Composing Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies
A Musical Interlude to Features
Disney historian, musician, and composer Ross Care provides us with an in-depth look into the marvelous music of Walt Disney’s groundbreaking series of cartoon short subjects—the Silly Symphonies.
1929–1939 was a period of great experimentation at The Walt Disney Studios. Walt followed the runaway success of Mickey Mouse with a series centered around music, the Silly Symphonies, to test out their latest technological innovations. In January 1930, Disney’s first in-house composer Carl Stalling left the Disney Studios and eventually found a home at Warner Bros. within their celebrated animation unit. Bert Lewis, who started at Disney only a month before, followed Stalling by scoring Cannibal Capers (1930) and all of the ensuing 1930 Silly Symphonies, concluding with Birds of a Feather in February 1931.
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Persons
Frank Churchill (reference)Walt Disney (reference)
Leigh Harline (reference)
Carl Stalling (reference)
Deems Taylor (reference)
Keywords
Alice in Wonderland (1951)Animation
Bambi (1942)
Fantasia (1940)
Fantasound
Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
Funny Little Bunnies (1934)
Melody Time (1948)
Mother Goose goes Hollywood (1938)
Music, Sound effects/Sound design
Pinocchio (1940)
Silly Symphonies
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Technicolor
The Old Mill (1937)
Three Little Pigs (1933)