Ramble on classical music in cartoons

[Gary McGath]

Recently I got to thinking about some of my favorite classical-music
quotations in cartoons. Here I'm mostly skipping over the ones which
overtly feature the music, and just thinking of cases where the music is
used in passing.

Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2: Often used for chase music. The Betty
Boop "Snow White" comes most readily to mind. Also featured in
"Rhapsody Rabbit," and played by Daffy and Donald in _Who Framed Roger
Rabbit_.

Von Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture: What got me on this track of
thought, actually, was a claim in the booklet with a CD of Suppe
overtures that the music from those overtures is often used in Warner
Brothers' cartoons. But I really can't think of any Warner cartoons
that use them. I can't think just now which cartoons have used the
Light Cavalry overture for chase music, but my suspicions run toward MGM
cartoons. Stalling didn't do much incidental quoting of classics.

Von Suppe's Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna Overture: There's a bit
in that overture which has a suspicious resemblance to the Dudley
Do-Right theme. It's also used as the music for a Betty Boop cartoon of
the same title.

Rossini's William Tell Overture: This has the distinction of having
three different and contrasted parts often used in cartoons. The lively
finale is used in "King Size Canary," "The Captain's Christmas," "The
Screwball Squirrel," and probably dozens of other cartoons. The storm
music is also used in KSC, among other cartoons. The pastoral third
section is often used for rural settings or sunrises, and is featured in
"Bambi Meets Godzilla." The Mickey Mouse "The Band Concert" uses the
whole overture, rearranged and shortened.

Mendelssohn's "Spring Song": Used for establishing a country setting,
or sometimes for blatantly exaggerated daintiness. "The Screwball
Squirrel."

Wagner's "Bridal Chorus": It's almost unfair to count this as classical
music, since it's so thoroughly associated with weddings. But it's
heard in numerous cartoons, e.g., the Betty Boop "There's Something
About a Soldier."

Mendelssohn's "Wedding March": Same comment. But used strikingly in
"The Rabbit of Seville," where it's blatantly stuck into the middle of
Rossini's "Barber of Seville" overture for just a moment.

Dvorak's "New World Symphony": The episode of Pinky and the Brain in
which this music is used as Brain creates a duplicate Earth deserves a
special award for musical punning.

I'm particularly impressed at the way MGM's Scott Bradley constantly
worked little musical quotations into the cartoons, barely enough to
recognize at times.

When I started writing this post, naturally I had to pull out some
favorite cartoons to check the musical quotes. So I've had fun writing
this, if nothing else.

[Don Del Grande]

Post by Gary McGath
Recently I got to thinking about some of my favorite classical-music
quotations in cartoons. Here I'm mostly skipping over the ones which
overtly feature the music, and just thinking of cases where the music is
used in passing.
Von Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture
Von Suppe's Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna Overture

You forgot one: his Poet & Peasant overture. Probably best known for
being the house-building music in the Popeye short "Tots of Fun", but
I remember an old Walter Lantz cartoon using it as well (some sort of
animal youth orchestra performance).

-- Don

[Chris Sobieniak]

Post by Don Del Grande
You forgot one: his Poet & Peasant overture.
Probably best known for being the house-building
music in the Popeye short "Tots of Fun", but I
remember an old Walter Lantz cartoon using it as
well (some sort of animal youth orchestra
performance).
-- Don

Heh, that one had Andy Panda as a conductor in the orchestra. I think
the title of that cartoon was the same as the piece played.

From the Master of Car-too-nal Knowledge...
Christopher M. Sobieniak

--"Fightin' the Frizzies since 1978"--

[Kip Williams]

Post by Gary McGath
Von Suppe's Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna Overture: There's a bit
in that overture which has a suspicious resemblance to the Dudley
Do-Right theme.

That's "Light Cavalry." I went and checked the sheet music just to be
sure my brain wasn't funning me. You're right about the suspicious
resemblance -- it took me a while to realize they weren't identical, at
first.

Kip

[Gary McGath]

Post by Kip Williams

Post by Gary McGath
Von Suppe's Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna Overture: There's a bit
in that overture which has a suspicious resemblance to the Dudley
Do-Right theme.

That's "Light Cavalry." I went and checked the sheet music just to be
sure my brain wasn't funning me. You're right about the suspicious
resemblance -- it took me a while to realize they weren't identical, at
first.

Perhaps you're hearing a resemblance between the 6/8 theme of the Light
Cavalry overture and the Dudley Do-Right theme, but I really was
referring to the MM&N overture. It's a brief passage, but the
resemblance is startling, much more so than with Light Cavalry.

