Misplaced Pages

#584415

75-656: Stalling was born to Ernest and Sophia C. Stalling. His parents were from Germany; his father arrived in the United States in 1883. The family settled in Lexington, Missouri where his father was a carpenter. He started playing piano at six. By the age of 12, he was the principal piano accompanist in his hometown's silent movie house. For a short period, he was also the theatre organist at the St. Louis Theatre, which eventually became Powell Symphony Hall . By his early 20s, he

150-480: A film score for cartoons . According to Strauss, the "wildly talented" Stalling was suitable as a film score composer for animated films. Stalling even voiced Mickey Mouse in The Karnival Kid in 1929. Stalling encouraged Disney to create a new series of animated short films, in which the animation and its action would be created to match the music. This was still unusual at the time, since film music

225-425: A Busy Little Bumble Bee". Musicologist and animation historian Daniel Goldmark has noted that Jones repeated this anecdote about Stalling in a number of interviews. Jones also claimed in a 1975 interview that "My Funny Little Bumble Bee" song was too obscure for the audience to notice the musical reference. He exaggerated that one had to be 108-years-old to even remember the existence of the song. Goldmark believes that

300-510: A bi-county vocational school. Lexington has a public library , a branch of the Trails Regional Library. Mickey Mousing In animation and film , " Mickey Mousing " (synchronized, mirrored, or parallel scoring) is a film technique that syncs the accompanying music with the actions on screen, "Matching movement to music", or "The exact segmentation of the music analogue to the picture." The term comes from

375-801: A cartoon sensibility and brought visual images to mind, elements which Stalling needed for his compositions. Due to Stalling's frequent use of his works, Raymond Scott was eventually considered a "cartoon composer" in his own right. But Scott did not actually compose his works with the intention of using them as film scores. Stalling's cues are always tied to the story on the screen. For example, he often used " The Lady in Red " and " Oh, You Beautiful Doll " in scenes with attractive women or characters in female drag, and " California, Here I Come " for scenes where characters make hasty departures. Scenes involving automobiles were often accompanied by " In My Merry Oldsmobile ", and scenes involving airplanes were often accompanied by

450-481: A dog, someone in the orchestra barks...for love we have the divisi violins in E Major...This is unbearable." "It is interesting that Mickey Mousing has come to represent the worst excesses of the Hollywood film score. Perhaps as contemporary spectators we are no longer used to Mickey Mousing in films (its use radically diminished in the fifties and after). Still, the practice of catching every moment with music has

525-558: A full-time cartoon music composer. According to Sigall, Stalling was hired by the Leon Schlesinger studio in July, 1936. She recalled the month because she was hired by the studio as an apprentice painter that same month. Stalling already had a reputation as a very talented musician and composer. He had gained this reputation and considerable experience as the music director at the studios of both Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Schlesinger

600-660: A legendary bank robber. It is likely not a coincidence that the James-Younger Gang targeted the Alexander Mitchell bank in Lexington for the second daylight bank robbery in United States history. In December 1866, Archie Clement , an accomplice of the James brothers and perhaps the most notorious of all the guerrilla fighters, terrorized the town and was shot from his horse and killed by a sniper perched in

675-413: A musical score was to simply look up some music that had the proper name. If there was a lady dressed in red, he'd always play " The Lady in Red ". If somebody went into a cave, he'd play " Fingal's Cave ". If we were doing anything about eating, he'd do " A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich and You ". I had a bee one time, and my God, if he didn't go and find a piece of music written in 1906 or something called "I'm

750-481: A pejorative to imply that a technique used in productions aimed at adults is too simplistic and more appropriate for a juvenile audience. The technique is also associated with melodrama . The technique is criticized for visual action that is – without good reason – being duplicated in accompanying music or text, therefore being a weakness of the production rather than a strength. Newlin lists six other functions which music may serve besides this one. Complaints regarding

