tion Data Tie cartoon music book / edited by ML2075.C36 2002 781.5'4—de21 2002012873, Cover and interior design: Rattray Design Cover Illustration: Chris Ware (©2002 by A Cappella Books All tights reserved Published by A Cappell an imprint of Chicago Revie -55652-473-0 Printed in the United States of America 54321 Noles pas peur bébé agrippe-tol CHRACK! Je suls la CRASH! pour te protéger TCHLACK! Ferme les youx CRACK embrasse-moi SMACK! SHEBAM! POW! BLOP! WIZZ! —Sence GamssouncMusic and the Animated Cartoon* by CHUCK JONES Charles M."Chuck” Jones (1912-2002) was responsible for directing some of the most well-known cartoons Warner Bros. ever produced, including What's 957), Duck Amuck (1953), The Rabbit of Seville (1950), The Scarlet and One Froggy Evening (1955), as well as for producing a series of Tom & Jerry shorts and several one-shot animated films for MGM, including Dr, Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), The Dot and the Line (1965), and many more. ‘While Jones would state repeatedly that he had no musical background, his, legacy in animation centers prominently on his treatment of music, since many of his cartoons either explicitly focus on musical performance (Long-Haired Hore [1949], Baton Bunny [1959], Nell’ Folly [1961]) or rely on the musical underscore to tell the story in lieu of any dialogue—witness the Coyote and Roadrunner series. Because of his belief in visual, almost pantomimic humor— letting the character's expressions, however subtle, create comedy—Jones'’s cartoons usually had the optimum sonic space for the music and effects to inceract. In this 1946 article, Jones tries to enlighten the reader to the myriad possi +0 experiment with music, foreshadowing much of his own later work in the medium, ities in a cartoon soundtrack for the director or composer who wishes ‘The animated cartoon, in its mature form, can be the most facile and elastic form of graphic art. Since the first Cro-Magnon Picasso hacked etchings on his cave wall every artist has longingly sought the ideal medium—one that plies ancy kil apd fs cartoons dieing someChuck Jones color, light, expanse, and movement. animated cartoon can supply these needs. Tt knows no bounds in fe ‘an approach an absolute in technical realism and it can reach the ithout taking a deep breath. problems present in tends toward the unreal are simply not present to the animator. The transition of Dr. animator. He can do it and add three pink elephants to the transition. He can do it reaction, wh to Mr. Hyde is workaday routine to le st ling a yawn. In fact, he frequently docs. A red ant can grow to a golden clephant under his hand, a flying horse recede to a black pearl. He can create thunderstorm: lying carpets, talking hornets, dancing orchids, all with credibi with no technical obstructions. Yer in spite of these pote! ities the animated cartoon has been severely cartoon is in the toddling stage, as cally. It has made few profound statements about anything, Like all ocher motion pictures, ic is dependent on. a wide and highly diversified audience approval—the thing known in some quarters as “box office,” and “box office” in terms of animated cartoons is judged almost wh degree of audible audience reaction. The appre- ive chuckle, the pleased cluck, does not add up—in animation circles— to good “box office.” This has resulted in a wave of reaction throughout the industry against the type of cartoons known as “Rembrandss’; chat is, any type of cartoon except those based on the “boft” or bely laugh. One producer asked his artists to use lots of purple in the backgrounds because, as he put it, “purple isa funny color.” Well, I think G-flac is a funny note. I mention these the producer's viewpoint or the box office can be diste- lerstanding of the aesthetic and ies of the medium can serve to broaden its usage and increase My purpose here il the function of musi All cartoons use instances, not because I am unsympathetic wi co suggest that the imperative p: the appraisal of one of these possi the proverbial. The average cartoon musician was a theater organist during the silent era and so William Tell akes quite a beating in the average c some reason, many cartoon musicians are more concerned with exact syn- on. For 4 Music and the Animoted Cartoon chronization or “mickey mousing” chan with the origin: bution or the variety of their arrangeme: as they reach the musician are something less than inspirational, but most of them, even the best, gain less than they should from his contribution, I have seen a good cartoon ruined by a deadly score. If you can visualize Death and Transfiguration as a theme to Peter Rabbit, you get the idea. Nor is this a dia- tribe against the practicing mi artoon field; many are excellent and conscientious artists (among