Program Notes

Victor Mature re-created his role as the Greek slave Demetrius, torn from his sacred trust of guarding the robe worn by Christ on the cross, and forced to fight as a gladiator to survive, in Demetrius & The Gladiators (20th Century Fox, 1954), the sequel to the first large screen (Cinemascope) film The Robe (1953). Based on Lloyd C. Douglas’ historical novel set in Rome during the reign of Caligula (masterfully portrayed by Jay Robinson).

The musical score for The Robe was composed by Alfred Newman and Waxman considered it to be one of the finest works of Newman’s distinguished career. When the music was not nominated for Academy Award consideration Waxman protested by resigning from the Academy.

Newman was not available to score Demetrius and Waxman was the unanimous choice of 20th Century Fox production chief Darryl Zannack, director Delmer Daves and studio music director Newman.

Waxman created his own Roman musical mosaic. The moving Lucia theme (for Debra Paget, the Roman slave girl who follows Demetrius into the gladiators den) is sharply contrasted by “The Marriage of Life & Death” and the lushness of the sequences depicting the torrid love between Demetrius and Massalina (Susan Hayward, the wife of a Roman Senator Michael Rennie).