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FEATURED GUESTS

FILM MAKERS

COMPOSERS

BEBE BARRON

LOUIS BARRON

CREATIVE GENIUSES

Long, long ago, Bebe and Louis Barron were married and worked together as the creative team who wrote the Musical Theme for one of Mentor's earlier films. The MGM film went on to become the classic: FORBIDDEN PLANET

The Barron's composition was a major break through in electronic music. As innovators of this certain 'sound', Bebe and Louis Barron were respected and well known for their music, even before the film project and continued to make 'waves' in the music industry long after. But despite the film's incredible success and theirs, this was the only film to ever display their talents. Sadly they were never again
involved with any other movie. This was the world's loss.

IMDB calls Forbidden Planet " The Best SF Film Of The 1950s " IMDB viewers have also credited it with not just three or four or five gold stars, but ten. On the scale they use of one to ten they gave it a ten. If the scale had higher perimeters viewers would have given the film the top. One to twelve? Then for sure it would have been given a twelve.

The couple has been written about extensively, throughout the world. Their work on Forbidden Planet led the way for other artists and composers. "Although this intensely cerebral approach to film music would never be repeated, and although electro-acoustic instruments such as the Theremin had already been used in Hollywood for several years previously, the Barrons proved that a film score did not need a traditional symphony orchestra to be successful, and opened a floodgate which allowed composers to make use of new and innovative electronic techniques in their music." - Movie Music Composer Gallery UK (c)

Neither Mentor nor the Barrons won any awards for Forbidden Planet.

They were young and lacking in power.

In fact in Mentor's case, even today, many manufacturing technicians declare they've created Robby. However though they put together the nuts and bolts, that is about the same as if a carpenter insisted he should get the credit for the Architects renderings. Building is one thing. Designing is another.

Although he didn't of course 'make' the mechanical Robby the Robot, Mentor did create the Robot's 'look' along with the film's. The Industry knows that Mentor did the Conceptual Designs. And as memory serves all the old timers; George Pal
required everyone working on the film in either pre or post production follow them ~ exactly.

In the case of the Barrons, a complicated Union dispute caused their names to be withdrawn from the Academy Award nominations. How sad. How petty. How incredibly political. Everyone knows -- but still ...

Despite the multiple awards being grabbed left and right, and the creators being ignored, time brought it's own award. High quality creativity surfaces. Today, everyone in the industry knows who did what. Who made the Music? Who made the Designs? If anyone Keys in Bebe and Louis Barron on any search engine the couple pops up all over the Net, everywhere. And the word genius is synonymous with their names. And Mentor is called The King of the Illustrators.

The artists were young at that time of Forbidden Planet. And everyone was inspired. Creativity is a gift from the Cosmos. It seems everyone was marked. The gifted set the pace for the future.

Mentor had been hired to work in the film industry due to his Fine Art Drawings. He worked directly with the Producers and Directors. The Producer George Pal, immediately gave him the position of Production Designer and Conceptual Artist for the entire film. Mentor's name was left off the credits, not due to anyone's maliciousness, but due only to Film Making being a tough industry and you have to speak up -- loud and clear. Sometimes artists like the young Mentor was...might say, "Who cares?" And besides, Forbidden Planet wasn't Forbidden Planet yet.

Many years later, as Destiny would have it, when I was asked by Warner Bros. Recording Studios, to do a 'spoken word' an LP Album ~ related to Witchcraft, the Producer Jim Hill demanded that Warner Bros. contract the Barrons to do the musical background. It blew my mind. SEDUCTION THROUGH WITCHCRAFT and my husband's FORBIDDEN PLANET: The Barrons in the middle of it all. What were the odds?

I find it difficult to think of the Barron music as being 'background'. I loved it. The world loved it. And just like the film, the recording too became a classic It has a
World-Wide dedicated following. It still gets radio time. That blows my mind too.

I wrote the 12 cuts that i speak on the recording and the Barrons created music for each of them. I'm convinced that there could never have been any other sound that would have so successfully accompanied my words. The happy collaboration imposed by the Warner Bros. Producer Jim Hill, was obviously inspired by the Cosmos.

The professional relationships and the projects all show evidence of ethereal coincidences. Our particular creative combinations never happened again. There was a Sci Fi movie at one Studio, a 'spoken word' album at another, two married couples who for a period of time all came together, with well over a decade separating the potentials ~ and creatively clicked.

The four of us, afterwards, independently went on to do many other things with our talents. But so long as there is a Internet, I have no doubt that our 'Dual' team efforts will continue to receive the kind and warm attention that they do today. Forbidden Planet and Seduction Through Witchcraft are acknowledged
on several hundreds of websites and called, 'special' The websites all freely offer our efforts gold stars and complimentary reviews.

The 'Reviewers' claim FORBIDDEN PLANET and SEDUCTION THROUGH WITCHCRAFT are both worth 'seeing' and 'hearing'. And that Bebe and Louis Barron and Mentor and I are worth everyone's effort. Nice.

Those friendly film and recording reviewers never realized Mentor and I were a married couple. They also never made any connection between the film and the recording. But of course none actually existed except in Spirit.
Mentor and Louis are no longer creating their art here on earth, but my wish is that they may again meet. And if they do? Who knows? It worked once before. Why not now?

Info@MentorHuebnerArt.com

 

THE CONICIDENCES

Forbidden Planet

 

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Seduction Through Witchcraft

 

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The Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com
www.moviedatabase.com

 

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Louise Huebner. (c) 2003

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