October 8: Happy Birthday, Walter Schumann

Today marks what would've been the one hundredth birthday of Walter Schumann!  Schumann was a composer in the television, radio, and film industries, noted for whipping up The Dragnet Theme.

New York-born Schumann enlisted at the outbreak of the Second Great War, becoming the musical director of the Armed Forces Radio Service.  That made an improbable segue into his next gig, the job of writing scores for Abbott & Costello pictures.  From there it was the infamous Dragnet theme and work on The Night of the Hunter.

Rock on, Walter. And happy birthday!