new book profiles singer/actress DORIS DAY
Topic: BOOKS
Doris Day by David Bret

Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1924)[1] is an Academy Award nominated, Golden Globe and Grammy Award winning American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Doris Day. A vivacious blonde with a wholesome image, Day was one of the most prolific actresses of the 1950s and 1960s. Able to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of the biggest box-office stars in Hollywood. She has 39 films to her credit, as well as over 75 hours of television work, and has recorded well over 650 songs.
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Topic: Harold Arlen
Arlen wrote such timeless classics as “Stormy Weather,” “I’ve Got the World on a String,” “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Old Black Magic” and “One for My Baby.” But he’s best known for the music from “The Wizard of Oz.” If he’d just written “Over the Rainbow,” he’d have been assured of his place in the Great American Songbook. Arlen was enshrined in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971. He died in 1986 at age 81.

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Topic: Alex Wurman
THE PROMOTION! Soundtrack Features Original Music By Alex Wurman Now Available (June 2, 2008- Los Angeles, CA) - Lakeshore Records will release the original soundtrack for The Promotion in stores on June 10. Alex Wurman (March of the Penguins, Confessions of A Dangerous Mind) composed the music for the film, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX. Some may say that Alex Wurman went into the family business, when he became a composer. His father, Hans Wurman, is an arranger and composer who was a pioneer in electronic music recording on the first Moog synthesizer. He also recorded radio plays featuring well known actors. Alex's exposure to the business, both through his father and other generations of his family who studied and performed music, led him to attend the Academy of Performing Arts High School in Chicago, later studying composition at the University of Miami in Coral Gables and also the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Alex Wurman's critically acclaimed score for the Academy AwardT winning documentary March of the Penguins was integral to the film's commercial success. His next film was for the blockbuster Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby. Equally adept at scoring for comedy as for drama, Wurman's credits also include Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and the recent film Run, Fat Boy, Run The Promotion stars Oscar-nominated actor, John C. Reilly (Chicago, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby) and Seann William Scott (American Pie) who lend their deft comedic touch to the story of two mid-level Chicago supermarket employees Doug and Richard, a dubious new guy from Canada - who compete ruthlessly for a coveted managerial post at a new store location. Doug and Richard could not be more different, but going head-to-head in a contest of wits and will reveals how they have more in common than they once suspected. The film is the directorial debut of Steve Conrad, the writer of the The Pursuit of Happyness. The Weinstein Co. presents The Promotion, in theaters on June 6, 2008.

Topic: Alexander Courage
Alexander (Sandy) Courage, composer of the original Star Trek theme and an Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated arranger for TV and movies, died May 15 at the Sunrise assisted-living facility in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 88 and had been in declining health since 2005. WEB LINKS

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Topic: Harry Gregson-Williams
AWARD WINNING COMPOSER HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS WITH ORIGINAL SONGS PERFORMED BY SWITCHFOOT AND REGINA SPEKTOR **ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK TO BE RELEASED ON MAY 13TH ON WALT DISNEY RECORDS** AVAILABLE HERE (April 29, 2008- Burbank, CA)- Walt Disney Records will release the original soundtrack for Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on May 13, 2008. The recording features score written by award-winning composer Harry Gregson-Williams and songs performed by Switchfoot ("This Is Home"), Regina Spektor ("The Call"), Oren Lavie ("A Dance 'Round The Memory Tree"), and Hanne Hukkelberg ("Lucy"). In 1950, the scholar, critic and writer C.S. Lewis published The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of his seven-volume series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and established a modern legend. Adults and children alike fell in love with his stirring, action-packed adventure that was set in the middle of World War II bombing raids yet transported readers into an alternate and far more enchanted universe of mythological creatures waging an epic battle between good and evil. Harry Gregson-Williams reunites with director Andrew Adamson for the 5th time after composing the scores for his Academy Award®-winning Shrek (co-composed with John Powell), the hit sequels Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for which he collected Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for his score. He is one of Hollywood's most sought after composers, working on a variety of high-profile projects, both animated and live-action. Over the last several years, Gregson-Williams has composed such notable scores for Shrek the Third,Gone Baby Gone, Chicken Run, Man on Fire, Flushed Away, Domino, Spy Game, Déjà vu, Phone Booth, Veronica Guerin, Smilla's Sense Of Snow, The Replacement Killers, Bridget Jones: The Age of Reason, Enemy of the State, Antz and Kingdom of Heaven, among others. The multi-platinum selling rock band Switchfoot has written and recorded the original song "This Is Home," which is heard in the body of the film and over the end title credits. They shot a video for the song with director Brandon Dickerson, who filmed their most recent video for "Awakening." "We are so honored to be a part of the Prince Caspian film with 'This Is Home,'" says Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman. "The Narnia stories have a really special place in my brother Tim and my lives. Our dad used to read these to us at bedtime when we were boys. Our imaginations were shaped on these amazing novels." The characters of C.S. Lewis' timeless fantasy come to life once again in this newest installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series, in which the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia, where a thrilling, perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage awaits them. "As [the film's director] Andrew Adamson and I began early discussions about the musical possibilities for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," composer Harry Gregson-Williams said, "it became clear that the movie could take a score with plenty of edge and bite to it this time around, supporting the fast moving action and adventure that quickly unfolds." One year after the incredible events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy. The fast forward 1300 years in the future allowed Gregson-Williams to re-address themes from the first film as well as creating new ones. Director Andrew Adamson described, "For Prince Caspian, Harry drew not only on the beloved themes of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but also developed original, sympathetic themes for Caspian and the Telmarines. Harry has threaded these themes with the same beauty and originality as he has woven all the notes that form his wonderful scores." The four Pevensie children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia's rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. Gregson-Williams embraced the challenge of composing for these new characters. He described, "The early introduction of a fearful Prince Caspian fleeing for his life from the dangerous Lord Miraz gave me a wonderful opportunity to introduce this new and somewhat darker musical landscape right from the opening." Also drawing inspiration from C.S. Lewis was Switchfoot. "'This Is Home' was inspired by the book after re-reading it for the opportunity to write for the film," continues the band's frontman, Foreman. "I am always taken by [C. S.] Lewis' ability to write about the bittersweet beauty in this world; this home we aren't really made for but is the place we work out our humanity in the midst of our longing for our true home."