825-584: A score that Disney handed to his animators. The Silly Symphonies was an innovative animated film series, in which pre-recorded film scores were making use of well-known classical works and the animation sequences were choreographed to match the music. Stalling helped Disney streamline and update the sound process used in creating early animated sound films, following the long and laborious synchronization process used in Steamboat Willie . The close synchronization of music and on-screen movement pioneered by

SECTION 10

#1732787482585

900-544: A smart move for Schlesinger. The new music director (Stalling) became an integral member of the team producing two very successful animated series. The two animated series which Schlesinger produced for Warner Bros. were the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies , both introduced in the early 1930s. Prior to 1936, most of the animated films of these two series included film scores by either Frank Marsales , Bernard B. Brown , or Norman Spencer . From 1936 onwards, Stalling

975-515: Is now a state park, and the cannonball stuck in one of the upper pillars of the Courthouse has become a symbol for the town. The Second Battle of Lexington occurred during Price's Missouri Expedition on October 19, 1864. Lexington was known as a center for Quantrill's Raiders during the war. Two months after the Civil War ended, many of these guerrilla fighters who had refused to honor

1050-467: Is often not the music that is synced to the animated action, but the other way around. This is especially so when the music is a classical or other well-known piece. In such cases, the music for the animation is pre-recorded, and an animator will have an exposure sheet with the beats marked on it, frame by frame, and can time the movements accordingly. In the 1940 film Fantasia , the musical piece The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas , composed in

1125-680: Is the oldest courthouse in continuous use west of the Mississippi. The Masonic College , also built in the Greek Revival style, operated from 1847 to 1857, and after the Civil War , it housed the Central College for Women . The Gothic Revival Christ Episcopal Church, built in 1848, has an interior finished in walnut and a ceiling ornamented with a Gothic truss arch. Lexington has over 150 homes and public buildings built before

1200-533: Is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 4,726 people, 1,867 households, and 1,201 families living in the city. The population density was 917.7 inhabitants per square mile (354.3/km ). There were 2,127 housing units at an average density of 413.0 per square mile (159.5/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 87.3% White , 6.1% African American , 0.5% Native American , 0.9% Asian , 0.7% Pacific Islander , 1.2% from other races , and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.7% of

1275-465: The Looney Tunes style of very rapid and tightly coordinated musical cues, punctuated with both instrumental and recorded sound effects , and occasionally reaching into full blown musical fantasies such as Rabbit of Seville and A Corny Concerto . Stalling's working process involved meeting each animated short film's director or directors before the animation process began. Together they set

1350-487: The Merrie Melodies series was " Merrily We Roll Along " (1935). An electric guitar provided the song's initial sound effect. Stalling was a master at quickly changing musical styles based on the action in the cartoon. His arrangements were complicated and technically demanding. The music itself served both as a background for the cartoon, and provided musical sound effects. The titles of the music often described

1425-786: The National Register of Historic Places . Lexington had two of the largest battles in the western campaign of the American Civil War . The better-known Battle of Lexington is commonly referred to as the Battle of the Hemp Bales. On September 12, 1861, between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers of the Missouri State Guard, led by Major General Sterling Price , began a siege against the Federal military post in

1500-630: The Pony Express . The steamboat trade on the river became a hugely profitable investment, and the wharf was a center of commerce. Productive coal mines, among the first in the state, were dug into the surrounding river bluffs to provide fuel for river steamers. In 1852, one of the worst steamboat accidents in Missouri history occurred at Lexington. The side-wheeler Saluda was carrying 250 Mormons en route to Salt Lake City when its boilers exploded, killing over 150 people. Many children orphaned by

1575-771: The Santa Fe Trail , California Trail , Oregon Trail , and the Mormon Trail to Utah . Goods sent west from Lexington were valued at $ 450,000 in 1843. Rope walks, slaughter houses, a foundry and a furniture factory were among other early Lexington industries. In the 1840s, Russell, Majors and Waddell , the largest trading firm in the West, established its headquarters on Main Street. In the 1850s, these three men had 3500 wagons carrying goods from Missouri to Sacramento , Denver , and other points, and in 1860, they would found

