Stalling and Bradley and Sharples

[Frank]

How can you tell the difference between Carl Stalling, Scott Bradley and Winston Sharples music (and by telling the difference, I mean by sound and style, not by studio names)?

[nakak]

I can tell without reading the credits that Shaples did the music for the Joe Oriolo "Felix the Cat" cartoons, because I heard the exact same music from Paramount's "Beetle Bailey" cartoons (Winston Sharples did the music for "Beetle", along with "Snuffy Smith" I believe).

[JDWeil]

Stalling's style is quite unique. Although he could write original music Stalling prefered to use themes that underscored the visual content. If you knew the title of the theme that he was playing, it added an extra layer if humor to the cartoon. A good example of this occured in Fast and Furry-ous an overhead shot of a highway cloverleaf was accompanied by Stalling playing I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover.

Bradley alos quoted themes from the pop charts, but he used them in a different context than Stalling. When Bradley used a theme it it was that the melodic content seemed to fit the situation in the cartoon. Only once did Bradley use a theme that complemented the situation with the content and title. That was was in the opening of Puttin On the Dog wherte Bradley accompanied the chase with Runnin' Wild.

Win Sharples scores were always original. This started from his days at Van Beuren to his day at The Fleischer Studios and later Famous Studios.

[Tom Stathes]

I know most of the Stallings songs from the Rainbow Parade cartoons. Ray Pointer used those as soundtracks for his Koko the Clown cartoon videos, and that's how I recognize them. Listen to Ray's video so you can get the whole peices of music- then listen to the Rainbow parades and you'll hear snippets of those songs. I love his cartoon music.:bosko:

[mjsmith]

My favorite Bradley moment is from the ending of one T&J cartoon (Don't remembered the name of it) in which Jerry and a kitten walking down the street, and "We're Off To See The Wizard" is sneaked into it!


Have me tickled when I see it! :D

[duck dodgers]

My favorite Bradley moment is from the ending of one T&J cartoon (Don't remembered the name of it) in which Jerry and a kitten walking down the street, and "We're Off To See The Wizard" is sneaked into it!


Have me tickled when I see it! :D
you probably refer to tom,jerry and spike walkindg down the street in the truce hurts

[Larry T]

All three of the gentlemen mentioned have got their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to music composition for their cartoons.

One of my favourite scores from MGM's Bradley comes in the credits of "The Truce Hurts", after the MGM lion fanfare is played, he drops a few octaves and very beautifully sigues into "Happy Days Are Here Again" (very difficult to do considering the amount of notes and the timing he did it in). Bradley also interjected musical humour in his cartoons as well, he quite commonly played one of the staples "Shortnin' Bread" or "I'm-a comin' " during the token ethnic jokes, or for Mammy's onscreen presence.

The score for "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse" is a wonderful and eerie composition which really builds up the atmosphere of that cartoon. Another good one is the use of the extreme soundtrack interjections in "Heavenly Puss".

About the "Off to see the Wizard" in "The Truce Hurts", there's also a good little poke into "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" when the black cat is looking into the garbage cans. :anime:

[Jon Cooke]

you probably refer to tom,jerry and spike walkindg down the street in the truce hurts

Actually, I believe he's remembering the ending to "Professor Tom".


-Jon

[bigshot]

I collect 20s dance band 78s, and I'm particularly fond of Gene Rodemich. His records are quite different from his cartoon music though... more refined and not so oom pah pah sounding. (Nary a "bubble ting" at all!) I wish Abe Lyman and his Californians had done more WB cartoons. His records sound just like his soundtracks. Another of my favorites is Philip Scheib at Terrytoons. When he gets into that polka/klezmer groove, it's pure cartoon candy.

See ya
Steve

[Frank]

I collect 20s dance band 78s, and I'm particularly fond of Gene Rodemich. His records are quite different from his cartoon music though... more refined and not so oom pah pah sounding. (Nary a "bubble ting" at all!) I wish Abe Lyman and his Californians had done more WB cartoons. His records sound just like his soundtracks. Another of my favorites is Philip Scheib at Terrytoons. When he gets into that polka/klezmer groove, it's pure cartoon candy.

See ya
SteveOn Gene Deitch's website, he said that Philip Scheib's music at Terrytoons was overblown and corny. I guess he really disliked Scheib's music. It may be corny but I seem to enjoy it (whenever I hear it)!

[oldgreypole]

there's also a good little poke into "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" when the black cat is looking into the garbage cans. :anime:
You might be thinking of "Casanova Cat" [1951]. Jerry flies a piece of paper to a black cat in a garbage can, to attract him and get Tom away from a female cat.

[Jave]

"Mouse for Sale" is by far my favorite Bradley score, the dance music is extremely catchy. Bradley was definitely THE MAN when it came to this kind of music, in that aspect he was better than Stalling, IMO.

EDIT: Actually, oldgreypole, "Somewhere Over..." can be heard in "The Truce Hurts" too, while the black cat is rumming through the trash cans, smells one of them and quickly closes it due to the untolerable stench.

[absolutpaul]

It's also interesting to note that each of the studios' orchestras had its own distinctive 'house sound'. Warner Bros music usually contained a small amount of reverb during the loud parts, giving it a really magestic sound that sounds as if it was played in a huge stadium. Paramount's music had a bit of that too. and it seems they used a lot of flutes and high-pitched instruments. And the tiny echo/reverb makes those really ring out in your ears. MGM's music recordings were cleaner, and sound like they were played in a smaller room, I think. Disney's music tracks always sounded very clean too, as were Paul Terry's. Gene Dietch's music from his Prague years, as said before, sounds like it was recorded in a lavatory. It would be interesting to know how one of Stalling's scores (perhaps arranged by Milt Franklin) would sound if it had been recorded by the MGM orchestra? Or any combination?

[Jason Furness]

Say, how many Fleischer cartoons did Sharples score, anyway? I only know of one for certain, Always Kickin' from 1939.

He also co-wrote the song, "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day" for Gulliver's Travels, which is why he used the song constantly for the next 20 years or so. ^^

And call me crazy, but I suspect even Carl Stalling himself scored two Fleischer cartoons in 1936: Betty Boop and Little Jimmy and A Clean Shaven Man. It also sounds like he scored most of Mickey's Rival that year, too.

And, to go off on another tangent: the music from 1933's Betty Boop's Birthday Party sounds like Eugene Poddany's handiwork.:eek: Oh! And the Captain and the Kids cartoon, Old Smokey, sounds like future Lantz composer Clarence Wheeler was in on that one!

OK, I'll stop now, before I start yammering about uncredited Dean Elliott music in 70's Hanna-Barbera cartoons...

[Jave]

While on the subject, why is Edward Plumb the composer for "The Missing Mouse"? Did Bradley call in sick or something?

[JDWeil]

I know most of the Stallings songs from the Rainbow Parade cartoons. Ray Pointer used those as soundtracks for his Koko the Clown cartoon videos, and that's how I recognize them. Listen to Ray's video so you can get the whole peices of music- then listen to the Rainbow parades and you'll hear snippets of those songs. I love his cartoon music.:bosko:

The Rainbow Parades were produced by Van Beuren and Stalling never worked there. It was Win Sharples who scored the Rainbow Parades.