Two For Tuesday: Mack David

Two for Tuesday 1 Minute

Mack David was the older brother of Hal David, Burt Bacharach’s lyricist, and a composer for TV and the movies from the ’40’s through the ’70’s. He was credited with over 1000 songs in his career for which he wrote lyrics, music, or both, earning eight Academy Award nominations. He’s maybe best known for scoring the Disney animaed features Cinderella and Alice In Wonderland and for writing the English lyrics to Edith Piaf’s signature song "La vie en rose."

As for TV themes, there were four detective series produced by Warner Brothers and broadcast by the ABC Television Network in the late 1950’s for which he wrote the themes:

Bourbon Street Beat (1959-60)

Hawaiian Eye (1959-63)

Surfside Six (1960-62)

77 Sunset Strip (1958-64)

He also composed the theme for the Bugs Bunny Show which was used from 1960 to 1984 and again from 1988 to 2000.

Went a little beyond two songs there, but they were short. David died in 1993; his Wikipedia article includes this interesting fact:

David had a varied interest in musical composition. In 1975, according to the New York Times in David’s obituary: “Mr. David was granted a patent for inventing an electronic system for composing songs from fractional recordings. The system, which included playback units, stored records of lyrics and melodies. The operator selected words and music that fit together and recorded the combination.”

Mack David, your Two for Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

13 thoughts on “Two For Tuesday: Mack David”

  1. Pingback: The Black Sunday Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  2. I remember “77 Sunset Strip” and “Hawaiian Eye” very well. I didn’t remember “Surfside Six” until I saw the intro and I really don’t remember “Bourbon Street Beat” although that looks like something I would have liked. Love these flashbacks, John. Thanks!

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  3. Richard Long liked being in these shows. He died way too young. That 77 Sunset Strip was funny with that whip sound and the guy always combing his hair..until the 3rd season. How I love Bugs Bunny and watched that hour every chance I got

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    1. Those are finger snaps, by the way. Edd Byrnes was better known as Kookie (his character name on the show); he and Connie Stevens did the song “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb.”

      Both Richard Long and Van Williams were in “Bourbon Street Beat” and went on to other shows, Long to “77 Sunset Strip” and Williams to “Surfside 6,” and later to “The Green Hornet.” Richard Long later starred in “The Big Valley” with Lee Majors, Linda Gray, and Miss Barbara Stanwyck, one of my favorite Golden Age actresses who got even more gorgeous as she aged.

      Everybody loves Bugs. Remember later it was “The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour”? Road Runner was ingenious: you know whatever Wile E. Coyote dreams up is going to end in disaster, but you watch anyway…

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      1. This song is hilarious! And not one I know. I forgot that Long was in The Big Valley which 8 would love to see again. Barbara Stanwyck is a great actress and one that was beloved by most

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        1. Miss Barbara was one of the first film actresses to realize the potential of television, and it probably extended her career 20 years. I loved her in “Ball of Fire” with Gary Cooper.

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    1. The only one of the four detective shows that did very well was “77 Sunset Strip,” and that ended before you came around. Unless you were lucky enough to have caught them in reruns, you probably would never have seen them. They do pop up on the “Decades Binge” every once in a while (that’s where the Decades network shows one old show all weekend), so if you get Decades, you might keep an eye out (last weekend, it was “The Green Hornet” and “The Greatest American Hero,” the week before that was “Batman”; no idea what it is this week…)

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      1. I need to check with Mr. to see if we can get that channel. He loves watching the old reruns. They are fun for me to watch when I can stay awake long enough! Thank you for the tips.

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