"Mancini Still Relevant a Century Later"

May 28th, 2024

Growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, I was addicted to television even before I could walk, and my Dad took me to see my first movie as soon as I had graduated from diapers. Of course, I wanted to emulate on-screen heroes like Superman and John Wayne, but one of my most lasting impressions from watching movies and TV shows had to do with listening to them. I was enamored with main title themes from TV shows like Peter Gunn, and scores from films like The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Only later did I come to realize that actual mortals compose such music, and one of my favorite musical mortals was Henry Mancini, who, as it turned out, I had the pleasure of interviewing back in 1980. More on that later.

Mancini was born on April 16, 1924, in Maple Heights, Ohio. His early interest in music led him to study at Julliard, then at age 18 he enlisted in the Army Air Force where he was discovered by bandleader Glenn Miller who recommended young Henry for the Air Force band. When World War II ended, Mancini worked as a pianist and arranger for Miller’s orchestra and soon thereafter he landed a job in the Universal Studios music department.

During his six-year stint at Universal, Henry helped to score a number of films for which he received no credit, and others where the studio let him shine, like on The Glenn Miller Story, which garnered Mancini his first Oscar nomination (he would go on to win four Oscars in his long career). Henry struck out on his own in 1958 and soon teamed up with producer/director Blake Edwards for the first of their many collaborations, the groundbreaking TV series Peter Gunn. The soundtrack from that series won Mancini his first Grammy. Over the next four decades, he would go on to win 19 more.

The Mancini/Edwards team won wide acclaim for such films as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (whose big hit was “Moon River”), The Days of Wine and Roses, Charade, and a slew of Pink Panther outings. Mancini was also successful scoring films away from Edwards including Touch of Evil, Silver Streak, and Mommie Dearest. Aside from Peter Gunn, some of Henry’s notable TV themes include Mr. Lucky, Newhart, Remington Steele, The Thornbirds, and the NBC Mystery Movie theme.

But Mancini’s work stretched far beyond music for movies and TV. In all, he recorded 90 albums, eight of which went gold, and he composed music in all genres, from jazz and country to soul. And now, 100 years after his birth, a group of award-winning musicians have honored Henry with a re-recording of his hits in a new album, which is scheduled for release on June 21. (Individual cuts bowed on YouTube April 16 on what would have been Mancini’s 100th birthday.) Titled, Henry Mancini, the 100th Sessions, the album features stars like Michael Buble (“Moon River”), James Galway and Lizzo (“The Pink Panther”), and Quincy Jones and John Williams (“Peter Gunn”). It was nostalgic for Williams who served as Mancini’s pianist on the original Peter Gunn album in 1958.

100th Sessions is being produced by Henry’s son-in-law Greg Field who also played drums on the re-recording of “The Pink Panther”. Field told CBS News that while most people under 50 have never heard of Henry Mancini, “I can’t imagine another composer who has created music that generations and generations through the decades keep resonating with people.”

And now to my story about the time I interviewed Henry Mancini.

In 1980, I started a video production company while still hosting a daily talk show on WXEX-TV (now WRIC) in Richmond, Virginia. I also freelanced as a radio announcer on WSVS am 1340, which was based in Petersburg. Henry was scheduled to give an upcoming concert in Richmond so several weeks prior, I called him to do a radio interview which would serve to promote the concert. The taped interview went well, mainly because Henry was so easy to talk to, plus it didn’t hurt that I was a big fan. As I recall, we spoke for about 15 minutes, said our goodbyes, and hung up. About a minute later the station engineer came running in to tell me that something went wrong with the tape and that none of the interview had been recorded. My heart sank. The engineer apologized and then rightly suggested that Mr. Mancini would never know about the mistake because he would never have heard the broadcast anyway. But we were talking about a man I really admired, so I swallowed my pride and called Henry back. I told him what had happened, and he very calmly said, “That’s OK, Jim. We’ll do it again.”

When asked what he admired most about his friend Henry Mancini, John Williams said, “He’s one of the nicest men I’ve ever known.” On that day in 1980, I found out what Maestro Williams meant.