Topic: James Horner
Two-time Academy AwardT-winner James Horner began writing music for film in 1980, after completing his doctorate in composition at UCLA. Following work scoring a short film for the AFI, Horner began honing his craft at New World Pictures where he developed relationships with young directors including Ron Howard and James Cameron, for whom Horner has composed some of his most popular scores like APOLLO 13, COCOON, and RANSOM (for Howard) and TITANIC and ALIENS (for Cameron). Horner has developed into one of the most respected film composers of his generation, composing for such films as LEGENDS OF THE FALL, RANSOM, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, CASPER, PATRIOT GAMES, STAR TRAK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, THE LAND BEFORE TIME, and WILLOW. In addition to his two wins for TITANIC, he has earned Academy AwardT nominations for his scores for APOLLO 13, BRAVEHEART, FIELD OF DREAMS, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, and ALIENS, and for the song "Somewhere Out There" from AN AMERICAN TALE. Starring Academy Award®-nominee Uma Thurman (KILL BILL) and Evan Rachel Wood (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, THIRTEEN), THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES is the new film from Vadim Perelman, the acclaimed director of HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG. THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES is an intense and visually evocative drama about the loss of youth, investigating how a single moment in time can define an entire life. Based on Laura Kasischke's visionary novel, the story hinges on a pivotal confrontation: two high school girls held captive by a gunman and forced to make the terrifying choice as to who will live and who will die.
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Topic: Raymond Scott
"The music of Raymond Scott is positively exhilarating. Its intricacies mesmerize, because they're part of a unique and utterly disarming musical tapestry." -- Leonard Maltin, film critic

Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow, 10 September 1908 — 8 February 1994)

Raymond Scott, in 1941, he sold his compositions (finally rendered in musical notation) to Warner Brothers. The music was enthusiastically seized upon by Carl Stalling, the man who scored the Warner Brothers cartoons -- which is largely why these tunes are so embedded in our consciousness. (To this day, people think Raymond wrote for cartoons, but he never did. He never even watched cartoons.) In 1942, he became Music Director for CBS Radio and made history by hiring black musicians. His CBS band was the first racially integrated band for radio. In 1946, he founded Manhattan Research Inc, "the world's most extensive facility for the creation of Electronic Music and Musique Concrete." It was the first electronic music studio. Raymond's brother Mark Warnow died in 1949 and Raymond took over Mark's job: Orchestra Leader for Your Hit Parade. Raymond Scott and his wife, Dorothy Collins, became early TV celebrities. MORE | WEB LINKS | IMAGES | S H O P: RAYMOND SCOTT

Topic: Michel Legrand
Jasper Rees meets the soundtrack composer Michel Legrand, who abandoned Hollywood for a more interesting life and at 75 is about to put on his first stage musical. Legrand's previous musicals have been for the screen. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was an unexpected success in 1964. Initially working as an orchestrator, his earliest triumph was I Love Paris, a set of jazz standards which sold seven million copies in two years. Columbia paid Legrand $200 up front. MORE
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Topic: Dimitri Tiomkin
Born May 10, 1899, near Poltava, Ukraine - died Nov. 11, 1979, London, England... For a composer who hailed from the Ukraine, Dimitri Tiomkin sure loved the old west. Like the great concert hall composers who blazed a new musical path in the untamed wilderness of Hollywood, Tiomkin had been fed on the operatic strains of Wagner’s demigods and dragons - a melodically muscular sound that he capably transferred to such purely American heroes as the brave sheriff, daring cowboy, and stand-by-your-man farmwife. It was an epic sound that filled such memorable westerns as DUEL IN THE SUN, RED RIVER, RIO BRAVO, THE UNFORGIVEN and GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K CORRAL. But perhaps none of Tiomkin’s western scores has had the epic cache of HIGH NOON. Gary Cooper was the lawman left alone by a cowardly town to face off against a villainous posse - a huge metaphor at the 1952 time for leftie film intellectuals abandoned to the anti-Commie witch hunts. But never mind all that, as Tiomkin’s score for HIGH NOON is concerned with the western here-and-now of a stalwart sheriff faced with impossible odds, a tremendously suspenseful sound that’s now heard in its original glory on this Screen Archives release.
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