I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.

Tom was Dusty's brother. He wrote for The Seekers after his sister broke
up The Springfields trio and went solo.

The Wikipedia pages says he wrote his last song in 1970.

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>
> Tom was Dusty's brother. He wrote for The Seekers after his sister broke
> up The Springfields trio and went solo.
>
> The Wikipedia pages says he wrote his last song in 1970.
>

I am so confused. I’ve read his wiki and the wiki for the Springfields
a.k.a. the Springfield Trio and his sisters wiki and they all conflict. I
can’t figure out why the hell they called themselves the Springfields! One
wiki says Dusty took the name Springfield when she joined the trio but
another says she was already using the name Springfield before she joined
the trio. And then years after he retired he actually legally changed his
name to Springfield.

I do like that after about a decade after he quit the business another
member of the more than three that were in the trio launched the
Springfield Revival which was a more modern take on their music with Mike
Flynn on the kazoo.

At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:

https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA

https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

In article
<1893301200.682788730.737893.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com>,
anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> > I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
> > discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
> > several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
> >
> > Tom was Dusty's brother. He wrote for The Seekers after his sister broke
> > up The Springfields trio and went solo.
> >
> > The Wikipedia pages says he wrote his last song in 1970.
> >
>
> I am so confused. I¹ve read his wiki and the wiki for the Springfields
> a.k.a. the Springfield Trio and his sisters wiki and they all conflict. I
> can¹t figure out why the hell they called themselves the Springfields! One
> wiki says Dusty took the name Springfield when she joined the trio but
> another says she was already using the name Springfield before she joined
> the trio. And then years after he retired he actually legally changed his
> name to Springfield.
>
> I do like that after about a decade after he quit the business another
> member of the more than three that were in the trio launched the
> Springfield Revival which was a more modern take on their music with Mike
> Flynn on the kazoo.
>
> At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>
> https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>
> https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ

I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
for getting rid of that theme song. The series had two problems: That
theme song, of course, and the portrayal of Steve Austin as some weepy
jerk who was depressed about being bionic because he felt himself to be
less of a man for it. (This was the way he was in the original novel,
but it just didn't work for TV.) The president of ABC was a big fan
because he wanted to boost the idea of creating actual bionic parts for
people.

Steve Austin had to be turned from a weepy jerk into a superhero. I
think they did it in one episode, simply by ignoring their own
backstory. Easy fix.

anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>>I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.

>>Tom was Dusty's brother. He wrote for The Seekers after his sister broke
>>up The Springfields trio and went solo.

>>The Wikipedia pages says he wrote his last song in 1970.

>I am so confused. I've read his wiki and the wiki for the Springfields
>a.k.a. the Springfield Trio and his sisters wiki and they all conflict. I
>can't figure out why the hell they called themselves the Springfields! One
>wiki says Dusty took the name Springfield when she joined the trio but
>another says she was already using the name Springfield before she joined
>the trio.

So Tom didn't think it up? She was already singing professionally before
teaming up with her brother?

>And then years after he retired he actually legally changed his
>name to Springfield.

Yeah. What bother if you aren't performing or even in the music
business any more?

>I do like that after about a decade after he quit the business another
>member of the more than three that were in the trio launched the
>Springfield Revival which was a more modern take on their music with Mike
>Flynn on the kazoo.

Hah!

>At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:

>https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA

Jaw drop

What were they thinking?

>https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ

I can't get this to play through.

I thought you were going to give us Bacharach and David. This sounds
like the arrangement as used in the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaF3VIqZhSs

