Mister Roberts: Suite (1955)

Movements
1. Prelude, Main Title
2. Final Scene: Mister Roberts is Dead
3. End Cast

Note
Thomas Heggan’s novel and the hit Broadway play, co-adapted with director Joshua Logan and produced by Leland Hayward, was acquired by Warner Brothers. It took three directors, John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, and Joshua Logan to bring it to the screen in 1955 with an outstanding cast: Henry Fonda as Mister Roberts, James Cagney as the Captain, William Powell as ‘Doc’ and Jack Lemmon, who would win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as Ensign Pulver. Unforgettable performances all. The supporting cast was remarkable too: Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Nick Adams, Perry Lopez, Ken Curtis, Robert Roark, Harry Carey, Jr., Patrick Wayne, Martin Milner, and Fritz Ford. I attended the previews of the film in San Francisco and Oakland with my father and will never forget the tremendous audience response. Jack Warner knew right away that he had a hit!

Composing the appropriate score for a comedy-drama is one of the toughest assignments for any composer. It takes skill and inspiration to set just the right tone. Waxman did just that with his sensitive score. Producer Leland Hayward and director Joshua Logan were so impressed that they insisted on Waxman, over his initial objections to being saddled with Irving Berlin’s song, for Sayonara, another score that demanded tremendous skill and sensitivity.

– John W. Waxman