1968 | Music
Music
Film musicals: George Dunning's Yellow Submarine with animated drawings that show the Beatles trying to save Pepperland from the Blue Meanies, music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; Carol Reed's Oliver with Ron Moody, Mark Lester, Oliver Reed, Hugh Griffith; William Wyler's Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice.
Stage musicals: Your Own Thing 1/18 at New York's off-Broadway Orpheum Theater, with music and lyrics by Hal Hester and Danny Appolinar, 933 perfs.; The Happy Time 1/18 at New York's Broadway Theater, with Robert Goulet, David Wayne, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, book by N. Richard Nash from the 1950 stage play by Samuel Taylor, choreography by Gower Champion, 286 perfs.; Canterbury Tales 3/21 at London's Phoenix Theatre, with Jacques Ottaway, 59, as Geoffrey Chaucer, Jessie Evans, 49, as the Wife of Bath, music by Richard Hill and John Hawkins, lyrics by Nevill Coghill, 2,082 perfs.; George M! 4/10 at New York's Palace Theater, with Joel Grey, Jill O'Hara, Bernadette Peters, music and lyrics by the late George M. Cohan, 433 perfs.; Zorba 11/17 at New York's Imperial Theater, with Herschel Bernardi, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, 224 perfs.; Promises, Promises 12/1 at New York's Shubert Theater, with Jerry Orbach, Jill O'Hara, El Centro, Calif.-born ingénu Ken Howard, 24, choreography by Buffalo-born dancer-choreographer Michael Bennett (Michael Difiglia), 25, music and lyrics by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, songs that include "Whoever You Are," "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," 1,281 perfs.; How Now, Dow Jones 12/7 at New York's Lunt-Fontanne Theater, with Tommy Tune, Barnard Hughes, Brenda Vaccaro, Tony Roberts, music by Elmer Bernstein, book by Max Shulman, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, 220 perfs.
Actress-singer Juanita Hall dies of diabetic complications at Bay Shore, N.Y., February 28 at age 66; former vaudeville comedian Gus Van of Van and Schenck after an auto accident at Miami Beach March 12 at age 80; writer-lyricist Paul Gerard Smith at San Diego April 4 at age 73; George White of leukemia at Hollywood October 10 at age 78.
Opera: Luciano Pavarotti, now 32, makes his Metropolitan Opera debut 4/23 singing the role of Rodolfo in the 1896 Puccini opera La Bohème; New Orleans-born soprano Shirley (Carter) Verrett, 37, makes her Metropolitan Opera debut 9/21 singing the title role in the 1875 Bizet opera Carmen; Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, 27, makes his formal Metropolitan Opera debut 9/28 singing the role of Maurice de Saxe in the 1902 Cilea opera Adriana Lecouvrer; Elizabeth Harwood makes her Covent Garden debut 10/15 singing the role of Fiakermilli in the 1933 Strauss opera Arabella, going on to make her New York debut in an October Town Hall recital.
First performances: Symphony No. 11 by Roy Harris 2/8 at New York to mark the 125th anniversary of the New York Philharmonic; Symphony No. 6 by Howard Hanson 2/29 at New York's Philharmonic Hall; Symphony by Ulysses Kay 3/28 at Macomb, Ill., in a concert by the Chicago Symphony marking the sesquicentennial of Illinois; Symphony No. 8 by Roger Sessions 5/2 at New York's Philharmonic Hall; The Prodigal Son (church parable) by Benjamin Britten 6/10 at Orford, Suffolk.
Cantata: Stephen Crane by Ulysses Kay 2/4 at Chicago.
Modern dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis dies of a heart attack at Los Angeles July 21 at age 91; French-born conductor Charles Munch of a heart attack at Richmond, Va., November 6 at age 77.
The Bose 901 speaker introduced by Philadelphia-born MIT professor Amar Bose, 35, pioneers the use of "reflected sound" in an effort to bring concert-hall quality to home speaker systems. Bose set up a radio-repair business at age 14 to help support his family, he founded Bose Corp. 4 years ago, and his speaker bounces sound off walls and ceiling to surround the listener.
U.S. guitar sales reach $130 million, up from $35 million in 1960.
Prerecorded tapes enjoy U.S. sales of $247 million, and tape decks are found in more homes, but gramophone records still account for the lion's share of the multi-billion dollar music business.
Sony Corp. joins with CBS to start Sony/CBS Records.
Popular songs: "Hey, Jude" and "Lady Madonna" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney; "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by George Harrison; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones; In Search of the Lost Chord (album) by the Moody Blues; Led Zeppelin No. 1 (album) by The Led Zeppelin, a new English rock group (Jimmy Page, 23, John Paul Jones, 22, John Bonham, 21, and Robert Plant, 21); "Harper Valley PTA" by Kentucky-born guitarist-songwriter Tom T. Hall, 32, who arrived at Nashville 4 years ago with $46 and a guitar (his song will be the basis of a film and a television sitcom); "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell; "Mrs. Robinson" by Paul Simon (for the film The Graduate); "Galveston" by Jimmy Webb; "Spinning Wheel" by David Clayton Thomas; "Over You" by Jerry Filler; "Do Your Own Thing" by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; "Help Yourself" by Carlo Donida, Mongol Eng, and Jack Fishman; "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen; "Hello, I Love You (Won't You Tell Me Your Name") by Robert Krieger, John Dunsmore, Jim Morrison, and Raymond Manzarek of The Doors; "John Wesley Harding" by Bob Dylan, who becomes a country singer after coming close to death in a motorcycle accident; Papas and the Mamas—Mamas and the Papas (album) with singer Cass Elliott; Dionne Warwick records "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"; Loretta Lynn records her song "This City"; "Rocky Top" by Boudleaux Bryant, lyrics by his wife, Felice, who in 10 minutes has written a number that will become the Tennessee state song in 1981; "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan Leitch; "Little Green Apples" by Bobby Russell; "The Windmills of Your Mind" by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman (for the film The Thomas Crown Affair); "Those Were the Days" by Gene Reskin.
The Czech rock band The Plastic People of the Universe founded at Prague in September by bass guitarist Milan Hlavsa, 17, will soon include saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec, guitarist Josef Janicek, drummer Jan Brabec, and viola player Jiri Kabes.
Jazz trumpeter Ziggy Elman (Harry Finkelman) dies of a liver ailment at Los Angeles June 26 at age 54; jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery of a heart attack at Indianapolis June 15 at age 45; country-and-western singer Clyde Foley of acute pulmonary edema at Fort Wayne, Ind., September 20 age 58.