Take Her, She's Mine

At a time when we're all sheltering at home, awaiting what's next and when "what's next" will be, we could all use something bright and cheery. Jerry Goldsmith's effervescent score to the 1963 20th Century Fox feature film Take Her, She's Mine fits that bill perfectly. The score kicks things off in a swinging jazz vein—a sound that underwent a revival in the late fifties and early sixties, and so was somewhat contemporary, but would have also resonated with older film goers. This strand runs throughout the score. To play up the story's farcical elements, he frequently employs the contrasting colors of solo tuba and calliope. Goldsmith wrote two principal themes for Take Her, She's Mine, both of which are explored in highly creative ways. The main title tune begins with a series of jocular ascending figures before meandering to its eventual resolution. The score's second major idea is a frenetic motif chiefly associated with protagonist Frank's misadventures.

There's only a handful of Goldsmith scores that have yet to be released in any form, and the music elements for this title were long thought damaged beyond use. But with advances in technology and the meticulous work of restoration expert Chris Malone, Intrada is able to present nearly all of Goldsmith's score in stereo. Malone had to restore the audio of each channel separately to get the wondrous results heard here. Rather than compromise the naturally wide instrumental spread, which was never intended for a stereo mix, Intrada also offers a mono presentation of the program as heard in the film.

The film opens with lawyer Frank Michaelson (James Stewart) brought before his bank colleagues to defend himself against a series of increasingly lurid headlines. The main story proceeds in flashback, as Frank's comfortable life with his wife, Anne (Audrey Meadows), and two daughters is upended when the older girl, Mollie (Sandra Dee), goes off to college. Realizing that his daughter is, in the popular parlance, "a dish," Frank frets to no end and lets his wild imagination get the better of him...