Taking Mancini’s Comedy Scores Seriously

Abstract

Henry Mancini is primarily remembered today as the talented and songful composer of a handful of scores for (romantic) comedies from the first half of the 1960s, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s (‘Moon River’, 1961, dir. Blake Edwards), Charade (1963, Stanley Donen), and The Pink Panther (1963, dir. Blake Edwards). Such an assessment, however, neglects his prolific career as composer and arranger for film comedy, ranging from the early 1950s through the early 1990s. This chapter explores the breadth and variety of his work in comedy, explaining the musical and biographical contexts for his ongoing cultivation of that genre of film composition. After brief overviews of Mancini’s musical training and position within composition for film comedy, the chapter proceeds to trace his stylistic evolution, from the big-band sounds of the early 1950s, through the West Coast cool and jazz-pop of the 1960s scores, to the motivically integrated scores of the 1970s and beyond (e.g. Blake Edwards’s 10 and Victor/Victoria). In doing so, we will observe his stylistic development from writing memorable tunes for soundtrack albums to composing motivically tight-knit scores, all the while informed by his reliance on stylistic diversity, ear for timbral effect, and innate sense of comic effect. The study looks more closely at two representative scores in particular, that for Charade and for Silver Streak (1976, dir. Arthur Hiller). Of course, his long-term collaboration with first-rate directors Blake Edwards and Stanley Donen and fine lyricists Johnny Mercer and Leslie Bricusse contributed in no small way to Mancini’s success in creating appropriate musical settings for film comedy of all types, from slapstick to droll sophistication.