Showing posts with label Mickey Mouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mickey Mouse. Show all posts
December 12, 2023
December 5, 2021
20,000 vinyl LPs 321: The Magical Music of Walt Disney
~
One hundred and twenty years ago today, on December 5, 1901, the most famous cartoon animator in the world, Walt Disney, was born. This is a tribute to Disney who besides being an animator, was an entrepreneur, writer, voice actor, and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of great songs from the Disney films; how they managed to choose which ones they did is a miracle to me. The packaging for the set is beautiful. There was also a beautiful book issued at the same time and I wrote about it on the 90rh birthday of Micky Mouse three years ago (link below).
The Magical Music of Walt Disney 4 vinyl LPs box set detail
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
One hundred and twenty years ago today, on December 5, 1901, the most famous cartoon animator in the world, Walt Disney, was born. This is a tribute to Disney who besides being an animator, was an entrepreneur, writer, voice actor, and film producer. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The Magical Music of Walt Disney 4 vinyl LPs box set
photo of album cover by Styrous®
This is a collection of music from cartoons Disney created. The voice of Mickey Mouse, who appears on the cover of the album, was provided by Disney until 1947.
The Magical Music of Walt Disney 4 vinyl LPs set box back
photo of album cover by Styrous®
There are dozens, if not hundreds of great songs from the Disney films; how they managed to choose which ones they did is a miracle to me. The packaging for the set is beautiful. There was also a beautiful book issued at the same time and I wrote about it on the 90rh birthday of Micky Mouse three years ago (link below).
By today's standards there are ethnic issues with many of the films but it was another time, another world and the wonderful music shines through.
To start off, for sheer beauty and hope there is nothing like When You Wish Upon a Star from the film Pinocchio sung by Cliff Edwards as the character, Jiminy Cricket.
For introducing kids to the issues of life, Bambi is chock full of life realizations as when he meets Thumper who says, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." And the tragedy of the death of the mother of Bambi. There is beauty as well, as in the song, Little April Shower which is quietly bouncy and sung by a full chorus.
He's a Tramp, sung by Peggy Lee in Lady & the Tramp, is a smooth and sensual jazz vocal that is Le Jazz Hot! She also sings the exotic Siamese Cat Song.
Once Upon a Dream from the film Sleeping Beauty is sung by opera singers Mary Costa and Bill Shirley. Its lyrics were written by Jack Lawrence and Sammy Fain while the music is adapted by George Bruns. The song's melody is based on the Grande valse villageoise (nicknamed The Garland Waltz), from the 1890 ballet The Sleeping Beauty by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Mary Poppins (1964) had the impossible to forget song, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! It also had the lovely Feed the Birds (although I do hate pigeons) written by Robert B. Sherman with lyrics by his brother Richard M. Sherman. Then there are a couple of dance segments, The Penguin Dance which had no vocal but a lot of silly dancing by Dick Van Dyke with animated Penguins; the other is Step In Time with a gaggle of chimney sweepers.
