Vic Mizzy

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Vic Mizzy (January 9, 1916 – October 17, 2009) was an American composer and musician known for writing music for television and movies. He is best remembered for the theme songs of the 1960s TV sitcoms Green Acres and The Addams Family.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mizzy came from Jewish immigrant parents and studied at New York University. As a child he played accordion and piano and taught himself much of his craft. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he wrote some of his early hit songs.

In the late 1930s, while based in New York City, Mizzy wrote a string of popular songs. Notable early works include Doris Day’s 1945 hit “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time.” He also co-wrote with Irving Taylor songs like “There’s a Faraway Look in Your Eye” and “Three Little Sisters.” The latter was performed by the Andrews Sisters and featured in the 1942 film Private Buckaroo.

Mizzy moved into television around 1959, composing music for Shirley Temple’s Storybook and creating theme music for Moment of Fear, Klondike and Kentucky Jones. In the 1960s he wrote the music for Green Acres and The Addams Family, as well as for other shows such as The Pruitts of Southampton, The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, Captain Nice, The Don Rickles Show, Temperatures Rising, and Kentucky Jones (1964–1965). A 1965 soundtrack album, Original Music From The Addams Family, collected his themes from that show. The Addams Family main theme reached the Canadian CHUM Charts, peaking at #25. For the 1977 TV special Halloween with the New Addams Family, Mizzy rewrote and conducted a version of the theme with a slightly different melody.

Mizzy also scored five Don Knotts films, including The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The Love God? (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971). His other film work included scores for The Night Walker (1964), The Busy Body (1967), The Spirit Is Willing (1967), A Very Special Favor (1965), The Caper of the Golden Bulls (1967), Don't Make Waves (1967), The Perils of Pauline (1967) and Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (1968). He also wrote underscoring for The Richard Boone Show and Quincy, M.E., and for TV films such as The Deadly Hunt (1971), Hurricane (1974), Terror on the 40th Floor (1974), The Million Dollar Rip-Off (1976) and The Munsters’ Revenge (1981).

Toward the end of his career, Sam Raimi hired Mizzy to compose music for outtakes in the Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 DVD gag reels.

Mizzy had two children with his first wife, Mary Small, a well-known child singer in the 1930s. One of their daughters, Patty Keeler, became a singer and songwriter. Mizzy died at his home in Bel Air, California, on October 17, 2009, at age 93. He is interred at Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills, California.