Jack Fascinato (11 September, 1915 – 25 December, 1994) was a composer, orchestra leader, arranger, and pianist best known for his work in early television and as musical director for Tennessee Ernie Ford. By the 1960s, he worked primarily in commercials and often with producer Ken Snyder. In that capacity, Fascinato scored or arranged several animated or film inserts for Sesame Street.
Born in Bevier, Missouri, he was raised in nearby Hannibal. He was educated at Culver-Stockton College (BA). He also studied with his father, and with Louise Robyn. He lived in Hannibal, Missouri (1934-1936) where he taught music at the local high school. He was a frequent performer and arranger on Chicago radio, often working with the Dinning Sisters trio on various series. He was the musical director for Starring Curt Massey in 1943 before serving in World War II. From 1943 to 1945, he arranged for the Navy Symphony in Washington, DC.
After his discharge, Fascinato settled in Chicago, playing piano in his own jazz trio. In 1947, he was named musical director of the hit children's television series Kukla, Fran & Ollie, earning great acclaim for ambitious productions including a performance of St. George and the Dragon featuring Arthur Fiedler & the Boston Pops as well as annual stagings of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado. He also backed Kukla star Fran Allison on The Fran Allison Show (1949).
When the series moved its production facilities to Los Angeles, Fascinato followed; there he began seeking out additional freelance work, and in 1952 was hired by Capitol Records to collaborate with rising country crossover star Tennessee Ernie Ford.
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He was Fords musical director, and occasionally performed on-camera, from his first daytime series in 1955, and remained with him through his last series in 1965, and on occasional specials. They also worked together on records, with Fascinato arranging many hymns and folk songs for Ford (including his hit single "Sixteen Tons") into the 1970s.
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The KFO team in 1949. From left to right: Beulah Zachary, Kukla, Burr Tillstrom, Fran Allison, Joe Lockwood, Jack Fascinato and Lewis Gomavitz. |
When the series moved its production facilities to Los Angeles, Fascinato followed; there he began seeking out additional freelance work, and in 1952 was hired by Capitol Records to collaborate with rising country crossover star Tennessee Ernie Ford.
He was Fords musical director, and occasionally performed on-camera, from his first daytime series in 1955, and remained with him through his last series in 1965, and on occasional specials. They also worked together on records, with Fascinato arranging many hymns and folk songs for Ford (including his hit single "Sixteen Tons") into the 1970s.
Hoping to capitalize on Jack’s rising star, Henry Carlson’s Fraternity label issued Jack Fascinato with the Mellowmen’s “Fifty Fathoms” b/w “I Love To Sing” and the Des Plaines, Illinois-based KāHill label followed with his original composition “Abada-
Abadu” as sung by frequent Ford Show guest Doris Drew. Fascinato’s independent singles were ultimately collected on Arranges Things, issued by Norman Forgue’s Evanston, Illinois-based Stepheny label in 1957.Fascinato also arranged for and accompanied Dinah Shore, Mel Blanc, Johnny Desmond, Stan Freberg, and Gale Storm. Joining ASCAP in 1954, he composed the popular songs "Silly" and "You're A Character, Dear". In animation, Fascinato scored the "Dusty of the Circus" segments for The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show (1956).
Swimming in “Sixteen Tons” royalties, Fascinato was unfazed by the album’s poor performance, having set up his family in a mid-century dream home in Palm Springs. It was there in the desert that he would dream up his next album: Palm Springs Suite. The 1959, Capitol-issued LP is a panorama of the many-hued moods of America’s desert playground. Late evening cocktail parties, brunch, and of course, golf, are explored via twelve instrumental compositions. Fascinato had truly arrived.
Not wanting to miss out on Fascinato fever, Capitol doubled down and issued a second album in 1959. Music From A Surplus Store is described on its back cover as “a collection of seemingly unmusical implements from the hardware shelf, such as trowels, putty knives, and crowbar.” The Bill Miller-produced album is perhaps the only orchestral jazz LP to ever feature both oil cans, metal pipes, scrub brush, and lubricated ball bearings. It would be the last commercially released Jack Fascinato LP.
Over the next decade, Fascinato continued his work with Ernie Ford while juggling original music for all 260 episodes of “The Funny Company,” writing John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign song. He was a prolific composer of commercial jingles, writing several hundred including those for Alka-Seltzer, Cracker Jack, Trix, Kix, Kool Aid, Kool Pops, Kool Shake, and all manner of laundry detergents, dairy products, and other household sundries prior to his death on Christmas Day, 1994 in Palm Springs, California at the age of 79 years.(Edited from Muppet Wiki, Numero Group.com & All Music)