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A. John Graves, born in Porterville, California in 1928, began composing songs and playing piano for school and vaudeville-style shows by age eight, with his first professional gig at fourteen. During World War II, his high school dance band dominated most Tulare County dances, as many musicians were drafted. Early professional experiences included playing with former big band jazz musicians too old for service, where he learned many of the roughly three thousand songs in his request book, The Memory Flogger.
After graduating from The College of the Pacific, Graves moved to Los Angeles to pursue a broadcasting career. When funds depleted, he toured with a small comedy band, replacing Stan Freberg, performing three floor shows nightly and featuring as a deadpan comedian. After touring with Rick Fay's Krazy Kats, he settled in Los Angeles, started a family, and worked in piano bars.
Unable to break into broadcasting initially, he began as an NBC page, then spent six months selecting recorded background music for Matinee Theater dramas. He then served eight years as an NBC Broadcast Standards Program Policy Editor (censor), which led to his desired role as Manager of Film Programs. There, he supervised NBC shows including Bonanza, I Dream of Jeannie, Ironside, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Then Came Bronson, The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Monkees, and the London-filmed The Strange Report.
In 1970, following management changes at MGM-TV, Graves became Director of Current Programming, overseeing Medical Center, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, GE Monogram Documentaries, and several syndicated talk shows. Executive shifts in 1972 allowed him to become a producer, leading Assignment Vienna, an eight-hour miniseries filmed in Vienna starring Robert Conrad for MGM-TV and ABC.
In 1974, Graves took on the challenge of heading the feature film and television division of the newly formed South Australian Film Corporation. Under his leadership, the Corporation produced its first major feature success: Peter Weir’s acclaimed Picnic at Hanging Rock, with Graves as Executive Producer. During his two-year tenure, he also oversaw the BBC feature Storm Boy, re-edited Sunday Too Far Away, and produced the TV movie The Sound of Love.
Returning to the U.S., Graves engaged in development deals with Universal, Zev Braun Productions, and EMI. In 1981, he became a partner in L.A. House Productions, creating a pilot for a syndicated sports show and producing corporate and institutional projects. Concurrently, he pursued a graduate degree in Mass Communication at California State University, Northridge, aiming to teach. After a fulfilling decade as an associate professor at Central Missouri State University’s Communication Department, plus an exchange professorship in Wales, he retired to Pagosa Springs, Colorado as Professor Emeritus. He remains active locally as a writer, performer, producer, and consultant.
Throughout his diverse career, Graves regularly performed as a solo pianist, accompanist, or band leader at private events for celebrities such as Judy Garland, Groucho Marx, Danny Thomas, and John Wayne. He has recorded music, served as staff pianist at KLAC-TV and on the first Betty White show, was musical director for the Gloria Hart Show on KLAC-TV, and accompanied artists including George Burns, June Christy, Rosemary Clooney, Rudy Vallee, Redd Foxx, Arthur Duncan, and Jimmy Durante.
Among the many renowned individuals Graves has met or worked with, three encounters stand out: a morning with Lord Bertrand Russell at his Welsh home, afternoon tea with Katharine Hepburn in Beverly Hills, and hosting Eric Sevareid for three days in Warrensburg, Missouri.
After nearly fifty years of evaluating others’ writing, Graves now focuses on his own and teaches a correspondence course in Creative Writing for Radio, Television, and Film at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. He also enjoys performing with various jazz groups and at clubs and private parties for fans of jazz, standards, and show tunes.
He created "Boom, Bust, and Battle," a radio series exploring the music and culture of the 1920s through 1940s, which inspired a musical variety show produced with John Porter. The show featured a Dixieland band, singers, dancers, and comedians celebrating those decades. In 2004, he produced an original musical revue titled "The Hills Are Alive...," honoring the life and work of Richard Rodgers, featuring nearly fifty singers, dancers, and instrumentalists celebrating Rodgers' collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II.
