Wildcat Smathers
1954



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Highlights
  • Written for the 1954 NBC-TV musical comedy special Satins And Spurs, presented by Max Liebman, directed by Max Liebman and Charles O’Curran, starring Betty Hutton, Kevin McCarthy and Guy Raymond.
  • A rodeo performer at a show in Madison Square Garden falls for a handsome photographer who’s been assigned to do a story on the show.
  • All songs for the television special were written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, they were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.
  • Satins And Spurs first aired September 12, 1954 as a 90 minute musical comedy produced by Max Liebman. It was the first color spectacular for NBC, one of the first programs televised nationally by NBC in compatible color, which garnered the production a great deal of media coverage.
  • This program inaugurated NBC’s Brooklyn Color Studio 1, a former Warner Bros. east coast film soundstage.
  • Reactions to this show by critics and viewers were so negative that Betty Hutton announced one of her many retirements from show business shortly afterward.
  • Capitol Records released a 10” original soundtrack album in 1954. Singer Earl Wrightson replaced Kevin McCarthy on the album. DRG Records rereleased the album on CD in 2003.
  • Nelson Riddle was nominated for a Primetime Emmy award for Satins And Spurs in 1955 for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Variety Program.



Recording History
Betty Hutton and The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Capitol Records, L-547, 1954