Sammy Film Music Awards

18/12/2023

One of the favorite songs for wintertime is from 1945, "Let It Snow," and first recorded by Vaughan Monroe. There was also a hit recording by Dean Martin. Many other singers have recorded it. That is one of the songs featured on the special centennial CD tribute to Sammy Cahn performed by the American Classics ensemble of singers and jazz combo --
https://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/ItsMagicCD.htm

03/10/2023

This is National Carry A Tune Week (Oct. 1-7) and the theme tune this year is a beautiful song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jule Styne. This is its 75th anniversary year of the song, recorded by Doris Day from her first role in a movie and the music orchestrated by Ray Heindorf. Plan to pick one or more tunes for this week and send in your choices to the web page.
For information see this link --
https://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/carryatuneweek.htm

23/08/2023

A fourth Oscar was given to lyricist Sammy Cahn, who shared it with songwriter, James Van Heusen, for their song "Call Me Irresponsible" from PAPA's DELICATE CONDITION. Here is the American Classics ensemble of singers and combo performing that song from a Sammy Cahn Centennial program in 2013 and available on a CD --

From the American Classics concert at the Longy School of Music, Cambridge, Massachusetts, honoring the centennial of lyricist Sammy Cahn (1913-1993). A CD t...

01/08/2023

On August 1, 2013, the centennial anniversary of the birth of film composer, Jerome Moross, his life was celebrated with a Lifetime Achievement Award presented to his daughter in his memory. Among his memorable film scores are THE BIG COUNTRY and THE CARDINAL.

22/07/2023

One of the lyricists named for Lifetime Achievement Sammy Award was Paul Francis Webster, who received three Oscars for his song lyrics. His Oscar-winning song was recorded by the great pop singer -- Tony Bennett, who has just left the stage. In fond memory of both Tony Bennett and Paul Francis Webster, here is that Oscar-winning song from 1965 --

"The Shadow of Your Smile" was introduced in the 1965 film "The Sandpiper". It won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and the Academy Award for Best Origi...

13/07/2023

These awards began in1988 on the 75th birthday of Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), who had received 4 Oscars for his song lyrics. They were first announced on WGBH radio. Later , they have been announced on Film Music Review, which now celebrates its 25th anniversary as one of the longest-running e-zines for film songs and soundtracks. There was a special CD produced in honor of the centennial birthday of Sammy Cahn in 2013 featuring all 4 of his Oscar-winning songs, performed by a talented ensemble of musicians -- https://americanmusicpreservation.com/ItsMagicCD.htm

25/04/2023

Now available is the revised 8th edition of the book for those who love film music scores and songs and wish to learn more about them. This book has a lot of information including a listing of Sammy Film Music Awards from the past in an easy to follow format and is available exclusively here --
https://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/Filmmusicguide.htm

12/03/2023

These awards began 35 years ago and this was the soundtrack recording chosen for that year first released on an LP from Warner Bros. Records and later reissued on a Film Score Monthly CD --

19/11/2022

Today (18 November) marks the birthday of lyricist, Johnny Mercer (1909-1976), who received Oscars for his song lyrics in 1946, 1951, 1961, 1962, but wasn't even nominated for the popular "Hooray For Hollywood" song in 1937. He was named for Lifetime Achievement in the Sammy Film Music Awards in 1991. See the Sammy Film Music Awards page for the composers, lyricists, and arrangers on the Lifetime Achievement list.

29/10/2022

One of the most underrated film composers from the past is Roy Webb (1888-1982) who composed over 150 film scores, mainly for RKO Radio, including the popular film noir, OUT OF THE PAST, also MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. He also composed scores for all the Val Lewton produced horror films of the 1940s and they are featured on a highly recommended Marco Polo CD . Many years after his death, he was named for Lifetime Achievement on the 27th Annual Sammy Film Music Awards announcement. See the list of many of his film scores at Wikipedia --
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Webb

22/09/2022

This year marks the centennial of the birth of composer Elmer Bernstein. There are tributes by three film music critics (Roger Hall, Steven Kennedy and Steve Vertlieb) to this major past film composer at Elmer Bernstein 100 on the Film Music Review e-zine.

30/06/2022

Back in 1989, Bernard Herrmann was the first composer from the past to be named for Lifetime Achievement. In honor of his birthday today, here is a picture of him conducting in his early years --