Prior to working for Kushnick I had spent six months as the assistant to songwriter Buck Ram. Even though my tenure with Buck was short we became close friends from the moment we met. He was the same age as my father. They had lived in the same neighborhood in Chicago. Buck was friends with (and possibly related to) Frankie Laine, and my mother, at fourteen, had been the newsletter editor for Merry Gardens, the ballroom where Frankie Laine got his start. So Buck and I immediately had common ground.
Buck was amazing. He could spin a dream like no one I have ever met. He was one of the top five songwriters of BMIs first 50 years. You may not know Buck's name, but you know that of the other four on the list: Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb and Kris Kristofferson, and Buck, the elder statesman of the group, was pretty good company for them to keep.
Buck had a string of hits under his belt dating back to the 1930s including "At Your Beck and Call," "Remember When," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," Ella Fitzgerald's "Chew Chew Chew Your Bubble Gum," and The Platters greatest hits, "Only You," "The Magic Touch," "The Great Pretender" and "Twilight Time" and more.
When I met Buck, controversery had followed him and his songwriting for decades beginning with "I'll Be Home for Christmas." When his Publisher, Mills Music, sued Kent and Gannon's publisher for poaching their song, Mills Music won the suit, but Buck, forty years later, still had trouble on occassion having his name included as a writer, and he had to put up with a lifetime of bull about him suing and it not being his song, etc.
The truth is the song began as a poem Buck wrote for his mother when he was sixteen and a student at the University of Illinois. He was not going home for Christmas but wrote he would be there "if just in reverie." Kent and Gannon changed the line to "if only in my dreams." But that's another story for later.
This is about "Twlight Time," and it's one for the "it's small world" category. Jerry Kushnick was the opposing attorney, representing Morty Nevins the lawsuit.
I had no way of knowing that Kushnick had anything to do with Buck, and Buck certainly didn't remember Kushnick's name. And then Morty Nevins walked into the office.
Morty was a little guy. Maybe 5'5". He had his hair dyed black and was carrying a notebook in his arm like a school boy with a piece of stationary sticking out that said "The Man Who Wrote 'Twilight Time'." I immediately knew who he was and was loaded for bear to protect Buck.
The result of about nine hours of talking to Morty was interesting, and I wound up liking Morty very much.
The result of about nine hours of talking to Morty was interesting, and I wound up liking Morty very much.
Morty had run into Kushnick in the drugstore in Beverly Hills. Morty's daughter was putting together a book of cartoons she had drawn, and he wanted someone to represent them. Who better than his old attorney, despite the fact they hadn't seen one another for twenty years. Kushnick told Morty to come to the office, and they'd talk. When Morty showed up, Kushnick told me, "I don't want to talk to him. He's crazy. Get rid of him."
Morty wasn't going anywhere. Kushnick had told him to come in, and he was going to wait until they talked. That was when I saw that piece of stationary sticking out of his notebook and had the opening for me to come to Buck's defense. I began with, "You wrote 'Twilight Time.' How did you get involved with Buck Ram?"
I thought Morty was going to blow a gasket at the mention of Buck's name. "You know him?" followed by a few derogatory comments flew from Morty's mouth.
"So tell me your side of the story," I said.
"So tell me your side of the story," I said.
That was Morty's opening. And I listened. Morty waited for three hours for Kushnick. In between answering the phone, running back and forth to Kushnick's office to report that Morty was still there, and typing a note or two, Morty and I talked - and talked - and talked. Or, rather, Morty talked and I listened as he raked Buck over the coals for "stealing his song."
Morty didn't leave until Kushnick sneeked out the back door of the office. Morty's parting words to me were, "I'll be back." And a few weeks laterm sure enough, he was back, and the scenario repeated itself. I told Kushnick Morty was there. Kushnick wouldn't see him, and Morty waited for three hours until Kushnick, once again, sneeked out the back door.
In those three hours Morty told me the story of his group, The Three Suns, being managed by Buck. They first met him when they hired him to arrange an instrumental they had written called "Twilight Time." They had paid him twenty-five dollars. Buck did the arrangement once, and they didn't like it. He did it a second time. They didn't like that one either so Buck hired a friend for twelve dollars and fifty cents to do another arrangement. They didn't like that one either, and the song sat around for two years. Suddenly it had lyrics, Buck's name as writer, and a couple of very angry - at least Morty - instrumentalists.
After the first time I met Morty, I asked Buck about him and the story. Buck refused to talk about it. There were two things I could never get him to make a peep about - "Twilight Time" and The Platters second lead singer, Sonny Turner.
Morty came back a third time. Again, the same routine. Kushnick refused to see him. Morty refused to leave. Kushnick sneeked out the back door. But Morty and I finally had a meeting of the minds when he told me about the "Twilight Time" they had written being an instrumental, it sitting around for two years with nothing happening, and Buck adding lyrics and turning it into one of the biggest hits of all time.
I said to Morty, "What would have happened if Buck hadn't put lyrics to it and made it a hit?"
Morty got an odd look on his face.
"Wouldn't "Twilight Time" still be sitting in a box somewhere - forgotten?"
His expression changed ever so slightly, and I could see my words were having an effect.
"Maybe, instead of hating Buck for "stealing" your song, you should thank him for turning it into a hit. You won the lawsuit. Your name is on it, but without Buck it never would have happened."
He was quiet for a moment, and then said very thoughfully, "You're right."
"So are you going to let all that anger go so you can get this book done without bringing any negativity to it?" I chided.
He nodded. About that time Kushnick sneeked out the back door so Morty left. I never saw him again. I walked out on Kushnick a couple of weeks later. I don't know if Morty ever came back or if Kushnick finally relented and spoke to him. And Morty passed away shortly after. He had cancer, and he'd never said a word as he waited and waited to see Kushnick.
Buck's wife did tell me the story behind "Twilight Time," some time later - under her breath while Buck sat next to us. According to Lucille, Morty and the Three Suns had written an instrumental with the title. Buck, as a teenage, college student/poet had also written a poem titled "Twilight Time." He put his poem to his own music but did use the hook from The Three Suns song. The result of that marriage was a huge hit, and "Twilight Time" is now one of the most covered songs on YouTube.
I'm sure there was more to the story neither Morty or Lucille told me because, after more than two decades, Lucille still harbored some anger over the situtaiton herself.
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