Director David Steinberg, an avid Grappelli fan, was determined that we get him to solo on the Paternity soundtrack. And so we did. His manager said he would fly from Paris to New York -- but not Los Angeles -- and make himself available for just one three-hour session. So I recorded the 50-piece backing tracks in Los Angeles, and music producer Dave Pell (also unintentionally uncredited) and I made a fast trip for one day to a small Manhattan recording studio, where, with his pianist and bassist, our esteemed soloist showed up at the appointed time, with an expression on his face (which never changed for the few hours he was with us) that suggested he was attending the funeral of a close friend rather than about to regale us with the breathtaking jazz improvisations he effortlessly proceeded to delight us with for the next few hours.

But first, there was one very rough and unforgettable moment for yours truly. With the sheet music for the first variation of my main theme in front of him in the isolation booth, we rolled the tape, Grappelli started to play, but then abruptly stopped and muttered something in French. His pianist quickly relayed a translation to the booth: “Stephan says this music is badly written.” But before I could pass out in stunned disbelief, the pianist, seeing the horrified expression on my face, quickly clarified his translation: “Stephan means the music is badly copied, not badly composed.” So I didn’t pass out, Dave rushed to the isolation booth to clarify some sloppily copied chord symbols on SG’s lead sheet, and the rest of the session was an unmitigated pleasure -- at least for Dave and me. Grappelli dispassionately sawed away, dispensed with his duties, mostly in single takes, quickly packed up, muttered “Bon soir” without a smile, and left for Paris. A few hours later Dave and I were heading for LA, our treasured tapes in his carry-on.

One other note: David Steinberg, to my great disappointment, felt that “Love’s Gonna Find You”, which I wrote and recorded with a children’s chorus for the end title, was too sentimental for his purposes, so it was replaced by an instrumental version of the melody. But as my lucky stars would have it, a few weeks later one Didi Conn, who was in town shooting Grease II, heard me on WUSC being interviewed by David Raskin, remembered that a mutual friend had tried unsuccessfuly to fix us up a year before, got my number from her, cold--called me, and asked me out. I accepted the invitation, and several night’s later Didi and I double-first-dated with David Steinberg and his wife. ”Love’s Gonna Find You” didn’t make the cut, but since Didi and I recently celebrated our 32nd anniversary, I can gratefully say that love sure found me.

                      —David Shire