Questions about the "Flag Evolution" SSB

[Stanislav]

This may seem arcane to non-musicians, but I'm curious about the SSB arrangement on the old "Flag Evolution" sign-off film. Does anyone know the origin of this particular arrangement of the National Anthem? (This is the one that is an extended version, with unusual harmonies when they repeat the middle and final sections; e.g., from "And the rocket's red glare...") I'd like to find a recording of this arrangement, as it is quite nice and different from the standard versions usually heard. (Ripping it from a YouTube video doesn't yield a very high quality sound file...)

I suspect, BTW, that the opening fanfare may actually be a separate piece; there's an overly long pause before the actual Anthem begins, and it definitely sounds like there's an edit there. Plus, harmonically it doesn't really fit well as a lead-in (though it does if you speed it up a little and raise the pitch about a semitone). Anyone who might know the source of the arrangement, or the identity of the band that performs it (or of whoever put it all together with the visuals), this inquiring mind wants to know.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

I don't have an answer to your question, but I bet people would raise holy cain over the Stars & Bars being used in such a montage today.

 

[wbhist]

Re: Questions about the "Flag Evolution" SSB (And Others)

I'm just as curious about that arrangement too; all I know is that the Flag Evolution "SSB" was first unfurled (pardon the pun) in 1971. This, from the copyright notice at the end as seen for years on WNEW-TV in New York.

But this is not the only mystery arrangement of the "SSB" out there. CBS O&O's, for many years after the mid-to-late 1960's, also had a (different) unknown version which featured various shots of Washington, DC landmarks (the Capitol, the White House, Arlington National Cemetery et al.). By 1977, the print used by WCBS-TV in New York was pretty faded, per:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MWJzI66gbQ (starting at 1:12)
While WBBM-TV in Chicago had a somewhat better print (though the clip started near the end of this "SSB"):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T33l0cVnpKQ - alt. http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/screen.php?c=1836

 

[ixnay]

IIRC the "flag evolution" SSB montage has been discussed on R-I before.

Watching it again on YouTube brought up memories in me of WTAF-29 (now WTXF) Phila. using it in the late 70s or early 80s, I forget which of those two, but 29 was the first station where I saw it. I always thought it was put together (or at least released) in 1976 for the bicentennial; I never noticed a copyright date.

I did notice that the final notes (as Buzz Aldrin contemplates Old Glory on the hunk of cheese) were drawn out some. 195 years of American history in 2:36. Very impressive.

WKBS-48 (COL Burlington, NJ), and probably all of the Kaiser (later Field) stations, in that era (before going dark in 1983), used for its SSB a montage of the Western USA's natural wonders (Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon, etc.). As the last notes are played, there is seen a credit of the performance to the Stanford University band, followed by the signature of the Sierra Club (there might have been a copyright date of 1972 at the end too).

Also, around 1976 or '77, the New Jersey Network (the Garden State's PBS stations) used a SSB with a montage of NJ sights, including what appears to be a roll-by of Newark (now Newark-Liberty) Int'l Airport as seen from the NJ Turnpike.

Thanks, pfightingpolish, for dredging up that "flag" SSB and posting it on YT. And thanks, Stanislav, for linking it.

ixnay