Favorite Opening Title Theme

[Jack]

This is a follow-up to the jingle thread. This is for non-jingle themes - ones without singing, like the Tom and Jerry or Goofy themes.

[absolutpaul]

I like the late 50s Casper theme song, and for that matter I also like the Casper theme music used in A Haunting We Will Go and There's Good Boos Tonight. It's cool and a little scary!

[Tintin]

I like the Tom and Jerry, Andy Panda and Bugs Bunny theme

[Steve Carras]

I like the Tom and Jerry theme
Then of course, the Bugs Bunny theme-"Eh What's up Doc?"

[note that the early Hanna-Barbera TV themes were VOCAL, not instreumntal-Pixie and Dixie, for instance, when they debuted, just like COrnelius the Kellog's (their sponsor) Corn Flakes rooster appeared on the Huckleberry Hound show--so typical of TV programming in those days in the original "showmercial" era.

Getting back to themes--I'm a not a fan of Harveytoons per se (I kin d of go with Howard Fein's concsensus on that series,esp.the one shots), but some of the shorts do appeal, and I always was amused how each series (CASPER, HERMAN AND KATNIP,etc.) had an instruemntal and later a vocal theme.

[Thad Komorowski]

"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"
"Merrily We Roll Along"
"What's Up Doc?"
Noveltoon Theme: 1943-1955
Kartune Theme
Instrumental Herman & Katnip Theme
"Northwest Hounded Police" - theme used for 1947-1948 MGM cartoons (two different versions were made, one for Tex and one for H-B)
"Love That Pup" - Popular Tom & Jerry theme
Mickey Mouse Theme: 1947-1948
Goofy Theme: 1949-1954

[Matthew Hunter]

"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"
"Merrily We Roll Along"
"What's Up Doc?"
"Tom and Jerry"

I also really enjoy the early Harman and Ising Merrie Melodies theme, "C'mon, Get Happy". It's really jazzy and I think it rocks :bosko:

Also, the 1960's Looney Tunes had some nice character themes...particularly the 1960's Road Runner one and the Merlin The Magic Mouse theme...you know, "dum...dum...dadeedum dum...dadeedeedadadum DUM...."

-Matthew

[Jon Cooke]

"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"
"Merrily We Roll Along"
"What's Up Doc?"
Noveltoon Theme: 1943-1955
Kartune Theme
Instrumental Herman & Katnip Theme
"Northwest Hounded Police" - theme used for 1947-1948 MGM cartoons (two different versions were made, one for Tex and one for H-B)
"Love That Pup" - Popular Tom & Jerry theme
Mickey Mouse Theme: 1947-1948
Goofy Theme: 1949-1954


Great list, Thad. Those are pretty much my favorites, too. I'd add the following to the list:

The Ant and the Aardvark
Famous Studios' Popeye theme (used on the B&W cartoons from 1942-43)
Columbia cartoon opening music (early 1940s?) - I've heard it used on various cartoons including the Fox & Crow's "Treasure Jest" and some B&W titles
"Whistle & Blow Your Blues Away" - the Looney Tunes theme from 1932-1933
Andy Panda theme (the one used on "Goodbye Mr. Moth", "Fish Fry", etc)


-Jon

[Lee Glover]

My favourites themes are:

The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down
Merrily We Roll Along
Merrie Melodies: 1933-1936
Noveltoon: 1940's
Tom & Jerry
Woody Woodpecker: 1960's
Popeye: Fleischer Studios
Andy Panda theme music (used in Fish Fry and Crow Crazy)
Goofy: 1949-1954
Casper theme music (used in A Haunting We Will Go and There's Good Boos Tonight)
Betty Boop

[Mibbitmaker]

Mine is also in Jon's list:

The Famous, b&w, WWII-era theme

[J. J. Hunsecker]

First and foremost:

Merrie Melodies ("Merrily We Roll Along") and
Looney Tunes ("The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down")

I also agree with Matthew about the early Harman-Ising Warner cartoon theme "C'mon, Get Happy".

I also like:

The Pink Panther -- Sure, they just used the Henry Mancini theme from the movie of the same name, but it's still a great theme.

MGM -- I don't know the name of the theme, but it was used with the Tex Avery cartoons a lot. They also had a variation of it for the Droopy cartoons.

The Lantz Woody Woodpecker Theme -- They usually used an instrumental theme of "The Woody Woodpecker song".

The Fleischer's Popeye theme -- "I'm Popeye the sailor maaa-aaan". (I hate the Famous Studio version of this theme!)

Goofy -- The theme used in the early fifties.

[Nelson]

Mine opening choices would be like this...

Flip The Frog:Always loved seeing Flip play the piano and croaking at the same time.

Noveltoons: Great opening musical score by Winston Sharples.

Betty Boop:Enjoyable opening theme song for Betty.

Terrytoons:Any opening music was always great.