[Kip Williams]

Post by Gary McGath

Post by Kip Williams

Post by Gary McGath
Von Suppe's Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna Overture: There's a bit
in that overture which has a suspicious resemblance to the Dudley
Do-Right theme.

That's "Light Cavalry." I went and checked the sheet music just to be
sure my brain wasn't funning me. You're right about the suspicious
resemblance -- it took me a while to realize they weren't identical, at
first.

Perhaps you're hearing a resemblance between the 6/8 theme of the Light
Cavalry overture and the Dudley Do-Right theme, but I really was
referring to the MM&N overture. It's a brief passage, but the
resemblance is startling, much more so than with Light Cavalry.

That was my thought. Now you've really got my curiosity piqued. I'll
have to watch the Betty Boop cartoon again, as that's the only form of
"Morning Noon and Night" that I have quick access to.

Kip

[Gary McGath]

Post by Kip Williams
That was my thought. Now you've really got my curiosity piqued. I'll
have to watch the Betty Boop cartoon again, as that's the only form of
"Morning Noon and Night" that I have quick access to.

I think the Betty Boop cartoon skips that bit, unfortunately. But it's
been a while since I watched it.

[Kip Williams]

Post by Gary McGath

Post by Kip Williams
That was my thought. Now you've really got my curiosity piqued. I'll
have to watch the Betty Boop cartoon again, as that's the only form of
"Morning Noon and Night" that I have quick access to.

I think the Betty Boop cartoon skips that bit, unfortunately. But it's
been a while since I watched it.

Either skipped it or mangled it in some way. In future, I will not
recommend Betty Boop cartoons as a definitive way of studying classical
scores. Just in case anyone asks. They deviate so much, in obvious ways,
that I think they've outdone all the irrelevant (albeit humorous) bits
in MAGICAL MAESTRO's treatment of Largo Al Factotum.

(Somewhere, I've made a list of all the cartoons I could think of that
were built around one specific piece of music. Liszt's 2nd Hungarian
Rhapsody seems to top the list in frequency, followed by Poet & Peasant
and the Largo Al Factotum.)

Kip

[Gary McGath]

Post by Kip Williams
(Somewhere, I've made a list of all the cartoons I could think of that
were built around one specific piece of music. Liszt's 2nd Hungarian
Rhapsody seems to top the list in frequency, followed by Poet & Peasant
and the Largo Al Factotum.)

I can think of a couple of instances each for the 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody
and "Largo al factotum," but I wasn't aware of any for Poet and Peasant.
What's an example?

While we're on the subject, here's my quick list of Wagner's music used
in "What's Opera, Doc?"

Flying Dutchman overture
Ride of the Valkyries
Ballet music from Tannhaueser
Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhaueser

[Kip Williams]

Post by Gary McGath

Post by Kip Williams
(Somewhere, I've made a list of all the cartoons I could think of that
were built around one specific piece of music. Liszt's 2nd Hungarian
Rhapsody seems to top the list in frequency, followed by Poet & Peasant
and the Largo Al Factotum.)

I can think of a couple of instances each for the 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody
and "Largo al factotum," but I wasn't aware of any for Poet and Peasant.
What's an example?

I can think of just two at the moment, but enough to have a little bit
of comparison:

Andy Panda, "Poet and Peasant" (a Musical Miniature, if the brain is
telling me true things this early in the morning)

Popeye, "I Forgets the Title" (morning. It's the one where Popeye and
crew have a measly little combo and Bluto conducts a symphony -- it's
all Poet and Peasant, including some good piano-faking from Popeye)

Post by Gary McGath
While we're on the subject, here's my quick list of Wagner's music used
in "What's Opera, Doc?"
Flying Dutchman overture
Ride of the Valkyries
Ballet music from Tannhaueser
Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhaueser

From elsewhere, something I happened to post yesterday. The climax of
the Warner Brothers version of "Lord of the Rings." Frodo is played by a
wabbit:

[Frodo sidesteps the last Orc and dashes to the top of a vertiginous
peak off of some 50's classical album.]

Sauwon: Oh no! Oh no! I didn't KILL THE HOBBIT!
Frodo: Aha! Aha! He didn't kill the hobbit!
And now I'm at the top
And now it will be gone--
On second thought, I'll wait
And try the darn thing on.

[Just then, the miserable little black duck runs in]

Gollum: No! You can't have it! It's ours! It's ours! [Grabs the ring;
teeters on the edge. Frodo offers a hand, but he slaps it away, sending
himself plunging.] OH NO YOU DON'T! HAHAHAHA! [He hits the lava -- not
Bill Lava, just the lava.] We win! We're rich! We're powerful! We're a
happy miser! [Lava closes over him.] Happy birthday to us! Happy
birthday to us...

