Hecht Lancaster and Buzzell Music

Origin and Cromwell Music association

Following World War II, Hollywood's Golden Age started to fade. After a 1948 ruling that major studios could no longer own theater houses and thereby monopolize production, distribution and exhibition, things changed greatly. More room was awarded to independent producers, and fewer relied on long-term deals with major studios. The talent agent Harold Hecht and the actor Burt Lancaster formed Norma Productions, a production company, in the summer of 1947. But income in the movie business, although far from poor, continued to dwindle, with stiff competition from television. By the mid-1950s most households owned a television, and the producers who could afford it started producing shows for that market. A similar situation was happening in the music business, as most households owned at least one phonograph. All the major studios either bought out existing record labels or started their own. The studios also began exploiting the soundtrack album, which had before then mostly been an M-G-M musical fad but caught on with all types of films in the mid-1950s.

In January 1955 Hecht-Lancaster Productions, by then the leading independent film production unit in Hollywood, announced that it was extending its operations into music publishing, entering into a partnership with Howie Richmond's Cromwell Music Inc. company. The contacts were made through Loring Bruce Buzzell, Hecht's brother-in-law (the brother of his first wife, Gloria Joyce Buzzell), who worked for Richmond at Cromwell Music. Loring and Gloria's father, Samuel Jesse Buzzell, had been a music patent attorney, and their uncle, Edward Buzzell, was a successful film director. Both Hecht and Buzzell had worked for Irving Mills' Mills Music Inc. company earlier in their careers. Buzzell was also a field man for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and in July 1954 married signer Lu Ann Simms (née Lu Ann Ciminelli), who got her big break performing on the Arthur Godfrey show and had since then released a series of successful singles through Columbia Records.

Hecht-Lancaster Productions first published the music from their film Marty in April and June 1955 through Cromwell Music. This gave way for a series of interpretations by various artists of Marty's theme song. Hecht-Lancaster Productions' next film soundtrack, The Kentuckian, composed by Bernard Herrmann, was published through Frank Loesser's publishing company, Frank Music Inc. It is unknown what kind of deal Hecht and Lancaster worked out with Frank Loesser.

In mid-July 1956, the Hollywood-based Record Releasing Corporation approached Hecht-Lancaster Productions regarding a music a deal, though no information surfaced as to future plans. A second collaboration with Cromwell Music was made with the theme song from their 1956 film Trapeze. In July 1956 a title song, Trapeze, was published solely through Cromwell Music. A second song from the film, Lola's Theme was published in August 1956 by a new company named Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell, Inc, in collaboration with Cromwell Music. The new company was listed under the same address as Cromwell Music, 151 West 46th Street, New York City. Lola's Theme also received various interpretations and singles.

Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music and Calyork Music publishing companies

The new company remained silent for the next six months, until a press announcement was made in March 1957. By then Hecht-Lancaster Productions had made James Hill a full partner in the company and changed its name to Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions, which was a subsidiary of Norma Productions. This announcement revealed that Harold Hecht, Loring Buzzell and Burt Lancaster had formed a publishing company with plans to publish the scores of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions films and non-film-related pop music. Hill was not included in the music venture.

Two separate publishing firms were announced in the March 1957 press release. Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music Inc. was to be solely associated with ASCAP, while Calyork Music Inc. was to work exclusively with BMI. The partners intended to alter between the companies for each release, starting with the soundtrack to Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions' The Bachelor Party through Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell, and then the soundtrack to Sweet Smell of Success through Calyork. Both Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell and Calyork were under the umbrella of Norma Productions.

In the summer of 1957, Howie Richmond announced that he was interested in acquiring overseas distribution of the Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell soundtracks.

Notable releases and success

The soundtrack to Hecht-Lancaster Productions' film Trapeze was released by Columbia Records in June 1956 (catalog CL 870), to a degree of success. But it was the movie and LP's theme song that became a radio favorite. It spanned three singles with different interpretations. In June 1956 Columbia Records released the Muir Mathieson Orchestra version, featuring Lola's Theme on the A-side and Mike and Lola's Love Theme on the B-side (catalog Columbia 40725). This was followed in July by a Coral Records release of Steve Allen's version, with Lola's Theme on the A-side and Conversation (on the Telephone) on the B-side (catalog Coral 61681). Later that month a third version was released by Mercury Records of Ralph Marterie and His Orchestra, featuring Lola's Theme on the A-side and Yes Sir, That's My Baby on the B-side (catalog Mercury 70197).

Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music and Calyork Music went on to publish songs for every future Norma Productions (and its subsidiaries) films, with the exception of The Devil's Disciple. This includes The Bachelor Party and Sweet Smell of Success in 1957, Run Silent, Run Deep and Separate Tables (which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) in 1958, Cry Tough, The Rabbit Trap, Take a Giant Step and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll in 1959 and finally The Unforgiven in 1960.

It is now practically impossible to know all of the various interpretations of the songs copyrighted and published by Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music and Calyork Music, as many of the recorded versions did not chart. But most of the movie soundtracks have been well discussed, even in negative criticism. The company's first official single, the theme song from The Bachelor Party, composed and performed by Alex North, was not successful. It appeared on the B-side of an RCA Victor Records showcasing Alex North's theme for Playhouse 90 (catalogue Victor 6896).

But their second offering, featuring music from Sweet Smell of Success, was well received and of significant importance in the soundtrack category. This was the first time that a film had two soundtrack LPs released, featuring completely different music. Sweet Smell of Success spanned two LPs and two promotional singles. The first LP was released in July 1957 by Decca Records (catalogue DL 8610) featured the jazz score Elmer Bernstein. Taken from this was a Decca Records single released the same month (catalog Decca 30379) featuring the songs The Street and Toots Shor's Blues. The second batch of songs were performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet, who appeared in the film. Decca Records released an LP featuring this songs from the film, in August 1957 (catalog DL 8614) and Mark Murphy released another single featuring Goodbye Baby on the A-side and The Right Kind of Woman on the Bside (catalog Decca 30390).

In October 1958 the Clifton Productions film (a subsidiary of Norma Productions) Separate Tables yielded three singles of its theme song. The first was performed by Vic Damone, released by Columbia Records (catalogue Columbia 41287); the second was by Eydie Gormé, released by ABC-Paramount Records (catalogue ABC 9971); and the third was by Lu Ann Simms, released by Jubilee Records (catalogue Jubilee 1092).

Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music's most significant song was May You Always, composed by Dick Charles and Larry Markes in the fall of 1958. It was first recorded by the McGuire Sisters, who were friends of Lu Ann Simms and had worked with her on the Arthur Godfrey show and attended Simms and Buzzell's wedding. The version by the McGuire Sisters, released by Coral Records (catalogue Coral 62059), peaked at number 11 on Billboard's Hot 100 list on January 26, 1959, and became the second-best-selling sheet music in the United States.

The theme song from The Unforgiven, entitled Theme from the Unforgiven (The Need for Love), was a hit in the spring of 1960, in four recorded versions: the Dimitri Tiomkin version, straight from the film, released by United Artists Records; a version recorded by Don Costa, also released by United Artists Records (catalogue UA 221); a version by the McGuire Sisters, released by Coral Records (catalogue Coral 62196); and a version by Clyde Otis, released by Mercury Records (catalogue Mercury 71628). Costa's version peaked at number 27 on the Billboard' Hot 100 chart on July 4, 1960, and was number 22 on the Billboard Honor Roll of Hits on July 11, 1960.

Demise

Calyork Music's final known registry is listed on September 23, 1958, with three Steve Karmen songs. Although the copyrights remained active, no new works were published under that company, with Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music taking on all new publication. The Hecht and Lancaster Companies started having interpersonal issues in early 1959, resulting in an announced hiatus from the film business in April 1959. In July 1959 Harold Hecht and Gloria Buzzell separated. This may have caused friction between Hecht and the Buzzell family. All these factors played against Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music.

On October 20, 1957 Loring Buzzell suffered a fatal heart attack. Following this, few additional songs were published by Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music. The exceptions include theme songs for the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions film Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and four songs co-written by the widowed Lu Ann Simms and family friend Jaye P. Morgan. The final material published by the firm was Dimitri Tiomkin's soundtrack of the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions film The Unforgiven, which was filled under the name Hecht & Buzzell Music Inc., as the film production company had dissolved by then and the three partners went separate ways. Simms is reported to have taken over the publishing company following Hecht's exit.

Published works

This list was compiled from the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Music from 1955–1960. It is believed to be incomplete.

Partial list of releases

Though Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell never operated a record label themselves, many of their published songs have been recorded by other artists and have since been released on vinyl, cassette and CDs. This is an attempt to gather them all.

Legend: ≈ = Cromwell Music publishing, † = Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music publishing, ¤ = Calyork Music publishing, ‡ = Hecht & Buzzell Music publishing