SECTION 20

#1732787482585

1650-615: The University of Wyoming - American Heritage Center . Lexington, Missouri Lexington is a city in, and the county seat of, Lafayette County, Missouri , United States. The population was 4,726 at the 2010 census . Lexington is in western Missouri, within the Kansas City metropolitan area , approximately 40 miles (64 km) east of Kansas City . It is the home of the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site , and of

1725-529: The 1890s, contains a fragment that is used to accompany the actions of Mickey Mouse himself. At one point Mickey, as the apprentice, seizes an axe and chops an enchanted broom to pieces so that it will stop carrying water to a pit. The visual action is synchronized exactly to crashing chords in the music. The first known use of Mickey Mousing was in Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse cartoon by Walt Disney, scored by Wilfred Jackson . In

1800-510: The 1931 Van Beuren Studios animated short Making 'Em Move the " Mysterioso Pizzicato " theme is Mickey Moused to the action first to produce a "false sense of foreboding" as a curious visitor enters the animation factory, and then again to accompany the villain in a cartoon-within-a-cartoon. King Kong (1933) uses Mickey Mousing throughout, and is described by MacDonald as, "perhaps the single most noteworthy aspect of Steiner's score for King Kong ." The descending scale segments accompanying

1875-539: The 1950s under government contract to produce nylon jackets for the Korean War. The company's name changed from "Dunhill" (1939) to "Dunbrooke Shirt Company" (1963) to "Dunbrooke Sportswear" (1971) to Dunbrooke Apparel Corp (2003). Dunbrooke was purchased from parent company American Marketing Industries (AMI) in October 2003. Lexington R-V School District operates Lexington High School and Lex La-Ray Technical Center,

1950-1098: The Civil War, and annually holds well-attended tours of its historic homes and buildings. In addition to the Lafayette County Courthouse, the Anderson House and Lexington Battlefield , Minatree Catron House , John E. Cheatham House , Commercial Community Historic District , Cumberland Presbyterian Church , Theodore Gosewisch House , Alexander and Elizabeth Aull Graves House , Hicklin Hearthstone , Hicklin School , Highland Avenue Historic District , House at 1413 Lafayette St. , David John House , George Johnson House , Linwood Lawn , Old Neighborhoods Historic District , William P. Robinson House , Thomas Shelby House , Spratt-Allen-Aull House , Thomas Talbot and Rebecca Walton Smithers Stramcke House , D. W. B. and Julia Waddell Tevis House , Waddell House , and Wentworth Military Academy are listed on

2025-501: The Disney short films became known as Mickey Mousing . While working at the Disney studio, Stalling further refined a forerunner to the click track , they called the "Tick-system". Initially, Wilfred Jackson utilized a Metronome to set a definitive tempo of the cartoon sections, that then got further developed over the years (being transcribed onto a "bar-sheet" or a "dope-sheet"). The system helped synchronize music and sound effects to

2100-607: The Elizabeth Aull Seminary, Lexington Ladies College, and Central College for Women. Until its closing in 2017, Wentworth Military Academy , founded in 1880, drew students from throughout the country and around the world. Until the 1980s, Lexington was the headquarters and main distribution point for Mattingly's and Matco Stores, which was purchased by P.M. Place Stores . In 2000 the Place's stores were purchased by ShopKo to be converted into Pamida stores. In 2004

2175-582: The Road Runner . Stalling is remembered today for the scores of cartoons that remain popular, and are often remembered for their music. His melodies are heard through most of the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, and imitated in new Looney Tunes compilations and features such as Looney Tunes: Back in Action . Film critic Leonard Maltin pointed out that listening to the soundtracks of the Warner cartoons

2250-470: The action, sometimes forming jokes for those familiar with the tunes. Stalling made extensive use of the many works of Raymond Scott , whose music was licensed by Warner Bros. in the early 1940s. According to Strauss, Stalling relied heavily on the music Scott composed during the 1930s. For example, the reportedly "fast and wacky" " Powerhouse " (1937) by Scott was frequently used to accompany animated scenes involving conveyor-belts or chases. Scott's works had