[J Lee]

Studio by studio, here's my choices, leaving out the assorted one-shots that just about every studio other than Warners had:

Warners
1945 season LT and MM opening themes (with the 1937-38 season versions coming in second)

MGM
Tom & Jerry theme opening -- 1954-56 seasons
Avery opening -- 1950 season (honorable mention to Tex's "Tiger Rag" opening that Metro sliced out of the re-releases)

Disney
Donald Duck -- 1941 season (for which they retained the end music on into the 1950s) and the 1947-55 opening
Goofy -- 1947-54 opening
Pluto -- 1943-47 opening

Paramount
Betty Boop -- 1932 season/1936-39 opening (same theme, only minus words for the final four seasons)
Popeye -- 1935-41 seasons (though the arrangements always varied), 1942-43 season (which must have set a record for greatest variety of intsruments used solo), 1953-57 seasons
Noveltoons -- Both the Sammy Timberg (1943-55) and the Winston Sharples (1955-65) themes
Little Lulu (even with the un-PC line, it still sounds better than the HBO version)
Casper -- 1955-59 theme
Herman and Katnip -- Both versions

Lantz
Woody Woodpecker theme -- 1941 version -- 1948 version, 1954-59 version, 1963-66 version
Chilly Willy -- 1955 version (the one Avery used, not the "Wee Bonnie Baker" rendition. Yikes!)

Terrytoons
Heckle and Jeckyl theme -- 1946-56
Deputy Dawg 1960-63 (the long version that even the Toon Tracker site doesn't have)

[Larry T]

Betty Boop (1) - I like the theme they used for "Betty Boop MD" (..."an auto horn can go -Toot toot Toot- but an auto horn can't -Boop-oop-a-doop- like Betty Boop can do") http://members.rogers.com/kittyface/images/BettySmilie.gif

Betty Boop (2) - "Made of pen and ink...."

Merrie Melodies Theme (1) - The "Judgement Day" rendition

Merrie Melodies Theme (2) - "Merrily We Roll Along" used in the 1938/39 season

Looney Tunes Theme (1) - The "Hot Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" rendition with the silly sound effects interjected within. It was usually used for the Bosko cartoons in the early 30s :bosko:

Looney Tunes Theme (2) - The theme used for most of the Buddy cartoons, that made its way into the next set of Looney Tunes.... is that "Whistle and Blow Your Cares Away"?

Looney Tunes Theme (3) - The theme which began around 1936, that ended up using the "Bwwwwaaannnnngggg" sound effect after a few cartoons.... I know it was used in "Porky's Road Race" and "Get Rich Quick, Porky"

Looney Tunes Theme (4) - Call me partial, but I really liked the one and only usage of that experimental theme for the cartoon "Joe Glow, The Firefly".

Woody Woodpecker Theme - The one used in the early 50s where the woodpiece he breaks out of was painted really dark brown and had a cel error where they didn't erase the top shadow of the hole he made :woody:

Paramount Noveltoon Theme - mostly used throughout the 40s, it ended up on the Baby Huey and Buzzy cartoons.

MGM Avery Theme (1) - I also like that "Hold That Tiger" rendition used in a few cartoons

MGM Avery Theme (2) - the one we've all come to know and recognize, best heard on "Cock-a-Doodle Dog" and "Ventriloquist Cat"

MGM Cartoon Theme - I don't know what it's called, but I think it was used on "Puttin' On The Dog" and a couple of Avery cartoons as well

[Tom Stathes]

Maybe you guys dont remember or know thisd one, but I like the one that was added to th silent Felix cartoons of the circa 1925 era. I think they were added by Brunswick? This one is defiantly on Eats are West and Felix Turns the Tide (1924 and 25). Anyone remember this? Tom

[Boy Wonder]

Besides the regualrs, just gotta love that Joe Glow music.

[Kirby]

Mine are the Goofy, Chip 'N' Dale and Humprey Bear themes

[Howard Fein]

I've always had a soft spot for the title card jingle used in the WB ABC/CBS Saturday AM network package circa 1968-84. It varied in length, but a really long version is used in the MERRIE MELODIES SHOW, which was never syndicated in the U.S. (This MM Show aired all the Daffy/Speedy shorts that NBC would show on Saturday AM along with virtually all the Hendricks shorts that never aired on American broadcast TV.)

I much prefer the LT opening theme to the MM opening theme- especially circa 1937 through 1944, with the cute flute (?) solo in the middle. That's the one heard for all the Clampett Porkys and the early color Porky and/or Daffy shorts that weren't Blue Ribboned.

For nostalgia value, Famous' POPEYE opening theme from around 1946 through 1955 prefaced with the AAP card. Great use of accordian and brass.

Some of the early HB sub-main title themes (for the individual character short segments) were cool, especially for Snooper & Blabber (nice jazzy sax and xylophone), Quick Draw McGraw and the rarely heard full Yogi Bear instrumental intro- not the short brassy intro heard over the title card that's been a staple of syndication. Likewise, the short intro for the Huck Hound shorts (drum and trumpet with tuba underneath) that was originally Huck's end title, but through continuous use in syndication has become more famous as his intro.

[nakak]

Well, I liked the Looney Tunes themes you hear these days now, and I did like those instrumental themes used during the credits in a DePatie-Freleng theatrical cartoons.

I also like the theme for Jay Ward's "Bullwinkle Show", "Hoppity Hooper", and "Fractured Fairy Tales" (with sound effects).