A little nostalgia for Mr. Roberts…

[Chris Seguin]

…and for anyone with fond memories of the musical stylings of the Thomas J. Valentino library!

First up, the opening sequence from Blackhawk’s version of TWO TARS – this taken from a Japanese VCD pirated from Michael Agee’s laser disc. Of course I remember it spooling through my Eumig super-8 projector in the late 70’s….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sReNc07YxCk

Next up, the exact same music accompanying the Three Stooges’ morning ritual in KOOK’S TOUR. (Again, a tune best appreciated when underscored by projector noise).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDXOqno7d8g

If only my daily adventures started with this cheery music in the background, I’d be a perpetually happy man.

Chris

[Sara Ackerman]

I thought that L&H score sounded familiar. I haven't watched "Kook's Tour" in years.

Thanks for sharing that with us.

[Richard M Roberts]

…and for anyone with fond memories of the musical stylings of the Thomas J. Valentino library!

First up, the opening sequence from Blackhawk’s version of TWO TARS – this taken from a Japanese VCD pirated from Michael Agee’s laser disc. Of course I remember it spooling through my Eumig super-8 projector in the late 70’s….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sReNc07YxCk

Next up, the exact same music accompanying the Three Stooges’ morning ritual in KOOK’S TOUR. (Again, a tune best appreciated when underscored by projector noise).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDXOqno7d8g

If only my daily adventures started with this cheery music in the background, I’d be a perpetually happy man.

Chris

Whomever composed the Valentino Library music (and the orchestra that performed it)had a real flair for woodwind ensembles. To me that oboe player is always the real trademark of the material. And you really have to appreciate that whomever edited these tracks together for Blackhawk did some very good, precise editing, matching up stock music to time to falls, crashes and other gag punctuation in the pre-computer days of linear and non-linear editing (heck, they may have actually cut film soundtracks on a flatbed! There's real nostalgia for me.) Really, the Valentino Library tunes have aged better than some of the music in Robert Youngson's compilations, especially if you didn't grow up hearing the stuff constantly on cheap television cartoons, Coronet Educational films in school, or endless public service television commercials. I still have the whole set (music and sound effects) on reel to reel tape from my radio station days. Someone should make a "Best of the Valentino Library" CD.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[Brent Walker]

I think Valentino music was also used for a film that scarred me for life when I saw it at elementary school--so of course I spent years seeking it out until I successfully found it again (the bicycle safety film ONE GOT FAT, narrated by Edward Everett Horton).

Here's an obit for Mr. Valentino. Unfortunately, it looks like he almost undid all the good of his earlier years by producing "A Fifth of Beethoven."


Thomas J. Valentino Is Dead; Early Sound Effects Producer
Published: August 6, 1986
Thomas J. Valentino, among the first to develop libraries of sound effects and taped music, died Monday at his home in Forest Hills, Queens, after a long illness. He was 79 years old.

Mr. Valentino, who was born in Sicily, began his career in the 1920's as a piano and organ tuner, serving trans-Atlantic steamers docking in New York. In the 1930's he became a sales representative for Gennett Recordings before starting his own sound effects company. He provided the sound effects for many Broadway shows, including ''The Heiress'' and ''Death of a Salesman.'' His sound effects library was also widely distributed to radio stations.

He served as a vice president of the Recording Industry Association of America and in 1978 won a Grammy award as producer of the record ''A Fifth of Beethoven,'' featured in the film ''Saturday Night Fever.''

He is survived by his wife, the former Elsie Gasik; three sons, Robert of Oradell, N.J., Francis of River Vale, N.J., and Thomas Jr. of Darien, Conn.; a daughter, Joanne Rosen of White Plains, and 10 grandchildren.

[Chris Seguin]

Here's ONE GOT FAT, downloadable and ready to burn onto DVD or put onto your ipod. Now we can all share Brent's nightmare!

http://www.archive.org/details/OneGotFa1963