2325-487: The anecdote itself was inaccurate in several ways. The "Bumble Bee song" of the anecdote was actually " Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee " (1912), which was not obscure to begin with. It was a hit song from the musical A Winsome Widow , produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. It had also been recorded to great acclaim by the popular duo of Ada Jones and Billy Murray . And Stalling actually used this song only once during his entire tenure at Warner Bros. Cartoons . The song served as

Carl W. Stalling - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-403: The average family size was 2.90. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.2% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males. The median income for a household in the city

2475-503: The blast were adopted by Lexingtonians. In March 1856, the Arabia steamboat was stopped and searched by pro-slavery Border Ruffians near Lexington, who confiscated 100 rifles and 2 cannons en route to the slavery-free Kansas Territory from the abolitionist Massachusetts Aid Society . Lexington has historical architecture, especially its public buildings. The Greek Revival Lafayette County Courthouse , built in 1847 on Main Street,

2550-471: The cease fire finally decided to take advantage of the special Federal amnesty that was declared for such forces and turn themselves in at Lexington. While riding into town, reportedly under a white flag, they were fired upon by Union soldiers from the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry , and Jesse James was severely wounded in the right lung. Some credit this event as a major contributing factor to his post-war career as

2625-859: The chief's walk down stairs towards Denham's party continue after the camera cuts to the Denham, implying the chief's continued descent and maintaining suspense. Some scenes in The Informer (1935) were filmed in synch with a prerecorded score. In Casablanca (1942), the technique is only used at the end of the film when Captain Renault throws away a bottle of Vichy water. Rhapsody Rabbit (1946) depicts Bugs Bunny slip back and forth between performing Hungarian Rhapsody and various music Mickey Mousing his actions. Cartoon examples include Tom and Jerry (1940–1957), Ugly Duckling (1931), Dizzy Dishes (1930), and Barnacle Bill (1930). Paul Smith used

2700-427: The city. The population density was 1,279.7 inhabitants per square mile (494.1/km ). There were 2,015 housing units at an average density of 579.1 per square mile (223.6/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 91.02% White , 6.04% African American , 0.18% Native American , 0.49% Asian , 0.04% Pacific Islander , 1.06% from other races , and 1.17% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.18% of

2775-399: The context of the whole series, as prolific Bond composer John Barry never used it in any of the subsequent films. The technique is also used to accompany Bill Sikes's beating murder of Nancy in the film Oliver! (1968). In this case, the music is partially used to "cover" her cries as she is being struck. In Kenneth Branagh 's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Mickey Mousing is used at

2850-495: The early and mid-production Walt Disney films, where the music almost completely works to mimic the animated motions of the characters. Mickey Mousing may use music to "reinforce an action by mimicking its rhythm exactly. ... Frequently used in the 1930s and 1940s, especially by Max Steiner , it is somewhat out of favor today, at least in serious films, because of overuse. However, it can still be effective if used imaginatively". Mickey Mousing and synchronicity help structure

2925-444: The emphasis on trade and agriculture, Lexington and Lafayette County also had one of the largest slave populations in the state. Many homes in town still have the old slave quarters behind them. Lexington was a bustling and prosperous city, the largest city west of St. Louis in the 1830s and 1840s. During that period, it was the major center for merchants and outfitters as trappers, traders, and emigrants prepared to travel westward on

3000-452: The fifty-piece orchestra of the company, headed at the time by Leo F. Forbstein . The executives at Warner Bros. in fact insisted that Stalling should use as much music and songs from their feature films as possible. Their dual goal was to help promote the animated shorts by associating them with already popular music, and to help promote the songs themselves by giving them additional publicity. They hoped that such cross promotion would increase

