the record, which contains a composition called Rhapsody for Four Girls in Town, based on Alex North's music for the movie. The sleeve gives an orchestration credit to the young composer Henry Mancini. Playing the piano is yet another notable, Andre Previn. The music has echoes of everything from Bernstein's West Side Story music to Copland and Gershwin, all in the characteristic Mancini sound of the period. Most enjoyable.

Short technical note: this record says it was processed with the RIAA curve. True on the first side, but not on the second. That side sounds shrill when you play it back that way. I have corrected for that anomaly - clever, eh?

REMASTERED VERSION

Magnificent Obsession

Had a request for this one from Dylan over at Franklynot. He has developed a thing for Frank Skinner's scores for some of those overripe 50s dramas.

So here is the music from Magnificent Obsession, with a cover featuring Rock Hudson's magnificent compression against Jane Wyman's chest. In this score, Skinner riffs on themes from some fellows named Beethoven, Chopin, and Johann Strauss.

The story is a soupy one, with Rock as a drunken playboy who becomes a great surgeon after causing the Jane's husband to die and Jane to go blind. A contrite Rock operates and restores Jane's sight. I think there is a sequel called Magnificent Resurrection in which Rock brings the husband back to life, but maybe I am imagining that.