them Carl Stalling, Warner Bros.; Scott Bradley, MGM; Frank Churchill, Paul Smith, Larry Morey, and others for the Disney features and shorts), but many tend to underrate the medium and to disregard its musical pote fo be sure, many of the cartoons s when the visual and auditory impacts are i almost equal. Both examples are from the picture Fantasia 1940); both are bits. One consumed about four seconds Fugue sequence. It pictured simply a ponderous, rocklike, coffinlike mass that waddle ino a murky background accompanied by a sere of deep bass nots the Taccata and mind there was no separation; the fusion of the auditory and the visual was perfect. The second of my two instances represents, I believe, the happiest, and the ear in which I fo was a personal quality to these sequences, too, that was generally lacking throughout the rest of the film. It may be thar if the makers of future Fan sasias will be less concerned with the pageantry of their project and will search harder for the humanness of the music, we will have better films and better box office; for I believe that the mushroom dance has universal appeal, that ic will go well in St. Jo and Walla Walla—as well as it will go in Hollywood or New York. Tam not going to attempt 2 general survey of the use, or mit in the cartoon of today. It is rather my purpose to suggest certain potentialities. These pote! cal Education,Chuck Jones 1) Musica Epucarion. This is a wide and exciting field, one in which the cartoonist and musician must band together. Here the simple, strong dia- {grams of the cartoonist in conjunetion with the sound track can do fora class- room of embryo musicians what only individual instruction could do before. I do not mean that we are going to have platoons of Bachs underfoot, but we igent generation, a thing that has not been partic- ularly feasible heretofore. But we must be guarded in our use of this new reach a thousand children the simultancous rudiments of the glockenspiel—a result hardly to be desired. ‘Therefore the musician must be there to direct that artist in what to teach and how to teach its and he may be sure that the artist will do an exciting and inter- esting job of presentation. cis important at this time to remember that visual education has a head start on other educational methods in that we have a sympath cure is widely known and. widely appreciated. It is our responsibility to maintain this attcude, and we have learned valuable lessons during the war in so doing. Education can be fun, it can be attractive, but only if we, as teachers, keep it so 2) Texevistow. The signature music of today’s radio must be bolstered in tomorrow’ television by some sort of visual image, something in the nature of MGM lion, Warners’ shield, and so on. Many educational programs will also use the cartoon, as will children’s programs, comedy, and musical pro- grams. The opportunities here hardly need ehucida xy are obvious. The F course apply to television as es will represent an important audience to start with. The motion ppoints I shall stress in ensuing categories vwell, because the broadcasting of motion pict feature of television. 3) Procram on Narrative. Here is another wide and tremendously provocative field for the animator and musician to explore together. Here we ate fice from the prejudice resulting from che visual interpretation of more abstract music. Peter and the Wolf, Hiinsel and Gretel, Don Quixote, among many oth- jes. Richard Strauss’ ballet, Schlagobers (Whipped me to offer an enormous amount of fun. And consider two titles of Erik Satie's, The Dreamy Fish and Airs to Make One Run, parts of which, the composer noted, should be played “on yellow velvet,” “dry as a cuckoo.” “like a nightingale wich a toothache.” He must have seen us coming, Rip Vin Winkle, The Fire Bird. The lis is endless. | ic and the Animated Cartoon ‘The animated cartoon medium is the logical medium vehicle for these, because, among all media, it lends the greatest credence to fantasy. And in this field che greatesc delight is measured in the degree of credibility. The magic of the great juggler, of the trapeze artist, of Charlie McCarthy, of the story- in his ability to convince you that the impossible is quite possible— nay, is logical; is, in fact, as che children say, “Reely!” The animated cartoon can match, enhance, make credible the melodic fantasy of the composer. Overlapping here a lit believe that the educational system will one day demand a library for its public schools of just such pointless introduction to classic and semiclassic music. 