Primarily known as an arranger and conductor, Walter Schumann enjoyed one of the greatest musical successes in the history of television with a single motif: the Dragnet theme, which has been described as the most familiar four-note musical theme in all of Western music, after the opening of Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony." Born in New York in 1913, Schumann took piano lessons for a time while growing up, but otherwise showed no special aptitude for or interest in music. It was while attending college in California that he formed a dance band for the entertainment of his classmates, and found himself so taken with the idea of a music career that he abandoned his intention of attending law school. He studied arranging and conducting, and was good enough by the end of the 1930s to be employed by Eddie Cantor. Schumann served with the Armed Forces Radio Service during WWII, and conducted the orchestra in the touring production of Irving Berlin's This Is the Army. After the war, he went to work for Universal Pictures, where he scored a series of comedies starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and also parts of the Ma and Pa Kettle series of films. It was during 1949 that Schumann hooked up with producer/actor Jack Webb…  » Read more