Program Notes

The Metro Goldwyn Mayer Fanfare was composed by Franz Waxman and first heard before the “Main Title” of Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936); the first of seven Spencer Tracy films Waxman would score . It has introduced Metro Goldwyn Mayer films over the decades with the help of “Leo the Lion” who can also be heard in the first contemporary recording; the opening of The Philadelphia Story Suite, which was recorded by Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic on Sunset Boulevard: The Classic Film Scores by Franz Waxman (RCA/SONY).