Bill Lava

[cbrubaker]

I noticed that many people seems to hate Bill Lava's musical scores.

What's your opinion about him?

To me, while most of his WB scores are kinda out of style (probably due to years worth of music from Stalling and Franklyn), he did compose good music for "Pink Panther" and "Inspector". In fact, I think Lava's was better than Walter Greene.

[Bugs Bunny]

I defenitley agree with you I like his "Inspector" and "Pink Panther" scores he did a great job. His musical sore for "We Give Pink Stamps" works good when the man notices pink footy prints on the escalator and the Panther touches him gives a spooky feel. Its sorta reycled from " The Pink Phink" the original ending.

[Jaime_Weinman]

Lava was a good, versatile veteran composer of music for B-movies, shorts, and television. (At Warners he scored most of the "Joe McDoakes" live action shorts with George "Jetson" O'Hanlon.)

His style of music was basically wrong for WB cartoons, but it's not his fault: as a versatile composer, I suspect he could have written something more "cartoony" if he had been asked, but that style of music was considered outdated by 1962. Chuck Jones spoke rather dismissively of Carl Stalling in the mid-'70s, and all the Stalling/Franklyn stuff -- following the action, playing xylophone chords when characters blinked, playing songs that fit the onscreen situation -- was widely thought to be old hat. When Lava was called in to finish the score of "The Jet Cage" I doubt anyone asked him to finish it in the style of the first half. That style just wasn't in anymore. And it's not hard to see why it was considered old-fashioned; Franklyn's score for the first half of "Jet Cage" starts with two pieces by Raymond Scott, and who remembered Raymond Scott in 1962?

I think it's been said that the quality of Lava's music depended on the quality of the cartoon. For a good cartoon, like "To Beep or Not to Beep," he wrote good music (music that compares favorably with Franklyn's for the same scenes in "The Adventures of the Road Runner"). For a cartoon without anything interesting going on, Lava's music isn't interesting either. He was a professional, and he rose to the occasion when the material was good.

[Mike]

Chuck Jones spoke rather dismissively of Carl Stalling in the mid-'70s, and all the Stalling/Franklyn stuff -- following the action, playing xylophone chords when characters blinked, playing songs that fit the onscreen situation -- was widely thought to be old hat.

Wait; what did Jones say about Stalling? I have to say, I preferred Stalling's scores to anything Dean Elliot composed for the Jones T&J shorts, or his latter-day made-for-TV WB cartoons.

Mike

[Jaime_Weinman]

Wait; what did Jones say about Stalling?

Mike

When Jones was interviewed by Film Comment in their (groundbreaking) Hollywood animation issue in 1975, his comments about Stalling were something to the effect that he was a good musician but the fastest and easiest way for him to write a score was to pick some piece of music that had something to do with the action. "If you had a woman in a red dress, he'd play 'The Lady In Red.' If a character went into a cave, he'd play 'Fingal's Cave.'" He really didn't have much more than that to say about Stalling, IIRC, and his comments gave the impression that Stalling's scores were mostly just a bunch of hastily-assembled song quotes.

[J Lee]

Although "The Jet Cage" is one of the weakest of the Tweety-Sylvester cartoons, I would like to see it show up on GC IV with both a music-only and a commentary track, because it's such a great way to highlight the difference between the Stalling-Franklyn style and the type of music that Lava used on his WB cartoons (aside from the stylistic change, the sudden drop off in mid-cartoon of the number of musicians being employed is also interesting -- Franklyn's scoring of "Powerhouse" on the opening titles envokes the full WB orchestra, but Lava's half of the film is minimalist, as though half the musicans didn't bother to come back to the studio after Franklyn's funeral).

My biggest annoyance with the 1962-64 Lava scores is how often his musical cues work against, as opposed to with, the action on screen. While I think his music for the catapult scene in "To Beep or Not to Beep" works better than Franklyn's original score from "Adventures of the Road Runner" -- the cold, mechanical fatalism of the device doing in the Coyote every time calls for a cold, mechanical sound, and starting the music the gag before, with the wrecking ball, makes it's repeated use later even funnier. But in the earlier scene with the spring and boluder, he inserts some unnecessary clangs and dings which don't match up with anything on screen and only serve to call attention to themselves. Compare that to Franklyn's original score on GC II. Not only does the music compliment the animation, but Franklyn is savy enough not to use any music at all in one part and let Treg Brown's sound effects do the work.

Lava's later scores for the D-FE cartoons I don't find as annoying, in part because in many of them there's really not that much going on for the music to sabotage. And I like his score for "Rushing Roulette" and even for some of the one-shot cartoons during the Bill Hendricks era, like "Chimp and Zee", though by then he wasn't even bothering to try and score the cartoons based on each individual action, but was writing the music based on full scenes (And I still think "The Ballad of Wilton Parmenter" was one of the best TV theme songs of the 1960s, for whatever that's worth).

