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In the first in-depth examination of music written for Hollywood animated cartoons of the 1930s through the 1950s, Daniel Goldmark provides a brilliant account of the enormous creative effort that went into setting cartoons to music and shows how this effort shaped the characters and stories that have become embedded in American culture. Focusing on classical music, opera, and jazz, Goldmark considers the genre and compositional style of cartoons produced by major Hollywood animation studios, including Warner Bros., MGM, Lantz, and the Fleischers. Tunes for 'Toons discusses several well-known cartoons in detail, including What's Opera, Doc?, the 1957 Warner Bros. parody of Wagner and opera that is one of the most popular cartoons ever created. Goldmark pays particular attention to the work of Carl Stalling and Scott Bradley, arguably the two most influential composers of music for theatrical cartoons. Though their musical backgrounds and approaches to scoring differed greatly, Stalling and Bradley together established a unique sound for animated comedies that has not changed in more than seventy years. Using a rich range of sources including cue sheets, scores, informal interviews, and articles from hard-to-find journals, the author evaluates how music works in an animated universe. Reminding readers of the larger context in which films are produced and viewed, this book looks at how studios employed culturally charged music to inspire their stories and explores the degree to which composers integrated stylistic elements of jazz and the classics into their scores.
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ROTH FAMILY FOUNDATION
Music in America Imprint
Michael P. Roth and Sukey Garcetti have endowed this imprint to honor the memory of their parents, Julia and Harry Roth, whose deep love of music they wish to share with others.
MUSIC AND THE HOLLYWOOD CARTOON
DANIEL GOLDMARK
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · London
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided by the Music in America Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Associates, which is supported by a major gift from Sukey and Gil Garcetti, Michael Roth, and the Roth Family Foundation.
University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2005 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goldmark, Daniel. Tunes for ’toons : music and the Hollywood cartoon / Daniel Goldmark. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-520-23617-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Animated film music—History and criticism. I. Title. ml2075.g65 2005 781.5'42—dc22
2004025268
Manufactured in the United States of America 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on Natures Book, which contains 50% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
For Cyleste Collins and Philip Brett
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables List of Music Examples Acknowledgments Introduction: Why Cartoon Music?
ix xiii xv 1
1. CARL STALLING AND POPULAR MUSIC IN THE WARNER BROS. CARTOONS
10
2. “YOU REALLY DO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THAT CAT”: SCOTT BRADLEY’S (VIOLENT) MUSIC FOR MGM
44
3. JUNGLE JIVE: ANIMATION, JAZZ MUSIC, AND SWING CULTURE
77
4. CORNY CONCERTOS AND SILLY SYMPHONIES: CLASSICAL MUSIC AND CARTOONS
5. WHAT’S OPERA, DOC? AND CARTOON OPERA
107 132
A Brief Conclusion
161
Appendix 1: Carl Stalling Documents
165
Appendix 2: Scott Bradley Documents
167
Notes
171
Bibliograph