= PINK PANTHER AND OTHER HITS =

What's the first thought that comes into your mind when you hear the name Henry Mancini? Do you hear the strains of Moon River or Charade ? Do you see Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly having "Breakfast at Tiffany's" ? Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau doing his hilarious tiptoe routine
to the tune of The Pink Panther Theme? Or maybe the stalwart John Wayne swashbuckling in Africa with The Sounds of Hatari all around!

Through the years Mancini's movie scores have transported each of us to distant reaches of enchantment, romance. winsome humor and high adventure. Among the rewards to his listeners are hours of unforgettable music-themes that will remain with us forever.

Among the awards to Henry Mancini for his musical creations are 4 Oscars, 20 Grammys and 7 gold albums as well as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe and 4 honorary doctorates. He has the admiration of loyal fans and the high regard of his peers and music critics, who consider him to be one of the giants of the popular music field.

The film scores highlighted here are four of Mancini's best known and most inventive. Each demonstrates a particular facet of his versatility and composing finesse.

"The Pink Panther" was released in 1963 with its fresh, delightful score by Henry Mancini. It starred the incorrigible Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau and was the forerunner of several sequels, all the way from "The Return of the Pink Panther" to "The Revenge of the Pink Panther" and all with bright, intriguing, original (in both meanings of the word) scores by Mancini. In his notes for "The Pink Panther" LP Peter Sellers teased: the "great advantage" of the recording "is that you can sit and listen to Hank's score without having to sit through the film." The picture was directed by Blake Edwards, with whom Mancini has collaborated on many productions, both TV and films -the first, the innovative, multi-awarded "Peter Gunn" TV series, one of the most recent, "Victor/Victoria," for which Mancini won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score. Topping the five varied selections from "The Pink Panther" here is The Pink Panther Theme. Listen...the Inspector approaches...

"Charade" was another 1963 film for which the prolific Mr. Mancini created another appealing score. Produced and directed by Stanley Donen, it starred Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn and was shot on location in Paris, giving Mancini a wonderful opportunity to capture the unique sounds of the romantic city on the Seine. There's infinite variety in the score to underline the movie's plotline, a fascinating combination of romance, humor and suspense. You can't miss the deft Mancini touch throughout, from Mégeve and Latin Snowfall, themes for the film's opening sequence in the beautiful French mountain resort, of Mégeve, to Bateau Mouche, for the scene aboard the Seine river boat, and Bistro, reminiscent of the Les Halles section. The result is a delicious blend of Mancini music-another "classic movie score." Here the title tune, with Johnny Mercer's sophisticated lyrics, sets the mood.

Of comedy and adventure in wildest Africa, 1962 Hatari!" starred john Wayne and the music of Henry Mancini. Wayne, at his adventure-loving best, played the leader of a group of he-men rounding up African animals for shipment to zoos around the world. Mancini, at his musically creative best, played at putting together notes that developed into sounds that became Africa-wild, colorful, mysterious continent. What kind of notes describe the dangerous pursuit of an enraged rhinoceros! Listen to the Mancini solution in the stunningly graphic The Sounds of Hatari. There's a touch of the whimsical in the lighthearted Baby Elephant Walk and more fun-filled good humor in the joyous Your Father's Feathers, created for the comic ostrich episode. "Hatari!" was produced and directed by Howard Hawks, one of the greats of Hollywood. With his fascinating score for the Hawks film, Henry Mancini contributed to his own growing reputation as one of the great composers of intelligent movie music. A case in point: his African motif in Theme from "Hatari!"

Henry Mancini's score for the 1961 "Breakfast at Tiffany's" moved Audrey Hepburn, the film's star, to write, "Everything we cannot say with words or show with action you have expressed for us. You have done this with so much imagination, fun and beauty." Obviously in agreement, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Mancini an Oscar for Best Original Score and another for Best Song, the haunting Moon River, with lyrics by the man he has called "my huckleberry friend," Johnny Mercer. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was directed by another Mancini sidekick, Blake Edwards. The story of a madcap New York playgirl and a young writer gave Mancini several perfect opportunities to create witty, bright, fresh and unique themes, the likes of Holly for the undaunted Holly Golightly and Something for Cat for her no less dauntless cat. If ever there was a "classic movie score." "Breakfast at Tiffany's" meets every criteria.

Winner of practically every honor the entertainment industry can bestow, Henry Mancini is often asked where his wonderful music comes from. His reply is simply. "I hear [the notes] but I don't know where they come from." After experiencing this varied selection of The Pink Panther and Other Hits made even more impressive with the heightened integrity of compact-disc sound, film-music devotees will hope that Hank keeps hearing those notes for a long time to come.

- LORENE LORTIE

In 1957 Henry Mancini helped to introduce the stereo era with his first album, Peter Gunn. In the past two years, with his return to the RCA Victor label, he has now been instrumental in the introduction of Dolby Surround to music recordings. This release has been painstakingly remastered from the recently rediscovered multi-track master tapes, and presents these selections with a richness and clarity unheard since the original recording sessions.

This project is part of an exciting series of recordings that unites the music of RCA Victor with the audio technology of Dolby Laboratories. When played on a conventional stereo system with two speakers it presents a stereo recording as fine as any available. But when the recording is played with a Dolby Surround decoder. and two small additional speakers at the back of the listening area, an extra dimension is added: the music springs vividly to life. It comes toward you. and from around and behind you can be heard the natural reverberation of the concert hall-as exciting as if you were sitting by the microphones while the recording was being made.