Carl W. Stalling (November 10, 1892–November 29, 1972) was a noted composer and arranger of music for animated cartoons. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes shorts produced by Warner Bros, where he worked, averaging one complete score each week, for twenty-two years. November 10 is the 314th day of the year (315th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 51 days remaining. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... In popular music an arrangement is a setting of a piece of music, which may have been composed by the arranger or by someone else. ... A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another. ... Looney Tunes opening title For the reggaeton producers Luny Tunes, see Luny Tunes Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in movie theatres from 1930 to 1969. ... The WB Shield, used from 2001 to late 2003. ...

Stalling started his career as an accompanist for silent films on the piano and theater organ in Independence, Missouri. It was there that he met and befriended a young Walt Disney who was producing animated comedy shorts in the Kansas City region. Stalling composed several early cartoon scores for Walt Disney, including Plane Crazy and Gallopin' Gaucho in 1928, (but not Steamboat Willie, which was the first sound short, released that same year). Early discussions with Disney about whether the animation or the musical score should come first led to Disney creating the "Silly Symphonies" series of cartoons. These cartoons allowed Stalling to create a score which Disney handed to his animators. While there, Stalling pioneered the use of "bar sheets" which allowed the musical rhythms to be sketched out simultaneously with the storyboards for the animation. He left Disney after only two years, at the same time as animator Ub Iwerks. Finding few outlets in New York, Stalling rejoined Iwerks at his on studio in California, while freelancing for Disney and others. In 1936, when Iwerks was hired by Leon Schlesinger, who was under contract to produce animated shorts for Warner Brothers, Stalling went with him to become a full-time cartoon music composer, with full access to the expansive Warner Brothers catalog and musicians. He remained with Warner Brothers until his retirement in 1958. A silent film is a film which has no accompanying soundtrack. ... A grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument, which is widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment, and also as a convenient aid to composing and rehearsal. ... A theatre organ is an organ installed in a movie theatre, most often modelled after the style originally devised by Robert Hope-Jones, which he called a unit orchestra. Such instruments were typically built to provide the greatest possible variety of timbres with the fewest possible pipes, and often had... Independence is a city located in Missouri, in the Kansas City metropolitan area. ... Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. ... Nickname: City of Fountains or Heart of the Nation Official website: http://www. ... Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. ... Steamboat Willie, released on November 18, 1928, is an animated cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse. ... The opening title for the first Silly Symphony cartoon, The Skeleton Dance (1929). ... Storyboards are illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing an animated or live-action film. ... A publicity photograph (circa 1929) of Ub Iwerks and his most famous co-creation, Mickey Mouse. ... Leon Schlesinger (1884 - December 25, 1949) was a producer at the Warner Bros. ...

Stalling was consistently an innovator. He was the first music director to extensively use the metronome to time film scores. He is one of three composers, along with Max Steiner and Scott Bradley credited with the invention of the click track. His stock-in-trade was the "musical pun", where he used references to popular songs, or even classical pieces, to add a dimension of humor to the action on the screen. Working with legendary directors Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, and Chuck Jones, he developed the "Looney Tunes" style of very rapid and tightly coordinated musical cues, punctuated with both instrumental and recorded sound effects, and occassionally reaching into full blown musical fantasies such as The Rabbit of Seville, A Corny Concerto and What's Opera, Doc?. A mechanical wind-up metronome in motion A digital metronome set to pulse at four beats per measure at a tempo of 130 BPM A metronome is a device that produces a regulated pulse, usually used to keep a beat steady in musical compositions. ... Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner (Born May 10, 1888 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary; Died December 28, 1971 in Hollywood, California) was an Austrian-American composer of music for films. ... Scott Bradley (born November 26, 1891 in Russellville, Arkansas, USA; died April 27, 1977 in Chatsworth, California, USA) was an American composer, pianist and conductor. ... The click track originated in early sound movies, where marks were made on the film itself to indicate exact timings for musicians to synchronise their recordings to the moving image. ... Frederick Bean Fred/Tex Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an animator, cartoonist, and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during the Golden Age of Hollywood. ... Robert Emerson Bob Clampett (May 8, 1913–May 4, 1984) was an animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes series of cartoons from Warner Bros. ... Isadore Friz Freleng (August 21, 1905–May 26, 1995) was an animator, cartoonist, director, and producer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. ... Robert Bob McKimson, Sr. ... Charles Martin Chuck Jones (September 21, 1912–February 22, 2002) was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Brothers cartoon studio. ... For the album, see Sound Affects. ... The Rabbit of Seville is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1950. ... A Corny Concerto is a 1943 Looney Tunes cartoon made by Warner Bros. ... A still from Whats Opera, Doc?. Whats Opera, Doc? is a 1957 short animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones in which Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny through a six-minute operatic production of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). ...

