In 1965, director Richard Quine made a film about Synanon, a real-life drug rehabilitation center, called, not surprisingly, Synanon. The film starred Edmond O"Brien as Charles E. "Chuck" Dederich, founder of Synanon, and the denizens of Synanon were played by Alex Cord, Chuck Connors, Stella Stevens, Richard Conte, Richard Evans, and Eartha Kitt. Shot on location in Santa Monica at Synanon, the film is filled with the usual soul-searching, bad withdrawal, falling off the drug wagon, romantic entanglements, more bad withdrawal, really bad withdrawal, more soul-searching, and, of course, some more bad withdrawal - and music. Lots and lots of very cool music composed by the very cool Neal Hefti.Hefti, who began in big band and jazz with Woody Herman and then Count Basie, wrote his first film score in 1964 for Richard Quine"s comedy, Sex and the Single Girl. It was classic Hefti right out of the gate and introduced a fresh, melodic, and, yes, cool voice into film scoring. He followed that with How To Murder Your Wife (released by Kritzerland), which was followed by Synanon. Some of his most famous work lay ahead - the following year he"d work on TV"s Batman, do brilliant scores for two Neil Simon comedy films, Barefoot In The Park and then his iconic music for The Odd Couple, whose theme was also used in the TV series based on the play and film. Hefti"s score for Synanon opens with a moody and evocative main title, and the rest of the score consists of variations on that main theme, along with some swingin" ups, bluesy ballads, and even a couple of vocals - all in the unique Hefti style and loaded with his usual melodic invention. There was no one like him.WELL, HELLO WORLD, COME IN AND ENTER LAUGHINGEnter Laughing began life as a semi-autobiographical novel by Carl Reiner, about a young man longing to break into show business. It was adapted for Broadway by playwright Joseph Stein and opened in 1963 to excellent reviews.