GORDON'S FILM AND TV CREDITS -

If kitschy sci-fi had a music man, it was an opinionated, 98-pound quadriplegic named Gordon orchestrating the flamboyance. Wouldn’t you know it was Ed Wood Jr., the undisputed emperor of 1950s schlock horror, who was the first to harness Gordon’s cheaply delivered wares. His soundtrack, in fact, winds the drama of Wood’s beloved stinker, Plan 9 From Outer Space. Just listen to that firebreathing organ. Introduced to a Hollywood that outsiders would not recognize – the Hollywood populated by freakish under-heroes and dabblers – my uncle realized what he was doing. Running postproduction for low-budget dreamers was still better that taking crumbs from the legitimate side of the industry. Space vampires. Maneating ferns. Venutian Dr. Strangeloves. Really tall women. Hey, it was a living. It just wasn’t something you crowed about at starlet-filled cocktail parties.

Here’s a sampling of Gordon’s sci-fi resume as musical director, supervisor and special effects wizard. You can go to www.imdb.com or Google for additional details.

• Plan 9 From Outer Space -1959
• Night of the Ghouls - 1959
• Assignment Outer Space - 1960
• Hercules Conquers Atlantis -1961
• The Phantom Planet -1961
• First Spaceship on Venus -1962
• Mutiny in Outer Space -1965
• The Human Duplicators - 1965
• Navy Versus the Night Monsters -1966
• Women of the Prehistoric Planet -1966
  
  

An MGM romantic comedy starring Doris Day as a wannabe-mom was Gordon’s first brush with an A-list project. Tunnel of Love gave him what he needed: the credibility to land future paychecks, in this case with TV westerns. When they were yanked, my uncle paid the mortgage furnishing music and sound effects for sitcoms and cartoons that blared nonstop from America’s living rooms before anyone had heard of cable. Gigs from the Woody Woodpecker Show, thanks to Gordon’s improbable friendship with Walter Lantz, came in handy in the dead times. By the mid-1960s, my uncle was chumming with a different breed – Gentle Ben, cross-eyed lions, Chuck Connors and the outdoor adventure world of eccentric producer Ivan Tors. Gordon must have wondered why he ever left Ivan’s side when he burned out on Hollywood in the early 1970s, deciding he’d be the kingpin of nascent South African TV instead.

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GORDON'S MOVIES-MAINSTREAM-

Below is a taste of some of Gordon’s better-known movies:

• Tunnel of Love - 1958
• Shock Corridor - 1963
• Living Between Two Worlds - 1963
• Africa Texas Style - 1967
• Gentle Giant - 1967
• The Daring Game –1968
• Hello Down There - 1969
• Lost in the Desert – 1969
• Pippi Longstocking - 1969
• Mr. Kingstreet’s War – 1973
• Animals are Beautiful People – 1974

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GORDON’S TELEVISION CAREER-
(only show start-date listed)

• Fireside Theater – 1949
• Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok – 1951
• The Red Skelton Show – 1951
• Cavalcade of America - 1952
• Bozo the Clown – 1956
• Twenty-Six Men - 1957
• The Woody Woodpecker Show - 1957
• The Ann Sothern Show – 1958
• Popeye – 1958
• Mr. Magoo – 1962
• Flipper – 1964
• Green Acres - 1965
• Daktari – 1966
• Tarzan - 1966
• Cowboy in Africa – 1967
• Gentle Ben – 1967
• Journey to the Center of the Earth - 1967
• The Pink Panther Show– 1969
• The Aquarians - 1970

 

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The Work

Gordon's Film Career
The Movies
Gordon's TV Career

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