Gittem up, Scout

[Cole Parker]

We've had any number of great music videos show here. I don't remember anything quite like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GUBhE00h9U0?feature=player_detailpage

C

[ChrisR]

Rather fun indeed. Strange how the music is all about The Lone Ranger today and few people have even a clue about who William Tell was.

Any idea which orchestra that is? Some of the players look rather young for the typical orchestral makeup.

[Cole Parker]

I've not a clue. Probably a group that played on that show, whatever it was.

C

[FreeThinker]

This was fun!

I wonder how many children in the 40's, 50's, and 60's were introduced to classical music through things like Saturday matinees at the theater or... Warner Brothers cartoons!

[Cole Parker]

It was amazing how much classical music made its way into the cartoons we saw as kids. Bugs Bunny and Disney cartoons had it all the time.

C

[Rutabaga]

It was amazing how much classical music made its way into the cartoons we saw as kids. Bugs Bunny and Disney cartoons had it all the time.

Carl Stallng -- who did the music for Bugs Bunny and the other Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes theatrical cartoons -- had classical training and worked as a theater organist in the Midwest before coming to Los Angeles. At Warner Brothers he has access to that company's massive music catalog, as well as the classical pieces that were in the public domain.

G

[ChrisR]

The best of all, of course, being the classic "Kill the Wabbit" opera.

"No, mom, cartoons will not destroy my brain. I'm learning all about classical music. Besides, you and dad get to sleep in. So there."

[Graeme]

I remember listening to a tape of Tchaikovsky's music when I was in university (one of my friends loved classical music). I was amazed at how many of the pieces I knew. Things like the music from the Army Reserves ad (1812 overture), plus various cartoons (as already mention). I think the music of over half the tape was familiar to me, even though I hadn't ever explicitly sat down to listen to classical music before then.

[Rutabaga]

That weird little bird that walked around in the jungle walked to "The Hebrides" by Mendelssohn.

Stalling also gave us a number of "music memes" in the Warner Brothers cartoons, such as always playing "We're In the Money" when money was involved, "How Dry I Am" whenever a character was inebriated, "California Here I Come" whenever a character was headed somewhere, "The Lady in Red" when a classy female entered the scene, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Stalling

R

[TalonRider]

I guess you could say, it was the adults way of giving we youngsters some culture at the time.

[Chris James]

​Glen Campbell is a real gentleman, having spent a week with him during the summer stock days of my youth. Interesting to note that even back in the early seventies he presented the William Tell Overture in his live performance and the audiences loved it.

Just recently I watched the DVD movie about his life called I'll Be Me which featured some of his earliest performances and the last one he did while suffering with Alzheimer's. I suffered through those moments presented with his family and friends. A sad decline from such a wonderful and talented man.

[Cole Parker]

The best of all, of course, being the classic "Kill the Wabbit" opera.

That one was indeed great. There's another one, however, about as good. The music in it is Lizst's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. Tom is a concert pianist giving a recital, and Jerry, sleeping inside the piano, is awakened. He goes on to wreck havoc with Tom's performance. It was voted one of the best Tom and Jerry cartoons ever, and won an Oscar for best cartoon in 1946.

Wikipedia has a write-up about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Concerto

[ChrisR]

Cole - Ah yes. Thanks for the reminder of T&J's Rhapsody shoot. I'm certain the animators worked hard, but the poor pianist must've sweated blood for that one.

And Graeme, I do like Tchaikovsky, but keep in mind that he stole the main theme for Overture of 1812 from the Quaker Oats people and their "This is the cereal that's shot from guns" commercial.

Let's not forget another classical music animation sequence that still gives me goosebumps - An der schönen, blauen Donau from the docking sequence in 2001 - A Space Odyssey. Coming on the heels of Also Sprach Zarathustra the combination still goes down as my favorite movie/classical music selection ever.

[colinian]

Rather fun indeed. Strange how the music is all about The Lone Ranger today and few people have even a clue about who William Tell was.

Any idea which orchestra that is? Some of the players look rather young for the typical orchestral makeup.

There was a big mix of ages in that orchestra. They were good, too.

Colin

[dude]

Here's the T om & Jerry Cat Concerto video.... it comes in three parts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

[Cole Parker]

That's delightful!

C

[ChrisR]

Wow! I hadn't realized that the animators even start off with Tom playing the music in the proper key of C# minor. His fingers (do cats have fingers?) are hitting the proper keys. Later on things get a bit more chaotic and the animators a bit less careful, but it's nice that they made the attempt at all.

(For all the writers here, who can forget

"And then I write, by morning, nite...

and afternoon and pretty soon...

my name in Yebokatrovsk is cursed -

when he finds out I published first!")