4) ReGionat AND FOLKLORE. I believe that the animated cartoon has immense advantage in the exhibition of regional and national dances, songs, and cultures, because here we can combine the folk art with the folk dance. Straight cinematography covers this field to a certain extent, but seeing strange people in unusual costumes, dancing sarabands or tarantellas, gives us little insight into the thought of these people, their dreams, or their desires. But folk art does. It gives us a rich insight into the hopes and needs of a people. The pottery, furniture, and fabrics of any nationality suggest colorful fields for the artist. The bright blues, yellows, and reds used by the Scandinavian arti- sans in the creation of the jaunty figures which decorate their dish cupboards, ski shirts, and aprons would make a dancing, happy accompaniment to Grieg’s Norwegian Dances or Stravinsky's Norwegian Moods, No live-action color camera could do for the West Indies what Covarrubias has done in painting. Thave often thought that the Habafiera, or even a group of Calypsos, against his silky greens, murky jungle yellows, and luminescently coppery islanders, would be a striking experiment. Javanese, Egyptian carvings can be brought life to the sounds of their ancient rhythms and instruments. Mosaics and tapestries have enchanting stories to tellin fact, will become le to most of us only when they become more The run- capestry contains about the same degree of credibility to me as a ied salamander. I cant believe the salamander ever salamandered, and the tapestry looks about as human as a geological fault. We can do something about i if we will, and there are several reasons why we should—among them a personal one of my own concerning a seventeenth-century bucolic tapestry called “Apollo and the Muses.” The things is crowded with variously volup- uous and idiotically unconcerned ladies in déshabille, surrounding a hand some rube, dressed in a shirt, with a twenty-five pound lyre poised lightly in 7strum. He apparen head is ed toward a sort of Stuka angel of our he looking arrow. 's Face. T performed was the cons ductor, using. ments. As I | assure you that the dictating factor in the actions of th pace was allegro their actions becat y no they became frantic in their endeavor to keep up re 10 mysterioso, gr ake the audience long to appreciate what ches. the piece because this adds ant They should “hoke” the toonist going che composer one point better in 6) ApstRAcT because here the composer does not de 8 Music and the Animated Cartoon wat ax he is grinding. So we all form our own ideas, and along and presumes to inte way, we getall stuffy 3e big stuffed shi wants to, and o will. Dorothy Thompson found Fanta ough it was a little startling to t the best solution to interpret ngs the thing they've been ¥i the time. T don't mean that you can throw a blob of ultramarine on the screen and hope thereby that the le the old gentle- man in the right rear is mentally gulping flagons of sparkling mead. But there are some generally accepted symbol a contrabassoon does let line does not, in drawing, say “elephant.” These ate defini is possible to find abstract sounds and abstract images Here are two abstract shapes. lady in the third row to find her dream prince, wh conjure in your min gle scar- things, yer it at are sympathetic, ‘And here are ewo abstract words: “tackety” and “goloomb.” The words become sounds when spoken, but they have no specific meanings. Yeti is sim- ple to match the abstract words and sounds to the abstract shapes. The angu- " lar shape is obviously “tackety,” and the curved one “goloomb.” 99Chuck Jones his off hand. His other hand is dai cd, preparatory to a downward strum, He appare srument because his head is upturned toward a sort of Stuka angel whose power dive has carried him within about three feet of our hero’ face. TI ‘monster is on the point of releas- ing a very lethal-looking arrow. For three hundred and for has remained in a state of suspended animation, and I, for on a past master at uunsuspend it—if only to determine whether our friend succeeds in finishing jd friends may be unconcerned, but I ama not. The Band Concert Rivets (1941 Friz Freleng, who made the picture, seems to have a shall consider the latter because I am more fa mplete disregard—per- haps contempt—for the pomp, ceremony, and sacred concept of music. Rhap- sody in Rivets took the second Hungarian Rhapsody of Franz Liszt and performed a nice job of first-degree premeditated murder. The visual theme "was the construction of a building. The job foreman served as orchestra con- ductor, using the blueprints as a score. The riveting machines served as i ments. As I des is may sound like the usual cornily gagged cartoon; the dictating factor in the actions of the characters. Thus, when the musical and lively; if the music moved to _prestissimo they became fant from there to mysterioso, gra dragged inexorably with it. Ie ke the audience long to appreciate what ,—I can tell you they laughed. They sp ches. Id of satire one factor constitutes a limitation of sorts: the piece selected should have a certain amount of familiarity, because this adds antic- ipatory enjoyment for the toonist going the composer one point better in his degree of shading, partic~ ularly in pace and arrangment. (Friz Freleng, w! of this sore of thing, seems to have a preference later directed a take-off on the immortal Three L the immortal Brahms Hungarian Dances.) 