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Showing posts with label Rocketship X-M. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rocketship X-M. Show all posts
April 4, 2024
April 1, 2024
Hugh O'Brian articles/mentions
March 27, 2024
20,000 vinyl LPs 359: Ferde Grofé ~ Rocketship X-M
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Today is the birthday of American composer, arranger, pianist and instrumentalist, Ferde Grofé, who was born on March 27, in New York City in 1892 to German immigrants. He is best known for his 1931 five-movement symphonic poem, Grand Canyon Suite, and for orchestrating Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin for its 1924 premiere.
To honor him, I chose his score for the rarely seen film, Rocketship X-M, because I remember this as the first Sci-Fi film I ever saw when I was not yet in my teens. I was completely blown away by it.
Desperate to see more films of this type, I eagerly flew to the theater the following year to see The Man from Planet X and was heartbroken to find it a cheesy "B" movie whose cheesiness was only surpassed in 1957 by Plan Nine from Outer Space by Ed Wood. My faith in Sci-Fi films was restored by films such as When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds, Destination Moon, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Thing from Another World.
The score by Grofé included a theremin played by Dr. Samuel Hoffman who played the instrument in the orchestral score of the Alfred Hitchcock 1945 film Spellbound.
Rocketship X-M (a.k.a. Expedition Moon and originally Rocketship Expedition Moon) is a 1950 American black-and-white science fiction film from Lippert Pictures, the first outer space adventure of the post-World War II era. The film was produced and directed by Kurt Neumann and stars Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery Jr., Hugh O'Brian, and Morris Ankrum. The film is in black-and-white except when they are on the planet Mars when the film is tinted red, very red. I thought that was totally cool.
Rocketship X-M (1950)
There is fascinating information on producers Robert L. Lippert and Murray Lernet on the Beware the Blog blog (link below) as well as a plethora of information on the film on several blogs on the Net (links below).
Rocketship X-M tells the story of a Moon expedition gone awry. Through a series of unforeseen events, the expedition's crew find themselves on the red planet, Mars.
During their time on the planet they go on to discover the remnants of a
Martian civilization destroyed long ago by atomic war and now reverted
to barbarism.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A1 - Main Title
A2 - Countdown; Launch; Into Orbit
A3 - Floating Free
A4 - Interrupted Mission
A5 - Romance In Space (Lisa's Theme)
A6 - Approaching Mars
A7 - Theremin Solo
A2 - Countdown; Launch; Into Orbit
A3 - Floating Free
A4 - Interrupted Mission
A5 - Romance In Space (Lisa's Theme)
A6 - Approaching Mars
A7 - Theremin Solo
Side 2:
B1 - Exploring The Red Planet
B2 - The Martian Mutants
B3 - Homeward Bound
B4 - None Came Back
B5 - End Title
Credits:
Composed By – Ferde Grofé
Orchestrated By – Albert Glasser
Theremin – Dr. Samuel Hoffman*
Notes:
Original pressing with orange labels and matrix numbers stamped in the runout grooves. This edition lists Starlog's New York address on the back cover.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout: S R 1000 A-1A
Barcode: S R 1000 B-1A
Barcode: S R 1000 B-1A
Ferde Grofé – Rocketship X-M (The Original Soundtrack Score)
Label: Starlog Records – SR - 1000
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1977
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Score
Label: Starlog Records – SR - 1000
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1977
Genre: Stage & Screen
Style: Soundtrack, Score
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Beware the Blog ~ Anatomy of a Cult Science Fiction Classic
KQEK ~ CD: Rocketship X-M (1950) review
Monster Movie Music ~ Ferde Grofé Sr. - "Walkin Around On Mars" (1950)
Monstrous Movie Music ~ Rocketship X-M
Scifist ~ Rocketship X-M
YouTube links:
Samuel Hoffman articles/mentions
March 27, 2021
20,000 vinyl LPs 281: Ferde Grofé ~ Atlantic Crossing
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Ferde Grofé ~ Atlantic Crossing
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design: Edwin Francis
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today is the birthday of Ferde Grofé who was born on March 27, in New York City in 1892 to German immigrants. His extensive musical interests came from four generations of classical musicians in his family. His father, Emil von Grofé, was a baritone who sang mainly light opera; his mother, Elsa Johanna Bierlich von Grofé, a professional cellist, was also a versatile music teacher who taught Ferde to play the violin and piano. Elsa's father, Bernardt Bierlich, was a cellist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York and Elsa's brother, Julius Bierlich, was first violinist and concertmaster of the Los Angeles Symphony.
Ferde Grofé ~ Atlantic Crossing
vinyl LP front cover
cover design: Edwin Francis
photo of album cover by Styrous®
Grofé became proficient on a wide range of instruments including piano (his
favored instrument), violin, viola (he became a violist in the LA
Symphony), baritone horn, alto horn and cornet.
This command of musical instruments and composition gave Ferde the
foundation to become, first an arranger of other composers' music, and
then a composer in his own right.
Ferde Grofé ~ Atlantic Crossing
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design: Edwin Francis
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
He left home at age 14 and variously worked as a milkman, truck driver,
usher, newsboy, elevator operator, helper in a book bindery, iron
factory worker, and played in a piano bar for two dollars a night and as an accompanist. He continued studying piano and violin while doing all this. He was 17 when he wrote his first commissioned work, Elks' Grand Reunion March & Two-step.
Ferde Grofé ~ Atlantic Crossing
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design: Edwin Francis
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Beginning about 1920, he played piano with the Paul Whiteman
orchestra. He served as Whiteman's chief arranger from 1920 to 1932. He
made hundreds of arrangements of popular songs, Broadway show music,
and tunes of all types for Whiteman.
In 1932, The New York Times called Grofé "the Prime Minister of Jazz".
This was an oblique reference to the fact that Whiteman was widely
called "King of Jazz", especially after the appearance of the 1930 King of Jazz film which featured Whiteman and his music.
He most memorable arrangement is that of Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin,
which established Grofé's reputation among musicians. Grofé took what
Gershwin had written for two pianos and orchestrated it for Whiteman's
orchestra. He transformed Gershwin's musical canvas with the colors and
many of the creative touches for which it is so well known. He went on
to create two more arrangements of the piece in later years. Grofé's 1942 orchestration for full orchestra of Rhapsody in Blue is the one most frequently heard today. In 1928, Gershwin wrote a letter to ASCAP complaining that Grofé had listed himself as a composer of Rhapsody in Blue.
The dispute was settled, with Grofé receiving a portion of the music
royalties for the piece. Despite this misunderstanding, Grofé served as
one of the pallbearers at Gershwin's funeral in 1937.
He composed the The score for Rocketship X-M in 1950. It was the first science fiction movie to feature the electronic instrument known as the theremin.
Ferde Grofé died in Santa Monica, California, on April 3, 1972, and was buried in the Mausoleum of the Golden West at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California. He was 80 years old.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Side 1:
A - Atlantic Crossing - 14:00
Side 2:
B - Atlantic Crossing (Conclusion) - 14:00
Companies, etc.
Credits:
Chorus – The George Mitchell Choir
Composed By, Conductor – Ferde Grofé
Cover – Edwin Francis
Mastered By – Pete Helffrich
Narrator – Anton Dolin, Ethel LeVane
Orchestra – The New Symphony Orchestra*
Sleeve Notes – Edward Applebaum
Notes:
Under the Everest seal, states: "A British Decca London Recording".
Cat.no. 3139 on front and back cover, S-2905 on back cover in smaller script.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A on label and runout): SDBR 3139 A
Matrix / Runout (Side B on label and runout): SDBR 3139 B
Viewfinder links:
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