Ernest Gold -- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

 

When this movie hit the theatres in late 1963, I was unfortunately yet to arrive on this mad, mad, mad, mad world for several more months, so my first viewing of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" was through its rerun on CBS one Saturday night when the network hadn't minded donating three hours of air time to this epic comedy.

And boy, was it epic! From what I learned, the movie industry was in some turmoil at the time since television had been stealing cinema's thunder and viewership. The studios had to throw in every trick ranging from Panavision to humongous casts to bring back bums into seats. So, you had these historical epics such as "The Ten Commandments" and big caper movies such as the original "Ocean's Eleven". Then you had "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" directed by Stanley Kramer who, a couple of years earlier. had helped make the extremely serious "Judgment at Nuremberg" with its own big cast including Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland and William Shatner involved with the theme of fascism and war.

"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" then was Kramer's far more jovial take on greed and what it does to people. And in this case, the movie vacuumed up just about every comedian in existence (Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Dick Shawn, etc.) over forty years and dumped them into California with starring and cameo roles. As a kid, I was heaving up my internal organs like a scared sea cucumber as I watched scenes like Jonathan Winters' one-man rampage in a garage.

Then, there was Barrie Chase's weirdly alluring dance (Chase is now the only surviving cast member) along with an unbelievable final car chase which didn't have any action-movie stars but terrified funny people. And that led to the final comeuppance and takedown of almost everyone via a poor fire truck ladder. Spencer Tracy as an escaping police captain? Check. Peter Falk, years before Columbo? Check. Milton Berle as a milquetoast? Check. The Three Stooges in colour? Double check.

And adding to the joyful lunacy of it all? Ernest Gold's soundtrack including the main theme. The Saul Bass opening credit sequence with the theme are worth the price of admission all on their own. Gold got the whole premise of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and reflected that with the crazed circus arrangement of the theme which picks up here and there throughout the movie. 

There was even a sung version with Mack David's lyrics and not surprisingly, the content is appropriately mad. The theme was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song but the actual winner for the movie at the Academy Awards was in Best Sound Effects. After all, Jimmy Durante kicked that bucket really melodiously.

As for the comparison that year in Japan, I'm going with the 5th Annual Japan Record Awards and specifically the winning songwriters this time around in 1963.

Best Composer: Taku Izumi for Kyu Sakamoto's "Miagetegoran Yoru no Hoshi wo"（見上げてごらん夜の星を）

Best Lyricist: Toshio Oka for Kazuo Funaki's "Koukou Sannen-sei" （高校三年生）

Best Arranger: Hiroshi Miyagawa for The Peanuts' "Koi no Vacance" (恋のバカンス）

Kazuo Ohno -- Hengen Mikazukimaru（変幻三日月丸）

 

The first time I heard this song, I got the impression that this was some sort of tokusatsu theme song as would be the case for "Kamen Rider" (仮面ライダー) thanks to its marching beat and the kiddie chorus backing up the singer. However, there is no superhero on the poster that you see on the video thumbnail above but a samurai warrior as you would see in a jidai geki series such as the immortal "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）.

So, what is this interesting hybrid of two well-known Japanese TV tropes? Well, the theme song is for the 1959-1960 series titled "Hengen Mikazukimaru", a Fuji-TV jidai geki show for the children. And apparently, this was a tokusatsu jidai geki series with the hero warrior Mikazukimaru Hengen doling out justice with some of his amazing powers such as parting rivers and lakes just like Moses. It would therefore go that the theme song with the same name would have that familiar old-fashioned superhero theme...just one for a crime fighter from several hundred years ago.

The theme song was sung by Kazuo Ohno（大野一夫）with Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）responsible for the lyrics while Teiichi Horie（堀江貞一）took care of the proud melody. I could only find one video with footage from the show itself and it was part of a variety program so the panelists were talking over the episode.

