The Millionaire (dramatic anthology)
(CBS Primetime, 1955 - 1960, as "The Millionaire";
CBS Daytime reruns 1959 - 1963, as "If You Had a Million";
Syndicated, as "If You Had A Million" and "The Millionaire")
[In this dramatic anthology series, Marvin Miller played the
role of Michael Anthony, a dapper and well-mannered executive
secretary who delivered million-dollar checks on behalf of his
anonymous boss, the wealthy "John Beresford Tipton" whose face
was never seen, but whose voice was created by LA voice actor
Paul Frees;
The premise was that John Beresford Tipton would give his
monetary gifts in part to see what effect they had on the
recipients and his/her immediate circle of friends and family;
sometimes the effects were good, and sometimes not so good,
but was usually entertaining;
The series captured the imagination of the audience who wanted
to believe that good fortune could come someday from out of the
clear blue sky; Of course the series also included bequests to
people who also blew their fortune due to their flawed character,
so this series ended up being a kind of modern morality tale;
In 1978, a remake was attempted beginning with a made-for-TV
Movie starred Martin Balsam and Eddie Albert, with Robert
Quarry in the role of executive secretary "Michael Anthony";
Unfortunately this TV Movie did not do well enough to
lead to a spin-off series...]
Theme 1: "Whirlwind, aka 'Betting Montage', from
the film 'The Two-Dollar Bettor', aka 'Beginner's Luck'"
[Gertz ASCAP credit listed aka: "Whirlwind";
Gertz ASCAP credit also listed aka: "Millionaire Cues";
Gertz ASCAP credit also listed aka: "Two-Dollar Bettor Cues";
Contributor D. Schecter verified after viewing an ASCAP cue
sheet for the series, and after speaking with Irving Gertz,
that Gertz was indeed the writer of the opening THEME
for "The Millionaire" -- one of the most recognizable Open
THEMEs from 1950s television;
It was a longer cue Gertz wrote, edited down from its
original length to :17 seconds for the TV Opening; Schecter
verified that at least on some episodes circa 1960 a :21-
second edited version was also used as the End Title THEME;
There were at least two other melodies that were used for
End Credits THEMEs as well -- see below;
Irving Gertz verified this piece, long associated with the
series "The Millionaire", was actually a cue he composed
for a 1951 "B-picture" called "The Two-Dollar Bettor"
produced by Jack Broder Productions (also released in
England under the title "Beginner's Luck");
Gertz said the cue was originally composed to score a
montage sequence of wagering at various race tracks (as
its original title, "Betting Montage" implies);
In Craig Pattillo's book "TV Theme Soundtrack Directory",
he identifies the THEME as having the alternate title of
"Whirlwind". Gertz does have a composition credit for this
title "Whirlwind" now listed in ASCAP databases. However,
Gertz himself didn't give it that title; probably
that this was the title it was given for re-use by music
packager/publisher David Gordon, owner of Gordon Music;
Apparently the film production company made a deal with Gordon
who put his pseudonym "Melvyn Lenard" on the first ASCAP
cue sheets for the series as writer of the cue, and his own
music companies listed as publisher for purposes of collecting
ASCAP performance royalties (as explained in the next THEME
listing -- see below); Irving Gertz knew nothing about this
deal until he was surprised one day to hear the cue he wrote
for the film used as the Main THEME for the television series;
Gertz reported this to ASCAP which subsequently caused a
correction on cue sheets sent out after that point; But some
older cue sheets apparently continued to circulate with the
name "Melvyn Lenard" (publisher Gordon's pseudonym) on them;
Therefore there are two credits in ASCAP for the same THEME
written by Gertz;
In his book "TV Soundtrack Directory" Craig Patillo credits
Stanley Wilson as the original "performer" of this Opening
THEME subtitled "Whirlwind"; But since we now know that
MCA-Revue music director Stanley Wilson had nothing to do
with the film "The Two-Dollar Bettor", this is an error; it
was a studio orchestra conducted by Gertz performing it;
In 1999 a "Deed of assignment of UK copyrights" of 5,540
musical compositions was made from Windswept Pacific Music,
Ltd. to EMI Music Publishing Ltd. Among these was listed a
work entitled "Beginners luck : a.k.a. Two dollar bettor".
The composer was listed as "I. Gertz."
William ("Bill") Lava's "Millionaire Cues" are the earliest
episode scores listed chronologically for this 1950 series in
the CBS-TV Collection at UCLA Music Dept. of Special Collections;
Many other writers wrote cues that ended up being used for the
series either directly or via various production music libraries
that MCA-Revue used for tracking the early episodes]
Composer: Irving Gertz (ASCAP)
Orig. Publisher [of "Whirlwind"]: Marlen Music Company (ASCAP)
div. of Gordon Music Company
1978 Publisher [of "Whirlwind"]: Gordon Music Company, Inc. (ASCAP)
of Canoga Park, CA
1978 Publisher [of "Two-Dollar Bettor Cues"]: Irving Gertz,
listed without publisher in the 1978 ASCAP
Index of Performed Compositions.
