Born in
Frankford, Philadelphia, Norman Pavlak was the middle child of three, born to Polish émigrés Joseph A. and Natalia—and/or Petronela—Theodora Pavlak. Having reportedly made his professional debut with the
Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of six, Pavlak played accordion duets with his father at bar mitzvahs while still in his late pre-teens, and, over the next decade, was awarded successive scholarships to the
Philadelphia Music Academy and
Curtis Institute—where he studied, respectively, with Helen Hause and
Ralph Berkowitz After serving for two years in the
U.S. Navy in
World War II, Pavlak moved to New York in 1946, Two months later, another similarly themed series,
Skyline Roof, featured host
Gordon MacRae joined in song by the young pianist. The following year, Paris formed his eponymous trio, Beginning in October 1947, they provided the music—both backgrounds and the occasional featured instrumental—at
Julius Monk's
Le Ruban Bleu until its closing more than nine years later. They accompanied artists such as
Maxine Sullivan,
Connie Sawyer,
Bibi Osterwald,
Ethel Waters Larry Blake,
Michael Brown, the husband-wife duo
Alan and Phyllis Sues.
Ellen Hanley and her husband
Ronny Graham, and Paris's future wife,
Dorothy Loudon. Reviewing the trio's Ruban Bleu debut, ''Variety's''
Abel Green dubbed the unit "one of the brightest new combinations around." [...] Trios of this nature frequently are lost in the shuffle of being serviceable accompanists period. But not so Paris who, firstly, is a stylized piano virtuoso in his own right; and in combination with his other two strings, a zingy act that can play class cafes and vaudeville with equal facility." In March 1957, roughly one month after Bleu's demise, the Paris trio began providing musical backgrounds for NBC's
daytime series Home, hosted by
Arlene Francis. When the show was cancelled five months later in favor of her own self-titled series, Paris was named musical director. Other shows on which he served as MD include ''
I've Got a Secret, That Was the Week That Was , The Generation Gap, For Your Pleasure (with Kyle MacDonnell), and The Blue Angel''. Interviewed many years later,
Gene Bertoncini recalled his time as a studio guitarist at NBC, performing Paris's charts for
That Was the Week That Was. Yes, it was live. I used my
L-5. The conductor Norman Paris, who was a really great guy, had a trio that would do complicated guitar/piano things. He'd put this stuff out in front of me, and I wasn't that quick of a study, but he was so patient with me and would give me a chance to woodshed whatever he'd written for each show. Paris also handled the music on a number of special broadcasts; this includes scoring
JFK Report No. 1 and its like-named sequels—all airing during or immediately following the late president's administration—as well as several hosted by comedian
Alan King, including
Alan King and His Buddy (1969),
Alan King Looks Back in Anger—A Review of 1972 (1973),
The Many Faces of Comedy (1973) and ''Alan King's Energy Crisis'' (1974). He was music director on
NBC's
Johnny Carson Discovers Cypress Gardens—billed as Carson's debut as host of a non-recurring program—and scored the 1969, hour-long
Kenya-centered documentary,
Adventures at the Jade River, written and directed by
David Seltzer and hosted by
William Holden, as well as a made-for-TV remake of
Arsenic and Old Lace, airing that same year and starring
Helen Hayes and
Lillian Gish. As for motion pictures, Paris arranged and conducted the scores of two notable firsts:
David and Lisa—the dual directing/screenwriting debut of
Frank and
Eleanor Perry Paris once again teamed with Pintoff the following year on the animated short,
The Old Man and the Flower. Paris's last credits were as a composer on episodes of the series
The Big Blue Marble. ==Personal life and death==