Rie Takahashi -- Donguri Korokoro（どんぐりころころ）/Neko Funjatta（猫踏んじゃった）

From clipart-library.com

 

Last night, when I wrote about the venerable children's song "Te no Hira wo Taiyou ni"（手のひらを太陽に）from 1962, I first sent a shoutout to an even older kids' tune that the character of Tomo from "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）sang at karaoke, much to the mirth of the guy she loves and to her utter embarrassment. Yep, I do feel her pain.

Now, "Donguri Korokoro" (An Acorn Rolled Down) is a children's song that is apparently now part of the public domain so I gather that to mean that no one really has ownership (for you legal eagles, if I've made an error here, please correct me). I'm only using seiyuu Rie Takahashi's（高橋李依）name here because her character Tomo's awesome depiction of the song is so different from the many songs her other popular character Takagi-san did in "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san） that I just had to give her the mike, so to speak.

The century-old "Donguri Korokoro" was released in either 1921 or 1922 (for argument's sake, I'll go with the latter year), and it was written by novelist and Japanese literature expert Nagayoshi Aoki（青木存義）and composed by educator Tadashi Yanada（梁田貞）. Soon after the end of World War II, the song was placed into school music textbooks. This tale of errant acorns and loaches was a song that I also often heard here and there over the decades.

I might as well kill two birds (or a cat) with one stone here and also include Tomo-chan's take on another classic "Neko Funjatta" (I Stepped on a Cat). This time, though, I'm not talking about a made-in-Japan kids' song but one whose origins are German and is a song that has been known worldwide, since its probable creation in 1890 by Ferdinand Alfred Gustav Loh according to LS Piano Music. The original title is "Flohwalzer" (The Flea Waltz) although it isn't a waltz, and in Japanese, there are no fleas...just an unlucky cat with back/tail issues. Once again, I used to hear this all the time by folks in band class and other venues when someone just wanted to play around on the 88 keys.

According to J-Wiki, the Japanese version of "Flohwalzer" under the title of "Neko Funjatta" was used in NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）TV vignette series with lyrics by Hiroo Sakata（阪田寛夫）. However in 1954, Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）placed his own lyrics onto Loh's original music. Going over to English Wikipedia, the song has different titles depending on the nation such as "La Chocolatera" in Spain and "Szamárinduló" (Donkey March) in Hungary.

Personally, I will be looking forward to any more contributions by the Queen of Children's Songs.

Ichiro Mizuki -- Mazinger Z（マジンガーZ）/Kamen Rider Christmas（仮面ライダークリスマス）

 

Unfortunately, this week has started with the news of yet another celebrity in the music industry leaving this mortal coil. I found out on NHK News this morning that the Emperor of Anison, singer-songwriter Ichiro Mizuki（水木一郎）, had passed away on December 6th due to lung cancer at the age of 74. Born Toshio Hayakawa（早川俊夫）in Tokyo, he was also affectionately known as the aniki or big brother, and I knew him for his appearances on various specials and other shows where he would put his all into his appearance and performances of the many anime and tokusatsu theme songs that he had recorded over many decades.

The first time I'd heard of Mizuki, it was through his recording of the opening theme song for the tokusatsu hero program "Chojin Barom-1"（超人バロム・1...Superman Barom-1）, a show that I watched as a kid visiting Grandpa's farm in Wakayama Prefecture back in 1972. However, I think that for a lot of his fans, the theme for the robot superhero anime "Mazinger Z", which came out in the same year, will be the one to remember.

I never saw the anime myself. My first exposure to Mazinger Z was through Marvel Comics when the hero was placed as one of the three "Shogun Warriors". But his iconic looks were such that he would always be instantly recognized on either side of the Pacific for those mecha fans.

Written by Fumihiko Azuma（東文彦）, whose real name was Kazuo Koike（小池一夫）, and composed by Chuumei Watanabe（渡辺宙明）, Mizuki was really putting some vocal acrobatics into "Mazinger Z", kinda like how the actual character was pulling off his moves against the bad guys, a snazzy disco tune which probably had the kids from 8 to 88 shouting along right with Mizuki.

