OH DAD POOR DAD MAMA’S HUNG YOU IN THE CLOSET AND I’M FEELING SO SAD: Composer: Neal Hefti
by Ross CARE
BMG Music Spain S. A. 74321720602/RCA Victor (Re-Issue from Original LP), TT: 25.07, 11 tracks (stereo) **** A Real DynaGroove
Orchestrations: Neal Hefti – Producer: Hugo & Luigi, Conductor: Neal Hefti
In the late 1950s, as the studio system gradually went dead in the water, old school Hollywood (symphonic) scoring slowly faded-out with it (though fortunately not terminally). But a new style of pop/jazz soundtrack did emerge at this time, pioneered by veteran arranger/composers from the big band 1940s who brought a fresh, playfully hip sound to the “new” Hollywood of the pre-psychedelic 1960s. Key among this new breed film musicians were Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, and Neal Hefti, with Hefti especially well respected for his charts for Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Harry James, and William “Count” Basie.
Hefti’s first major film was Sex and the Single Girl, a 1964 comedy loosely based on the book by Helen Gurley Brown, his score so successful that, with the exception of Harlow (‘65) and Duel at Diablo (‘66), the composer was generally typecast scoring comedies for most of his Hollywood career. The peak of his popular success, however, came with the campy 1966 Batman TV series and its colorful score including a dynamic blues-based theme punctuated by a chorus shouting out “Batman!” at key intervals. A “Downbeat” review of a reissued Batman CD recently praised Hefti for his “keen dramatic imagination” and “flair for zany, swinging popjazz entertainment”.
Hefti also scored a major cult film, Lord Love A Duck in 1966, and in 1967 another film so far out that it has yet to touch down in even the outermost reaches of cultdom, an adaptation of Arthur Kopit’s Off-Broadway hit, Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad. Kopit’s play is a wicked send-up of momism with necrophiliac overtones. (Billboard called the movie version a “pitch-black film satire.” ) The plot, such as it is, deals with what happens when a domineering matriarch, Madame Rosepettle, vacations on a tropic isle with her neurotic son and the coffin containing the worldly remains of Dad, her late husband. Though the film version never quite worked and has pretty much dematerialized, Hefti’s score is brilliant, and very much of a piece with his Batman music; both scores were originally released as RCA LPs.
The Oh Dad album is framed by a bizarre manifestation of the title song craze launched by High Noon in 1952, a singsong ditty for children’s chorus which attempts to “explain” the title (used intact) with the comment: “please remember, Mama’s always right!” Both tune and its equally catchy vamp are developed in ensuing cues.
Like Batman, Oh Dad is pure appealing pop, a compendium of riffs from the big band ‘40s through hooks borrowed from miscellaneous early ‘60s pop. (The overexposed term, postmodern, does come to mind). Amazingly Hefti manages to fuse it all into a personal style which, while influenced by Mancini, is just as recognizable anddistinctive. Cues are tight, concentrated, and (like Mancini’s) specifically arranged for album listening.
Stylistically the score bears the influence of eclectic pop sources ranging from ‘50s instrumental hits such as Johnny and Hurricanes’ “Crossfire,” to Kai Winding’s two key surf albums on Verve Records. Technologically the influence of another big band veteran, Ray Conniff, hovers over the proceedings in Oh Dad’s heavily reverbed studio sound and subtly driving percussion/guitar rhythm tracks.
Scoring comedy is an under-rated art, and Hefti is a master of the genre. His imaginative orchestrations showcase a Batman-style organ, electric and acoustic guitars, marimba and vibes, a few reeds, and lots of big band brass, all propelled by a rhythm section executing almost techno-precise beats. His seasoned instrumentalists display a righteous sense of style, attitude, and conviction that few ensembles today could muster, creating incredibly rich and contemporary-sounding blends of pop sonorities along the way.
Listen especially to the escalating instrumental layering of “The Revolt of Jonathan Rosepettle III,” and the Freudian over-determination of “This Is Mother”. “Home Movies” effortlessly melds from the bouncy to the ominous without missing a beat. “Heaven” is complete with harp, spacey cherubic choir, and a hint of Bach’s “Come, Sweet Death,” “Spooky Coffins” drolly macabre. For all its direct appeal, Oh Dad remains a sterling example of scoring that elusive genre, the black comedy.
Hefti’s album is also one of the great pop statements to emerge from early ’60s Hollywood. Along with the Beatles’ white album, the penultimate Mamas and Papas LP, and fabulous soundtracks such as Charles Fox’s Barbarella, and Dave Grusin’s Candy, Oh Dad quickly became one of my favorite trip albums of the period. Recently re-issued as part of a BMG Spain series of classic RCA soundtracks, I’m relieved to report that it still gives my wig a solid flip, both for its high-gloss Dynagroove stereo sound, and, especially, for Hefti’s unique bubble-gum-with-edge sense of irony, satire, and pure unapologetic fun!
