WACKY WEDNESDAY: Happy Birthday Carl Stalling!

On this day 130 years ago, a child of German immigrants was born in Lexington, Missouri. Carl Stalling would grow up to become undoubtedly the greatest creator of cartoon music in the history of film.

Stalling,  Allmusic says, was:

Stalling at work

...  the visionary behind the kaleidoscopic music beating at the heart of the classic cartoons produced under the aegis of Warner Bros. Studios during the middle of the 20th century. Frenzied and impassioned, his work broke new ground by following the visual trajectory of the on-screen action instead of the accepted rules of composition; the result -- a technique not anchored in conventional senses of time, rhythm, or thematic development -- was unprecedented in its extremism, as melody, style, and form crashed together in a glorious pile-up of sound and image. A maverick whose reach extended from pop to jazz to classical and beyond, Stalling's revolutionary cut-and-paste compositions remain a clear forerunner of the experimental music created in his wake -- in fact, it could easily be argued that he succeeded in introducing entire generations of young cartoon fanatics to the music of the avant-garde.

... Working with Warner's 50-piece orchestra under the direction of conductor Milt Franklyn, Stalling scored each cartoon in about three hours at a staggering rate of at least one a week, absorbing the influences of current pop hits, classical symphonies, and the like, and then quoting whatever seemed to fit ...

And, according to The Stephen W. Terrell (Music Web Log) "It's hard to imagine the music of Spike Jones or Frank Zappa without Carl Stalling." (Steve Terrell 2021)

Stalling learned to play piano at the age of six. By the time he was 12, he started a career as a pianist at silent movie theaters. (Silent movies depended on live musicians for their "soundtracks." I remember my grandmother telling me that as a girl in Oklahoma City she had a big crush on a clarinet player who worked in the band at her local silent movie joint. She called him "Clarinetti," but that's a whole other topic.)

But before silent movies had the opportunity to die, Stalling's career took an upward turn when, working at the Isis Movie Theater in Kansas City, he met a young filmmaker named Walt Disney who admired his work.

In 1969 interviews, (compiled and published in 1971, a year before Stalling's death) the composer told Michael Barrier, Milton Gray, and Bill Spicer that he met Disney in the early 1920s:

He used to come to the Isis Theater, where I played the organ and had my own orchestra. This was music to accompany silent movies, and I played the whole afternoon and evening. When I wasn't at the organ, I'd be conducting, or playing the piano and conducting. I had a pianist for a number of years, and then I just conducted. Walt was making short commercials at that time, and he'd have us run them for him. We got acquainted, and I had him make several song films. The End of a Perfect Day, showing a sunset…Victor Herbert's A Kiss in the Dark. The words would come on one at a time, with the music. This was before sound, of course.

Like Disney before him, Stalling, in the late 1920s, left Kansas City for Hollywood. He scored a couple of Mickey Mouse shorts for Disney. But probably his most memorable work there was his music for Disney's Silly Symphonies series. The first of these (1929) was called The Skeleton Dance. From that same interview:

The Skeleton Dance goes way back to my kid days. When I was eight or ten years old, I saw an ad in The American Boy magazine of a dancing skeleton, and I got my dad to give me a quarter so I could send for it. It turned out to be a pasteboard cut-out of a loose-jointed skeleton, slung over a six-foot cord under the arm pits. It would "dance" when kids pulled and jerked at each end of the string.

Listen to Stalling's music and shake your bones!

Stalling left full-time employment Disney Studios in 1931 to freelance for Disney and other studios. In 1936 he was hired by Warner Brothers, where he'd work for the next 20-plus years. Here's a medley of some of his early work there: 

Here's one especially appropriate for Wacky Wednesday, "Porky in Wackyland" (from 1938, along with "Dough for the Do Do" from 1949.) 

If you play this one backwards you'll hear a sinister voice saying "Elmer Fudd sucks cocks in Hell!"

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 7, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Justine by The Righteous Brothers

You Can't Hide by Al Anderson

Bulbs of Passion by Dinosaur Jr.

Woman Alone by Nots

Little Girl by John & Jackie

I Believe the Woman by Pocket FishRMen

Agile, Mobile and Hostile by The Goldstars

Bad to the Bone by Sloks

Born in a Barn by Scroat Belly

Don't Let Go by Bloodshot Bill

Rawhide by Legendary Shack Shakers

Mystery Writers by Divine Horsemen

Ice Cream Phoenix by Jefferson Airplane

Crawl by Eilen Jewell

Turncoat by Imperial Wax

Monkey Business by Eddie Hill

The Ray Charles-ton by Chubby Checker

Truckin' My Blues Away by Blind Boy Fuller

Bionic Trunk by Old Time Relijun

The Torture Never Stops by Frank Zappa

On My Way to Houston by Powell St. John & The Aliens

Broke Down by Mal Thursday

Willow Gardens by The Meat Purveyors

No More Hotdogs by Hasil Adkins

Tallahassee Lassie by The Flamin' Groovies

Merseysong by Rico Bell & The Snake Handlers

Not Long Ago by The Mekons

Cry Cry Cry by Sally Timms

Pappa Was a Rollin' Stone by Ray Wiley Hubbard & The Band of Heathens

I Pity the Fool by Bobby "Blue" Bland

The Virginian by Neko Case & Her Boyfriends

Pale Blue Eyes by The Velvet Underground

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THROWBACK THURSDAY: Happy Birthday Tommy Makem

 

On this day 89 years ago, Tommy Makem, who with his pals The Clancy Brothers helped popularize traditional Irish music in the U.S. during the 1950s and '60s, was born in County Armagh in Northern Ireland.