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> In article
> <1893301200.682788730.737893.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com>,
> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>>>
>>> Tom was Dusty's brother. He wrote for The Seekers after his sister broke
>>> up The Springfields trio and went solo.
>>>
>>> The Wikipedia pages says he wrote his last song in 1970.
>>>
>>
>> I am so confused. I¹ve read his wiki and the wiki for the Springfields
>> a.k.a. the Springfield Trio and his sisters wiki and they all conflict. I
>> can¹t figure out why the hell they called themselves the Springfields! One
>> wiki says Dusty took the name Springfield when she joined the trio but
>> another says she was already using the name Springfield before she joined
>> the trio. And then years after he retired he actually legally changed his
>> name to Springfield.
>>
>> I do like that after about a decade after he quit the business another
>> member of the more than three that were in the trio launched the
>> Springfield Revival which was a more modern take on their music with Mike
>> Flynn on the kazoo.
>>
>> At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>>
>> https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>>
>> https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ
>
>
> I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
> for getting rid of that theme song. The series had two problems: That
> theme song, of course, and the portrayal of Steve Austin as some weepy
> jerk who was depressed about being bionic because he felt himself to be
> less of a man for it. (This was the way he was in the original novel,
> but it just didn't work for TV.) The president of ABC was a big fan
> because he wanted to boost the idea of creating actual bionic parts for
> people.
>
> Steve Austin had to be turned from a weepy jerk into a superhero. I
> think they did it in one episode, simply by ignoring their own
> backstory. Easy fix.
>

Yeah they just tossed out the pilot movie when they went into production.
You never saw canon shredded quite so viciously.

Weepy guy is the first movie, based on the book cyborg, generally dial
referred to as the 6 million Dollar Man I believe it only exists in a one
hour version they play as the first episode of the series with the title
the moon and the desert.

It had Barbara Anderson as the love interest Nurse, Darren McGavin as the
prototype evil Oscar Goldman character, and Martin balsam as Rudy Wells.
They went out of their way to impress upon the audience that Steve Austin
was a civilian and absolutely positively no way military.

Then suddenly he comes back in the TV movie wine, women, and war. No longer
weepy, this is also where he picks up the dusty Springfield theme song as
well as becoming aggressively military. Barbara Anderson is long gone and
in a later episode when they sort of revived her character it was not only
a different actress but a different character name and she’s been having
the sweet smoochies with another bionic man. Richard (no Dean) Anderson is
Oscar Goldman and he’s always been in charge of the project. Rudy Wells is
simply recast. Now Steve is suddenly a suave wisecracking James Bond want
to be super spy. But he’s hampered with stock footage from Ice Station
Zebra in the wrong aspect ratio and some of the stupidest writing ever put
on a TV screen. He’s fighting the evil Victor from one of Ian‘s soap
operas, On a small Caribbean island. To defeat the evil Victor, Steve sets
off an atomic bomb. On a small densely inhabited friendly Caribbean island.
And he picks up Britt Ekland and out runs the blast at 60 miles an hour.
Not to mention getting ducky McCallum killed. I was amazed there was ever
another episode.

But there was a third movie, the solid gold kidnapping. This one was sort
of halfway between the second movie and the series, while ripping off
intact a movie from a couple years earlier, Housers memory, which somewhat
ironically starred ducky McCollum! This was the last time we’d hear Dusty‘s
theme.

Did I mention I watched all these fairly recently?

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

>. . .

>>At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:

>>https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA

>Jaw drop

>What were they thinking?

>>https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ

Oh. It finally cooperated.

Music and lyrics by Glen A. Larson explains everything. I hope Dusty
made a ton of money for singing that dreck.

>I can't get this to play through.

>I thought you were going to give us Bacharach and David. This sounds
>like the arrangement as used in the movie.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaF3VIqZhSs

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>>> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>
>>> Tom was Dusty's brother. He wrote for The Seekers after his sister broke
>>> up The Springfields trio and went solo.
>
>>> The Wikipedia pages says he wrote his last song in 1970.
>
>> I am so confused. I've read his wiki and the wiki for the Springfields
>> a.k.a. the Springfield Trio and his sisters wiki and they all conflict. I
>> can't figure out why the hell they called themselves the Springfields! One
>> wiki says Dusty took the name Springfield when she joined the trio but
>> another says she was already using the name Springfield before she joined
>> the trio.
>
> So Tom didn't think it up? She was already singing professionally before
> teaming up with her brother?

Sounds like. She might not have been doing lead vocals though.

