Probably encouraged by the success of Grainer and Millar's "Robert and Elizabeth", Ned Sherrin was given considerable finance backing for a TV version of a musical he had written with Caryl Brahms and Ron Grainer about the eccentric Portuguese royal family the Braganzas who had fled to Brazil to escape Napoleons army.
" It was another lavish production with an orchestra of sixty and a cast of about the same number. Budgets were hugely different in those days but I think I allocated some sixteen thousand pounds to produce the entire seventy five minutes. It cost twenty four thousand ". [1]
As Brazil was the intended destination for Grainers 1952 departure from Australia and Portugal was soon to be the place where Grainer would permanently relocate to there may have been more then usual personal identification with the book location. The Radio Times description said the show was "suggested by the music of Portugal and Brazil".
Sherrin said Grainers score was "really marvellous" [2] however, apart from the broadcast video later wiped by the BBC housekeeping department, and despite its cost to produce, no studio recording of "Sapphire" was made and no manuscript or libretto for it are known to still exist.
The musical included the last public appearance of ballerina Lydia Sokolova. [3]
Carla Brahms openly incorporated some of the musicals dialogue in her 1963 book "No Castanets" so the project may have been waiting for realization several years before its hit and run TV appearance. [3]
MUSIC FROM PARADISE Magazine article [29.1.66]
Normally content to just get on with whatever musical task was given him in England 1966 saw Grainer re-emerge in the consciousness of the Australian public with a return visit to the country of his birth. Several lengthy magazine and newspaper interviews were published in which he summarized his English career so far and expanded on the reasons he now commuted to London from Portugal.
"Not long ago on doctors orders Mr Grainer had to find himself a place in the sun where he could write his music by natural sunlight for he had inherited eye trouble from his grandparents. If he spends three consecutive days working under artificial light he loses his sight. Now the only time he comes to London are for recording sessions, musical auditions or conferences". [4]
In the same write up some hints of Grainers dedication to his profession were given - "Unlike many other composers Grainer is not content to provide just basic tunes Every note of any of his pieces is written straight on to a score sheet by him. He chose the musicians to play his compositions, conducts and rehearses them. He sleeps for an average of four hours a night and his musical output is staggering" [5]
This first article to appear, excerpts quoted above, was in the Jan 29 1966 edition of Australian magazine New Idea a good five months before Grainer's physical arrival suggesting an unexpected delay to his original plans.
"THE LEGEND OF THE YOUNG DICK TURPIN" [13.2.66]
145 minute Walt Disney ripping yarn about the supposed early life of highwayman Dick Turpin.
Link to the real Dick Turpin essay
While not much in the way of actual fact ended up in Robert Westerby's Robin Hood meets Oliver Twist screenplay. Grainer's music setting of the opening credits "Stand and Deliver" song was suitably rollicking.
"COMES THE TIME"- 1966 Eurovision UK heats [b/cst 27.2.66]
Grainer's third involvement with the Eurovision Song Contest came in early 1966 with this song written in collaboration with Brahms and Sherrin. It made the top 5 of the UK heats without reaching a place in the final three. Sung by Kenneth McKellar in a BBC TV special it also appeared on an ep of 1966 Eurovision related material in Britain and a similar ep released in Europe. [7]
"ON THE LEVEL" [19.4.66]
"Having by great good fortune struck oil with our first musical Grainer and I looked around for a second, as far removed as possible from the style, songs and setting of mid Victorian romance"- Ronald Millar [8]
A worthy goal but choosing as subject matter a very English tale about a contemporary group of students who cheat on exam papers was not exactly destined to have them lining up around the block even if the show was energetically performed.
Without the benefit of experiencing the staging it is difficult to judge the effectiveness of the production but listening to the soundtrack some of the West Side Story trumpets and choir gridlock is so strident it is impossible to make out many of the probably witty lyrics which is a definite problem.
The show did have its friends in high places, in his autobiography writer Ron Millar wrote "Brian Epstein the Beatles manager bought the film rights for rather more then a considerable sum which was soothing but a musical calls for more then a cult audience it needs across the board appeal to survive. On The Level was the greatest fun to do but and was ahead of its time but after five months of switchback business it was clear its time was up". [9a]
Three well crafted songs - "On The Level" having the standout music and arrangement - then a mellow instrumental and it ends and so did Millars West End ambitions. As he later wrote "With my venture into musical theater showing one smash and one crash it was time to draw breath". [9b] What Millar chose was a career as speech writer for English Prime Ministers Heath, Thatcher and Major. [10] Grainer had two more tries at a musical neither of which were successful.
GRAINER RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA [16.6.66]
Without the benefit of experiencing the staging it is difficult to judge the effectiveness of the production but listening to the soundtrack some of the West Side Story trumpets and choir gridlock is so strident it is impossible to make out many of the probably witty lyrics which is a definite problem.
The show did have its friends in high places, in his autobiography writer Ron Millar wrote "Brian Epstein the Beatles manager bought the film rights for rather more then a considerable sum which was soothing but a musical calls for more then a cult audience it needs across the board appeal to survive. On The Level was the greatest fun to do but and was ahead of its time but after five months of switchback business it was clear its time was up". [9a]
Three well crafted songs - "On The Level" having the standout music and arrangement - then a mellow instrumental and it ends and so did Millars West End ambitions. As he later wrote "With my venture into musical theater showing one smash and one crash it was time to draw breath". [9b] What Millar chose was a career as speech writer for English Prime Ministers Heath, Thatcher and Major. [10] Grainer had two more tries at a musical neither of which were successful.
