CURTIS MOORE (original songwriter and composer) : We probably wrote about fifty songs that were performed on the series. A lot of songs that we wrote never even got recorded! THOMAS MIZER : When Amy brought in the Shy Baldwin character, she wanted people to think they had heard his music and could just buy it at a record store. CURTIS MOORE : Dan has an incredible music collection and is so smart about music. We’d get the funny text messages from Amy. Or Amy would just call us and say, “You know, you have to write a number- one hit for Shy and the Silver Belles.” For the USO scene, Shy sings “One Less Angel in Heaven.” They were nice enough to pull us up on stage to watch it so we could hear the extras sing the song back to us. THOMAS MIZER : We did so many takes — all 800 extras must have heard it 500 times that day! By the end of the day, they all had memorized it and were singing along with it. You got the impression it had been on the radio for months. CURTIS MOORE : The greatest moment of the entire Maisel journey for us was the day Harry Belafonte’s representative called Robin and said, “I saw that you used one of Harry’s songs in an episode, but we don’t actually own it. I don’t know why.” THOMAS MIZER : She had to say, “You don’t own it because our guys wrote it. It’s not actually a Harry Belafonte song!” It actually was a challenge because we had only been writing for fictional people like Shy Baldwin. We asked Amy if we could just use a song from Harry’s catalogue, but she said, “No. It’s a special moment because he wrote this song for Shy Baldwin’s wedding.” ROBIN URDANG : No matter how incidental the music may seem in some scenes, such as the walk to Polynesian Night in the Catskills, all is authentic and placed with so much thought. Nothing is ever “thrown in.” The records on Joel’s jukebox in his club are Chinese songs and part of the story. We hired Asian singers to record versions of Old Standards. Some may barely be heard, but they’re important to the story. MATHEW PRICE : The most interesting thing we did for a musical recording was for a scene in Miami. Shy’s manager says, “If you’re so good, why don’t you come up and sing?” So, LeRoy played Shy but
The Sound TONY SHALHOUB : The music is one of the strongest elements of the show. It gave a vibrant energy behind the dialogue and the camera movement. Not to mention the music that plays under the scenes! Because Dan and Amy are all about the music, it feels like there’s a large theatrical event in every episode. ROBIN URDANG (music supervisor) : I was driving down Bell Canyon to go home when I got a call from Amy and Dan. They told me, “We’re doing this little pilot … would you be interested in doing the music? It’s going to be 1950s New York.” My first question was whether they were going to want to use 1950s music or do a contemporary re-record. Amy said, “Absolutely not. We want the amazing music of that era.” Sometimes it was an absolute nightmare getting those rights, but I never gave up. I remember using “I’m Nobody’s Baby” by Miss Beverly Shaw — who owned the first openly lesbian club — in a scene with Midge and Susie at the lesbian club Trapped Door in the fourth season. But Beverly didn’t own the song. I think I found a great-aunt who took the license and got approval from her ninety-one-year-old son. MARGUERITE DERRICKS : In the opening of Season 2, there’s this whole sequence where Midge is in a rolling chair answering telephones at the B. Altman department store with all these women. It’s the most beautiful oner you’ve ever seen. It was so meticulously choreographed to the Barbra Streisand song “Just Leave Everything to Me.” ROBIN URDANG : We used Barbra Streisand a few times. I remember looking at the script and seeing “Happy Days Are Here Again” written into a montage where Midge is moving out of her and Joel’s apartment. It’s a juxtaposition between what’s going on in the music and what’s going on in her life, and it was just beautiful. But I knew it was going to be di ffi cult. She doesn’t clear for TV. Amy had to write her a letter showing her the scenes. She approved it because she loved it so much. THOMAS MIZER (original songwriter and composer) : I think when Amy called me and Curtis in the third season, it was to elevate what she just couldn’t do with needle drops. She wanted us to tell a story and take the music element even further.
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AMY SAID, ‘LET’S DO IT LIVE!’ DARIUS SANG OFF-CAMERA WHILE L E ROY LIP-SYNCED PERFECTLY INTO THE MIC! IT WAS JUST THAT ONE TIME, BUT I’D NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE.
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MATHEW PRICE sound mixer
from top: L E ROY M C CLAIN, DAR IUS D E HAAS AND M C CLAIN, MICHAEL ZEGEN WITH JOEL’S JUKEBOX ,
ON SET AT THE BUTTON CLUB.
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THE RECORDS ON JOEL’S JUKEBOX IN HIS CLUB ARE CHINESE SONGS. WE HIRED ASIAN SINGERS TO RECORD VERSIONS OF OLD STANDARDS. SOME MAY BARELY BE HEARD, BUT THEY’RE IMPORTANT TO THE STORY.
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ROBIN URDANG music supervisor
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