3075-428: The first two Mickey Mouse animated short films in production. When finishing composing the film scores, Stalling went to New York City to record them for Disney. Walt was apparently pleased with the results, and offered to hire Stalling as his studio's first music director . In order to get the job, Stalling had to move to California, where the studio was located. According to Martha Sigall , Stalling accepted because

Carl W. Stalling - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-563: The former Wentworth Military Academy and College , which operated from 1880 to 2017. Lexington is located on the south bank of the Missouri River at the intersection of Missouri Route 13 and US Route 24 . According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 5.38 square miles (13.93 km ), of which 5.15 square miles (13.34 km ) is land and 0.23 square miles (0.60 km )

3225-518: The former Mattingly warehouse was sold by Pamida. In August 2004 liquidation of the former Matco #101, then a Pamida, began and the store was closed by the end of October. This was the end of the Mattingly store legacy in Lexington. Hugh Mattingly had been a mentor to Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton . Dunbrooke began as a dress shirt company in 1939 in Lexington and became a nationwide logoed apparel manufacturer. Dunbrooke's signature jacket line began in

3300-421: The job offer was a great opportunity for him. He probably realized that his career as an organist for a silent movie theatre was coming to an end, because the silent film era was also at its end. Sound films were the new trend. Stalling soon followed Disney in moving to Hollywood , in order to work for his friend. Animation historian Allan Neuwirth credits Stalling for basically inventing the process of creating

3375-498: The last years of Stalling's tenure. Stalling died in the Los Angeles area on November 29, 1972. Although Stalling's composing technique followed the conventions of music accompaniment from the silent film era that were based on improvisation and compilation of musical cues from catalogs and cue-sheets, he was also an innovator. Stalling is among the first music directors to extensively use the metronome to time film scores. He

3450-410: The mood required for any given scene. Neuwirth argues that the music managed to enhance the mood set by these scenes. This was what made Stalling's work so effective. Chuck Jones and the other Looney Tunes directors sometimes complained about Stalling's proclivity for musical quotation and punning. In an interview, Jones complained: He was a brilliant musician. But the quickest way for him to write

3525-413: The old Masonic College commanded by Colonel James A. Mulligan . On September 18, Price's army mounted an assault. Some of Price's army used hemp bales as moving breastworks while they moved up the river bluffs and closed in on Mulligan's headquarters. On September 20, 1861, Mulligan's troops surrendered. Combined casualties were 73 dead, 270 wounded. The battlefield on the bluffs of the Missouri River

3600-403: The on-screen gags. His music quotations were often brief, sometimes not lasting more than four seconds. John Zorn has described Stalling's sense for quotation as "Ivesian", in reference to composer Charles Ives and his innovative musical quotation techniques. His musical cues, the unedited periods between the commencement and end of a single musical take, had varying lengths. At the short end of

3675-401: The opening, with the visual slowed to match the music, producing an intentional lightly comical effect. In video games , Mickey Mousing may occur in dynamic audio compositions, such as in reaction or for indication (for example, in response to character action or to alert the player to the end of a countdown), and is often found in platform games . The term "Mickey Mousing" is also used as

3750-473: The orchestra would find itself burdened with more challenging and taxing work. Stalling recorded many variations of the opening themes of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. The theme of the Looney Tunes series was " The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down " (1937), a minor hit from the team of Dave Franklin and Cliff Friend . Franklin and Friend were members of the Tin Pan Alley . The theme of

3825-409: The population. There were 1,815 households, out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and

SECTION 50

#1732787482585

3900-442: The population. There were 1,867 households, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 35.7% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size

3975-411: The sales of the songs. Stalling remained with Warner Bros. until he retired in 1958. His last cartoon was To Itch His Own , directed by Chuck Jones . After Stalling retired in 1958, he was succeeded by Milt Franklyn , who had assisted Stalling as an arranger since the mid 1930s and was promoted to musical director in the early 1950s. Stalling and Franklyn had shared credits for musical direction during