Also in 1972, in a November episode of "Kamen Rider", the tradition of Christmas was broached and the insectoid tokusatsu superhero actually did his part to help Santa Claus out. Mizuki and the Columbia Yurikago Kai（コロムビアゆりかご会）children's chorus group recorded an insert song for the episode, "Kamen Rider Christmas" which has been done as the usual heroic march but with some of those jingle bells thrown in. Mamoru Tanaka（田中守）and Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）were responsible for the lyrics while Shunsuke Kikuchi（菊池俊輔）took care of the music and arrangement.

It is a pity that Mizuki's dynamic performances in front of enthusiastic fans have come to an end. From what I've read on his Wikipedia profile, the singer had been more than willing to keep up the good fight and please all those who have appreciated his music over the years. My condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Atsuo Okamoto -- Kogen Ressha wa Iku（高原列車は行く）

Tonight's theme on NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）was trains. It's quite the meaty theme, actually, since Japan is indeed a train nation with so many railways criss-crossing the country like arteries and veins, and there have been so much in the way of kayo featuring the mode of transportation.

One of the first songs on tonight's show was a 1954 tune by Atsuo Okamoto（岡本敦郎）, a singer who hailed from the great sushi haven of Otaru in Hokkaido. "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" (There Goes the Highland Train) is one of those jaunty postwar numbers celebrating folks enjoying the great outdoors as the titular train passes through. It's so cheerful that it could get even me hiking into the mountains (probably won't happen).

Still, the trains can be fun to ride. Anyways, while most of the song has that happy march feeling, there's an instrumental part in there which seems to take things into a more traditional enka pattern for some reason. Athough I have categorized "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" as an enka tune, I think the tune is basically one zippy kayo.

Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）wrote the lyrics under one of his pen names which is pronounced the same way but has different kanji（丘十四夫）, while Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）created the melody. As for Okamoto, he appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen in its very early days a total of 7 times between 1952 and 1958 with his first two times being on the original radio broadcast. He performed "Kogen Ressha wa Iku" on his 4th appearance in December 1954 at Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya Public Hall. I'm sure that his clap-worthy performance had the audience all roused up.

Masaru Matsuyama -- Koi no Sendo-san（恋の船頭さん）

When I was translating those travel articles, some of those included those for river tours out in the regional areas of Japan with the traditional boatmen steering their wooden boats skillfully through the rougher patches of the waterways.

It was those scenes that came to mind when I heard the enka ballad "Koi no Sendo-san" (Boatman in Love). This was actually sung by the enka legend known for decades as Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）but his 3rd single from August 1965 was released under his first stage name Masaru Matsuyama（松山まさる）.

Written by Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）and composed by Gento Uehara（上原げんと）, the delivery by the singer who would later be known as Itsuki has that youthful smoothness for the lack of a better expression, but the lad was only 17 years old at the time. Still, considering that he was still three years away from being officially recognized as an adult in Japan, his voice is still remarkably rich and steady as if it were from a singer a decade older.

The lyrics by Oka relate the story of a young boatman, having taken on the duties formerly performed by his father, falling for a beautiful passenger who takes a ride under his charge. He then spots her at a festival and falls for her head-over-heels. There's no report on whether the song inspired any movie but the setting sounds like a perfect source for a screenplay. I also don't know how the song did in terms of sales but of course, the best was yet to come for the man who was born Kazuo Matsuyama（松山数夫）.

Kazuo Funaki -- Shuugaku Ryokou （修学旅行）

I came across this 45" by Kazuo Funaki（舟木一夫）in Dad's old collection some time ago so of course, I gave it a spin on the TEAC. When one thinks of Funaki, high school memories will inevitably come up since his first number of singles were all related to those 4 years of education. Obviously, there was his signature tune, "Koukou Sannen-sei"（高校三年生）that got him immediately on the map when he debuted in June 1963, already a graduate.

