Anyone old enough to recall the insidious theme song for Chatter's World- the syndicated voice-overed chimpanzee kiddy comedy shorts series- likely requires digital de-aging of their arteries
On the original post's comments, I forgot to include the theme for the Monkees. I especially love the use of "For Pete's Sake" as the closing theme with the original closing's visuals during season 2.
One of my favorites from that era was the theme to "How The West Was Won", James Arness' post-Gunsmoke TV series where he plays mountain man Zeb Macahan. When I'm on a motorcycle trip out west in places like Utah, that's the music I hear in my head.
This Monday, I will observe my 69th birthday (aaarrrggghhh!). I remember Chatter's World - in its original run on WBKB-TV, Channel 7, the ABC owned-and-operated station in Chicago, on Saturday mornings. Chatter's World was mainly a live show; Chatter would run around the sets, which were set up to be … well, something, and off-camera, staff announcer Ronny Born would ad-lib like crazy, following along with the chimp, while a bewildered young man named Murray Hill valiantly attempted to control the proceedings. The film segments came up, two to an hour, to enable the Channel 7 crew to put up the sets for the next live segment. Up to the present day, I was unaware that WBKB had syndicated the film spots; as far as I knew, Chatter the Chimp was Chicago's Very Own, exclusively. (Side Note: during this year, Channel 7 was running a series of print ads about the various Chicago personalities who had their own shows on the station - including bookseller Stuart Brent, pundit Norman Ross, popular Polish personality Bob Lewandowski, Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, kid show stars Jim Stewart and Terry Bennett, some magazine publisher named Hugh Hefner … and Chatter the Chimp. Local TV - those were the days!) Any The Hoo, thanks for the YouTube directions. (Noting that the films seem to have been saved and posted by Ronny Born's daughter (I think; correction welcomed if needed).)
Oh … and yes, I can still sing that song (God have mercy...).
Fans of late 60s/early 70s detective shows should check out Cowboy Bebop. Trust me on this one. Great opening titles. Great (and surprisingly approachable) show.
Ken, as a fellow fan of World War II films, have you seen the trailer for Midway? So disappointing. Roland Emmerich has made some entertaining, if corny, films in the past, but this looks like a feature length video game. It just looks dreadful. His early films like Stargate and Independence Day had stunning practical effects. Midway is just awash in terrible CGI. Digital explosions in a film are unforgiveable.
Looking back, Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor doesn't seem so bad.
I still will give another vote for Barney Miller..and whomever voted for Perfect Strangers..Thanks a bunch...that is a true guilty pleasure show of mine... Also, another great theme that still is spooky 30 years later is Unsolved Mysteries.. https://youtu.be/OwAG-DnWhiY
I always liked the glimpses of multi-cam, studio-bound sitcom characters in the "real world." I always wondered who the lucky guy was escorting Mary Richards on a date in the Mary Tyler Moore Show open.
Yes, thanks for including "Dallas." I worked on the show for eight years and always looked forward to viewing every answer print and the shows on broadcast nights, in part, just to hear that magnificent theme by Jerrold Immel. I've wanted to download it as my ringtone but haven't figured out how to do it safely. Sigh.
Lori, that's awesome that you worked on Dallas. It was part of my childhood. I was such a huge fan of Larry Hagman. I'm also a huge fan of Patrick Duffy. I saw him in a play in London and he was fantastic.
For the ringtone, I just tested this site and it works. https://www.redringtones.com/dallas-theme-song/
1. Congratulations (up to a point) on your birthday! I am, of course, decades younger, but look 79. 2. It seems Chatter conquered the Eastern stations, as well as Chicago's WBKB [now WLS-Channel 7). Wonder if he ever made it to the West Coast to challenge Bonzo's hegemony. 3. One of Brent's bookstore's last grand gasps was a joint appearance of Claire Bloom and former customer Philip Roth. =======================================================================
BACK TO THEME SONGS
Comedy short subject series (precursors to the TV sitcoms) often had their own themes.