>
>> And then years after he retired he actually legally changed his
>> name to Springfield.
>
> Yeah. What bother if you aren't performing or even in the music
> business any more?
>
>> I do like that after about a decade after he quit the business another
>> member of the more than three that were in the trio launched the
>> Springfield Revival which was a more modern take on their music with Mike
>> Flynn on the kazoo.
>
> Hah!
>
>> At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>
>> https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>
> Jaw drop
>
> What were they thinking?
>
>> https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ
>
> I can't get this to play through.
>

It’s the end theme, played over a freeze-frame of the atomic bomb killing
everyone on the friendly Caribbean island.

> I thought you were going to give us Bacharach and David. This sounds
> like the arrangement as used in the movie.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaF3VIqZhSs
>

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

In article <tdshf3$296ki$3@dont-email.me>, ahk@chinet.com wrote:

>I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.

For all my life, I thought Georgy Girl was an upbeat mid-60's song, until I
saw the movie. Wow, was I wrong!

--
Let's go Brandon!

Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
> In article <tdshf3$296ki$3@dont-email.me>, ahk@chinet.com wrote:
>
>> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>
> For all my life, I thought Georgy Girl was an upbeat mid-60's song, until I
> saw the movie. Wow, was I wrong!

Both it and waltzing Matilda are soul crashers, aren’t they?

>
> --
> Let's go Brandon!
>
>

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

anim8rfsk@cox.net wrote:
> Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
>> In article <tdshf3$296ki$3@dont-email.me>, ahk@chinet.com wrote:

>>> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>>
>> For all my life, I thought Georgy Girl was an upbeat mid-60's song, until
>> I saw the movie. Wow, was I wrong!
>
>Both it and waltzing Matilda are soul crushers, aren't they?

I am not sure I ever heard the latter, although I remember seeing a movie on
TV in which the abusive father/boyfriend sang that song when he was about to
beat the crap out of her. Well, I think that was what he sang.

Yeah, "soul crushing" is a good word for it.

--
Let's go Brandon!

anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
>>ahk@chinet.com wrote:

>>>I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>>discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>>several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.

>>For all my life, I thought Georgy Girl was an upbeat mid-60's song, until I
>>saw the movie. Wow, was I wrong!

>Both it and waltzing Matilda are soul crashers, aren't they?

I think Georgy Girl is a terrific movie. It's nasty and sarcastic.
Charlotte Rampling, Lynn Redgrave's roommate, has a baby she doesn't
want with a man who maybe wants the kid but she doesn't want him. Lynn
Redgrave is desperate to be a mother but doesn't want to date and has no
intention of making herself look like she doesn't enjoy being a doormat.
Meanwhile, her father is chauffeur to James Mason. For no particular
reason, Mason likes Redgrave and kind of "buys" her from her father.
Redgrave doesn't want to be married to her father's employer but gets to
keep the baby after Rampling fled.

It's a comedy.

As I said, the song is rather different in the movie than in concert
versions. The lyrics are much more sarcastic, especially over the
closing titles.

On Mon, 22 Aug 2022 14:28:07 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
wrote:

>Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
>> In article <tdshf3$296ki$3@dont-email.me>, ahk@chinet.com wrote:
>>
>>> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>>
>> For all my life, I thought Georgy Girl was an upbeat mid-60's song, until I
>> saw the movie. Wow, was I wrong!
>
>Both it and waltzing Matilda are soul crashers, aren’t they?

I dunno about that but no question until I went to Youtube to look it
up I confused Waltzing Matilda and "And the band played Waltzing
Matilda" which is a TOTALLY different tune (and in my opinion worth
listening to if you haven't heard it though if you don't know about
Gallipoli you might not get it)

The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Aug 2022 14:28:07 -0700, anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
>>> In article <tdshf3$296ki$3@dont-email.me>, ahk@chinet.com wrote:
>>>
>>>> I just read of the death of Tom Springfield. Given that we were
>>>> discussing The Seekers in the Judith Durham thread, he's the writer of
>>>> several of their hit songs, including the theme from Georgy Girl.
>>>
>>> For all my life, I thought Georgy Girl was an upbeat mid-60's song, until I
>>> saw the movie. Wow, was I wrong!
>>
>> Both it and waltzing Matilda are soul crashers, aren’t they?
>
> I dunno about that but no question until I went to Youtube to look it
> up I confused Waltzing Matilda and "And the band played Waltzing
> Matilda" which is a TOTALLY different tune (and in my opinion worth
> listening to if you haven't heard it though if you don't know about
> Gallipoli you might not get it)
>

Lol

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> writes:

> In article
> <1893301200.682788730.737893.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com>,
> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

>> At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>>
>> https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>>
>> https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ
>
> I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
> for getting rid of that theme song.