Sam: Well, he's g-g-g-... he's g-g-g-... that's all, folks!
Frodo: Actually, Sam, we have to trek our way back home for another 45
minutes.
Merry: Thufferin' Thnaketh!
Frodo: Well, whaddaya expect from a trilogy? An ending?

[Paul Penna]

Post by Kip Williams
Popeye, "I Forgets the Title" (morning. It's the one where Popeye and
crew have a measly little combo and Bluto conducts a symphony -- it's
all Poet and Peasant, including some good piano-faking from Popeye)

That was "The Spinach Overture." Poet and Peasant also shows up at the
end of "Porky in the North Woods," as the various animals pummel the
trapper. There's at least one other cartoon that uses this section of
P&P as "pummel" music, but I can't think of it at the moment. Nor can I
dredge up any of the other P&P appearances that I know are out there...
we've just scratched the surface here.

[Paul Penna]

Post by Gary McGath
While we're on the subject, here's my quick list of Wagner's music used
in "What's Opera, Doc?"
Flying Dutchman overture
Ride of the Valkyries
Ballet music from Tannhaueser
Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhaueser

There's also a bit of "Rienzi" thrown in, most notably the chase music
between Elmer's "That was the wabbit!" and Bugs/Bruunhilde's appearance
on the obsese horse.

[Garrison Hilliard]

Post by Gary McGath
Recently I got to thinking about some of my favorite classical-music
quotations in cartoons. Here I'm mostly skipping over the ones which
overtly feature the music, and just thinking of cases where the music is
used in passing.

<snip>

What about Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite" ? It's used in bunches of "western
setting" cartoons!

[Paul Penna]

Post by Garrison Hilliard
What about Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite" ? It's used in bunches of
"western setting" cartoons!

Really? You may be right, but I personally can't recall any that use
specific direct quotations from it. Many cartoons (and live-action
westerns) use music that's similar harmonically and melodically - the
stereotypical "western" music that portions of Grofe's work resemble.
Can you name any off the bat?

[Kip Williams]

Post by Paul Penna

Post by Garrison Hilliard
What about Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite" ? It's used in bunches of
"western setting" cartoons!

Really? You may be right, but I personally can't recall any that use
specific direct quotations from it. Many cartoons (and live-action
westerns) use music that's similar harmonically and melodically - the
stereotypical "western" music that portions of Grofe's work resemble.
Can you name any off the bat?

I can think of at least one MGM cartoon that uses a motive similar to
the famous nugget at the center of "On The Trail," but the interval and
note values are different, and the music seems to have originated in
WIZARD OF OZ (which MGM owned), rather than the Grand Canyon Suite
(which would have required a royalty payment).

It's a Tex Avery cartoon -- I'm blanking on which one, but it's the gag
where the boxing glove contains four horseshoes and a horse.

...Aha! It was LONESOME LENNY (thanks to Joe Adamson's book for the
memory jog).

Kip

[Garrison Hilliard]

Post by Kip Williams

Post by Paul Penna

Post by Garrison Hilliard
What about Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite" ? It's used in bunches of
"western setting" cartoons!

Really? You may be right, but I personally can't recall any that use
specific direct quotations from it. Many cartoons (and live-action
westerns) use music that's similar harmonically and melodically - the
stereotypical "western" music that portions of Grofe's work resemble.
Can you name any off the bat?

I can think of at least one MGM cartoon that uses a motive similar to
the famous nugget at the center of "On The Trail," but the interval and
note values are different, and the music seems to have originated in
WIZARD OF OZ (which MGM owned), rather than the Grand Canyon Suite
(which would have required a royalty payment).

For those who are wondering what peice we're chatting about, go to
http://class-midi.com/on-trail.mid for a listen. Heck, check out the
entire suite at http://class-midi.com/canyon.htm if you want!


-

"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Hilliard," said the gentleman,
taking up a pen," it is more than usually desirable that we should make some
slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the
present time Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of
thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."
"Are there no prisons?" asked Hilliard.
"Plenty of prisons." said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Hilliard. "Are they still in operation?"
"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were
not."
"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigor, then?" said Hilliard.
"Both very busy, sir."
"Oh! I was afraid, from what you had said at first, that something had
occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Hilliard. "I'm very glad
to hear of it."

