Surprising that you missed Bernard Herrmann playing himself as the orchestra conductor in the 1956 movie "The Man Who Knew Too Much".

piano632, November 22, 2005; 9:26 PM

Thank you. I must have say that I haven't listed all the film composers. I was waiting for getting more info on Herrmann before posting it. In the same manner, I haven't listed yet the Korngold's DVD and a few others. I will post the info, although I don't have the screenshots to support it.
By the way, I am posting today the DVD of Shore about LOTR, a new section on Bernard Herrmann and Joe Hisaishi.

ferh, November 23, 2005; 7:41 PM

Thank you for the info. I'll look for them or maybe someone can send me some screenshots.
Please keep sending me more info, but remember, I am not claiming that I have all the info on the subject, instead this is a reference to check for some info and my own look for this material. And if available, with screenshots.

ferh, November 23, 2005; 7:43 PM

Some random appearances of composers in a film itself:

Jerry Goldsmith makes a cameo appearance in the films "Gremlins" and "Gremlins 2", and as
a piano player in "In Harm's Way".

Lalo Schifrin is seen onscreen conducting an orchestra in "Red Dragon" (2002), as is Miklos
Rozsa in "The Private Lives of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Story of Three Loves"; and
Herrmann as mentioned in an earlier post.

Elmer Bernstein is sitting in a jazz quartet in "The Rat Race" (1960)

Johnny Green made numerous big band shorts, conducting his orchestra.

Victor Young appears as a bandleader in "Vogues of 1938"

Danny Elfman appeared in "Forbidden Zone," "The Gift" and "Back to School."


For DVD commentaries:
Goldsmith provides commentary to the "Hollow Man" DVD
Randy Newman provides commentary to the "Pleasantville" DVD
Director/composer Frank LaLoggia provides commentary on his "Lady in White" DVD

glenngarv, November 23, 2005; 8:46 PM

More random thoughts:

A "Randy Newman" character appeared on an episode of "Family Guy," singing a song
with various non-sequitor lyrics in the Newman style.

The big biography on Bernard Herrmann is "A Heart at Fire's Center" by Steven Smith
from 1991.

The USPS released a sheet of commemorative stamps on 9-16-1999 honoring Hollywood
composers. The six individuals featured were: Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Bernard
Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Dimitri Tiomkin and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Link is:
http://shop.usps.com/cgi-bin/vsbv/postal_store_non_ssl/browse_content/
pressRelease.jsp?CURSOR=180

glenngarv, November 23, 2005; 9:47 PM

Some more commentary tracks on DVDs:

Cliff Martinez commentary on "Traffic"
Marco Beltrami on "I, Robot" and "Hellboy"
Trevor Rabin on "The 6th Day"
Don Davis on "The Matrix"
Elliot Goldenthal on "Frida" and "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within"
Danny Elfman on "Red Dragon"
Mark Isham for "Blade"
David Raksin on "Laura"
Graeme Revell on "The Crow"
Howard Shore on "Seven"
Howard Blake on "The Duellists"
Basil Poledouris on "Starship Troopers"

glenngarv, November 24, 2005; 6:37 AM

Great, great, great. Thank you for all your contributions. I am taking note and I will post them very soon in my site.
Keep them coming!

ferh, November 24, 2005; 6:56 AM

INTERESTING concept for a film music-related site!

(I wasn't aware that Goldsmith was in the first GREMLINS, only in GREMLINS 2)

Well, if you're including tv appearances...as you mentioned....you'd almost certainly have to include any of the Oscar broadcasts, at least those for the winning Original Scores or Adapted Scores. Goldsmith, of course, won Best Original Score in 1976 for THE OMEN. Bill Conti has been conducting the Academy Orchestra for several years now....etc.

kriegerg69, November 29, 2005; 5:53 AM

Thank you "krieger69" for the information.

Yes, the oscars and grammys are other sources for the participation of film composers, but it is hard to find screenshots of these events. So far, I have posted some Henry Mancini and John Williams screenshots. Of course Goldsmith, and recently Shore and others deserve more attention. I will keep posting as soon as I have more info. Thank you.

ferh, November 30, 2005; 12:05 AM

"Yes, the oscars and grammys are other sources for the participation of film composers, but it is hard to find screenshots of these events. So far, I have posted some Henry Mancini and John Williams screenshots. Of course Goldsmith, and recently Shore and others deserve more attention."

Well, lucky you, because.... :-)

I've been videotaping the Oscars for the past 25 years, and still have tapes for 20 of those years. Will have to do some digging to find the box I keep all those tapes in, but I might be able to help you out there for your site.

Email me.

kriegerg69, November 30, 2005; 6:47 AM

Goldsmith's cameo in the first Gremlins (if I remember correctly) is in a phone booth behind
Hoyt Axton, who's on another phone calling home. Goldsmith is kind of scrunched up against
the wall of phone and staring at the camera. Honestly, he looks completely out of place.

Here's some behind the-scenes- shots of Jerry during the shooting, from
jerrygoldsmithonline.com

http://www.jerrygoldsmithonline.com/gremlinsshoot.jpg

glenngarv, December 1, 2005; 5:03 AM