4050-597: The scoring of about 20 animated films for Disney. Finding few outlets in New York, Stalling rejoined Iwerks at the Iwerks Studio in California, while freelancing for Disney and others. Stalling served as the music director of Iwerks' studio until the studio shut down in 1936. In 1936, when Leon Schlesinger —under contract to produce animated shorts for Warner Bros. —hired Iwerks, Stalling went with him to become

4125-441: The second floor of the Courthouse. Lexington never returned to its pre-war prominence, succeeded by Kansas City as the most important city in western Missouri. Particularly harmful was arrival of the transcontinental railroad , which supplanted the river commerce. Several institutions of higher education were established, leading the town to bill itself as the "Athens of the West". Especially significant were three schools for women,

4200-444: The sound and make the preview of Steamboat Willie , Disney's first released sound short. During the journey he stopped at Kansas City to hire Stalling to compose film scores for two other animated shorts. Stalling composed several early cartoon scores for Walt Disney, including Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho in 1928 (but not Steamboat Willie ). Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho were originally silent films and were

4275-629: The south bank of the river. It was named in commemoration of the Battle of Lexington . The first ferry was established in 1819 by Lexington's founder, Gilead Rupe. In 1823, Lexington became the county seat of Lafayette County and grew rapidly. John Aull opened a mercantile store in 1822, and he was soon joined by his brothers James and Robert. The Aull Brothers firm soon had a frontier chain, also operating stores in Independence , Westport and Liberty . Other merchants came, as did farmers and planters who specialized in hemp, tobacco and cattle. With

4350-569: The spectrum, they would last no more than two seconds. At the long end, they would last two minutes. Stalling would often use music quotations from the themes of the live-action films of the Warner Bros. ' studio. Most of his film scores involved 500 measures in ten sections. His compositions were performed by Warner Brothers' fifty-piece orchestra. Neil Strauss notes that this orchestra was often employed for relatively undemanding film scores for live-action feature films. When working for Stalling,

4425-495: The technique in several scores for True-Life Adventures documentary films in the fifties, including In Beaver Valley , Nature's Half Acre , Water Birds , and The Olympic Elk . An example of Mickey Mousing is used in Monty Norman 's score to the first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962), in which Bond repeatedly strikes a tarantula which had crawled into his bed. Writers have noted its anachronistic appearance in

4500-494: The technique may be found as early as 1946, when Chuck Jones complained that, "For some reason, many cartoon musicians are more concerned with exact synchronization or 'Mickey-Mousing' than with the originality of their contribution or the variety of their arrangement." In 1954, Jean Cocteau described Mickey Mousing as the most vulgar technique used in film music. In 1958, Hanns Eisler described Mickey Mousing as, "This awful Wagnerian illustration technique! When they speak about

4575-636: The theme song to Captains of the Clouds . Raymond Scott's "In an 18th Century Drawing Room" is usually associated with Granny in the Sylvester and Tweety shorts, and his " Powerhouse " pops up in scenes of machines, factories or mechanical devices. Stalling composed music for the Rossini -derived short The Rabbit of Seville , and linked Smetana's " The Dance of the Comedians " to Wile E. Coyote and

SECTION 60

#1732787482585

4650-495: The time signatures to which the short was to be drawn. The animators of the film were measuring animation frames per beat. After the animation process was completed, Stalling would receive the animators' exposure sheets or bar sheets. The sheets broke the animation, dialogue, and sound effects into musical bars, which Stalling would then use to create his score for the film. When working on a film score, Stalling would incorporate his musical puns. He chose popular songs whose titles fit

4725-453: The title music of The Bee-Deviled Bruin (1949), an animated short directed by Chuck Jones. Goldmark has also noted that Jones' claim about the repeated use of "Fingal's Cave" in cave scenes was inaccurate. Stalling did use the melody composed by Felix Mendelssohn in several animated shorts, but never in combination with an actual cave scene. Original music scores and other documents relating to Carl W. Stalling (1900-1978) can be found at