2002 Publisher [of "Whirlwind"]: Accolade Music Publishing Company (ASCAP)
c/o The Gertz Family Trust
of Los Angeles, CA
2002 Publisher [of "Two-Dollar Bettor Cues"]: Accolade Music Publishing Company (ASCAP)
c/o The Gertz Family Trust
of Los Angeles, CA
Composition Date: 1951
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings:
Open Theme 2: "Millionaire Main Title"
[above is the title as seen on ASCAP Cue Sheets filed by the
series production company, forwarded by library music expert
Paul Mandell;
How Gordon's pseudonym got writer credit is probably one
of those early-1950s deals involving B-picture movie cues
bought up for re-cycled use on television by enterprising
middle-men who were music packagers or music editors; and
sometimes the purchaser or middle-man just happened to add
his own name or pseudonym to the official cue sheet in
order to get the writers' share of ASCAP or BMI performance
royalties (in addition to the publishers' share);
In Craig Pattillo's book "TV Theme Soundtrack Directory"
he identifies the original THEME as having an alternate
title -- "Whirlwind" -- apparently referring to an original
CUE written for "The Two-Dollar Bettor" scored by Irving
Gertz, although that was not the original name for it
(see the above.) So it is probable that THIS "Main Title"
was the SAME composition as the "Betting Montage" from
"The Two-Dollar Bettor"...and "Whirlwind" may have been
the name David M. Gordon gave the track in his library;
At any rate, in 2002 "Whirlwind" was listed in the ASCAP
repertoire database as having been written by Irving Gertz
with his own Accolade Publishing company as publisher]
Composer: credited to Melvyn Lenard Gordon (ASCAP)
[pseudonym of publisher David Marvin Gordon]
Original Publisher: Marlen Music Co. (ASCAP)
div. of Gordon Music Company
1978 Publisher: Gordon Music Company (ASCAP)
2001 Publisher: Gordon Music Company (ASCAP)
of Canoga Park, CA
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings:
Theme 3: "The Millionaire"
[This broad THEME was used mostly as a End Credits THEME but
occasionally was heard at the beginning of reruns...it is memorable
for a simple phrase that alternated between the keys of Ab Major
and B Major;
It's possible cue sheets incorrectly credited Revue-TV music director
Stanley Wilson, and the source was really a Capitol Hi-Q library track
by "Phil" Green (see Close Theme 5 below.)]
Composers: George F. Tibbles (ASCAP) and
Stanley J. Wilson (ASCAP/BMI)
1978 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the
1978 ASCAP Index of Performed Compositions]
1997 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the
1997 ASCAP ACE Repertoire database]
Copyright Date:
Recordings:
Close Theme 4: "The Millionaire"
[...in addition to the ones listed above....another alternate
THEME was used for the End Credits only. It could have been a
cue by William Lava's Cues above, or even another work by
Tibbles and Wilson which was credited as "The Millionaire"
on Cue Sheets and not distinguished from THEME #2 above;
But this credit was found in the BMI database, and Marshall
was also an MCA/Universal TV theme writer...if so it would
be one of his earliest THEMEs for television; it had a very
interesting chromatic harmonization and a melodramatic melody
It's possible cue sheets incorrectly credited Revue-TV music director
Jack Marshall, and the source was really a Capitol Hi-Q library track
by "Phil" Green (see Close Theme 5 below.)]
Composer: music only by Jack Marshall (ASCAP/BMI)
[professional name of Jack Wilton Marshall]
1978 Publisher: Duchess Music Corporation (BMI)
2001 Publisher: Duchess Music Corporation (BMI)
a div. of Duchess/Hawaii Music Co.,
c/o M C A Music Co.
of New York, NY
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings:
Close Theme 5: "from Millionaire - BG Cues (M-41 End Title)"
[Contributor Rick Allen writes that he found one of the
Millionaire End Credits themes on a Capitol Hi-Q production music
disk "under the melodic category M-41; Capitol does not give it
a name -- only Cue number & listed as Main Title, Underscore,
End Title, etc." Presumably this would have been the End Title
version of Melodic Theme M-41 by British writer "Phil" Green.
In both ASCAP and BMI databases, there is no specific reference
to such a Phil Green composition by name, but it would probably
be found as the last cue on a CBS cue sheet of underscore cues
listed as M-41. (Too bad they didn't list it as a THEME, only
an underscore cue.)
If it is a widely-known melody, this might be a THEME that had
been mistakenly credited to Revue TV music directors Stanley J.
Wilson or Jack Marshall.]
Composer: Phil Green (British PRS/ASCAP/BMI)
[professional name of Harry Philip Green]
Original Publisher: Beechwood Music Corporation (BMI)
a div. of CBS Television,
c/o CBS, Incorporated,
of New York, NY
2006 Publisher: Beechwood Music Corporation (BMI)
c/o Screen Gems-EMI Music, Inc.
a div. of EMI Music Publishing
of New York, NY
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings: in the "Capitol Hi-Q" production music library
Melodic Theme M-41 (probably "End Credit" track)
Theme 6 (final season only): "Millionaire Theme & End Credits"
[This 2-beat THEME alternated phrases by a Las Vegas-style
big band and a George Shearing combo style; it's the least
well-known THEME, and was used only for the last CBS season
which used an theatre marquee sign graphic with animated
"chase lights";
Manuscripts of it for Open and Close, were found in the
UCLA CBS-TV Collection, concurrent with the "Susan Johnson"
episode of the last season which was also scored by
Jeff Alexander.]
Composer: Jeff Alexander (ASCAP)
[professional name of Myer Goodhue Alexander]
Original Publisher: April Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
1997 Publisher: EMI/April Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
c/o EMI Music Publishing
of New York, NY
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings:
Theme 7 (for the 1978 TV-Movie): "Millionaire
(Op and Closing)"
[In correspondence 8/17/99 with the ASCAP Clearance Department
they said this was the THEME for the 1955 series. However, this
appears to be ASCAP's mistake, since Frank De Vol only scored the
1978 made-for-tv movie version; it might have become a series
THEME if the show had been picked up by the network which did
not happen]
Composer: Frank Denny De Vol (ASCAP)
1978 Publisher: [not listed in the ASCAP Index of 1978]
1999 Publisher: Bill Dana Publishing (ASCAP)
a div. of Bill Dana Productions
of Hana, Hawaii
Copyright Date:
Renewal Date:
Recordings:
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