Here’s audio from the opening credits to the February 8th, 1968 installment of The CBS Thursday Night Movies, which featured the 1962 movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance:
This was a repeat broadcast. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance first aired on The CBS Friday Night Movies in September 1967. A voiceover during the opening credits lists several big names from the cast as well as title of the movie.
Here’s a transcript:
Tonight, the CBS Thursday Night Movies proudly present John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Lee Marvin in the classic western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
About This Recording
Source: Reel-to-reel audio tape
Date: Thursday, February 8th, 1968
Network: CBS
Station: Unknown
I haven’t heard that music in over 40 years and it brings back fond memories. Any idea of where the bumping noises came from?
The bumping noises sound like background noise to me. There are also drop-outs in the tape.
I figured that out right away. What I was wondering is if the Webmaster who posted this remembers what caused those noises. Sounds like banging furniture to me.
This particular bit of TV audio comes from a reel-to-reel tape a relative of mine used to record TV theme songs between 1968 and 1972 (read more about it here). All I know is a microphone was used rather than a direct line to the TV set, so any noise in the room ended up on the tape.
That’s what I thought was the story. I actually tried to record with a cassette in the same manner. In the ’60’s, you couldn’t do a direct hookup unless you were a tech. I have been fascinated by these tapes and look forward to more.
Really neat…love the orchestration of the music. Not as up tempo as the 1970’s version, but fitting for the time.
There’s a copy of the 1967 Friday Night on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeDM0V42PzY
I assume the Thursday ’68 version had a similar opening. The music definitely sounds similar.
It’s not quite the same arrangement, but it’s close. Ironically, “Psycho” never played on CBS because of its violence. Paramount released it in syndication in 1967, and then it was later acquired by Universal under a buy-back clause in Hitchcock’s contract.
The other factor in PSYCHO not airing was the brutal (and still unsolved) murder of Illinois Senator Charles Percy’s daughter, occurring a few days before the film’s scheduled debut in September 1966.
Holy cow! I recognize that music — that’s the music that comes out of Gilligan’s mouth during the teaser of the episode of _Gilligan’s Island_ in which he gets hit in the mouth and turns into a radio! Check the opening of the episode “Hi-Fi Gilligan” and see if you agree. _GI_ was on CBS as well, so perhaps this was a very subtle advertisement for the network’s movies?
That episode of GILLIGAN aired in the 1965-66 season, the first for the Thursday movie–clearly it was a promo, as he ran at 8 PM Thursday that year.
“The man who shot Liberty Valance…he was the greatest of them all”
Wonder if that V/O was Art Hannes . . .