Pete's Dragon has a lovely song, I love you Too, the film stars Sean Marshall, Helen Reddy, Jim Dale, Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Jeff Conaway, Shelley Winters, and the voice of Charlie Callas as Elliott.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 - Mickey Mouse Review Overture - 2:30
A2 - Steamboat Willie - 0:45
A3 - Mickey's Early Years - 7:52
A4 - Maestro Mickey Conducts - 11:50
A5 - Three Little Pigs - 4:02
Side 2:
B1 - Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs - 10:23
B2 - Fantasia/Sorcerer's Apprentice - 9:11
B3 - Pinocchio - 9:31
Side 3:
C1 - Dumbo - 10:10
C2 - Bambi - 11:35
C3 - Animated Classics Of The 40's - 7:25
Side 4:
D1 - Song Of The South - 11:35
D2 - Cinderella - 9:35
D3 - Peter Pan - 7:00
Side 5:
E1 - Lady And The Tramp - 9:07
E2 - Sleeping Beauty - 10:20
E3 - The Vanishing Prairie - 5:37
Side 6:
F1 - The Later Animated Years - 12:58
F2 - The Rescuers - 8:55
Side 7:
G1 - Mary Poppins - 28:05
Side 8:
H1 - Pete's Dragon - 9:00
H2 - Live Music From The Magic Kingdoms - 9:45
H3 - Music Of The Magic Kingdom Attractions - 6:45
Advertisement: - 0:04
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Ovation Incorporated
Distributed By – Ovation Incorporated
Mastered At – Diskwerks
Pressed By – PRC Recording Company, Richmond, IN
Credits:
Mastered By – Gary Heddin
Producer, Liner Notes – Dick Schory
Notes:
Comes with 52 full-color page book
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A, Label): OV 5000-1A
Matrix / Runout (Side B, Label): OV 5000-1B
Matrix / Runout (Side C, Label): OV 5000-2A
Matrix / Runout (Side D, Label): OV 5000-2B
Matrix / Runout (Side E, Label): OV 5000-3A
Matrix / Runout (Side F, Label): OV 5000-3B
Matrix / Runout (Side G, Label): OV 5000-4A
Matrix / Runout (Side H, Label): OV 5000-4B
Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-1 A-1-1-111 DISKWERKS PRC
Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-1 B-1 DISKWERKS-1-11 PRC
Matrix / Runout (Side C Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-2A-1 DISKWERKS-1-1 PRC
Matrix / Runout (Side D Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-2B-2-1-1 RCII PRC DISKWERKS
Matrix / Runout (Side E Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-3 A-1 DISKWERKS-1-1 PRC
Matrix / Runout (Side F Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-3 B-1-1 DISKWERKS-11 PRC
Matrix / Runout (Side G Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-4A-2-1-1 II PRC DISKWERKS
Matrix / Runout (Side H Runout, etched; DISKWERKS is stamped): OV-5000-4 B-1 DISKWERKS-1-11 PRC
Other (Catalog number on sleeve for record one): OV-5000-1
Other (Catalog number on sleeve for record two): OV-5000-2
Other (Catalog number on sleeve for record three): OV-5000-3
Other (Catalog number on sleeve for record four): OV-5000-4
Various – The Magical Music Of Walt Disney
Label: Ovation Records – OV5000, Ovation Records – OV 5000
Format: 4 x Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1978
Genre: Jazz, Classical, Children's, Stage & Screen
Viewfinder links:
The Art of Walt Disney ~ Mickey turns 90 years old today
Net links:
YouTube links:
Bambi ~
Cinderella ~
Dumbo ~
Fantasia ~
Lady And The Tramp ~
Mary Poppins ~
Peter Pan ~
Pete's Dragon ~ I love you Too
Pinocchio - When You Wish Upon a Star
Sleeping Beauty ~
Song Of The South ~
Styrous® ~ Sunday, December 5, 2021
November 16, 2021
Carl W. Stalling & Walt Disney
~
Carl W. Stalling was born a hundred and thirty years ago on November 10, 1891, in Lexington, Missouri. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts (links below) produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.
Stalling met Walt Disney
in the early twenties; In 1928, Disney was on a journey from California
to New York City to record the sound and make the preview of Steamboat Willie,
Disney's first released sound short. During the journey he stopped at
Kansas City to hire Stalling to compose film scores for two other
animated shorts. Stalling composed several early cartoon scores for Disney, including Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho in 1928 (but not Steamboat Willie, Disney's first released sound short). Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho were originally silent films and were the first two Mickey Mouse animated short films in production. Disney hired Stalling as his studio's first music director.
Animation historian Allan Neuwirth credits Stalling for basically inventing the process of creating a film score for cartoons.
According to Strauss, the "wildly talented" Stalling was suitable as a
film score composer for animated films. Stalling even voiced Mickey Mouse in The Karnival Kid in 1929.
Stalling
encouraged Disney to create a new series of animated short
films, in which the animation and its action would be created to match
the music. This was still unusual at the time, since film music was
played or composed to match the action of a film. Stalling's discussions
with Disney on whether the animation or the musical score should come
first led to Disney creating the Silly Symphonies series (links below) of animated short films. Stalling is credited with both the composition and the musical arrangement of The Skeleton Dance (1929), the first of the Silly Symphonies.