Happy birthday, Bard of Armagh!

Makem, whose parents both were musicians, emigrated to these United States in 1955, first going to Dover, New Hampshire 

According to his obituary in The New York Times:

His uncle took him to New York in 1956 for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, at which he met two of the Clancy brothers, Paddy and Tom. He already knew Liam Clancy, who soon returned from Ireland and joined the group. After one of their first appearances, Pete Seeger, the folk singer, and Alan Lomax, the folklorist and musicologist, encouraged them. Bob Dylan, in the early days of his career, solicited songwriting tips from Mr. Makem.

Tommy, who played banjo, tin whistle and other instruments, began recording with the Clancy boys as a group for Tradition Records. Their first release together was titled The Rising of The Moon: Irish Songs of Rebellion. After an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1961, the group signed with Columbia Records.

Makem left the Clancys in the late '60s to pursue a solo career, but he always was best known as the Clancy Brother who wasn't really a Clancy Brother. In 1975 he teamed up with his old bandmate Liam Clancy to form a duo that lasted 13 years.

He died in 2007 at the age of 74.

So let's get on with the music.

Here's Tommy with the Clancys on Ed Sullivan in 1961:

Here Tommy & The Clancys perform "We Want No Irish Here" at a 1963 White House event for President John F. Kennedy:

Here's Tommy & The Clancy Brothers in 1965 on the very first episode of Pete Seeger's  television show Rainbow Quest on WNJU-TV (Channel 47), a New York City-based UHF station . Tommy sang lead on "Butcher Boy":

Finally, here's Tommy in his later years singing "Four Green Fields."

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 

Sunday, October 31, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres 

Lil' Reapers

Coolest Little Monster by Zacherley

Devil Dance by The A-Bones

Corpse Grinder by The Meteors

The Devil's Coming by Stud Cole

Bo Meets the Monster by Bo Diddley

Haunted Horror Howl by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys

I'm in Love With A Ghost by Mal Thursday

Voodoo Stomp by The Saucer Men

Monster Blues by Dex Romweber

It's Halloween by The Shaggs

Demons are a Girl's Best Friend by Necromantix

Walk Like a Zombie by Horrorpops

Dead Man's Slide by Shouting Thomas & The Torments

Dangerous Weirdos by The Zombie Dandies

Halloween Hell by The Goldstars

Creeps Me Out by Robbie Quine

(She's My) Vampire Girl by The Groovy Ghoulies

Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man by Concrete Blonde

Haunted House Blues by Bessie Smith

Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie

You've Become a Witch by The Electric Mess

I Think of Demons by Roky Erickson

She's Wicked by The Fuzztones

Hoodoo Party by Tabby Thomas

Tombstone Rock by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers

Devil Baby by The Monsters

Voodoo Doll by Deadbolt

Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner

I Hear Voices by Screamin' Jay Hawkins

She's Fallen in Love With The Monster Man by  Screaming Lord Sutch

Halloween by Ron Haydock & The Boppers

The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon by The Cramps

It's Your Voodoo Working by Charles Sheffield

Captain of the Creeps by Oh! Gunquit

The Vampire by T. Valentine & Daddy Long Legs

Look Out, There's a Monster Coming by The Bonzo Dog Band

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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WACKY WEDNESDAY: A Satanic Serenade by Anton LaVey

 

It almost being Halloween, what better time for some sweet, creepy calliope music from the founder of the Church of Satan?

Anton Szandor LaVey died Oct. 29, 1997 -- so we're just two days away from the 24th anniversary of that strange and mournful day.

Born Howard Stanton Levey in Chicago in 1930 (Really? What kind of Satanic priest is named "Howard"?!?!?), shortly after he was born, his family moved to the San Francisco Bay area. LaVey claimed he left high school to join the circus -- first as a roustabout, then later as a calliope player.

In 1966 he founded the Church of Satan, appointing himself as high priest.

But before you work yourself into a Satanic panic, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica:

LaVey presented Satanism not as the practice of evil or as the worship of an actual Antichrist but as a kind of ethical egoism. According to LaVey, traditional religions were fundamentally hypocritical and dangerously inhibited the physical tendencies and emotional needs that were vital to human life. He claimed that his brand of Satanism was inspired by his having noticed as a teenager that the men he saw at church on Sunday, praying to God for absolution, were the same ones he had seen at burlesque shows on Saturday night. LaVey’s Satanism was in fact atheistic: the opposition between God and Satan represented for him the struggle between hypocrisy and repression on the one hand and indulgence and liberation on the other. LaVey was also not a nihilist: he instructed his followers to obey the law, and he taught that indulgence in pleasure could be beneficial only if it did not harm others. 

But he always was a showman. And during his life, in addition to the books he wrote about Satanic philosophy, LaVey recorded three albums: The Satanic Mass, Satan Takes a Holiday, and Strange Music (which later was released with a slightly different tracklist as The Devil Speaks (& Plays).

As the Allmusic Guide says, "... like any good horror movie, LaVey and his music do indeed haunt and, for some, delight."

So let's start out with LaVey's delightful version of "Harlem Nocturn." This is from the 1993 documentary, Anton Szandor LaVey - Speak of the Devil. Here he also talks about his loving relationship with the calliope.

Lavey loved those gypsy love songs

A happy little ditty called "Gloomy Sunday." (Vocals by his wife, Blanche Barton. I actually wish he'd chosen Singing Sadie.)

Finally, it's time to swing your Honolulu Baby!

Happy Halloween!

LaVey with his friend Jayne Mansfield