Tubby the Tuba (song)

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"Tubby the Tuba" is a 1945 song with lyrics written by Paul Tripp and music composed by George Kleinsinger. The original 1946 recording featured Victor Jory's narration. [1] A second recording, released on the Decca label in 1947, was played by Hollywood Musician Tuba Soloist, George F. Boujie and was narrated and sung by Danny Kaye and later featured on his Hans Christian Andersen album, along with the sequel, Tubby the Tuba at the Circus.

Contents

History

The song traces its origins back to World War II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. After Tripp and Kleinsinger performed their first musical piece, the tuba player quipped: "You know, tubas can sing, too". With this in mind, Tripp wrote the tale of a tuba who found a melody to play, and the pair then made a song out of it. [2]

It was not until the war ended that they finally had a hit with "Tubby". [2] The sales success of the tune prompted George Pal to make a 1947 Puppetoon based on it, which was nominated for a Best Animated Short Oscar. A ballet by Ron Cunningham was created and produced by the Boston Ballet in 1974. [3] It was followed by a 1975 animated feature, which was the first of its kind to take advantage of computer technology. [4]

There have been spinoffs involving two other characters from the song, Peepo the Piccolo and Celeste. [2] The Manhattan Transfer recorded an album featuring the character, their only one for children, in 1995; it contained the three sequel songs called "The Further Adventures of Tubby the Tuba", "Tubby the Tuba Joins the Circus", and "Tubby the Tuba Meets a Jazz Band".

Other versions of "Tubby the Tuba" include a 1958 version narrated by José Ferrer that was nominated for the Best Recording For Children at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards; [5] a version featuring Mouseketeer Annette Funicello as the narrator; a version featuring Julia Child with changes in the story, under the direction of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1971; [6] and the 1996 release on Angel/EMI Records called Tubby the Tuba and Friends. The orchestral tracks "Tubby the Tuba", "The Story of Celeste", "Adventures of a Zoo", and "Peepo the Piccolo", were recorded by the Radio Orchestra of Bratislava under the baton of Stephen Gunzenhauser. A final track, "Tubby the Tuba Meets a Jazz Band", was recorded in New York City with Bob Stewart on tuba, Jimmy Owens on trumpet, Paquito D'Rivera on clarinet, Marco Katz on trombone, Chuck Folds on piano, John Thomas on percussion, and Oliver Jackson on drums. Paul Tripp is the narrator on this recording.[5][6] Several of the same instrumental tracks appear on a 2006 release called Play it Happy on Koch Records that features Meredith Vieira on "Tubby the Tuba" and "Tubby the Tuba Meets a Jazz Band" and Paul Tripp on "The Story of Celeste". [7] [8]

"Tubby the Tuba" has been translated into over 30 languages, and has been narrated by Today host Meredith Vieira. [2] Tripp's original story was printed by E. P. Dutton in 2006, in commemoration of its 60th anniversary ( ISBN   0-525-47717-9). The original 1946 recording was added to the National Recording Registry in 2005. [9]

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William John Bell was the premier player and teacher of the tuba in America during the first half of the 20th century. In 1921, he joined the band of John Philip Sousa, and from 1924 to 1937 he served as Principal Tuba with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1937 General Electric's David Sarnoff invited conductor Arturo Toscanini to select personnel for The NBC Symphony Orchestra. William Bell was the third musician selected by Toscanini, after his concertmaster Mischa Mischakoff and principal oboe Philip Ghignatti. In 1943 he became principal tubist for the New York Philharmonic. Leopold Stokowski invited Bell to perform and narrate George Kleinsinger's 'Tubby the Tuba', and to perform and sing a special arrangement of 'When Yuba Plays The Rhumba on the Tuba'. In 1955 Bell performed the American premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Concerto for Bass Tuba and Orchestra". He was professor of tuba at the Manhattan School of Music until 1961, and Indiana University from 1961 to 1971. Bell's students included the late Harvey Phillips, the late Joseph Novotny, the late Abe Torchinsky, the late Ed Livingston, the late Dennis F. Parker, Don Harry, Fred Marzan, Dick Babcock, Paul Krzywicki, and R. Winston Morris. As Bell died in 1971, low brass lineage practitioners on the Bell method have become more rare.

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George Kleinsinger was an American composer most known for children's compositions, Broadway scores, and film/television scores. He is best known for a string of children's compositions in collaboration with lyricist Paul Tripp and a series of works in collaboration with Joe Darion based on Don Marquis' archy and mehitabel columns.

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References

  1. ↑ "Librarian of Congress Names 50 Recordings to the 2005 National Recording Registry". loc.gov. 11 April 2006. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 History of "Tubby the Tuba" Archived 2010-08-25 at the Wayback Machine at official site. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Ballet: 'Tubby the Tuba'; Boston Season EndsWithWorld Premiere of Ron Cunningham's Witty Work". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  4. ↑ Beck, Jerry (2005), pp. 295-6.
  5. ↑ "Jose Ferrer". GRAMMY.com. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  6. ↑ This can be found on YouTube, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_DgcWjzQKg with Julia (the French Chef) giving the punchline "And you see Tubby, it only goes to show, there's more to a frog than just frog's legs".
  7. ↑ "Tubby the Tuba Shop for Tubby Books and Recordings". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24.
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "Librarian of Congress Names 50 Recordings to the 2005 National Recording Registry". loc.gov. 11 April 2006. Retrieved 12 December 2019.

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