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By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Earle Hagen, R.I.P. If you whistle when you think of The Andy Griffith Show, or can't imagine The Dick Van Dyke Show without its opening theme, then you understand the importance of Earle Hagen.
The veteran composer died Monday. He was 88 and had been ill for months. He was also, as music historian Jon Burlingame told the Los Angeles Times, ''one of the most important composers in the history of television, if not the most important.''
Added Burlingame: ''Hagen had an ability to capture the tone of any show he worked on.''
In an appreciation of Hagen for the Film Music Society, Burlingame said, ''For The Andy Griffith Show, Hagen not only wrote the folksy tune but can be heard whistling it on the soundtrack. It, along with the big-band Dick Van Dyke Show theme, the elegant That Girl and the driving theme for The Mod Squad, remain iconic musical moments for the small screen.
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More Hagen. ''Hagen became television's leading composer of the 1960s and 1970s. His other series included The Bill Dana Show, Rango, The Guns of Will Sonnett and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. He contributed music to, but did not write the themes for, such other shows as The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Eight Is Enough and The Dukes of Hazzard,'' Burlingame said.
All told, Hagen wrote music for an estimated 3,000 different TV episodes. His four Emmy nominations included a 1968 win for I Spy; he also received a special award from the television academy for ''pioneering work and enduring contributions'' in 2007.
Hagen also wrote music before getting involved in television, including the timeless mood piece Harlem Nocturne. And he wrote two textbooks about writing musical scores for film. Overall, a remarkable career.
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Cool Beans. People.com reports that the new Weezer video Pork and Beans was the most-viewed video on the Internet by the end of Memorial Day weekend. As of Tuesday afternoon, the YouTube video had been watched more than 3.1 million times.
And it's not just the Kevin Federline appearance that makes it go. As People notes, the video includes YouTube stars Chris ''Leave Britney alone!'' Crocker, Miss Teen South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton, Jud ''Evolution of Dance'' Laipply, Tay ''Chocolate Rain'' Zonday and many others.
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More Beans. ''It's an anthem to not conforming to what people want you to be,'' video director Matthew Cullen told People. ''I wanted to celebrate the creativity and individuality that's happening on the Internet. These are all completely different people from different walks of life who have achieved their fame through unorthodox or unintentional methods, but regardless they did something that people loved.''
And it could get changes, Cullen said. ''I don't see the video as done. It can be mashed up and changed and evolved. We want video to be a living thing on the Internet.''
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Avocado Advocate. Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz recently gave CNN the lowdown on his five acres of the guacamole staple.
''I moved into an area that all of us are avocado farmers,'' he said. ''My trees are 25-30 years old and, two or three times a year, [workers] come through and they pick 'em all. Believe me, our kitchen is just like decked out with them. We're constantly washing them, we're eating them and we're giving them to all our friends.''
Over at CNN.com, search for ''Jason Mraz avocado'' and you'll find a recipe for ''chocomole,''a chocolate mousse made with the fruit.
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Long Distance. Humorist Andy Borowitz offered this on the latest Clinton controversy: ''Responding to a chorus of outrage touched off by her comments about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, made a bold attempt at damage control today by distancing herself from herself.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in a blog at http://www.ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Earle Hagen, R.I.P. If you whistle when you think of The Andy Griffith Show, or can't imagine The Dick Van Dyke Show without its opening theme, then you understand the importance of Earle Hagen.
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