'PAJAMA GAME' Orchestrator & Arranger Buddy Bregman Dies at 86

Deadline reports that composer, musical director, arranger and orchestrator Buddy Bregman has passed away at the age of 86. According to the report, Bregman died Sunday evening in Los Angeles, following a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

A nephew of songwriter Jule Styne, Bregman orchestrated such films as The Pajama Game, The Wild Party and Born Reckless. In 1953, he served as musical arranger for JERRY LEWIS AT THE PALACE on Broadway.

At the age of 25, Bregman headed up A&R at Norman Granz's Verve Records where he arranged music for such legendary artists as Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. He also served as the arranger for some of Ella Fitzgerald and Ethel Merman's most memorable works.

In addition, he produced a selection of his own instrumental albums, such as The Gershwin Anniversary Album, Funny Face & Other Gershwin Tunes, Swinging Kicks, Swingin' Standards, Dig Buddy in Hi-Fi, Symphony of the Golden West, Anita O'Day - Rules of the Road, and That Swing. Following his tenure at Verve Records he became the musical director on NBC's The Eddie Fisher Show, before featuring in his own show, Buddy Bregman's Music Shop.

He was involved in creating the scores or orchestrations for several motion pictures in this period: Five Guns West (1955), Crime in the Streets and The Wild Party (both 1956), The Pajama Game (1957), including scoring all of the Bob Fosse dance numbers, The Delicate Delinquent, Born Reckless (1958), Secret of the Purple Reef (1960), and The Cat Burglar (1961).

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