bernie green

Space age pop maestro Bernie Green was born in New York City on September 14, 1908After studying music at New York University's College of Fine Arts, he began working inradio, an experience that culminated in 1940 when he was hired to serve as musicaldirector for The Henry Morgan Radio Show. Given his own three-minute headlining spoton each broadcast, Green introduced a series of original compositions that laterresurfaced on his LPs for RCA Victor. During his eight-year stint with Morgan, he alsowrote and conducted scores for the Dashiell Hammett-inspired "The Fat Man" as well as"The Clock," which aired on ABC radio from 1946 to 1948. When "The Clock" moved toNBC television in 1949, Green migrated to the fledgling medium as well, and in 1952 wasnamed musical director of the Wally Cox cult-classic Mr. Peepers. His other televisiongigs included Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Adventure, The United States Steel Hour, andCaesar's Hour. Green launched his recording career with More Than You Can Stand in HiFi, a wry satire of the current vogue for stereophonic releases that features such absurdmoments as Brahms' "Hungarian Rhapsody #2" arranged solely for kettle drum. Hissense of humor no doubt landed him the RCA release Musically MAD, an LPcommissioned and inspired by the popular humor magazine MAD. But Green'sindisputable masterpiece remains 1961's Futura. Conceived for RCA's renowned StereoAction series, the album is an unexpectedly challenging experiment in electronics andtape manipulation on par with more celebrated musique concrète recordings of the sameperiod. Futura made little impact at retail, however, and Green spent the remainder of the1960s in television, highlighted by a stint as musical director for the variety series TheGarry Moore Show. Beginning in 1968, he also scored and conducted the annual MissUniverse and Miss USA pageants each year until his death on August 8, 1975, at hishome in Westport, CT.~ Jason Ankeny