LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Film director Stanley Donen had been charmed by Henry Mancini's song "Baby Elephant Walk" from the film Hatari!, so he contacted Mancini from London to tell him about his current picture. Donen had directed several famous musical films throughout the 1950s and he now intended to put his own slant on a Hitchcock-like thriller and he wanted a strong melody in the background score. The title track "Charade" is a sad, lonely Parisian waltz. It was nominated that year for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.