remembering arranger johnny douglas

[alocispepraluger102]

in the field of light music of the 50s, british arranger johnny douglas, among a very few others, was a personal favorite.

listening to some of his string music this morning, i am taken by the deight of his arrangers.

he comes to mind as i listen to his delightful album of harold rome compositions.

i never saw any of his name credited as arranger on the early melachrino and stapleton arrangements, but i'm sure, many, if not most, were douglas arrangements.

the music was pleasant and singing, never dragging and lugubrious.

douglas was one of the early arrangers of the living strings albms, when they were good, really good.

on this september morning when one tends to survey some things, it's good to give johnny douglas a spin.

his music was special to me.

johnny douglas obit from the independent

Railway man: Johnny Douglas's best known work was the score for The Railway ChildrenThe composer, arranger and conductor Johnny Douglas, who has died from prostate cancer aged 82, is best remembered for the evocative, nostalgic score he wrote in 1970 for Lionel Jeffries's screen adaptation of the Edith Nesbit classic, The Railway Children. But the range of this enormously gifted musician is indicated by the range of artists he worked with - among them Shirley Bassey, June Bronhill, Max Bygraves, Vera Lynn, Frankie Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Harry Secombe, Kenneth McKellar, Frankie Howerd, Al Martino, Mantovani, Ann Shelton and Billy Cotton.Douglas was born in Hackney, east London, and, by the age of two, could pick out on the piano tunes played by his uncle. He took formal piano lessons from the age of four and, by 11, was studying scores and band parts while listening to recordings. By learning about instruments and their transpositions, he began to appreciate the finer points of composition and orchestration.

As a scholarship boy at St Olave's and St Saviour's grammar school, Bermondsey, he formed a dance band, mainly of school friends, and developed it to such a high standard that it regularly won awards. His first professional job came in 1939, as pianist with the Neville Hughes Sextet. The outbreak of the second world war took him into the RAF, where again he formed a dance band. An arm injury put a stop to his piano-playing for a couple of years, and by the time he was fit again, arranging and composition work had become dominant.

In the immediate post-war years, he was kept busy arranging for such band-leaders as Bert Ambrose, Ted Heath, Edmundo Ros and Cyril Stapleton. For Stapleton, he also continued as a pianist.

From 1948, Douglas took a staff job with a music publisher, in order to be able to arrange for full orchestra, and, in 1952, he had his first big hit with the backing for Tex Ritter's recording of High Noon. In all, he provided the arrangements for around 500 titles on the Decca label.

Already a seasoned radio broadcaster, in 1955 he was given a show with his own orchestra, In The Still Of The Night. Swing Song was another favourite BBC radio series in the 1960s, and, in the 1970s, he was a regular conductor on such Radio 2 programmes as The Terry Wogan Show and Charlie Chester's Sunday Soapbox. On television, he provided musical support to top international stars.

In 1958, the grande dame of RCA, Ethel Gabriel, asked Douglas to provide arrangements for the album Living Strings Play Music Of The Sea, a project that gave him the long-sought opportunity to work with a full-sized orchestra as both arranger and conductor. RCA was delighted with the result, which began a quarter-century collaboration that saw the creation of more than 80 albums, one of which, Feelings, went gold.

Douglas wrote the scores for some 36 pictures, starting in 1962 with The Day Of The Triffids, which he co-composed with Ron Goodwin (obituary, January 11 2003). Other notablecredits were Circus Of Fear (1966) and Run Like A Thief (1967); the score of The Railway Children was nominated for a Bafta award. The television films and series he provided music for included The Incredible Hulk (1982), Dungeons And Dragons (1983), The Transformers (1984) and GI Joe (1990).

Douglas established his own easy-listening record label in 1983, taking its name, Dulcima, from a 1971 film adaptation of an HE Bates story, for which he had written the score. The freedom this new venture gave him to choose his own material, and have full control over its production, enabled him, in 1999, to commit to disc two symphonic poems, The Conquest and The Aftermath. Both were recorded by an orchestra largely made up of his numerous friends and colleagues.

Sadly, Douglas's creative energies outran his physical health, but those who knew him will remember the kindly-looking, bespectacled man who succeeded in combining bonhomie and authority in the course of a 60-year musical career.

He is survived by his wife Marion and daughters Norma and Martine; his son Martin predeceased him.

· John 'Johnny' Douglas, composer, arranger and conductor, born June 19 1920; died April 20 2003

• © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Edited September 1, 2011 by alocispepraluger102

[Ted O'Reilly]

Aloc, may I ask why you chose to use the center alignment in your postings? My problem, but I find it distracting and harder to read, especially if you're quoting something like the Douglas item.

Style is one thing, but clarity is all!

[alocispepraluger102]

i've corrected the matter, ted.

thanks for reading, and your input.

[Ted O'Reilly]

i've corrected the matter, ted.

thanks for reading, and your input.

You're welcome. (Now we'll start working on capitalization).

ted, or Ted

[alocispepraluger102]

i've corrected the matter, ted.

thanks for reading, and your input.

You're welcome. (Now we'll start working on capitalization).

ted, or Ted

now you've gone a little too far, Ted.

my good friend Goodspeak and myself had extended vitriolic exchanges lasting days over capitalization some years ago on this forum.

it ended amicably.

my beloved cat is now named Ms. Goodspeak.