Watch Mr. Wizard (educational, with Don Herbert)

    [aka: Mr. Wizard]

    (NBC, 1951 - 1955)
    (NBC Saturday Morning, 1955 - 1965)
    (NBC 1971 - 1972)


Theme 1: "With Gamboling Gait"

    [2006 ASCAP title variation: "With Gambolling Gait";
   
     Sometimes it takes decades to unravel the credits of THEME 
     music, even for a very popular series; this one certainly 
     illustrates that point... 
     
     In a phone interview in the early 1980s, "Watch Mr. Wizard"
     host Don Herbert, speaking from his California desert home, 
     was asked about his original signature THEME; He could not
     remember the exact title of the piece first used on the air
     some 30 years previously;
     
     All he could remember was, it "was a library track -- something
     like 'Galloping Gait' or 'With Galloping Gait' -- something 
     like that...sorry I couldn't be more helpful...";

     There is a Boosey & Hawkes library track called "Galloping 
     Hooves" by Richard Cowgill but it was more of a action-agitato 
     composition, and not familiar, so our researches moved on...
     
     The "Galloping Major" by George Bastow was suggested by a studio
     owner familiar with production music and the TV series; it was in
     an appropriate style and mood, and was vaguely familiar...so it was
     our most likely candidate for over twenty years -- but we could 
     never verify this;
     
     That educated guess was wrong...but it just goes to show you that
     sometimes, with patience, even the deepest mysteries of TV music
     can be solved with the kind assistance of people over the Internet.
     
     In July 2006, twenty years after we talked to Don Hebert, and more
     than 50 years after the piece was used on the air, we received an 
     EMail from contributor Art Chimes, who hosts a "Voice of America" 
     radio program called "Our World." Art had recently interviewed 
     Don Hebert at the age of 89 for his show that aired on July 15, 2006;
     
     Reading about our difficulty pinning down the THEME on this web site,
     Art took the trouble to look up the NBC Music Cue Sheets, and he
     confirmed that it is the above-titled composition from the Bosworth
     Production Music library; This was indeed the signature theme circa
     1957.  Although the NBC cue sheet lists the writer's name as
     "P. Malakey" -- either this was a pseudonym Mackey used, or the NBC
     music department typist couldn't read the label (or couldn't read
     someone's hastily scribbled handwriting transferring that information.) 
     
     Because no listing for anyone with the name of "Malakey" is
     in either ASCAP or BMI repertoire databases; We thought for sure
     this was supposed to be "Malarkey" (a stage name.) But there is
     indeed a credit for the above title, published by Bosworth, listed
     under the name of "Percival Mackey" in ASCAP's 1978 Index of
     Performed Cmpositions. 
     
     Oddly enough, the ASCAP Repertoire database of 2006 spells both
     the title of this work and Mackey's name differently than in 
     their 1978 reference publication (the name as "Persival" Mackey.) 
     The title word "Gamboling" -- which means to leap about playfully, 
     or frolic like a dog or horse -- has an older spelling variant of 
     "Gambolling" which they used in the repertoire database.
     
     So the credits for this THEME were slippery right up till the end!
     
     Percival Mackey was a popular British bandleader in the 1920s who
     not only made recordings under the name "Percival Mackey and his
     Band", but as a smaller ensemble -- "The Percival Mackey Trio."
     
     He wrote mood music for Bosworth as well as scoring a few British
     films -- including "Facing The Music" (1941) in which he appeared
     conducting under the name "Percival Mackey and his Orchestra".
     U.S. spelling variation in 2006 was "Persival" Mackey]

     Composer: Percival Mackey (British PRS/ASCAP)
              [professional name of Thomas Percival Montague Mackey]

     1978 Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd. (London)

     2006 publisher: [title listed without publisher in 
                      the ASCAP Repertoire database]

     US Copyright Date: [not found]
     US Renewal   Date: [not found]

     Recording: 
         78rpm: [in the Bosworth Mood Music Library]
                The West End Celebrity Orchestra
                conducted by P. Mackey
                Bosworth 1199.


Theme 2: "Morning Flirtation"

    [Title verified by collector and library music expert
     Paul Mandell; this THEME was used during part of the
     show's run as several collectors verified. Art Chimes
     of "Voice of America" found an NBC cue sheet that showed
     it was used on the series during the 1962 season - after 
     the first THEME "With Gamboling Gait" above...]

     Composer: Kurt Rehfeld (ASCAP)
              [pseudonym of Kurt Reinhold]

     Original British Publisher: Impress Mood Music, Ltd.

     Prev. US Selling Agent: Emil Ascher, Inc. (ASCAP)

     1997 US Selling Agent: Audio Action (ASCAP),
                               of Burbank, CA
                               
     2006 Publisher: Hereinafter Music (ASCAP)
                     c/o Opus 1 Music Library LLC
                     of Studio City, CA.

     US Copyright Date: 
     US Renewal   Date:

     Recordings:
          78rpm: [Impress library, formerly distributed in the US
					 by Emil Ascher, Inc. of New York.]
					 Impress IA-181.


Theme #3 (1962 -): "N B C News Signature Theme"

    [According to David R. Jackson who corresponded with ASCAP
     about this theme, it aired on the network beginning in the first 
     quarter of 1962...It was used on the main network newscast, and 
     other programs in the news/public affairs genre;
     
     Thanks to contributor Art Chimes, who found an NBC Cue sheet
     for "Watch Mr. Wizard" listing this as a Signature THEME following 
     the "Morning Flirtation" THEME cited above;
     
     We are not sure if this citation means it was used in later years
     than "Morning Flirtation", or used simultaneously, as an
     End-credits THEME tag...] 

     Composer: Irwin A. ("Bud") Bazelon (ASCAP)

     Original Publisher: Jobete Music Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
     
     1997 Publisher:  Jobete Music Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
                         c/o EMI Music Publishing
                         of New York, NY

     Copyright Date: Aug.  5, 1963; EU 783 446.
     Renewal Date:   June 25, 1991; RE-535-676.

     Recordings:


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