Paul Weston - Television and Composing

Television and Composing

Weston had a long career as a musical director for television, including The Danny Kaye Show, The Jonathan Winters Show, and The Jim Nabors Show. He was also the conductor and arranger for his wife's CBS television show from 1954 to 1955, The Jo Stafford Show. Though he did not provide the names of the programs, Weston once said conductors on live television shows, "should also receive a stuntman's check!"

Weston arranged Ella Fitzgerald's album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (1957), devoted to the music of Irving Berlin. Among songs he composed are "I Should Care" and "Day by Day", both of which were collaborations with Sammy Cahn and Axel Stordahl and were big hits for Frank Sinatra. He co-wrote "Shrimp Boats", published in 1951, which was popularized by Jo Stafford.

One of Weston's songs made the tiny town of Hana on the island of Maui a household word. While on a visit to the area, Weston needed to shop for gifts for his two children. He found himself at the Hasegawa General Store, a business that has everything from A to Z packed into its four walls. Both surprised and charmed by the small general store, Weston wrote "The Hasegawa General Store" about his shopping experience there which was recorded by Arthur Godfrey, Jim Nabors, and others.

Weston also wrote classical and religious music: one of his two symphonic suites, Crescent City Suite, has enjoyed many performances, in the "Crescent City", New Orleans, and elsewhere. It was composed in 1956 and performed in New Orleans at the Municipal Auditorium in 1957 with Weston conducting. There was enough interest in the composition for a version for school bands to be made available in 1959; a symphonic version was also issued. He was the author of many hymns and two Masses which were published by the Gregorian Institute of America. Weston founded Corinthian Records in the late 1970s, a company which started as a religious music label, but which later became the distributor for the couple's secular albums. His intention was to get the masters of both his and Stafford's recordings for later reproduction on compact disk. He spent three years as the musical director of Disney on Parade.