Music For Cat and Dog in Space

This blog was begun for the purpose of identifying the background music in the original Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The first music employed by the studio came from the Capitol Hi-Q library, started in 1956. John Seely was manager of Capitol's film music library service, while composer Bill Loose was hired in February to run studio operations in Los Angeles.

When we began Yowping in 2009, you could not find any of the cues on-line. Though the late Earl Kress arranged for a handful (by EMI’s Phil Green) to be released on Rhino Records about 30 years ago, reels and discs with the cues were in the possession of collectors.

The internet has evolved and, over the years, library music fans who were into Hi-Q have shared their bounty with others. We’ll gloss over an involved and thorny story to remark that, very recently, a generous individual has digitised a number of the library’s D (“Dramatic”) series discs that were not in circulation.

Ruff and Reddy was H-B’s first series for television, debuting December 14, 1957. A decision was made to pay for library music rather than go to the expense of scoring each cartoon individually. Someone, and I’m not certain who, picked cues from the D series and either Greg Watson or Warner Leighton cut them onto the sound track. (Jack Shaindlin’s Langlois Filmusic library was also heard in the studio’s cartoons starting in 1958).

Thanks to the anonymous person mentioned above, some of those cues are now available. We pass them along. The first cue is by Spencer Moore (and is from reel S-4), the other five are by Geordie Hormel in D-32. I believe all of them were heard in the Muni-Mula storyline; certainly the Hormel music was.


L-628 DRAMATIC BRIDGE


ZR-90C WEIRD-EERIE


ZR-91A WEIRD-EERIE


ZR-92B WEIRD-EERIE


ZR-93C WEIRD EERIE


ZR-93K WEIRD EERIE

There is more Ruff and Reddy music in this post.

We’ve written about the two cartoons seen on the first show, so here’s a little bit about the third cartoon in the Muni-Mula adventure, The “Whama Bama Gamma” Gun, which opened the second show on December 21, 1957.

Narrator Don Messick begins the cartoon with an animation-saving recap from the last episode. Ruff and Reddy seal themselves in a space ship control room to get away from two metallic robots, but the flying saucer begins to drop.

The new adventure begins with the space ship seemingly under control, with braggart Reddy at the helm. Though there are no credits, the mouth shape on Ruff below shows the episode was animated by Ken Muse.



Speaking of mouths, there are times the lower lip goes past Reddy's jowl lines, though it likely wasn't noticeable on TV.



As in the earlier episodes, there are silhoutte drawings. I presume Dick Bickenbach was the layout artist; he claimed to have been working on Ruff and Reddy while still at MGM with Hanna and Barbera. Thought went into this scene, as the two characters are framed by the metal arch.



One of the robots burns a hole in the door, but Reddy manages to swat its gun away and holds the two of them.



Outer space weightlessness kicks in and everybody starts slowly rising. Ruff pulls on a lever that opens a hatch at the top of the space ship and the robots float up into space.



Gravity returns. Note the dry brush.



The space ship is pulled into a hole that opens up on the planet Muni-Mula.



Messick urges us not to miss the next episode (which will follow after the live-action host and an exciting Columbia/Screen Gems cartoon).

The music (the final cue is from reel L-4):
0:00 – Title card.
0:06 – ZR-91C WEIRD-EERIE (Hormel) – Recap.
0:22 – ZR-91B WEIRD-EERIE (Hormel) – Saucer starts tipping, “I feel kinda empty.”
2:07 – No music – Ruff floats up.
2:12 – ZR-91C WEIRD-EERIE (Hormel) – Ruff grabs lever.
2:44 – No music. Ruff on top of Reddy.
2:50 – ZR-53 COMEDY MYSTERIOSO (Hormel) – Saucer flies to Muni-Mula, end of cartoon.

Let us add a bonus cue, not heard at Hanna-Barbera. In 1958, Warner Bros. contracted with John Seely to use music from the Capitol Hi-Q library. The reason we've been told over the years is a musicians strike, but I have found nothing about it in any trade publication. Seely got screen credit but he was an executive at Capitol so I doubt he actually clipped together the cues to write a score.

You will hear an edited version of this cue from the D series during the mouse-running part of Hip-Hip-Hurry! It is also by Geordie Hormel.


ZR-57 CHASE

The Unfinished Snagglepuss

Why would Hanna-Barbera leave some cartoons unseen?

I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that one. All I know is it happened.

The last production number for a cartoon in the Yogi Bear Show was R-83. But ten years ago, I posted panels for a storyboard for R-88, a Yogi cartoon titled “Beast Feast.” It never appeared on the air and possibly could have been abandoned during production.

At the time, I wondered if there were also productions R-84, R-85, R-86 and R-87 that were not finished or did not air. It turns out the answer is “yes.”

Animation director Robert Alvarez has an incredible collection of discarded artwork from various studios. For a number of years, he has been posting and re-posting it on Facebook. The other day, he re-posted a nine-panel sheet for a Snagglepuss cartoon which I did not recognise. I checked the production number up top and it is R-86, so this is from another cartoon that either wasn’t finished, or was not broadcast.


The drawings (and lettering) look to be the work of story director Alex Lovy. Mike Maltese likely wrote the story, and it appears reminiscent of The Wabbit who Came to Supper (Warner Bros., 1942) in which Elmer Fudd gets a telegram telling him he'll lose his inheritance if he harms Bugs Bunny. That story was written by one M. Maltese.

Whether Robert has the whole board, I haven’t asked, lest I impose on him. Some time ago, he posted these two sheets. The production number is faded on the first one, but I suspect these are both from R-86. You can click on them to enlarge them.


I thank Robt. for allowing me to purloin these. Pur-lion, even.

P.S. As you know, I’m resting the Tralfaz blog. This blog is supposed to be on permanent hiatus as well, but I have cobbled together new monthly posts you’ll see through the start of December.