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Neal Hefti was born one hundred years ago - October 29th 1922, in Hastings, Nebraska, the town where (when l'il Neal was five) Kool-Aid was invented. Unlike Kool-Aid, Mr Hefti was never exactly a household name, but (as you'll know if you heard this week's Clubland Q&A) he insinuated his way into just about every household on the planet with a television set in the Sixties and Seventies. That's to say, he wrote the supergroovy theme for the film and sitcom spin-off The Odd Couple, and he wrote the ingenious theme for the Batman TV show - the one that...

Recently watching reruns of the classic TV series on the ME TV channel is the inspiration for today's feature, the hit comedy film which served as its basis. To quote the intro from the TV series: "Can 2 divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?"

Neal Hefti, the trumpeter, composer and arranger best known for composing the themes to Batman and The Odd Couple, died October 11th of an apparent heart attack in Toluca Lake, Calif. He was 85. During his career, Hefti worked with jazz greats such as Count Basie and Woody Herman, but he is best remembered for his work for television and film. Hefti, who was born in Hastings, Nebraska, in 1922, began composing tracks as a teenager for big band leader Nat Towles and for Earl Hines’ band. He played trumpet with Charlie Barnet and others, and toured with Herman, for...