[g***@aol.com]

POET AND PEASANT (LITTLEST GIANT, NURSE STIMPY(?) and other REN AND
STIMPY shorts)

COUNTRY GARDENS (Percy Granger) Looney Tunes (Beaky bUZZARD: strife
w/father,1950), and some FLINSTONE episaode (incl. 2 from 1964, MONSTER
FRED & that one--what's the name--where Fred has to pose as a tazi
driver to mnake extra money, and winds up transporting his overweight,
overbearing mother in law (voiced by Verne Felton--btw I just got the
first season of 'Stones on DVD for XMAS and am watchin the HOT LIPS
episode).

GAVOTTE IN G (used in a 1938 Warner Bros.,, HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES,
right after the cut-off open with radio coimmentator/comic Alexander
Woolcott)



The above mentioned SPRING SONG was used at MGM for LITTLE TINKER's
opening titles.

Warner Bros. didn't use MUCH CLASSICAL Music? (outisde the usual
Jones/Bugs>Elmer spoofs...)

DARK EYES was used in many war-era BUGS shorts, and possibly quite a
few later.(And during this time the great use of BEETHOVENS FIFTH can
be heard.:))

Then there's the WM.TELL VOERTURE (ROssini) used not just in toons but
even in the better, more cartoonsih later Paramount/Sherwood Sxhwartz
live BRADY BUNCH TV series (when music director Frank DeVol starting
doing a "Carl Stlaling" and using various pieces of: WM.TELL< GRAND
CANYON (during the Brayd's trip to that palce), and even TV--the Walter
Schumann DRAGNET theme! - and Dragnet wasn't ewven OWNED by
Paramount--the BUNCH also used some Warner Bros. and Paramount ownednon
classical tunes, even Disney's SNOW WHITE's Heigbh Ho!")

[Gary McGath]

COUNTRY GARDENS ...
DARK EYES

There's a rather blurry line between classical music and great old
songs, which I was careful to stay on the safe side of -- not that the
use of such songs isn't interesting in themselves. An equally long
thread could be done on Stephen Foster in cartoons.

"Dark Eyes" was also used in Warners' "Russian Rhapsody" (perhaps more
often remembered as "Gremlins from the Kremlin").

Then there's the WM.TELL VOERTURE (ROssini) used not just in toons but
even in the better, more cartoonsih later Paramount/Sherwood Sxhwartz
live BRADY BUNCH TV series (when music director Frank DeVol starting

Also, Fred and Wilma Flintsone's friends once sang "Happy Anniversary"
to them to the tune of the William Tell overture (the "cowboy" part).

[Kip Williams]

Post by Gary McGath
Also, Fred and Wilma Flintsone's friends once sang "Happy Anniversary"
to them to the tune of the William Tell overture (the "cowboy" part).

The Flintstone version of that theme has been a family institution with
us since the first time it aired. One of my sisters called me on the
16th and sang "Happy Birthday Yesterday" to that tune, which pleased me
no end, for various reasons.

Speaking of "Dark Eyes," (or "Hotcha Cornia" for Spike Jones), I amused
myself -- admittely, a tough audience -- by drawing eyelashes over the
two fermatas on the first two notes. I've lost track of how many years
ago I pencilled in this obscure visual pun, but it still brings me a smile.

Still having a Merry Christmas, too -- hope you're the same.
Kip W

[Paul Penna]

Post by Gary McGath
"Dark Eyes" was also used in Warners' "Russian Rhapsody" (perhaps more
often remembered as "Gremlins from the Kremlin").

I think it should be pointed out that at the time, both "Dark Eyes" and
"Volga Boatman" (also used in "Russian Rhapsody") were widely known in
various swing arrangements (e.g., Tommy Dorsey in the former and Glenn
Miller in the latter), similar in style to their use in the cartoon.

[Julian Fong]

As long as we're on the subject, I just want to say that the attempt to make
*songs* out of classical music in "Mickey, Donald, and Goofy: The Three
Musketeers" has got to be the worst travesty since those old Smurfberry Crunch
commercials. It wouldn't be so bad if the lyrics were really clever, but
they're mostly just dumb.

In Smurfs, OTOH, aside from the commercials, its use of classical music was
reasonably good.

[terri noble]

Don't forget Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave" overture, used as the minah
bird's theme in the "Inki" cartoons.

It seems, to my ears at least, that Warners came out ahead when it used
classical music in its cartoons - the sound of that studio's orchestra
in their films from the late '30s to the early '60s is unmistakeable.
The acoustics of WB's music stage accentuated the lower notes, imparting
a gutsy, thunderous sound to the orchestra. MGM's orchestra had more of
a brassy sound.


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