The Three Stooges, after Punch Drunks, tried Pop Goes The Weasel, and then used https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5a45f1uy80
Edgar Kennedy had Chopsticks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNY6ypKJTyw
Marvin Hatley talks here of his Laurel & Hardy theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3LzeeicZtE
This season, LAW & ORDER SVU began its 21st season, thus breaking GUNSMOKE's record as the longest-running scripted drama series. It reminds me of a story I heard and have long wondered if it is true.
According to the story, when Kelsey Grammer began his 20th season playing Frasier Crane, he suggested inviting James Arness to appear on an episode of FRASIER, as an homage to Arness's having played Marshal Dillon for 20 years. The offer went out and Arness allegedly responded, "Kelsey Grammer can go f*** himself."
Always liked this one. Flambards was one of those very British seventies BBC-to-PBS series, but the theme is somehow both sedate and weird. I hear whistling, theremin, hand drums, horns, piano, and probably more. Always loved the voice quietly going "mahm."
The already-noted Perry Mason theme went through a few permutations during the show’s long run- one version, if I recall, had a strip tease instrumentation. Here, the composer tells how another tunesmith was approached to replace it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_3YcLrXuZI
One of the more famous TV themes- not yet referenced - was titled “Funeral March Of A Marionette” and was written by Charles Gounod back in 1872. To hear the theme, and learn of its usage by Laurel and Hardy Disney Murnau and Harold Lloyd: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_March_of_a_Marionette
I love these. Show themes are often BETTER than the show. One of my favorite in the 'big band for kids' category. (We all loved jazz as we grew up, wonder why?) is the theme for Jonny Quest!
Thanks for sharing these Ken but I just discovered something that made the theme tune to the classic British series "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em", by Ronnie Hazlehurst, my favourite. It features two piccolos spelling out the title in Morse code, excluding the apostrophes:
If you enjoy all these theme songs, they get played on a radio station in Chicago. MeTV FM (87.7 FM if you are in chicago, and your radio can tune that low). You can also stream it https://metv.fm/ They have celebrity intros for the theme songs, like Dawn Wells introducing Gilligan island, or Jamie Farr introducing the M*A*S*H theme.
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All great, from a time when the cost-cutters didn't fret about lost seconds for commercials.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget John Barry's "Persuaders" theme.
The Persuaders is my all time fave tv theme.
DeleteAnyone old enough to recall the insidious theme song for Chatter's World-
ReplyDeletethe syndicated voice-overed chimpanzee kiddy comedy shorts series-
likely requires digital de-aging of their arteries
http://classicshowbiz.blogspot.com/2013/01/chatters-world-1960.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ooeoSS3Q4
On the original post's comments, I forgot to include the theme for the Monkees. I especially love the use of "For Pete's Sake" as the closing theme with the original closing's visuals during season 2.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorites from that era was the theme to "How The West Was Won", James Arness' post-Gunsmoke TV series where he plays mountain man Zeb Macahan. When I'm on a motorcycle trip out west in places like Utah, that's the music I hear in my head.
ReplyDeleteThe Miami Vice theme reminds me: if you only see one episode of this show, make it "Out Where The Buses Don't Run." (S2 E3)
ReplyDeleteJohn Mankiewicz had a hand in it, and it shows.
I just listened to the F-Troop theme. No reason they couldn't use it today, I'm sure those lyrics would be warmly embraced by a modern audience.
ReplyDeleteone short lived series with a great theme song
ReplyDeleteThe Good Guys
"Let's not forget John Barry's 'Persuaders' theme." - Lemuel
ReplyDeleteWhat a blast from the past! Loved the show and the theme.
Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThis Monday, I will observe my 69th birthday (aaarrrggghhh!).
I remember Chatter's World - in its original run on WBKB-TV, Channel 7, the ABC owned-and-operated station in Chicago, on Saturday mornings.
Chatter's World was mainly a live show; Chatter would run around the sets, which were set up to be … well, something, and off-camera, staff announcer Ronny Born would ad-lib like crazy, following along with the chimp, while a bewildered young man named Murray Hill valiantly attempted to control the proceedings.
The film segments came up, two to an hour, to enable the Channel 7 crew to put up the sets for the next live segment.
