Two for Tuesday: John Williams

Two for Tuesday 1 Minute

John Williams has had a prolific career as a composer for both TV and films, but I want to focus on his work with producer Irwin Allen. In the mid-’60’s, credited as Johnny Williams, he composed music for three Irwin Allen television shows, to wit:

Land of the Giants

The Time Tunnel

and Lost In Space

He also composed the theme song for the 1959-1960 season of Bachelor Father, The Kraft Suspense Theater, and the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island.

When Allen switched from science fiction TV shows to big-budget disaster films, he had John write the scores for 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure and 1974’s The Towering Inferno. A full list of his movie and TV credits can be found here. He’s been nominated for numerous awards, which are listed here.

John Williams, your Two for Tuesday, December 10, 2019.

Published by John Holton

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

Published

15 thoughts on “Two for Tuesday: John Williams”

  1. Pingback: The Ten Days Until Christmas Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  2. John Williams is a great composer and it just shows where he started and why these songs are iconic. I love The Land of the Giants and wish I could watch the! Again. I’ve been watching Lost in Space-on AMC and it’s so corny but so fun. I wish I could see Time Tunnel again and wish it would have lasted.

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    1. First, welcome back! Terrible when real life gets in the way of blog life, ain’t it?

      Williams ranks among the greatest American composers, and he shows no sign of letting up.

      I got into “Land of the Giants” when MeTV started showing them on Saturday nights after midnight. Of course, they’ve changed their lineup and neither it nor “Lost In Space” is on at a relatively decent hour (or at all), and I think one of the other vintage TV channels is running them. As they say, check local listings…

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  3. He is so great… and a humble man on top of everything. I’ve never seen an episode Land of the Giants. That is on my list to watch. I’ve watched the other two…great scores.

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    1. I started to get into “Land of the Giants” when MeTV showed it late Saturday nights. It was pretty good.

      When they talk about great American composers, John Williams is high up on the list.

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    1. He’s one of the great American composers, I think, up there with Aaron Copland, Scott Joplin, the Gershwins, and all the great composers who wrote for stage and screen (big and small), of which there are too many for this hour of the morning.

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  7. John Williams has composed some of my all time favourite movie scores. But the tv themes he composed for Irwin Allen are classic viewing – obvious by the fact they still remake them today!

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