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 spin-offs 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. 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. [1]

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Tubby the Tuba may refer to:

Tubby the Tuba is a 1947 American animated short film from Paramount Pictures, directed by George Pal as part of his Puppetoons series. It was based on the original song by Paul Tripp and George Kleinsinger. The film features narration by Victor Jory.

<i>Tubby the Tuba</i> (1975 film) 1975 film by Alexander Schure

Tubby the Tuba is a 1975 animated musical-comedy film, based on the 1945 children's story for concert orchestra and narrator by Paul Tripp and George Kleinsinger. It was released on April 1, 1975 by Avco Embassy Pictures. The film was produced by the New York Institute of Technology, under the supervision of its founder, Alexander Schure, who was the project's director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Tripp</span> American musician, author, and actor

Paul Tripp was an American children's musician, author, songwriter, and television and film actor. He collaborated with a fellow composer, George Kleinsinger. Tripp was the creator of the 1945 "Tubby the Tuba", a piece of classical music for children that has become his best-known work. He authored several books, including Rabbi Santa Claus and Diary of a Leaf.

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.

A spoken word album is a recording of spoken material, a predecessor of the contemporary audiobook genre. Rather than featuring music or songs, the content of spoken word albums include political speeches, dramatic readings of historical documents, dialogue from a film soundtrack, dramatized versions of literary classics, stories for children, comedic material, and instructional recordings. The Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded annually since 1959.

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References

  1. 1 2 "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. ↑ ""Tubby the Tuba" - Chester Schmitz, Julia Child & Arthur Fielder". www.youtube.com.
  7. ↑ "Tubby the Tuba Shop for Tubby Books and Recordings". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24.
  8. ↑ "Tubby the Tuba Presents Play it Happy!". Archived from the original on 2012-05-03.

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