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Tim, You and I have something else in common, a deep respect for the work of Nelson Riddle. He won his only Academy Award for "Gatsby", out of five nominations, only to have most of his score stripped from subsiquent home video releases due to a lawsuit with Irving Berlin. It seemed that for much of the dramatic underscore sections Nelson used Berlin's "What'll I do" and Berlin, being very much alive, and very much the businessman slapped a lawsuit claiming that Riddle "stole" his work, when it was actually a very intricate re-arrangement using fragments of Berlin's tune. I have a DVD copy and I swear they dubbed music from the 1960s "Batman" TV show (which Riddle also scored) in place of his 1974 film music. I have the original LP of his soundtrack, it is the work of a master.

Gatsby was putting up a front. His wealth came from being an associate of Wolfsheim the gambler and fixer and participating in semi legal dealings.

In this milieu one never buys anything retail and never pays full price. There is always someone selling a fancy car to settle a gambling debt, or to raise money for a fast deal, or because they have to skip town. The going rate is half list price or less.

No doubt Gatsby got his car this way. What make or model is not stated but there were a lot of very expensive imported makes sold in New York in the early twenties. In those days even Renault made a 9 liter behemoth that looked as big as a fire engine.

To John (MrBushbutton)

Sued by I Berlin? Really? Maybe it was the lawyers handling the account. Maybe Berlin had a grudge against Riddle. Berlin supposedly loved Taco's cover of "Puttin on the Ritz" which grafted all sorts of Berlin's songs into it.

Anyway, I'll bet they stripped the DVD because they didn't want to pay royalties. I too have the 1974 Paramount Records soundtrack and it gives full credit to Berlin and others. However, those are full arrangements and not the actual movie clips. A good portion of the score is credited to Riddle himself and I'm sure the whole thing revolves around royalties.

Those old Hollywood music men were really good. One of the best was Quincy Jones. Nowadays all you need is a drum machine and a big mouth.

When I get the time I'll sit down and listen to it and see if any of the Nelson stuff matches the I Berlin songbook. You just don't know what goes on in those disputes because sometimes it's just a law firm trying to get royalites for themselves. When I look at Dixieland I see so many songs that are similar to each other - remember those old medleys bands used to play? - it's possible that Riddle played a joke on Berlin by taking credit for bars that he knew Berlin lifted from forgotten stuff like "Under the Double Eagle"

Just a minute.....

I looked at the article entitled "$3million Packard" and saw a picture of said car in the dealer's showroom (730 Roadster methinks) and the price on the screen is ?79,900.

I think the dealer saw them coming if he managed to lift $3,000,000 from them!!!!!

Tim and Mr. Pushbutton,

All you have to do is take the tune, credit "traditional arranged by xxxxx" and it's yours. You can steal anything,just ask Bobby Zimmerman.

What I was talking about is looking at the tracks on the original Parmaount soundtrack credited to Riddle and comparing them to my I Berlin songbook. I have a jazz banjo and so I'll see if any of that stuff is a rip off.

I saw an old Eddie Peabody short film where he took Irving Berlin's tune "Blue Skies" and showed that it was a rip off of one of List's piano concertos. One of my favorite dixieland tunes is Tin Roof Blues and if you change a few notes here and there you come up with something very similar to part of the Beale Street Blues. However that stuff was all written in the days before lawyers started the payola system we have today where nothing but junk gets airplay.

Gatsby filming update here. Wonder if DavidM and Packard will be in attendance?

Tim, I have the Irving Berlin songbooks as well.
I know a few Berlin tunes!

youtube.com/watch?v=J6tl8DbVGaQ

WOW! what a treat.. Having had the pleasure of listening to both the Kimmel center organ and the Wanamaker organs in Philly, I can only say THANKS for posting.

Gatsby movie trailer -blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/05/24/n ... ars/comment-page-1/#comment-4534644