Song Of The Week: “Theme From A Summer Place” by Percy Faith

The cliche image of the 1950s paints a picture of cheery optimism and innocence, buttoned-up, wholesome, and maybe a little dull. These descriptions have been magnified and set in stone largely due to the stark contrast with the topsy-turvy turbulence and escalating frankness of the 1960s.

In later years, the nostalgic focus of television shows and movies like Happy Days and Grease also contributed to the rose-colored glow. But this was a decade filled with the paranoia of Communist witch-hunts, increasingly violent racial tensions, and, overshadowing all of it, the constant, looming threat of nuclear war.

It was all about keeping up appearances. Everything is fine. Just fine.

Novels at the time could take risks and expose the seamy underbelly, but when adapted for the silver screen, Hollywood inevitably bowdlerized the unsuitable. A Summer Place was a bestselling book filled with sex and repression and adult themes, but when it was adapted into a movie in 1959 the result was somewhat tame by comparison. Ironically, the story itself was about hypocrisy and keeping up the veneer while everything is crumbling and secrets threaten to destroy everyone.

Composer Max Steiner wrote the music for the movie, including a piece to establish the blossoming romance of the two teenagers (played by the extremely wholesome Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee, who later had a whole song written about them for Grease based on this movie) and that song was known as the “Molly And Johnny Theme.” Orchestra leader Percy Faith — who had been popular in the early 50s but was experiencing a bit of a dry spell — drew up his own arrangement and retitled it “Theme From A Summer Place,” all the better to link it firmly with the popularity of the film.

“Theme From A Summer Place” entered the Billboard chart at #96 in January of 1960 and reached #1 by the end of February. It would stay in that position for nine weeks, to this day the longest-running instrumental to top the Hot 100. It has remained a very popular music cue in television and movies as a shorthand for sunny innocence, often belying the darkness dwelling behind the facade.

So plaster on a smile and let the sweetness take you… with Percy Faith.