Stalling was a master at quickly changing musical styles based on the action in the cartoon. His arrangements were very complicated and technically demanding. The music itself served both as a background for the cartoon, and provided musical sound effects. The titles of the music often described the action. Some examples are listed below: In popular music an arrangement is a setting of a piece of music, which may have been composed by the arranger or by someone else. ... A cartoon is any of several forms of art, with varied meanings that evolved from one to another. ...

• A beautiful woman sashaying into a room would be accompanied by "The Lady in Red".
• A drunken character would stagger to "How Dry I Am," "Little Brown Jug," or a slow-tempo "Shuffle Off to Buffalo".
• A football team would scrimmage to "Freddie the Freshman".
• An establishing shot of a home, such as Elmer's cabin in Rabbit Seasoning would be accompanied by "There's No Place Like Home".
• An establishing shot of a character waking up would be accompanied by Edvard Grieg's Morning Mood.
• Any scene depicting complex mechanical processes would have Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" playing.

Stalling made extensive use of the many works of Raymond Scott, whose music was licensed by Warner Brothers in the early 40's. In film the establishing shot is a short referential section at the beginning of a scene indicating where the remainder of the scene takes place. ... Rabbit Seasoning is a 1952 Bugs Bunny cartoon. ... Edvard Hagerup Grieg (June 15, 1843–September 4, 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist who composed in the romantic period. ... Morning Mood is a composition belonging to Edvard Griegs Peer Gynt suite. ... Raymond Scott (September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994), was a composer, bandleader, and inventor. ...

Jones and the other Looney Tunes directors sometimes complained about Stalling's proclivity for musical quotation and punning. His contemporaries, especially Scott Bradley, were considered more "serious", writing more original melodies and utilizing more high-brow compositional methods. In an interview, Jones complained: "He was a brilliant musician. But the quickest way for him to write a musical score [...] was to simply look up some music that had the proper name. If there was a lady dressed in red, he'd always play "The Lady in Red." If somebody went into a cave, he'd play "Fingal's Cave." If we were doing anything about eating, he'd do "A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich, and You." I had a bee one time, and my God if he didn't go and find a piece of music written in 1906 or something called "I'm a Busy Little Bumble Bee." (Adamson, quoted in Goldmark, p. 22)

Nevertheless, Stalling is remembered today for setting music to cartoons that have remained wildly popular to this day, and are often remembered for their musicality. His scores are heard constantly, both in re-runs of classic cartoons, and recycled in new Looney Tunes compilations and features such as Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Looney Tunes opening title For the reggaeton producers Luny Tunes, see Luny Tunes Looney Tunes is a Warner Brothers animated cartoon series which ran in movie theatres from 1930 to 1969. ... Looney Tunes: Back in Action was a 2003 Warner Bros. ...

After Carl Stalling retired, he was replaced by Milt Franklyn, who had assisted Stalling as arranger since 1950. Carl Stalling died on November 29, 1972, at the age of 81. Milt Franklyn was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Recordings

• The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958. Warner Brothers, 1990
• The Carl Stalling Project Volume 2: More Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1939-1957. Warner Brothers, 1995

Warner Bros. ... Warner Bros. ...

References

• Adamson, Joe (1980) "Chuck Jones Interviewed." in The American Animated Cartoon. edited by Gerald and Danny Peary. New York: E. P. Dutton. pp. 128-41
• Goldmark, Daniel (2005) "Carl Stalling and Popular Music in the Warner Bros. Cartoons". Chapter 1, and "Carl Stalling Documents". Appendix 1 of Tunes for 'Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520236173
• Stalling, Carl W. The Carl W. Stalling Papers. American Heritage Center. University of Wyoming.
• Tebbel, John R. (Sept/Oct 1992) "The Looney Tunester". Film Comment. 28.5, pp. 64-66
• Zorn, John (1990) "Carl Stalling: An Appreciation". Liner Notes for The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons, 1936-1958. Warner Bros. Records 26027