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Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis (1925-1994) gained worldwide fame after his theme for director Jules Dassin's lighthearted film Never on Sunday (1960) won an Academy Award.
Never on Sunday starred Melina Mercouri, so when Dassin and Mercouri were teamed again on the caper flick Topkapi (1964) the director called on Hadjidakis once more to provide the score. Although the Topkapi music didn't prove to be as popular as that in Never on Sunday the soundtrack did provide several delightful tunes, including the title theme.
There were many recordings of the Topkapi theme and it provided the title for an LP by jazz organist Jimmy McGriff. Among those to wax Topkapi was the Manhattan Pops Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Joe Cain.
A number of easy listening and light classical albums were recorded under the Manhattan Pops name for the Time Records label in the 1960s. Various conductors were employed, including Cain and Richard Hayman.
Cain (real name, Joseph Caiani) was born in Philadelphia in 1929. His real love was Latin music and he became an influential producer and arranger in that genre, working with vocalist Vicentino Valdes and many others. At the same time he recorded numerous LPs under his own name and as the man in charge of ad hoc aggregations like the Manhattan Pops Orchestra. Topkapi was on the orchestra's 1965 LP Motion Picture Themes.
Topkapi
Some of the Manhattan Pops' recordings for Time are available as downloads, but not Motion Picture Themes.
This YouTube selection features Richard Hayman conducting the orchestra on David Rose's Holiday (not Holidays as in the video caption) for Strings. It's from the 1965 Time LP Fiddlers on the Roof.
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