Program Notes

Sayonara (Warner Brothers, 1957) is based on James A. Mitchner’s bestselling novel of two opposing cultures. Although Marlon Brando gives a sensitive performance, it is Myoshi Umeki (Katsumi) and Red Buttons’ Oscar winning performances (Best Supporting Actress/Actor) as the star-crossed lovers, caught in anti-Japanese prejudice by the American army in Tokyo during the Korean War, that were Waxman’s inspiration for the “Katsumi Love Theme.”

Waxman was reluctant at first to accept the assignment to compose the score for Sayonara because Irving Berlin had already written the title song. However, producer William Goetz and director Joshua Logan gave him complete artistic freedom.

Waxman created one of his most poignant scores and, as Warner Brothers’ Music Director Ray Heindorf predicted, one of his most memorable melodies, which became an international standard.

Irving Berlin graciously congratulated Waxman not only on the arrangement of his song in the film, but on the beauty of the “Katsumi Love Theme.”