He once said in an interview, "I have never let the lack of talent stop me from doing anything." He cited an example of this regarding the "Gichy Dan and Beachwood 9" record produced by Ron Rogers and August Darnell. He was being interviewed for the job of arranger-orchestrator by the head of A&R at RCA records. Asked if he knew how to arrange for strings, he replied without hesitation, "Of course", and convinced them to give him the job. In actuality, he did not know a thing about string arrangements. Immediately after the interview, he bought a book on arranging for strings and woodshedded day and night. The result was a successful arrangement job; his work was complimented by the great violinist Harry Lookofsky who served as concertmaster on the date.