Following graduation from college, Karlin moved to
New York City in 1958. He composed and arranged for various bands, including those of
Benny Goodman,
Harry James, and
Chubby Jackson. During this period he also composed and arranged for
documentary films, the
Radio City Music Hall orchestra, and
television commercials. In 1962, Karlin scored a
record album for
Columbia of extracts from the
comic strip Peanuts, performed by actress
Kaye Ballard as Lucy and songwriter
Arthur Siegel as Charlie Brown. The innovative score was performed by Karlin entirely on children's musical instruments and toys.
Film and television Karlin began his film career with
Up the Down Staircase in 1967.,
Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn (1977),
The Death of Richie (1977),
Minstrel Man (1977, for which he received an
NAACP Image Award),
The Hostage Heart (1977),
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. (1977),
Lucan (1978),
The Awakening Land (1978),
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979),
Vampire (1979),
Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980),
Miracle on Ice (1981),
Bitter Harvest (1981),
Inside the Third Reich (1982),
Baby Sister (1983),
Dadah Is Death (1988),
Murder C.O.D. (1990),
Her Wicked Ways (1991) and
The Secret (1992).
Author Karlin wrote three books about film composition,
On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring (1990), ''Listening to Movies: The Film Lover's Guide to Film Music
(1994), and 100 Great Film Scores
, which was published posthumously in 2005. He also wrote a reference book detailing and cataloguing the thousands of recordings the Edison Company distributed between 1914 and 1929. On the Track'' has been considered highly influential and authoritative for film and TV composers. ==Personal life==