Henry Mancini -- The Pink Panther Theme/A Shot in the Dark

 

For this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I once again take you to cartoon land.

Along with bunnies, mice, ducks, prehistoric blue-collar guys and round-headed kids, I also got to know a pink panther and an obtuse French detective. Yeah, as a very young little boy, I watched "The Pink Panther Show" which opened as you can see here with a quintessentially 1970s groovy theme song.

My weekday afternoons following school were often filled with views of the innocent and unintentionally troublemaking Pink Panther and the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. I did get my laughs at both of them although at the time, I had no idea that they shared a common origin.

The other thing was that instead of "The Pink Panther Show" 70s theme song, Pink himself was always accompanied by this boozy and jazzy saxophone-led theme in his individual cartoons that I actually enjoyed much more. In fact, in contrast with this theme and its variations showing up in most of the episodes, I actually fell hard for the "soundtrack" as it were of what was the very first Pink Panther cartoon, "The Pink Phink". Everything stood out for this one as the pilot cartoon: the more minimalist design, the slightly stouter but still suave panther and what would be a more faithful rendition of the theme song.

Some years would pass before I finally discovered that the Pink Panther hadn't come from a weekday cartoonist's mind but from director/screenwriter Blake Edwards' realization of an idea for a 1963 motion-picture live-action caper comedy which would introduce one of cinema's biggest comedic characters in the form of Inspector Jacques Clouseau played by Peter Sellers, and of course, the legendary Pink Panther. Apparently, the opening credits for the movie became so popular with folks that some of them actually bought more tickets just to see them again...and thus, the cartoon was born.

It's been a long time since I've seen "The Pink Panther" but though I remember that Clouseau back then was also a bumbler, he was not quite so to the extent that he was in later sequels. Sellers had played him a bit more competently back then, and the jewel thieves were also in the bumbling category which surprised me considering that David Niven and Robert Wagner were the stars. My general feeling was that "The Pink Panther" was slapstick comedy nestled within a sophisticated movie of high society, international intrigue and beautiful people.

But when it comes down right to it, it will always be that Henry Mancini theme song with Plas Johnson behind the tenor sax that everyone will remember first. "The Pink Panther Theme" hit the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category, according to Wikipedia.

Mancini was also the composer behind the theme song for the 1964 "A Shot in the Dark", the first sequel to "The Pink Panther". And once again, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the theme for all those "The Inspector" cartoons had gotten its full glory in another popular opening credits sequence. "A Shot in the Dark" basically reflected Clouseau in its arrangement of intrigue, Frenchness and jazzy coolness along with the brassy explosions. And Clouseau seemed to attract all sorts of explosions.

This was the movie that set the Clouseau franchise template of being a total puffed-up buffoon who brought mayhem to any situation and person, especially his long-suffering boss, the increasingly neurotic Commissioner Dreyfus. I remember laughing my innards out like a sea cucumber on Red Alert during the running gag of the police van taking Clouseau into custody four times, including after his escapade at the nudist colony.

Well, Oricon wasn't around in the early 1960s and the usually dependable Showa Pops website of singles releases only goes as far back as 1965, so let us go with what won at the Japan Record Awards in 1963.

Grand Prize: Michiyo Azusa -- Konnichiwa Aka-chan (こんにちは赤ちゃん）

Best New Artist: Kazuo Funaki -- Koukou Sannen-sei （高校三年生）

Best New Artist: Akemi Misawa -- Shima no Blues（島のブルース）