"Words & Music: Glen Larson"

Did he really fancy himself a songwriter, or was he just looking for a
way to get another paycheck from the series?

What was your role in scraping the song into the dustbin?

-Micky

Micky DuPree <MDuPree@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote:
>A Friend <nope@noway.com> writes:
>>anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

>>>At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:

>>>https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA

>>>https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ

>>I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
>>for getting rid of that theme song.

>"Words & Music: Glen Larson"

>Did he really fancy himself a songwriter, or was he just looking for a
>way to get another paycheck from the series?

Of course it was an additional paycheck. Being credited with lyrics
entitles one to residuals even when they aren't performed. Merv Griffin
is no dummy. I'll bet he also wrote lyrics to the Jeopardy! theme so no
one else could come along later to claim those residuals.

Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
I'll bet that too had lyrics.

>What was your role in scraping the song into the dustbin?

In article <tf07i8$2ut4n$3@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
<ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

> Micky DuPree <MDuPree@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote:
> >A Friend <nope@noway.com> writes:
> >>anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>
> >>>At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>
> >>>https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>
> >>>https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ
>
> >>I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
> >>for getting rid of that theme song.
>
> >"Words & Music: Glen Larson"
>
> >Did he really fancy himself a songwriter, or was he just looking for a
> >way to get another paycheck from the series?
>
> Of course it was an additional paycheck. Being credited with lyrics
> entitles one to residuals even when they aren't performed. Merv Griffin
> is no dummy. I'll bet he also wrote lyrics to the Jeopardy! theme so no
> one else could come along later to claim those residuals.

In those days, he could not have copyrighted the song without lyrics.
Here are some of them:

We're in trouble ‹ trouble deep!
We're imperiled and endangered.
We're in trouble, yes indeed,
We are all in Jeopardy!

Sting wrote his own lyrics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Id7TYubBE

> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
> I'll bet that too had lyrics.

It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
"It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.

> >What was your role in scraping the song into the dustbin?

We're talking about T$6MM, right? I worked in the literary rights
department, right next to broadcast standards. We were kind of a tight
group, and all it took was me saying "it sucks" and them saying "you're
right, let's dump it." (Most of what we did was for Movies of the Week
and that late-night thing ABC used to do when they weren't doing
Cavett.) I was seen as representative of 21-year-olds the world round.
This is only one of the reasons TV sucked back then.

I had a few fixes for the show, the most important one of which was to
make Steve Austin a superhero instead of a weepy putz who was forever
in a state of mourning over the loss of an eye and three limbs. They'd
turned him into Superman, for gawd's sake, and yet here he was, crying
about it. Steve should have been having the time of his life. In any
case, the show was dying so they put in the changes, and the show began
gaining audience. They even got a couple of spinoffs out of it. I
thought Lee Majors was great in the role -- beefy, quiet, stolid, just
the right guy for it.

I still wish I'd met Lindsay Wagner.

The president of ABC believed in bionics and wanted to popularize the
idea. Simply put, he wanted to help people. That was a much more
important factor in the show's survival.

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> Micky DuPree <MDuPree@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote:
>> A Friend <nope@noway.com> writes:
>>> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>
>>>> At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>
>>>> https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>
>>>> https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ
>
>>> I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
>>> for getting rid of that theme song.
>
>> "Words & Music: Glen Larson"
>
>> Did he really fancy himself a songwriter, or was he just looking for a
>> way to get another paycheck from the series?
>
> Of course it was an additional paycheck. Being credited with lyrics
> entitles one to residuals even when they aren't performed. Merv Griffin
> is no dummy. I'll bet he also wrote lyrics to the Jeopardy! theme so no
> one else could come along later to claim those residuals.
>
> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
> I'll bet that too had lyrics.
>
>> What was your role in scraping the song into the dustbin?
>

How did Johnny Mercer get dragged into this?

