[1] Together with film producer Harold Hecht and actor Burt Lancaster, he formed a series of music publishing imprints in the middle and late 1950s.
He graduated from New York University School of Law and was principally known in his profession as a theatrical, music patent and copyright counselor-at-law, and also served as a business incorporation agent.
[29][30] Some of the artists that were represented by Samuel include Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Leroy Anderson, Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish.
[22][18] Buzzell's father was also on the board of directors, as President of Long Beach Hospital, from the summer of 1940 until he resigned from the post on November 20, 1941, to focus exclusively on the music business.
[45] "Buzz", as he was quickly nicknamed, played in Colby University's varsity football team, the White Mules, and was known for owning several Ford automobiles.
[17][20][6] After graduating from Colby University in 1948, Buzzell landed a job as a field man for performance rights organization American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
[53] Cromwell Music, affiliated with ASCAP, had originally been founded in June 1949 by several partners, including lyricist Carl Sigman and disk jockey Gene Rayburn.
[7][8][9][10][11][12] In March 1951, Richmond formed another imprint, Dartmouth Music, Inc. mainly for the purpose of accommodating foreign compositions to be published in the United States.
[68][69][70] Cromwell Music published the soundtrack and theme songs to Hecht-Lancaster Productions' 1955 film Marty, which went on to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
[76][77] Buzzell had slowly begun to manage his wife's business affairs in late 1954, helping with the promotion of her Columbia Records releases.
[78] During her maternity leave and pregnancy, from March to October 1955, he handled all of her music-related affairs, and when her doctor gave her the go-ahead to return to work, after the birth of their first daughter Cynthia, Buzzell decided to take up the position full-time.
In the spring of 1956, Buzzell reunited with his brother-in-law, Harold Hecht, to discuss the score publishing of Hecht-Lancaster Productions' new film Trapeze.
It is likely that had Buzzell still been employed by Howard S. Richmond, Hecht-Lancaster Productions' future film soundtracks would have continued to be solely published through Cromwell Music, under the existing agreement.
[96] Decca Records also issued two 45s in promotion of the LPs: the first featured the songs "The Street" and "Toots Shor's Blues", taken straight from Bernstein's soundtrack;[97] the second featured the song "Goodbye Baby", composed by Chico Hamilton and Fred Katz, with lyrics by William Engvick, and recorded by Mark Murphy.
[98] Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions' next film soundtrack, Run Silent, Dun Deep, was composed by Franz Waxman and published by Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music.
[109] Jack Marshall composed the soundtrack to two Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions' films, The Rabbit Trap and Take a Giant Step, both published through Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music.
The latter had a theme song written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, which was performed by the film's star Johnny Nash for an ABC-Paramount Records 45 single.
Because the film was released six months after his passing, the publishing and copyrights were done through Hecht & Buzzell Music, which was overseen by Lu Ann Simms.
[111] A theme song, "The Unforgiven – The Need for Love", was composed by Tiomkin with lyrics by Ned Washington and was very successful with many recordings by popular artists.
[139] Hecht-Lancaster & Buzzell Music also had a fruitful collaboration with songwriters Kenny Jacobson and Rhoda Roberts, from whom they published and copyrighted over thirty songs.
[17] Simms mentioned wanting to see Broadway's new play Kismet at the Ziegfeld Theatre and Buzzell showed up a few days later with a pair of tickets.
[17][196] The couple became engaged on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1954, and were hoping for a simple, quiet wedding at St. Sebastian Roman Catholic Church in New York City.
[17] The following day, April 19, 1954, after Simms had appeared on her weekday morning show, Arthur Godfrey Time, she and Buzzell drove out to Coney Island to have their Monday afternoon lunch – hot dogs at Nathan's Famous.
[17] Buzzell and Simms were bombarded with phone calls, telegrams and letters from fans congratulating them, and by April 20, 1954, every newspaper in the country was carrying the news.
[197] The wedding took place on July 24, 1954, from 11 to 11:15 A.M., at St. Raphael's Church in New York City with Franciscan Father Reverend Robert Perrella performing the ceremony.
[201][199] The event was so anticipated by fans, who gathered to fill the street, that a police detail was called to keep the crowds back from the church and allow the married couple's limousine to drive away after he ceremony.
[14] The two had a lot in common and became instant friends, and Buzzell introduced Griffin to all of New York City's popular musicians and music executives.
Buzzell was already engaged to Lu Ann Simms at the time he met Griffin, with a wedding date set for July 24, 1954.
[1][214] Although he was married in a Catholic ceremony, Buzzell was interred in his family plot at the Jewish Mount Ararat Cemetery in East Farmingdale, New York.
[209] His widow, Lu Ann Simms, remarried on October 15, 1961, to Casper Stolt, a liquor salesman from Rochester, New York, and later died at 71 years on September 21, 2003.