Vic Mizzy - TV themes with humour and style:

Vic Mizzy was a expert song-writer and these days is best known for his memorable TV themes, especially "The Addams Family" and "Green Acres". He not only wrote the lyrics and the music for both of these, but also most of the incidental music used in the programmes (while The Addams Family was cancelled after two series, Green Acres went on to seven series. When Mizzy went to visit the set for the original television series of "The Addams Family", amongst all the cobwebs on the set there was an old piano. This gave him the idea to use a harpsichord in the theme because it instantly gives that old world feel to the music. Mizzy overdubbed his own voice 3 times on the theme to save costs on hiring singers. For the "Green Acres" song, Mizzy also devised the title sequence with its collage of the singing characters and the pitch-fork thumping accompaniment. Eddie Albert could sing quite well but his screen wife Eva Gabor had trouble staying in tune. Her singing for the theme was closer to speaking the words in a theatrical way. After many takes they were lucky to get an acceptible result for the last line which has the two leads sing in harmony.

There aren't many Vic Mizzy film soundtracks available, but "Don't Make Waves, Make Love" which is full of Swinging 60s kitsch is available at Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, on a "double feature" album where it is paired with "Penelope" by Johnny Williams (as John Williams was called in the early part of his career).

Films by Vic Mizzy:

Vic Mizzy scored a few films himself and his songs and themes have also been used on movies.

• The Night Walker - spooky horror
• Don't Make Waves, Make Love - full of Swinging 60s kitsch
• The Reluctant Astronaut
• The Caper of the Golden Bulls
• The Shakiest Gun in the West - comedy
• The Addams Family, and Addams Family Values - both contain the original theme and were both scored by Marc Shaiman

TV music by Vic Mizzy:

• The Richard Boone Show
• The Addams Family - very catchy and therefore instantly recognisable
• Green Acres - Mizzy wrote the music and lyrics, and also conceived the opening title sequence
• A Very Missing Person
• Temperatures Rising
• Terror on the 40th Floor
• The Million Dollar Rip-Off
• Quincy M.E. - the theme was by that partnership of Glen A Larson and Stu Phillips, but Mizzy was one of many composers who scored individual episodes
• Delta House