= PREMIER POPS =

Intro/Listening to Mancini - A Glorious Career -
Personality and Private Life - Pieces Performed -

A Glorious Career:

Perhaps the best way to approach a deeper understanding of Henry Mancini's music is to look at his background.

He was born on April 16, 1924, in Cleveland, Ohio, but he grew up in the steel town of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, living with his father, Quinto, and his mother, Anna. Aliquippa has a special place in his heart even today. His father was a good flutist and he taught his eight-year-old son how to play the instrument.

This was Henry's introduction to music. At the age of twelve, the boy started to learn the piano. In a few years, he became very interested in arranging, and this called for a proper music instructor. The position was filled by Max Adkins, conductor and arranger for the house orchestra at the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh.

Soon after graduation from Aliquippa High School, Mancini enrolled in New York's Juilliard School of Music. It was the autumn of 1942. However, only one year later, he was called to serve in the Air Force and later in the Infantry, finally doing duty at a US base in Europe.

As soon as he was demobbed in 1945, Mancini joined the Glenn Miller-Tex Beneke Orchestra as a pianist-arranger. It was then that he met his true love, Ginny O'Connor, who was singing with the band - in those days all the big bands had their own vocalists. Previously she had been one of the original members of Mel Torme's popular "Mel Tones" singing group. Ginny and Henry married in 1947 - they now live in Holmby Hills, California, with their three children (one son and two daughters).

Even after starting work, Mancini never stopped studying music under the guidance of private tutors: composers Ernst Krenek, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Dr. Alfred Sendry. In 1952, he joined the mucic department of Universal-International Studios, and in the following six years he contributed to over 100 films - including The Glenn Miller Story, The Benny Goodman Story, and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.

It was shortly after leaving the Studios that Mancini gained public acclaim: the score he wrote for the TV series Peter Gunn caused a sensation and was nominated for an Emmy Award. At that time, scores featuring a jazz idiom were rare. The producer-director for the Peter Gunn series was Blake Edwards, and it was from this time that they came to know each other both as professional colleagues and as friends. This winning combination of director and composer - which is still going strong - bore fruit in the famous Pink Panther series, and more recently in Blind Date, starring Bruce Willis & Kim Basinger.

In 1958, the album The Music from Peter Gunn was released by RCA Victor, earning Mancini a gold record. It also won two Grammys - as Album of the Year and Best Arrangement of the Year.

Then in 1960, the album Music from Mr. Lucky became an unqualified success; it garnered another two Grammys for Mancini - Best Arrangement and Best Performance by an Orchestra. This "Mr. Lucky" is unrelated to the 1943 film of the same title (starring Cary Grant); it was a TV series broadcast by CBS from October 1959 to September 1960. Another work of Blake Edwards, it was about a gambler on a ship. On this theme, Mancini produced two albums, Music from Mr. Lucky and Mr. Lucky Goes Latin. In the same year, the album The Blues and the Beat was also released and won a Grammy Award.

Billboard Magazine chose the Mr. Lucky album The Blues and the Beat was also released and won a Grammy Award.

Jazz Poll voted Mancini leader of the All-Star Orchestra 6 times - in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970.

The major film collaborations between Mancini and Edwards include High Time, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, The Pink Panther, The Great Race, What Did You Do in the War. Daddy?, Gunn, 10, Victor/Victoria, S.O.B. and Blind Date. Mancini has also produced some excellent work with director Stanley Donen in such films as Charade, Two for the Road and Arabesque.

Although many of his films are light comedy, Mancini has also composed for several serious, dramatic films. He was invited to Italy by Vittorio De Sica to compose for Sunflower, and he also wrote scores for Martin Ritt's Molly Maguires, Ralph Nelson's Soldier in the Rain and Paul Newman's Sometimes A Great Notion. Nevertheless, he is often associated with the kind of jovial scores found in Howard Hawks' Hatari! and George Roy Hill's The Great Waldo Pepper.

In 1961 and 1962, Mancini was awarded Oscars for Best Song - "Moon River" and "Days of Wine and Roses", respectively. One can guess from this just how big an impact he had on the film industry and music world. In 1983 he was awarded yet another Oscar by the Academy, this time for Best Original Song Score, from Victor/Victoria.

In 1984, Henry Mancini attained No. 1 position in the classical music charts with Mamma, which he recorded with Luciano Pavarotti. This album, which is a virtuoso display of his talents, achieved gold status in Italy.

And the honours continue: on April 20. 1988, Mancini was awarded the Golden Soundtrack Award for lifetime achievement by the American Society of Composers. Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) at its 3rd Film & Television Music Awards banquet. Held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the black-tie event was attended by 700 members of the film, TV and music business who came to see the legendary composer accept the ASCAP award.

Looking back on this career, one cannot help being astonished by the sheer weight of Mancini's accomplishments. In fact, it would be almost impossible to detail all his achievements. But despite this, he has the most mildmannered personality, something which is communicated to his many fans via his appearances on television in such programmes as The Mancini Generation (30 mins.), Mancini and Friends (PBS) and other specials.

- Moto Kono
(April, 1988)
Translated by Andrew J. L. Armour