https://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/thetonightshowlyrics.html

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> In article <tf07i8$2ut4n$3@dont-email.me>, Adam H. Kerman
> <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>> Micky DuPree <MDuPree@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote:
>>> A Friend <nope@noway.com> writes:
>>>> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>>
>>>>> At least we can all agree on her greatest musical triumph:
>>
>>>>> https://youtu.be/03V1qxAjIlA
>>
>>>>> https://youtu.be/HLZpebCmplQ
>>
>>>> I'm afraid that I was somewhat responsible during my brief time at ABC
>>>> for getting rid of that theme song.
>>
>>> "Words & Music: Glen Larson"
>>
>>> Did he really fancy himself a songwriter, or was he just looking for a
>>> way to get another paycheck from the series?
>>
>> Of course it was an additional paycheck. Being credited with lyrics
>> entitles one to residuals even when they aren't performed. Merv Griffin
>> is no dummy. I'll bet he also wrote lyrics to the Jeopardy! theme so no
>> one else could come along later to claim those residuals.
>
>
> In those days, he could not have copyrighted the song without lyrics.
> Here are some of them:
>
> We're in trouble ‹ trouble deep!
> We're imperiled and endangered.
> We're in trouble, yes indeed,
> We are all in Jeopardy!
>
>
> Sting wrote his own lyrics:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Id7TYubBE
>
>
>
>> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
>> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
>> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
>> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
>> I'll bet that too had lyrics.
>
>
> It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
> Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
> Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
> really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
> "It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
> rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
> top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
> the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.
>
>
>>> What was your role in scraping the song into the dustbin?
>
>
> We're talking about T$6MM, right? I worked in the literary rights
> department, right next to broadcast standards. We were kind of a tight
> group, and all it took was me saying "it sucks" and them saying "you're
> right, let's dump it." (Most of what we did was for Movies of the Week
> and that late-night thing ABC used to do when they weren't doing
> Cavett.) I was seen as representative of 21-year-olds the world round.
> This is only one of the reasons TV sucked back then.
>
> I had a few fixes for the show, the most important one of which was to
> make Steve Austin a superhero instead of a weepy putz who was forever
> in a state of mourning over the loss of an eye and three limbs. They'd
> turned him into Superman, for gawd's sake, and yet here he was, crying
> about it. Steve should have been having the time of his life. In any
> case, the show was dying so they put in the changes, and the show began
> gaining audience. They even got a couple of spinoffs out of it. I
> thought Lee Majors was great in the role -- beefy, quiet, stolid, just
> the right guy for it.
>
> I still wish I'd met Lindsay Wagner.
>
> The president of ABC believed in bionics and wanted to popularize the
> idea. Simply put, he wanted to help people. That was a much more
> important factor in the show's survival.
>

Cool

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

A Friend wrote:
>Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

>>Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
>>that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
>>absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
>>Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
>>I'll bet that too had lyrics.

>It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
>Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
>Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
>really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
>"It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
>rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
>top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
>the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.

My error. Yes, Paul Anka not Johnny Mercer.

Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> A Friend wrote:
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>
>>> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
>>> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
>>> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
>>> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
>>> I'll bet that too had lyrics.
>
>> It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
>> Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
>> Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
>> really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
>> "It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
>> rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
>> top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
>> the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.
>
> My error. Yes, Paul Anka not Johnny Mercer.
>

I tried to get some number for what Anka would make. But all the figures
I’ve seen are ridiculous. I’ve seen that his own blog supposedly claims the
song played 1,400,000 times. And that he gets as low as 25% and as high as
50%. But a nightly playing for 40 years would be more like 10,000 times.
And I’ve seen numbers as low as 10 bucks and as high as 1000 bucks per
play. So that range is so vast as to be pointless. Which won’t stop me
from doing the math and posting it here.

so multiplying the low numbers together gives us $25,000.
multiplying the high numbers together gives us $700 million.