A great example of Stallings work is in The Haunted House (links below) in which Disney provided the voice of Mickey and Ub Iwerks was the primary animator.
These cartoons allowed Stalling to create a score that Disney handed to his animators.
The Silly Symphonies was an innovative animated film series, in
which pre-recorded film scores were making use of well-known classical
works and the animation sequences were choreographed to match the music.
Stalling helped Disney streamline and update the sound process used in
creating early animated sound films, following the long and laborious
synchronization process used in Steamboat Willie. The close synchronization of music and on-screen movement pioneered by the Disney short films became known as Mickey Mousing.
Stalling left Disney after two years, at the same time as animator Ub Iwerks.
Stalling had completed the scoring of about 20 animated films for
Disney. Stalling served as the music director of Iwerks' studio until
the studio shut down in 1936. In 1936, when Leon Schlesinger, under contract to produce animated shorts for Warner Bros.,
hired Iwerks, Stalling went with him to become a full-time cartoon
music composer. As music director Stalling became an integral member of
the team producing two very successful animated series. The two animated
series which Schlesinger produced for Warner Bros. were the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, both introduced in the early 1930s.
Stalling served as music director for Warner Bros. for 22 years and
is credited for the film score of over 600 animated films. He remained with them until he retired in 1958.
Carl W. Stalling died in the Los Angeles area on November 29, 1972, nineteen days after his 81st birthday.
In 1995 Warner Bros. Records released a two volume compilation of music from the Warner Bros. cartoons from 1939 to 1957; more on that in a future article.
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Cartoon Research ~ The Spooky Story of The Skeleton Dance
Critics at Large ~ The American Absurdism of Carl Stalling
Entertainment Junkie ~ Carl W. Stalling: The Man Behind the Tunes
michaelbarrier ~ Funnyworld Revisited
Musician Guide ~ Carl Stalling
Slate ~ The Mickey Mouse Genius
YouTube links:
Carl Stalling ~
The Haunted House (1929)
The Skeleton Dance (5 mins., 31 secs.)
Merrie Melodies ~ Carl Stalling and Cartoon Music (documentary)
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, November 16, 2021
December 5, 2020
Happy Birthday, Walt Elias Disney
~
Today Walt Disney would have been 119 years old, if he were still alive. He was born on December 5, 1901, at 1249 Tripp Avenue, in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago.
Walt Disney - 1916
photographer unknown
I don't think I need to say who or what he did; everyone knows him, Mickey Mouse, irascible Donald Duck, wacky Goofy, adorable Pluto, the Divine Ursula . . .
. . . and all the hundreds of other colorful characters and creatures he and his group created in the span of his life.
Who can forget Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo and, of course, never to be forgotten, the 1940 film, Fantasia with Mickey and Leopold Stokowski!
movie poster
He was a genius with a vision but unlike most of us, brought his visions to life in startling and stunningly beautiful ways. There are so many segments of his films that are favorites of mine; Pink Elephants on Parade from Dumbo is one, Ursula transforms Ariel in the Little Mermaid and Alice In Wonderland when she meets the catepillar is another. It's three of many that I wonder who was on what when they were making it (links below).
Alice In Wonderland - 1951
movie poster
Viewfinder links:
Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse
Divine aka Ursula
Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer & Mickey Mouse (Fantasia)
Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse
Divine aka Ursula
Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer & Mickey Mouse (Fantasia)
YouTube links:
Alice In Wonderland ~ Alice Meets The caterpillar
Donald Duck - Toy Tinkers (1949)
Dumbo ~ Pink Elephants on Parade (1941)
The Little Mermaid ~ Poor Unfortunate Souls
Walt Disney (Documentary) (1 hr., 59 mins.)
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (Original)
“I don’t pretend to know anything about art.
I make pictures for entertainment and then
the professors tell me what they mean.”
~ Walt Disney
~ Walt Disney
September 21, 2020
Leopold Stokowski articles/mentions
mentions:
Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer & Mickey Mouse
Patrick Gleeson ~ Beyond The Sun
Leopold Stokowski - 1912
photographer unknown
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