Marvin Hamlisch: 1944-2012

I first met Marvin when I was 12 years old. My parents were driving my brother David and me to something in Los Angeles, and we spotted Marvin crossing the street. We breathlessly squealed out to our folks to stop the car then dashed into the clothing store he had just entered and cornered him, manicly yelping, "Mr. Hamlisch, Mr. Hamlisch, we love your music!" He was taken aback that two kids recognized him. He said, "Oh, do you know me from the Academy Awards?" (He had just won three Oscars at the 1974 ceremony for The Sting and the song and score to The Way We Were.) We snapped back: "No, we loved you WAY before that. We snuck a tape recorder into a drive-in in Bakersfield to record your scores to Take the Money and Run and Bananas." Even though he had just completed his Oscar hat trick, I felt compelled to assure him, "Someday you're going to be really big!"