Up to the present day, I was unaware that WBKB had syndicated the film spots; as far as I knew, Chatter the Chimp was Chicago's Very Own, exclusively.
(Side Note: during this year, Channel 7 was running a series of print ads about the various Chicago personalities who had their own shows on the station - including bookseller Stuart Brent, pundit Norman Ross, popular Polish personality Bob Lewandowski, Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, kid show stars Jim Stewart and Terry Bennett, some magazine publisher named Hugh Hefner … and Chatter the Chimp. Local TV - those were the days!)
Any The Hoo, thanks for the YouTube directions.
(Noting that the films seem to have been saved and posted by Ronny Born's daughter (I think; correction welcomed if needed).)
Oh … and yes, I can still sing that song (God have mercy...).
Thanks for including Dallas!
ReplyDeleteThe Soap theme is another favourite of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QejBwptSQZc
A while back I did a post on TV themes from the famous for other things, McCartney, Goldsmith, Morricone, etc.
ReplyDeletehttps://observationalepidemiology.blogspot.com/2013/04/weekend-blogging-tv-themes-by-otherwise.html
Also includes the dueling UNCLE themes of Goldsmith and Schifrin
Weigel (MeTV, Decades, H&I) never cuts into the themes. That's one of the reasons I'm a fan.
ReplyDeleteFans of late 60s/early 70s detective shows should check out Cowboy Bebop. Trust me on this one. Great opening titles. Great (and surprisingly approachable) show.
ReplyDeleteKen this is unacceptable...
ReplyDeleteWhere's LOVE BOAT??
'Love, exciting and new, come aboard'...you know you want to sing along, 'we're expecting you and love'...
And I'm not even gonna get into how much you pissed off the monkey from BJ AND THE BEAR.
Totally unacceptable!
Did you watch the new episode of The Good Place? They played the Kars for Kids jingle in Hell.
ReplyDeleteKen, as a fellow fan of World War II films, have you seen the trailer for Midway? So disappointing. Roland Emmerich has made some entertaining, if corny, films in the past, but this looks like a feature length video game. It just looks dreadful. His early films like Stargate and Independence Day had stunning practical effects. Midway is just awash in terrible CGI. Digital explosions in a film are unforgiveable.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor doesn't seem so bad.
I still will give another vote for Barney Miller..and whomever voted for Perfect Strangers..Thanks a bunch...that is a true guilty pleasure show of mine...
ReplyDeleteAlso, another great theme that still is spooky 30 years later is Unsolved Mysteries..
https://youtu.be/OwAG-DnWhiY
Of all the great Western theme songs out there only F Troop gets notice? Pfui, as Nero Wolfe says.
ReplyDeleteI always liked the glimpses of multi-cam, studio-bound sitcom characters in the "real world." I always wondered who the lucky guy was escorting Mary Richards on a date in the Mary Tyler Moore Show open.
ReplyDeleteJames Komack's shows had great theme songs and great talent performing them:
ReplyDelete--Harry Nilsson, "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (ABC, 1969-1972)
--Jose Feliciano, "Chico and the Man" (NBC, 1974-1978)
--John Sebastian, "Welcome Back, Kotter" (ABC, 1975-1979)
Yes, thanks for including "Dallas." I worked on the show for eight years and always looked forward to viewing every answer print and the shows on broadcast nights, in part, just to hear that magnificent theme by Jerrold Immel. I've wanted to download it as my ringtone but haven't figured out how to do it safely. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteLori, that's awesome that you worked on Dallas. It was part of my childhood. I was such a huge fan of Larry Hagman. I'm also a huge fan of Patrick Duffy. I saw him in a play in London and he was fantastic.
DeleteFor the ringtone, I just tested this site and it works.
https://www.redringtones.com/dallas-theme-song/
Agree re The Persuaders theme, fantastic piece of music, and though I've never had any desire to go to America, I now have an urge to drive route 66.
ReplyDeleteAll great choices. My hall of fame nominees are Penn & Teller's Bull**** (seasons 5 through 8) and the ending instrumental to My Name Is Earl.