Then, there was his 2nd single which came out just a couple of months following "Koukou Sannen-sei", "Shuugaku Ryokou" (School Trip). One of the prime memories of any student in the Japanese education system is when he/she gets to go with classmates and teachers on that big 3-day trip to another city in Japan. When I was on the JET Programme in Gunma, I had that one opportunity to join the senior students in junior high school on that very trip over to Kyoto and Nara. We got to see a whole bunch of temples and shrines and then there was the chance to feed the deer in Nara...while avoiding the deer "land mines" underfoot. Perhaps for a lot of the kids, it was their very first opportunity to go on a trip without the family, and so I'm pretty sure that the teachers were busy yelling at the students to refrain from gabbing away in their rooms past curfew. I've only given a tiny taste of what the experience is like but it is indeed a big deal.

So with that background information in mind, it's no surprise that a record could be made about the school tradition. "Shuugaku Ryokou" was created by the same duo behind Funaki's first hit, Toshio Oka and Minoru Endo（丘灯至夫・遠藤実）. The one thing that distinguished this song from "Koukou Sannen-sei" is the nearly Latin-sounding rumbling beat, although I think composer Endo was perhaps trying to approximate the clackety-clack of the train transporting the kids and teachers. Remember this was still about a year before the first Shinkansen made its debut. Instead of the school anthem-like nature of "Koukou Sannen-sei", "Shuugaku Ryokou" was more lively, especially in the refrain starting with that "La, la, la", reflecting the students' feelings about heading off on that big tour. I guess getting to go on that (educational) vacation with the buddies instead of the parents could get any child pretty excited.

Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how successful Funaki's 2nd single became, but I'm fairly sure that it made for a good follow-up to his debut.

Kazuo Funaki -- Koukou Sannen-sei （高校三年生）

Let's remember about our final year in high school: getting ready for university/college, the yearbook and the senior prom. Pretty eventful time, eh? In Japan, it's also an important year for the high school senior. The yearbook is there but there's no such thing as a prom and the pressure to get into higher learning is enormous on a terrifying level. I very much doubt that most folks there will ever forget that year....whether they want to or not.

Perhaps that might be one reason that Kazuo Funaki's（舟木一夫）"Koukou Sannen-sei" (High School Senior) hit such a chord when it was released in June 1963. Funaki was born as Shigeyuki Ueda（上田成幸）in Aichi Prefecture in 1944, and had his first taste of show business when he was invited on stage to do a duet with singer Akira Matsushima（松島アキラ）in 1961. A couple of years later, armed with his new stage name, the young man who had just graduated from high school himself a couple of months earlier made his debut with "Koukou Sannen-sei"(High School Senior), written by Toshio Oka（丘灯至夫）and composed by Minoru Endo（遠藤実).  Endo reportedly told Funaki to wear a high school uniform when performing the song.

Funaki made his first big step into stardom right from the get-go. With his prim and proper and handsome appearance and his tender voice, the song hit the stratosphere in terms of popularity and sales. There was no Oricon at the time but "Koukou Sannen-sei" sold well over 2 million records and earned awards for both Funaki (Best Newcomer) and the team of Oka and Endo (Best Songwriting) at the Japan Record Awards. Not surprisingly, Funaki was also invited onto that year's Kohaku. Just imagine how the kid and his family must've been feeling....a little over 2 weeks after this 19th birthday getting all the accolades AND appearing at a major New Year's event. If his family didn't have a TV set that year, they probably bought one by December 31st.

And Funaki also achieved another career benchmark. He was placed alongside two other young male stars, Teruhiko Saigo（西郷輝彦）and Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）to become the Gosanke (御三家...The Big Three). Approaching his 40th anniversary in the geinokai, he released his 114th single just at the beginning of 2012.