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

In article
<1407408978.684020218.464534.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com>,
anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:

> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> > A Friend wrote:
> >> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
> >
> >>> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
> >>> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
> >>> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
> >>> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
> >>> I'll bet that too had lyrics.
> >
> >> It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
> >> Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
> >> Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
> >> really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
> >> "It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
> >> rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
> >> top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
> >> the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.
> >
> > My error. Yes, Paul Anka not Johnny Mercer.
> >
>
> I tried to get some number for what Anka would make. But all the figures
> I¹ve seen are ridiculous. I¹ve seen that his own blog supposedly claims the
> song played 1,400,000 times. And that he gets as low as 25% and as high as
> 50%. But a nightly playing for 40 years would be more like 10,000 times.
> And I¹ve seen numbers as low as 10 bucks and as high as 1000 bucks per
> play. So that range is so vast as to be pointless. Which won¹t stop me
> from doing the math and posting it here.
>
> so multiplying the low numbers together gives us $25,000.
> multiplying the high numbers together gives us $700 million.

The last time I heard, which was a long time ago, Anka and Carson were
splitting about $83 per play.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> In article
> <1407408978.684020218.464534.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com>,
> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>> A Friend wrote:
>>>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
>>>>> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
>>>>> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
>>>>> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
>>>>> I'll bet that too had lyrics.
>>>
>>>> It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
>>>> Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
>>>> Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
>>>> really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
>>>> "It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
>>>> rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
>>>> top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
>>>> the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.
>>>
>>> My error. Yes, Paul Anka not Johnny Mercer.
>>>
>>
>> I tried to get some number for what Anka would make. But all the figures
>> I¹ve seen are ridiculous. I¹ve seen that his own blog supposedly claims the
>> song played 1,400,000 times. And that he gets as low as 25% and as high as
>> 50%. But a nightly playing for 40 years would be more like 10,000 times.
>> And I¹ve seen numbers as low as 10 bucks and as high as 1000 bucks per
>> play. So that range is so vast as to be pointless. Which won¹t stop me
>> from doing the math and posting it here.
>>
>> so multiplying the low numbers together gives us $25,000.
>> multiplying the high numbers together gives us $700 million.
>
>
> The last time I heard, which was a long time ago, Anka and Carson were
> splitting about $83 per play.
>

And what counts as a play? Opening theme first run certainly. But do they
use the theme for the end credits? Does that double it up? And then we’ve
got encore airings.

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.

A Friend <nope@noway.com> wrote:
> In article
> <1407408978.684020218.464534.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com>,
> anim8rfsk <anim8rfsk@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>> A Friend wrote:
>>>> Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Johnny Carson notoriously had a credit for the Tonight Show theme song
>>>>> that was played during the long era in which he hosted. He had
>>>>> absolutely nothing to do with writing it other than forcing Johnny
>>>>> Mercer to give up a large portion of the residuals he was entitled to.
>>>>> I'll bet that too had lyrics.
>>>
>>>> It was 1962 and they were still putting together the Tonight Show for
>>>> Carson. One day, Paul Anka sees Carson walking along on 57th St. in
>>>> Manhattan and says, hi, Johnny, I've got a theme for you. It was
>>>> really an instrumental version of a song Anka had written for Annette,
>>>> "It's Only Love, Dear." Anka gave Carson co-credit (and half the
>>>> rights and $$$) in return for Carson performing the drum solo at the
>>>> top. It was a smart move. A few years ago, someone put the return of
>>>> the song at $8 million in residuals and counting.
>>>
>>> My error. Yes, Paul Anka not Johnny Mercer.
>>>
>>
>> I tried to get some number for what Anka would make. But all the figures
>> I¹ve seen are ridiculous. I¹ve seen that his own blog supposedly claims the
>> song played 1,400,000 times. And that he gets as low as 25% and as high as
>> 50%. But a nightly playing for 40 years would be more like 10,000 times.
>> And I¹ve seen numbers as low as 10 bucks and as high as 1000 bucks per
>> play. So that range is so vast as to be pointless. Which won¹t stop me
>> from doing the math and posting it here.
>>
>> so multiplying the low numbers together gives us $25,000.
>> multiplying the high numbers together gives us $700 million.
>
>
> The last time I heard, which was a long time ago, Anka and Carson were
> splitting about $83 per play.
>

And who gets Carson’s cut since he’s long dead? Does it get split between
the survivors like a tontine?

--
The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.