Clarence Wheeler

Last updated
Clarence Wheeler
Born(1885-09-27)September 27, 1885
Walnut, Kansas
DiedDecember 28, 1966(1966-12-28) (aged 81)
NationalityAmerican
Other namesHoju
Occupation(s)musician and composer
Known for Woody Woodpecker music

Clarence E. Wheeler (September 27, 1885 – December 28, 1966) was an American musician and composer. He created the music for many of Woody Woodpecker series cartoons under Walter Lantz Productions along with films in the 1950s.

Contents

Biography

Wheeler was born in Walnut, Kansas. [1] He formed an orchestra that appeared on the radio in Chicago in the 1930s, playing on The Terminix All-Star Program in May 1933 on WBBM. [2] He was music director of the station from 1935 to 1938 and was replaced by Caesar Petrillo, [3] brother of future American Federation of Musicians boss James Petrillo. He arrived in Hollywood that year and began writing music published by Alberto Colombo. Among his compositions were Cinemaland Parade, Silhouette in Rhythm, Sing For Our Fallen Brave., [4] There Must Be a Way, Hey There, Mr. Labor, That Night in Donegal, Tiny Little Big Shot, Hello Broadway, London Calling, the last four with James J. May. [5]

He soon went into scoring short films. His first credit was in the 1941 Columbia Pictures release The Carpenters, directed by former Warner Bros. animator Paul Fennell, where radio commentator Raymond Gram Swing reviewed the history of the invasion of Poland. [6] He was hired in 1944 by George Pal to provide the scores for his Puppetoons [7] and live-action shorts such as This is Oil (1949), [8] released by Paramount Pictures. Wheeler also worked on features, providing orchestrations for Shirley Temple's teen star vehicle, Miss Annie Rooney (1942), the all-star extravaganza Tales of Manhattan (1942), [9] and a number of the Blondie movies [10] released by Columbia in the 1940s.

Wheeler also scored for early television programs, being hired by Jerry Fairbanks to write music for the series Public Prosecutor in 1948. [11] That same year Wheeler also created the original opening and closing theme for the animated series Crusader Rabbit , adapting and arranging the folk melodies The Trail to Mexico (known on cue sheets as "Rabbit Fanfare") and Ten Little Indians (known as "Main Title Rabbit"). [12]

Some of Wheeler's film music was recompiled as stock music and leased to television producers, for airing on programs such as Topper , The Untouchables , Wyatt Earp and Gumby.

His first animated cartoon score was The 3 Minnies: Sota, Tonka and Ha-Ha! (1949), [13] distributed by Republic Pictures. When Walter Lantz re-opened his studio in 1950 he hired Wheeler to score all his cartoons, almost 140 in total, beginning with Puny Express through The Nautical Nut, which was released in 1967 after Wheeler's death.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oswald the Lucky Rabbit</span> Animated character who was Walt Disneys signature character before Mickey Mouse

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an animated cartoon character created in 1926 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938. Twenty-seven animated Oswald shorts were produced at the Walt Disney Studio. As of January 1, 2023, several of the original Oswald shorts are in the public domain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl W. Stalling</span> American composer, voice actor, and arranger (1891–1972)

Carl William Stalling was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he averaged one complete score each week, for 22 years.

The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the newer medium of television animation, produced on cheaper budgets and in a more limited animation style by companies such as Hanna-Barbera, UPA, Jay Ward Productions, and DePatie-Freleng.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Lantz Productions</span> American animation studio

Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios.

Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woody Woodpecker</span> Fictional cartoon character bird

Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Lantz</span> American animator

Walter Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.

<i>Knock Knock</i> (1940 film) 1940 film

Knock Knock is a 1940 animated short subject, part of the Andy Panda series, produced by Walter Lantz. The cartoon is noted for being the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker, and was released by Universal Pictures on November 25, 1940.

Michael Maltese was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of Merrie Melodies cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably "What's Opera, Doc?" which is widely regarded by industry professionals as the best animated short of all time. He wrote for a total of 1,027 cartoons during his tenure at Warner Bros. Cartoons.

Charles Bear Mintz was an American film producer and distributor who assumed control over Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictures after marrying her in 1924. The couple had two children, Katherine and William. Between 1925 and 1939, Mintz produced over 370 cartoon shorts.

<i>The Woody Woodpecker Show</i> American TV series or program

The Woody Woodpecker Show is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspector Willoughby released by Walter Lantz Productions. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN.

Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947, and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a cute panda. Andy became the second star of the Walter Lantz cartoons after Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He achieved considerable popularity until being eventually supplanted by Woody Woodpecker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2</span> Composition by Hungarian Composer Franz Liszt

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor, S.244/2, is the second in a set of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies by composer Franz Liszt, and is by far the most famous of the set.

Walter Greene was a film and television composer who worked on numerous productions for over 30 years.

Wet Blanket Policy is the 30th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on August 27, 1948, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film would later be reissued by Universal Pictures, Lantz's former distributor. The title is a play-on-words about a type of insurance policy.

Frank Alfred Marsales was a Canadian composer best known for his work scoring many classic animated films by Warner Bros. Cartoons in the 1930s. He also worked with Walter Lantz Studios in the mid to late 1930s.

Darrell Wallace Calker was an American composer and arranger who worked on films and animated cartoons.

Calvin Henry Howard was an American cartoon story artist, animator and director mostly remembered for his work at Walter Lantz Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons. He was also the voice actor of Gabby Goat in Get Rich Quick Porky and Meathead Dog in Screwball Squirrel.

<i>Swing Symphony</i> Film series

Swing Symphony is an American animated musical short film series produced by Walter Lantz Productions from 1941 to 1945. The shorts were a more contemporary pastiche on Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies, and often featured top boogie-woogie musicians of the era. While the first cartoon include the characters Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, it mainly features a variety of different characters created exclusively for the series, with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit making an appearance in one cartoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gil Turner (animator)</span> American animator

Gilbert H. Turner was an American animator, comic book artist and producer.

References

  1. ↑ The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music, Volume 2 By William H. Rehrig, Paul E. Bierley
  2. ↑ Exterminators log, Volumes 1-2 By National Pest Control Association
  3. ↑ That Toddlin' Town: Chicago's White Dance Bands and Orchestras, 1900-1950, Charles A. Sengstock
  4. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3, Library of Congress (1938)
  5. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3, Library of Congress (1941)
  6. ↑ Boxoffice magazine, Feb. 21, 1942, pg. 98
  7. ↑ Boxoffice magazine, June 3, 1944, pg. 66
  8. ↑ Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain, 1940-1949, Walter E. Hurst, D. Richard Baer
  9. ↑ Boxoffice magazine, Feb. 27, 1943, pg. 31
  10. ↑ ASCAP composers database,
  11. ↑ Billboard, April 17, 1948, pg. 34
  12. ↑ ClassicThemes.com, http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/crusaderRabbit.html
  13. ↑ "The 3 Minnies: Sota, Tonka & Ha-Ha (1949) - IMDb".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.