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Dragon's Domain Records presents THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR MEG LAUREL, featuring music composed by Gerald Fried (THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., STAR TREK, ROOTS) for the 1979 adventure drama directed by Guy Green, written by Michael Berk, Joe Fineman and Douglas Schwartz, starring Lindsay Wagner, Jane Wyman, Andrew Duggan, Gary Lockwood, Brock Peters, John Reilly, Charles Tyner, Dorothy McGuire, Woodrow Parfrey, Peggy Walton-Walker, Kath Soucie, Tracey Gold and James Woods as Sin Eater.
Airing on television in 1979, THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR MEG LAUREL follows Meg Laurel (Wagner), a recent graduate of Harvard Medical School in 1932 who runs afoul of a corrupt and powerful local judge. Worried about the damage the judge might cause to both of their careers prompts Meg to make the decision to leave her husband in Boston and return to the orphanage where she was raised to visit her friend, Effie (McGuire). Meg learns that the orphanage has been closed and Effie has returned to her hometown of Eagle's Nest high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. When she arrives at Effie's home, she finds her friend on her deathbed under of the care of the local healer, Granny Arrowroot (Wyman). Meg's arrival is immediately met with suspicion and hostility. Meg is unable to save Effie using her modern medical knowledge but Effie asks her to stay in Eagle's Nest to help her people. Meg immediately clashes with Granny because of their different approaches to healing but overtime they are able to compromise and learn from each other.
For THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR MEG LAUREL, Gerald Fried provides music that underscores both the drama faced by Meg and her humanity. His score avoids melodrama instead emphasizing warmth, lyricism and quiet determination. Gentle string themes accompany Meg's moments of compassion and resolve while darker harmonies highlight the suspicion and tension within the town.
Born February 1928 in the Bronx, Gerald Fried's interest in music found its first fruition at the High School of Music & Art in New York City. He attended The Juilliard School of Music as an oboe major, graduating in 1945. Among his earliest friends was a bright kid named Stanley Kubrick. The two of them used to hang around Greenwich Village and talk about their budding interests, Fried's in classical music and Kubrick's in filmmaking. Their interests merged when Kubrick began filming DAY OF THE FIGHT, an 18-minute short about boxing. Knowing Fried was a music major, Kubrick asked him if he could write the score for his boxing picture. Fried agreed, then spent months going to the movies to learn how film scores worked, there being no schools or courses on film music in those days. Fried wrote an effective score, and Kubrick sold the film to RKO Pathé. Fried rejoined Kubrick to score four more of his films, including THE KILLING and PATHS TO GLORY, where the young filmmaker first gained his reputation.
After the success of THE KILLING in 1956, Kubrick moved to Los Angeles, shortly followed by Fried, who was immediately hired to compose and arrange music for several films, including THE VAMPIRE, THE RETURN OF DRACULA, MACHINE GUN KELLY and I, MOBSTER, I BURY THE LIVING, and TIMBUKTU(1959). By the 1960s, Fried moved into television, scoring episodes of such seminal shows of the decade as GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK. By the 1970s Fried was composing music for numerous made-for-TV movies. His best-known score of the decade was for the 1977 miniseries ROOTS, which he took over scoring when Quincy Jones fell behind and was unable to meet the broadcast deadline for the eight-hour miniseries. Both Jones and Fried won Emmy Awards for their musical efforts on the series. During the '80s, Fried continued to compose music for television series, movies, and documentaries, and an occasional feature film. These are just two of the many magnificent scores Fried wrote throughout his career. The composer passed away on February 17, 2023 at the age of 95. His work remains a testament to his talent and dedication to the art of composition and he is remembered as a key figure in the evolution of music for film and television.
Dragon's Domain Records presents the world premiere release of THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF DOCTOR MEG LAUREL, featuring music composed by Gerald Fried. The music has been mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland and the liner notes have been written by Scott Davis.
- BSX
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