Vic Mizzy, Composer of TV Themes, Dies at 93
OCTOBER 21, 2009 TAGS:
Da Da Da Dum (snap snap) Da Da Da Dum (snap snap) Da Da Da Dum, Da Da Da Dum, Da Da Da Dum (snap snap)
Two weeks before Halloween, Vic Mizzy, the composer of the opening theme for the late 60s TV show, “The Addams Family,” has died. He was 93 years old.
Originally conceived as a mild mockery of beatnik poetic conventions, the hip intro introduced viewers to an off-kilter world of dark sorcery and a life of the occult, held together by comedic family farce.
Mizzy had written jingles and comedy sketches since he was an undergrad at NYU and continued writing pop songs and broadway tunes after he graduated. In 1964, David Levy, the head of NBC programming, asked Mizzy to write the theme for a new show based on the cartoons of Charles Addams.
Though the show only lasted two seasons, Mizzy’s theme has become a cultural touchstone, shorthand for expressing weirdness, eeriness or the supernatural.
Two years after "The Addams Family" theme, Levy asked Mizzy to write another jingle, this time for the show Green Acres, about a ritzy Manhattan family who move to a farm. Mizzy produced an uptempo number giving voice to the husband and wife, whose view of rural living differed significantly.
Says the wife, played by the heavily accented Eva Gabor, “Darling I love you, but give me Park Avenue.”
Obit from the Los Angeles Times
Two weeks before Halloween, Vic Mizzy, the composer of the opening theme for the late 60s TV show, “The Addams Family,” has died. He was 93 years old.
Originally conceived as a mild mockery of beatnik poetic conventions, the hip intro introduced viewers to an off-kilter world of dark sorcery and a life of the occult, held together by comedic family farce.Mizzy had written jingles and comedy sketches since he was an undergrad at NYU and continued writing pop songs and broadway tunes after he graduated. In 1964, David Levy, the head of NBC programming, asked Mizzy to write the theme for a new show based on the cartoons of Charles Addams.
Though the show only lasted two seasons, Mizzy’s theme has become a cultural touchstone, shorthand for expressing weirdness, eeriness or the supernatural.
Two years after "The Addams Family" theme, Levy asked Mizzy to write another jingle, this time for the show Green Acres, about a ritzy Manhattan family who move to a farm. Mizzy produced an uptempo number giving voice to the husband and wife, whose view of rural living differed significantly.
Says the wife, played by the heavily accented Eva Gabor, “Darling I love you, but give me Park Avenue.”
Obit from the Los Angeles Times
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