[QUOTE=Gordon Urquhart]
Blaine’s protégé, Jim Gordon… a member of Derek and the Dominoes (he played the piano coda for Layla) …
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Nitpick: not to take anything away from Jim Gordon, who is INCREDIBLE, but I’m pretty sure it was Bobby Whitlock who played that piano coda. At least, that’s what Bobby told me.
This may not be what the OP is looking for, but how about the folks in charge of concert sound for bands and and singers? I’ll wager most people have never heard of Paul Boothroyd who’s done sound for AC/DC, Paul Simon and Paul McCartney or Bob Pridden, the man who’s been in charge of The Who’s live sound for half a century.
Hmm … I guess we’re both right (interview with Bobby Whitlock, near bottom of page). Thanks for that info – I’d always read that it was Jim Gordon only.
Another reason is Fleming was although he received sole credit, he was actually one among several directors for both movies. Richard Thorpe and King Vidor also worked on Oz while George Cukor and Sam Wood worked on GWTW. This was a common practice during the era of the studio system before the auteur theory put greater emphasis on the role of the director in a movie’s creative process.
It’s amazing to me how so few people know Harold Arlen wrote the music for The Wizard of Oz.
I didn’t know anything about Roy Orbison until after he died.
Story please!
Arlen and Harburg. 
He wrote a ton of other songs too:
Looking at this list, Johnny Mercer is somewhat recognized but still less than is deserved.
One contributing factor is that the songs from Wizard of Oz (with the possible exception of Over the Rainbow) don’t sound like anything else he ever did. Typical Arlen songs include Come Rain or Come Shine, Get Happy, I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, It’s Only a Paper Moon and Stormy Weather. Most people don’t expect If I Only Had a Brain and We’re Off to See the Wizard to come from the same guy who wrote all those jazzy standards.
But he also isn’t known for though jazzy standards, not outside “standard” aficionados.
Not so much to tell. I lived in Macon, GA from 1974-1977, and in '76-'77, Bobby was my next door neighbor. Very nice guy. We were both living in grand mansions that had fallen on hard times and were broken into apartment houses. My apartment happened to have an upright piano in it - God knows why, but whoever had been there before me had left it behind.
Shortly after he had moved in next door, we got to chatting, and I invited him up to my place for beers and pot. Bobby saw the piano and sat down and began playing the Layla coda. Blew my mind! Later told me many stories about the Layla sessions.
Nice guy and good neighbor.
Not much to tell? I never heard of him and I think it’s fucking awesome.
How many people - other than numismatists - can name the artists who designed the coins and currency in our pockets? Most of us handle these things every day, yet who gives a thought to the people who designed them? And what about postage stamps? These are miniature works of art, yet the artists are anonymous.
Now THAT is one funky song! After listening to it I felt like I just watched an entire season of Starsky and Hutch.