Herschel Burke Gilbert papers, 1946-1969
Online content
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Gilbert, Herschel Burke
- Abstract:
- The collection consists of manuscript scores (holographs or copies) and open reel tapes of music composed by Herschel Gilbert for television series and motion pictures, and includes some related materials such as parts, cues, lyrics sheets, and sketches.
- Extent:
- 206.5 Linear Feet (409 boxes) and 4 Audiovisual Carriers (4 film strips)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Herschel Burke Gilbert Papers (Collection Number PASC 268-M). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection is predominantly comprised of manuscript scores (holographs or copies) of music composed by Herschel Gilbert for television series and motion pictures, including some related materials such as parts, cues, lyrics sheets, and sketches.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Herschel Burke Gilbert was born in 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Following early studies on the violin, he attended Milwaukee State Teachers College, then the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied conducting with Albert Stoessel and composition with Bernard Wagenaar and Vittorio Giannini. In 1942 he came to Hollywood from New York to work as a violist and arranger for the Harry James Orchestra, during which time he also studied with composer Ernst Toch. In the mid-'40s he began orchestrating and arranging for Dmitri Tiomkin (It's a Wonderful Life) and other studio composers, then going on to compose his own music for a number of feature films in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. He was nominated for three Academy Awards: "The Thief" (1952; score); "The Moon is Blue" (1953; title song); and "Carmen Jones" (1954; score for a musical). Additional film scores included "Mr. District Attorney" (1947), "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950), "The Bold and the Brave" (1956), "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" (1957), and many others. Around 1951 he started composing for television, the medium for which he is perhaps best remembered. In 1958 he joined Dick Powell's Four Star Television company later becoming the company's Executive Music Director. Of particular note from this period is his title theme and music for "The Rifleman" television series. Other series for which he composed scores or themes included "Wanted: Dead or Alive", "Johnny Ringo", "Burke's Law", "Gunsmoke", "Gilligan's Island", and "The Big Valley", among others. He became music director for CBS Television Network in 1964 and retired in 1966, forming Laurel Records, a label focusing on the music of contemporary composers. In the course of his career, he served as President of the Film Music Society, the Screen Composers Guild, and the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC), and also served with the LA chapters of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of The Gilbert Family Trust of 1989-Survivor's Trust in 2004, 2007, 2011, and 2018.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Gillian Anderson for Gilbert Family Trust, 2011.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Projects
- Series 2. Sound Recordings
- Series 3. Cue Sheets
- Series 4. Project Development
- Series 5. Correspondence
- Series 6. Associations & Organizations
- Series 7. Contracts and Agreements
- Series 8. Rights and Royalties
- Series 9. Recording Logs and Catalogs
- Series 10. Performing Rights Societies
- Series 11. Four Star
- Series 12. CBS
- Series 13. Photographs
- Series 14. Financial Papers
- Series 15. Promotional Materials
- Series 16. Clippings
- Series 17. Blank Forms and Stationary
- Series 18. Artwork
- Series 19. Periodicals
- Series 20. Sheet Music
- Series 21. Programs
- Series 22. Moving Image Materials
- Series 23. Gilbert Personal Papers
- Physical / technical requirements:
-
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. Audiovisual materials are not currently available for access, unless otherwise noted in a Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Portions of collection unprocessed. Material in the 2018 Addition series is unavailable for access. Please contact Special Collections reference (spec-coll@library.ucla.edu) for more information.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Herschel Burke Gilbert Papers (Collection Number PASC 268-M). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988