Paul Giovanni

Paul Giovanni (June 2, 1933 – June 17, 1990^[1]) was an American playwright, actor, director, singer and musician. Giovanni wrote the music for the 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man.

Early years

Giovanni was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and grew up there. He attended St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia before earning a Master's Degree in drama at The Catholic University of America.^[2] His graduate studies were under Rev. Gilbert V. Hartke, OP.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Before Giovanni became an actor, he wrote songs for, and performed with, the Side Show rock group.^[2]

Giovanni wrote the music for The Wicker Man soundtrack, also writing the lyrics and singing "Landlord's Daughter" and "Gently Johnny", where he appears in later cuts of the film. He also sang "Corn Riggs", adapting the lyrics from a Robert Burns song. The music was played by a group of six musicians, Gary Carpenter, Peter Brewis, Andrew Tompkins, Ian Cutler, Michael Cole, and Bernard Murray, who used the name Magnet for their collaboration. The group used a combination of traditional and modern (electric) instrumentation; some parts of the soundtrack were augmented by brass instruments.^{[citation needed]}

On Broadway, Giovanni directed Kingdoms (1981). He also wrote and directed The Crucifer of Blood (1978),^[3] which was later filmed for TV. Giovanni also composed a musical entitled Shot Thru The Heart, which has only performed at Detroit's Birmingham Theatre before closing.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life and death

In the early 1970s, Giovanni was in a relationship with Peter Shaffer, playwright and brother of Anthony Shaffer, whom Giovanni later collaborated with on The Wicker Man.^[4] Giovanni died of pneumonia from HIV/AIDS related complications on June 17, 1990.^[5][6]

Discography

• 1970: Side Show - SD-8261 - LP with Greg Kreutz.
• 1973: The Wicker Man soundtrack with Magnet.

Plays

• 1978: The Crucifer of Blood
• 1981: Kingdoms

References

1. "Paul Giovanni; Acclaimed Theater Personality". Los Angeles Times. 21 June 1990. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
2. Crosette, Barbara (29 August 1978). "& Finally". The Des Moines Register. The New York Times. p. 20. Retrieved 11 February 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Paul Giovanni". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
4. Brown, Allan (1 June 2010). Inside The Wicker Man: How Not to Make a Cult Classic. Birlinn Ltd. p. 46. ISBN 978-1846971440. [Anthony] Shaffer, meanwhile, had been impressed by the work of an American composer, Paul Giovanni, whose experimental folk-rock score for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night he had heard at a performance in Washington DC. More crucially perhaps, the composer was the boyfriend of Shaffer's brother, Peter.
5. "Paul Giovanni Is Dead; Director and Writer, 57". The New York Times. 20 June 1990. Retrieved 23 December 2007.
6. "'It was a way into a magical world'". The Guardian. 21 July 2006. Retrieved 13 September 2023.