GRAINER RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA [16.6.66]
On 16th June 1966 [11] Grainer returned to Australia, after 14 years away, to review the Melbourne production of "Robert and Elizabeth" a task he had often undertaken with the London version during its two year run. "Things can change very gradually without performers or orchestra being aware ... There can be changes in tempo, in interpretation, in dynamics. It tends to flatten out it you don't have dynamic contrasts". [12]
An interesting comment to make after the recent public airing of "On The Level" a production which suffered greatly from its overall absence of those very qualities.
A Melbourne newspaper article entitled "The Music Man" was the next Australian interview with Grainer to appear in 1966. It included a quite detailed and coherent chronology of his music career to date starting with his Sydney Conservatorium years and finishing with his current interest in experimenting with "the aesthetic and technical side of music". "We are now working in tempered pitch which to my mind was a musical compromise worked out a couple of centuries ago. we really should have 20 notes to the octave on the piano." [13]
A week after The Age article appeared the Australian Women's Weekly published a text and photo feature called "Wet Welcome For Composer" the title being suggested by the unseasonal, near cyclonic weather, Grainer encountered while visiting his parents at Brisbane. [14]
Grainer used the interview to reveal more of his approach to music creation. " The effect I get in TV themes has to do partly with the instruments I choose. Sometimes I may get a distinct idea - perhaps in the bath or driving - a sequence of notes or a particular sound in my head that may be the eventual thing [or] it may be rather rough. Normally I have to be by myself to get it in the initial stages. Atmosphere plays a great part. I cannot work when there is music. It blocks my mind." [15]
Grainer mentioned the restrictions and benefits of being in England. "There is little time for leisure but the life I lead has its own stimulation because I am mixing with other people and minds tends to sharpen other minds".
However the interview ended with an indication Grainer was considering making a major lifestyle change. "I have seen both side of life, the really lean and the successful. To have had such a struggle makes one more realistic about it, inclined not to sit back and fear the alternative to success." [16a]
GRAINER'S SECOND MARRIAGE [19.8.66]
Grainer marries 21 year old Robert and Elizabeth cast member Jenny Dodds in London. [16b]
"I GOTTA SHOE" [24.12.66]
Grainer marries 21 year old Robert and Elizabeth cast member Jenny Dodds in London. [16b]
"I GOTTA SHOE" [24.12.66]
A One Hour BBC Television version of Sherrin and Brahms "Cindy Ella" that was an Afro-Americian take on the traditional fairy story "Cinderella". The program "was originally commissioned by the BBC and originally broadcast - on radio - in 1957. Since then it has been a novel, a stage show, a gramophone record". [17]
Many traditional songs such as "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen", Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" were included in the score, sometimes uneasily, as well as two enjoyable Peter Knight / Ron Grainer compositions "Cindy Ella" and "Look At Me With A Loving Eye". [18]
Jazz singer Cleo Lane's mellow vocals were the obvious highlight and the linking dialogue and staging must have had viewer appeal as it was rebroadcast on 21 December 1968.
"ALAIN CALMUT" [1966 date of release unknown]
A 15 minute black and white documentary about the renowned French skater Alain Calmut was released featuring a score by Grainer and fellow Australian musician Johnny Hawksworth. [19] The documentary appears to be not “lost” but “buried” in an archive somewhere as some details about its structure are available.
“Alain Calmut, the world figure skating champion and medical student. He and Jacqueline Vaudecranne his teacher and himself evoke his sports career on images of the champion. 1958: Boulogne, the French championship; 1962: Geneva the European championship; 1964: Grenoble, the European championship; 1965: Moscow, the European Championship, failure; 1966 USA Alain Calmut is world champion.” [20]
Curiously when describing the documentary the American National Library refers to the inclusion of “J. S. Bach Songs” [21] Although Hawksworth released a jazz LP of material influenced by J S Bach music in 1968 there are no Grainer / Hawksworth compositions included [22]
*It's quite likely some of the images used in the "I came i saw I cured" blog may have also been used in the Grainer / Hawksworth short. http://skateguard1.blogspot.com/2018/02/i-came-i-saw-i-cured-alain-calmat-story.html
1966 References
[02] Radio Times
[03] Ned Sherrin "The Autobiography" Sphere 2005 p240]
[04] Carly Brahms "No Castanets" sleeve notes W H Allen 1963 p10
05] "Music From Paradise" New Idea 29.01.66 p5]
[06] "Music From Paradise"New Idea 29.01.66 p5]
[07] Gordon Roxborough "Songs For Europe" Part One p401,405,406].
[08] Ronald Millar "A View From The Wing" Weidenfield & Nicolson 1993 p190
[09] Ronald Millar "A View From The Wing" Weidenfield & Nicolson 1993 p192
[10a] Ronald Millar "A View From The Wing" Weidenfield & Nicolson 1993 front flyleaf
[10b] Stephen Cronin Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 17 2007 [10b]
[11] "The Music Man" The Age Melbourne 17 June 1966 p2
[12] "Wet Welcome For Composer" Australian Womens Weekly 29 June 1966 p4
[13] "The Music Man" The Age Melbourne 17 June 1966 p2
[14] "Wet Welcome For Composer" Australian Womens Weekly 29 June 1966 p4
[15] "Wet Welcome For Composer" Australian Womens Weekly 29 June 1966 p4
[16a] "Wet Welcome For Composer" Australian Womens Weekly 29 June 1966 p4
[16b] Stephen Cronin Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 17 2007 [10b]
[17] Radio Times Dec 22 1966 p7
[18] Radio Times Dec 22 1966 p7
[19] ref:BFI listing https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6e9ae03c
[20] ref: French Media Screen catalogue: http://www.cndp.fr/media-sceren/catalogue-de-films/alain_calmat-1532.html]
[21] ref: American library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/jots.200013077 ]
[22] ref: Discogs https://www.discogs.com/The-Johnny-Hawksworth-Nobility-Johann-Hawksworth-Bach/release/13025281.
