Mancini & Friends

A Reluctant Orchestra

©1987 Tom Zimberoff ….. Top left to right: Gary Owens, Steve Allen, Andy Williams. Middle: Julie Andrews, Sue Rainey, and Laurindo Almeida. Bottom: Dudley Moore, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis

Henry Mancini composed his famous melodies decades ago. They still lurk in the American mind like cultural DNA, often sounding familiar even to younger ears, as déjà vu as a jingle: the loopy perambulation of flutes in “Baby Elephant Walk,” the pile-driving tuba in “The Theme from Peter Gunn,” a tenor saxophone that creeps up behind you like a “Pink Panther.” Two eponymous movies gave us…