[1] Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music was solely associated with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
After a 1948 ruling that major studios could no longer own theater houses and thereby monopolize production, distribution, and exhibition, things changed greatly.
But income in the movie business box office, although far from poor, continued to dwindle, because of stiff competition from radio and television.
[2] The studios also began exploiting the soundtrack album, which had before then mostly been an M-G-M musical fad, but caught on with all types of films in the mid-1950s.
[6][7] Buzzell was also a field man for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and in July 1954 married singer Lu Ann Simms (née Lu Ann Ciminelli), who got her big break performing on the Arthur Godfrey show and had since then released a series of successful singles through Columbia Records.
[21][22][23] In mid-July 1956, the Hollywood-based Record Releasing Corporation approached Hecht-Lancaster Productions regarding a music deal, though no information surfaced as to future plans.
In the summer of 1957, Howie Richmond announced that he was interested in acquiring overseas distribution of the Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell soundtracks.
[26] The soundtrack to Hecht-Lancaster Productions' film Trapeze was released by Columbia Records in June 1956 (catalog CL 870), to a degree of success.
It spanned three successful singles interpreted by different bands; in June 1956 Columbia Records released a Muir Mathieson Orchestra version featuring Lola's Theme on the A-side and Mike and Lola's Love Theme on the B-side (catalog Columbia 40725).
Their films include The Bachelor Party and Sweet Smell of Success in 1957, Run Silent, Run Deep and Separate Tables (which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) in 1958, Cry Tough, The Rabbit Trap, Take a Giant Step and Summer of the Seventeenth Doll in 1959 and finally, The Unforgiven in 1960.
The company's first official single, the theme song from The Bachelor Party, was composed and performed by Alex North but was not successful.
[29] The company's second offering, which featured music from Sweet Smell of Success, was extremely well received and was also of significant importance in the soundtrack category.
[30] Sweet Smell of Success marked the first time that a film had two different soundtracks, each featuring completely different music.
[32] The first soundtrack LP was released in July 1957 by Decca Records (catalog DL 8610) and featured the jazz score composed by Elmer Bernstein.
[34] The second soundtrack LP featured music composed and performed by the Chico Hamilton Quintet, who also appeared in the film.
[39] Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music's most significant song was May You Always, composed by Dick Charles and Larry Markes in the fall of 1958.
[87] Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music also had fruitful collaboration with songwriters Kenny Jacobson and Rhoda Roberts, from whom they published and copyrighted over thirty songs.
It features the songs Anxiously Waiting and She Flipped Me performed by doo wop band The Flipteens.
Buzzell, Hecht and Lancaster initially had to work out a licensing deal for their published songs to be legally available outside the United States and collect royalties for their songwriters.
The Hecht and Lancaster Companies started having interpersonal issues in early 1959, resulting in an announced hiatus from the film business in April 1959.
The final material published by the firm was Dimitri Tiomkin's soundtrack of the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions film The Unforgiven, which was filled under the modified company name Hecht & Buzzell Music, Inc., as the film production company had dissolved by then and the three partners had gone their separate ways.