4800-440: The viewing experience, to indicate how much events should impact the viewer, and to provide information not present on screen. The technique "enable[s] the music to be seen to 'participate' in the action and for it to be quickly and formatively interpreted ... and [to] also intensify the experience of the scene for the spectator." Mickey Mousing may also create unintentional humor, and be used in parody or self-reference. It

4875-464: The visuals. An early example of a click track was used in the production of The Skeleton Dance (1929). The method used in this film involved a reel of unexposed film with holes punched out to make clicks and pops when run on the sound head. According to Strauss, this version of the click track is credited to sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald . Stalling left Disney after two years, at the same time as animator Ub Iwerks . He had reportedly completed

4950-494: Was $ 32,759, and the median income for a family was $ 39,583. Males had a median income of $ 31,672 versus $ 21,646 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 17,879. About 12.8% of families and 14.9% of the population were below the poverty line , including 22.1% of those under age 18 and 11.5% of those age 65 or over. Lexington is located on the bluffs of the Missouri River . It was platted in 1822 near William Jack's Ferry, which had been established three years earlier on

5025-434: Was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age in the city was 39.6 years. 23.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.5% were from 25 to 44; 26.1% were from 45 to 64; and 17% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 4,453 people, 1,815 households, and 1,210 families living in

5100-458: Was able to arrange the screening of a few Disney animated shorts at the Isis, and Disney ensured that Stalling would play the accompaniment for his films. Disney eventually left Kansas City and moved to California to open a new studio. Stalling and Disney kept in touch through correspondence, and considered each other friends. In 1928, Disney was on a journey from California to New York City to record

5175-576: Was an important part of his musical education; the use of the full Warner Bros. Orchestra resulted in a richness of sound that is often lacking in more modern cartoons. Allan Neuwirth considers Stalling's work style in the Warner Bros. films to be highly recognizable. It consisted of "lush orchestrations", sampling of popular songs, and "hair-trigger shifts in pacing". The pacing of the film score could quickly change from manic and furious to slow and gentle, and back again. Stalling's music would match

5250-452: Was aware of these facts when offering to hire him. Stalling had been recommended to Schlesinger by storyman Ben Hardaway . Hardaway had met Stalling while they both worked at the Iwerks studio and, when Schlesinger started searching for a new music director for his studio, Hardaway suggested hiring his old colleague who was available. According to Sigall, the hiring of Stalling turned out to be

5325-543: Was conducting his own orchestra and improvising on the organ at the Isis Movie Theatre in Kansas City . His actual job at the time was to play "organ accompaniment" for silent films . During that time, he met and befriended a young Walt Disney , who was producing animated comedy shorts in Kansas City. According to music critic Neil Strauss , the chance meeting between Stalling and Disney in the early 1920s

5400-413: Was of great importance to the development of music for animation. Stalling was at his job at the Isis Movie Theatre, demonstrating his ability to combine well-known music by other creators with his own, improvised compositions. Disney stepped into the movie theater and was reportedly impressed with his style. He approached Stalling to introduce himself, and their acquaintance was mutually beneficial. Stalling

5475-411: Was one of three composers, along with Max Steiner and Scott Bradley , credited with the invention of the click track . His stock-in-trade was the "musical pun", where he used references to popular songs, or even classical pieces, to add a dimension of humor to the action on the screen. Working with directors Tex Avery , Bob Clampett , Friz Freleng , Robert McKimson and Chuck Jones , he developed

5550-551: Was played or composed to match the action of a film. Stalling's discussions with Disney on whether the animation or the musical score should come first led to Disney creating the Silly Symphonies series of animated short films. Stalling is credited with both the composition and the musical arrangement of The Skeleton Dance (1929), the first of the Silly Symphonies . These cartoons allowed Stalling to create

5625-412: Was the film score composer for almost every theatrical animated short released by Warner Bros. Cartoons until his retirement. Stalling served as the music director for this studio for 22 years and is credited for the film score of over 600 animated films. Like his predecessors as music director for the studio, Stalling had full access to the expansive Warner Bros. catalog and musicians. He could also use

#584415