ReplyDeleteIn school we changed Sherwood Schwartz' "Its About Time" to "Its about time, it's about space...its about your ugly face!"
ReplyDeleteTo Mike Doran from Anonymous:
ReplyDelete1. Congratulations (up to a point) on your birthday! I am, of course, decades younger, but look 79.
2. It seems Chatter conquered the Eastern stations, as well as Chicago's WBKB [now WLS-Channel 7).
Wonder if he ever made it to the West Coast to challenge Bonzo's hegemony.
3. One of Brent's bookstore's last grand gasps was a joint appearance of Claire Bloom and former customer Philip Roth.
=======================================================================
BACK TO THEME SONGS
Comedy short subject series (precursors to the TV sitcoms) often had their own themes.
The Three Stooges, after Punch Drunks, tried Pop Goes The Weasel, and then used
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5a45f1uy80
Edgar Kennedy had Chopsticks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNY6ypKJTyw
Marvin Hatley talks here of his Laurel & Hardy theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3LzeeicZtE
A Friday question...
ReplyDeleteThis season, LAW & ORDER SVU began its 21st season, thus breaking GUNSMOKE's record as the longest-running scripted drama series. It reminds me of a story I heard and have long wondered if it is true.
According to the story, when Kelsey Grammer began his 20th season playing Frasier Crane, he suggested inviting James Arness to appear on an episode of FRASIER, as an homage to Arness's having played Marshal Dillon for 20 years. The offer went out and Arness allegedly responded, "Kelsey Grammer can go f*** himself."
Is there any truth to this?
Dave Creek, I read that the guy escorting Mary was her then husband, Grant Tinker.
ReplyDeletePam, St. Louis
Always liked this one. Flambards was one of those very British seventies BBC-to-PBS series, but the theme is somehow both sedate and weird. I hear whistling, theremin, hand drums, horns, piano, and probably more. Always loved the voice quietly going "mahm."
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/rR8buXUJ-CU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFf85RxteI8
ReplyDeleteWild Wild West --- set a good tone for the show -- half western -- half cheeky comedy.
The already-noted Perry Mason theme went through a few permutations
ReplyDeleteduring the show’s long run- one version, if I recall, had a strip tease instrumentation.
Here, the composer tells how another tunesmith was approached to replace it
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_3YcLrXuZI
One of the more famous TV themes- not yet referenced -
was titled “Funeral March Of A Marionette” and was written
by Charles Gounod back in 1872.
To hear the theme, and learn of its usage by Laurel and Hardy Disney Murnau and Harold Lloyd:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_March_of_a_Marionette
Peter, thanks for the suggested ringtone site. I will give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI liked how the theme from "Branded" told the whole premise in terms that I could understand as a seven-year-old.
ReplyDeleteI love these. Show themes are often BETTER than the show.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite in the 'big band for kids' category. (We all loved jazz as we grew up, wonder why?) is the theme for Jonny Quest!
Thanks for sharing these Ken but I just discovered something that made the theme tune to the classic British series "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em", by Ronnie Hazlehurst, my favourite. It features two piccolos spelling out the title in Morse code, excluding the apostrophes:
ReplyDelete[•••] [― ― ―] [― ―] [•]/ [― ―] [― ― ―] [―] [••••] [•] [•―•] [•••]/ [―••] [― ― ―]/ [•―] [•••―] [•]/ [•] [― ―] /[•―•―•―]
[S] [o] [m] [e]/ [m] [o] [t] [h] [e] [r] [s] / [d] [o] / [a] [v] [e]/ [e] [m] /(full stop)
If you enjoy all these theme songs, they get played on a radio station in Chicago. MeTV FM (87.7 FM if you are in chicago, and your radio can tune that low).
ReplyDeleteYou can also stream it https://metv.fm/
They have celebrity intros for the theme songs, like Dawn Wells introducing Gilligan island, or Jamie Farr introducing the M*A*S*H theme.
Tune it
ReplyDeleteThe theme song to Route 66 is fantastic. It evoked such memories of the glamour of travel and adventure of that era.