Theme Music
The first theme used on the show from 1952 to 1961 was "Plink, Plank, Plunk!", by Leroy Anderson (this theme can be heard on the album Classic TV Game Show Themes; however, the theme on the CD was credited to Norman Paris).
The second theme, used from 1961–1962, was an upbeat arrangement of the "Theme from A Summer Place", by Max Steiner.
The third theme was used from 1962 to 1967. It was an upbeat, spritely march featuring piccolo and xylophone, composed by the show's musical director Norman Paris and played by a live studio combo. It quoted a familiar melody widely associated with schoolyard taunts, to which the words "I've got a secret!" might be sung by children in a teasing manner.
In addition to being used as a tag for his entrance on CBS episodes he hosted, Steve Allen's composition "This Could Be the Start of Something" was used as the opening theme in 1972 arranged by Edd Kalehoff for Score Productions. The closing theme to the 1972 version was also written by Kalehoff.
Tim Mosher and Stoker are credited with the 2000 theme, while Alan Ett and Scott Liggett contributed an up jazz theme for Bil Dwyer's 2006 version of the show for GSN.
Read more about this topic: I've Got A Secret
Famous quotes containing the words theme and/or music:
“She is a theme of honor and renown,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And fame in time to come canonize us.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If music in general is an imitation of history, opera in particular is an imitation of human willfulness; it is rooted in the fact that we not only have feelings but insist upon having them at whatever cost to ourselves.... The quality common to all the great operatic roles, e.g., Don Giovanni, Norma, Lucia, Tristan, Isolde, Brünnhilde, is that each of them is a passionate and willful state of being. In real life they would all be bores, even Don Giovanni.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)