ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award Honoring Van Alexander

The end of the Second World War coincided with a major change in American popular music - the demise of the Big Band. The new circumstances necessitated a career change for numerous musicians, composers and arrangers. Many big band veterans became involved with the world of film and television music. Among the most durable and versatile of these talents was the recipient of this year's ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in Film and Television Music: Van Alexander.

As a very young man, the New York-born Alexander played a crucial role in the careers of Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb, as the arranger and co-writer of Ella's first smash hit, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" in 1938. From there he went on to a career as a recording artist and bandleader in his own right, and later worked on recordings for artists as diverse as Gordon MacRae, Dakota Staton and Kay Starr. But it is for his work as a composer, arranger and conductor in film and television that we honor him tonight. Landmark TV series such as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Dennis the Menace and Hazel all benefited from Van Alexander's skill in underscore. And the classic variety program, The Dean Martin Show, was enhanced by Van's work for more than seven seasons as arranger and assistant conductor. He also was musical director for The Gold Diggers Chevy Hour, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters and the Gene Kelly special, 50 Girls 50, all of which earned Emmy nominations.

Van also composed the scores for a number of films which featured such stars as Mickey Rooney and Joan Crawford. They ranged from comedies to horror and crime thrillers. Alexander looks back on the films fondly, but he is under no illusion that they were anything more than "B" movies. Nonetheless, he has accomplished a great deal in music. And, thanks to a book he wrote on the craft of arranging in 1950, First Arrangement, his influence has been absorbed by many Hollywood music creators, including Jay Chattaway and Dennis McCarthy, both of whom "swear" by Alexander's book. And Alexander was a key mentor to the multi Oscar and Grammy-winning composer and arranger, Johnny Mandel, who studied arranging with Van back in the early 1940s. Of Alexander, Mandel says, "I couldn't have found a better teacher. He threw me in the water and yelled, 'Swim!'"

How did your interest in music begin?

I was taught to play the piano by mother, a classical pianist. I experimented in high school with 6 and 7 piece orchestras. After I made my first arrangement and heard it, I said this is what I want to do. And that's how I established my desires. Arranging was always first and that branched off, much later on, into composing.

How did you become associated with Chick Webb?

At the time, many of us were "jitterbuggers" and we used to frequent a ballroom in Harlem called the Savoy. I was more interested, however, in the sound of the great black bands that played the Savoy. One of those was the band led by the drummer, Chick Webb. One night, I got up enough nerve to ask him, "Say, Chick, I have a couple of arrangements at home that might fit your orchestra. Would you care to rehearse them?" I was bluffing, but I went home and wrote up a couple of quick arrangements. Chick liked them and bought them for $10 each. I was on Cloud Nine, having sold my first two arrangements.

What's the story behind "A-Tisket, A-Tasket?"

Luckily for all of us, young girl named Ella Fitzgerald had just joined the band. Chick had found her in an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater. I was hired to write all her early Decca recording arrangements. Once, when we were in Boston, she said she had a great idea for a tune. She said, "Remember the old nursery rhyme, 'A-Tisket, A-Tasket?' Why don't you try doing something with that?" I agreed to do it, but Chick was loading me up with arrangements, and I couldn't get to it. Finally, after waiting for three weeks, Ella got a little testy and said she'd ask the other arranger, Edgar Samson, to do it. I said, "Ella, hold the phone! Just give me one more week." I made the old rhyme into a 32-bar song, with a bridge. We recorded it for Decca, and it was a smash that summer of 1938, staying Number One on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade for 19 weeks. Almost 50 years later, in 1986, Chick, Ella and I were elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame for that record.

Not much later, you went off on your own.

Yes, the head of RCA Records, Eli Oberstein, approached me. He had organized a stable of songwriting bandleaders - Larry Clinton, Les Brown, and I was third. I jumped at the chance to start my own band and have a recording contract. I ran that band for three or four years, mostly writing my own arrangements. We played some prestigious venues, like the Paramount. And I gave a start to many talented young musicians, including the drummer, Shelly Manne, who started with me at 16.

You were a New Yorker. How did you end up on the West Coast?

In 1943, we went into New York's Capitol Theater for a four-week engagement, billed as Bob Crosby (Bing's brother) with the Van Alexander Orchestra. Bob and I had gotten along quite well and he asked me to go to California with him, put together a band and write arrangements for him. In the back of my mind, I wanted to someday come out here to do films. I jumped at it, but after about 13 weeks, he fired me. I had to start all over again. But it turned out to be a blessing - I got my feet wet in TV and ended up having quite a career.

What was your entrée into the film and television world?

I did have some friends whom I knew from New York. One was Mickey Rooney's manager. NBC had signed Mickey to play a page boy in a show called Hey, Mulligan. The manager had me put twelve guys together to do the underscore. Then Mickey was signed to do a motion picture for Republic Studios called The Atomic Kid. I was asked to write the score. It wasn't a blockbuster, but it was a great credit for me and I went on to score five additional Mickey Rooney movies.

Did you get back into TV music?

Yes, I signed a deal with Screen Gems and did many TV shows from the 1960s, including segments of Dennis the Menace, The Donna Reed Show, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Farmer's Daughter. And I did Hazel for five years. Since Screen Gems was a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, I also did some movies, including Straitjacket with Joan Crawford, and a baseball movie with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris called Safe at Home.

What was your biggest musical thrill?

I must say that having a credit on "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" is a huge thrill. The song keeps coming back with every new generation. Recently, there have been versions by Dee Dee Bridgewater, Manhattan Transfer and Mandy Patinkin.

And in terms of your TV and film work?

It would have to be my three Emmy nominations - Gene Kelly's 50 Girls 50, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters and The Gold Diggers. Also the years I spent with Dean Martin.

— Jim Steinblatt


TOP