6) Anstract or Assowute. Here is because here the composer does not define displays an unusual mastery 1+ Hungarians; because he le Pigs, using as his theme ld for controversy 1 does not tell us - Music and the Animated Cartoon ‘what he means, or what ax he is grinding. So we all form our own ideas, and ‘when some lout comes along and presumes to interpret his way, we get ll stuffy and hot under the collar, and resentful, and start muttering, “... where the devil docs he get off, the big scuffed shirt.” Rightfully, oo. He has che right to chink cor say what he wants to, and ours is the right to disagree as vociferously as we that opin- Dorothy Thompson found Fantasia fasc I believe chat along with it; that is, o be abstract graphically. Audiences may read into your drawings the thing they've been visualizing ‘you can throw a blob of ultramarine on the screen and hope thereb lady in the third row is going to find her dream prince, while the old gentle- ‘man in the right rear is mentally gulping flagons of sparkling mead. But there are some generally accepted symbols in art as in music. Just a the low note of ‘a contrabassoon does not conjure in your mind “hummingbird,” a single scar- 1e does not, in drawing, say “elephant.” These are det ings, yet it is possible to find abstract sounds and abstract images that are sympathetic. Here are two abstract shapes. the time. I don't mean that ‘And here are two abstract words: “tackety” and “goloomb.” The words become sounds when spoken, but they have no specific meanings. Yeti is sim- ple to match the abstract words and sounds to the abstract shapes. The angu- " lar shape is obviously “tackety,” and the curved one “goloomb.” 99Chuck Jones take these two figures: Or, and now we are approaching musi And take two sounds: “ooo00000000mp” and “po0000000000-0-.” music, which of these is the bassoon, and which is the ‘To go clear harp? Ss S | c> Andante thus becomes: eos 100 Music and the Animated Cartoon Abandon: a Ane Crescendo could be thus: Diminuendo so: s of what are m ic sounds. The art of brings them fluidity and power; endows them, The field of graphic symbols is a great but ‘We are dealing with a relatively ‘medium. The ideas suggested in + suggestChuck Jones Hires Note € a LOONEY TUNE CARTOON s TECHNICOLOR®, A WARNER BROS. CARTOON {A lobby card from one of Chuck Jones Iter musica (adventures, High Note. (© Warner Bro. such peopl :¢ fit to do so. Only one seri- ‘ous danger confronts the animator: an underevaluation of his medium. If the the end purpose of the must follow thatthe The animated cartoon as an cs infancy. Its macusity the motion picture industry motion picture producer, writer, oF musician beli animated cartoon to be the cartoon short of toda end purpose of easel pai artistic, educational, and depends on you. Originally appeared in Hollywood Quarterly Vol. 1, No. 4 (July 1946), 364- 370. © 1946 by The Regents of the University of California. Reprinted by ‘permission. 102 Classical Music and Hollywood Cartoons A Primer on the Cartoon Canon by DANIEL GOLDMARK ‘At THis very moment, people of all ages throughout the United Stares—in fact, all over the world—are learning the rudiments of “classical music,” that all- it includes music not ust from the so-called Classical era of the mid- to late eighteenth century, but music the tur of the twentieth century as: ren, Chopin, and Liszt in the classroom or the concert no, scads of people are getting their first exposure to such composers from animated cartoons. From Rhapsody in Rivets to Fantasia 2000, classical music giving direc- ly providing cartoon composers al for musical underscore. encompassing genre tors and writers story ideas while simultancot with familiar—and, therefore, surefire—mat ‘The integral role of any form of music—classical or otherwise—can be ‘ou know from the start that music plays a big part in their existence. ical works found a welcome h cartoons very early on, especially as the basis for a short—the o a ready-to-go plot to explain the music, was especially useful; this includes i's overture to the opera William Tell or Mendelssohn's sym- se The Hebrides) of classical works used in cartoons numbers in the hun- have, over the ” ion of works few appear in short after short. These pie tablished themselves asa veritable cartoon canon, a