[Howard Fein]

With the possible exceptions of Lava's much-discussed scoring of TO BEEP OR NOT TO BEEP and his very effective 'eerie' score for TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000, his work for the remaining shorts released by WB is pretty lackluster- as it is for most of the DFE shorts.:daffy: :speedy: :sylvester :coyote: :beepbeep:

Some of his later Daffy/Speedy shorts have an engaging 'recurring' theme throughout them, most noticeable in SNOW EXCUSE. But the overall lethargy of Lava's music make the Walter Greene score in the last few shorts seem that much more lively- and in turn seems to energize such shorts as SWING DING AMIGO and SUGAR AND SPIES.

But Lava's scores seemed to noticeably improve after the Hendricks/Seven Arts takeover. Perhaps it was because he would be scoring cartoons with original characters (:coolcat: , Merlin, Bunny & Claude) in addition to :daffy: and :speedy: , who are eternally associated with Stalling and Franklyn. The scores for all three 'new' series have a nice lively jazz underpinning and reflect the characters well: Cool's 'beatnick' personality and a decent Western motif for Bunny & Claude.

His background score for would-be series pilot RABBIT STEW AND RABBITS TOO is one of my all-time favorites. I even taped it off a 1981 airing of the short on the NBC :daffy: show.

[Marty26]

He had his moments. I liked his scores for To Beep Or Not To Beep, Woolen Under Where, The Unmentionables, and even The Astroduck and Chili Corn Corny (probably his two best scores from the Daffy/Speedy years). Though he also created some truly awful scores like in See Ya Later, Gladiator and The Iceman Ducketh.

Overall, I'd say he was definitely the weakest of the Big Three, but had his gems here or there.

[ohmahaaha]

In fairness to him, I'm not very aware of any of his other work; I only know that his work on the Looney Tunes of the mid to late 60s absolutely pales in comparison to his predecessors, Milt Franklyn and Carl Stallings.

[mmtper]

(aside from the stylistic change, the sudden drop off in mid-cartoon of the number of musicians being employed is also interesting -- Franklyn's scoring of "Powerhouse" on the opening titles envokes the full WB orchestra, but Lava's half of the film is minimalist, as though half the musicans didn't bother to come back to the studio after Franklyn's funeral).

That is something I've wondered about, I do miss the stirring sounds of the full Warner Brothers Symphony Orchestra (or whatever they called themselves), I had assumed that there was some sort of budget cutback in the music dept., since Bill Lava's group usually sounds like nine guys and a cowbell. The major movie studios had their own symphonic orchestras record their soundtracks in the glory days, but tastes had changed (and costs went up) a lot in the 1960's, and movie music became meaner and leaner. Does anyone know if Warner Bros kept an orchestra in the early '60's, or had they disbanded?

(And I still think "The Ballad of Wilton Parmenter" was one of the best TV theme songs of the 1960s, for whatever that's worth).

I agree. And I liked the Wrangler Jane theme as well.

[AndrewGilmore]

Well, a lot has already been said here, but I'll put in my two cents. Generally I find Lava's music unpleasant and irritating, but I'll admit that some of his scores (Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too, Snow Excuse) are rather enjoyable. As for the disbandment of the WB Orchestra after Franklyn's death, when I was 14 or 15 I used to say Lava's scores sounded like three guys crammed in a tiny bathroom playing cigar-box banjos.

[doctoon]

Usually the music accompanying a title-sequence to a WB cartoon inspires happiness or light-heartedness. But listening to the music Lava wrote for the openings to DEVIL'S FEUD CAKE (1963) and AQUA DUCK (1963) is a very depressing experience. In both cases I feel like I'm about to watch a funeral.

However, towards the studio's closing, maybe somebody told Lava, "Hey! Lighten up!" because FALSE HARE (1964) has a pleasant musical intro.

[Kevin McCorry]

Usually the music accompanying a title-sequence to a WB cartoon inspires happiness or light-heartedness. But listening to the music Lava wrote for the openings to DEVIL'S FEUD CAKE (1963) and AQUA DUCK (1963) is a very depressing experience. In both cases I feel like I'm about to watch a funeral.

As one of these cartoons is about an unpleasant afterlife and the other starts with a feeling of loneliness amidst desperate, potentially lethal desolation, I would think that such an impression would be indeed quite apt.

[J Lee]

Usually the music accompanying a title-sequence to a WB cartoon inspires happiness or light-heartedness. But listening to the music Lava wrote for the openings to DEVIL'S FEUD CAKE (1963) and AQUA DUCK (1963) is a very depressing experience. In both cases I feel like I'm about to watch a funeral.

However, towards the studio's closing, maybe somebody told Lava, "Hey! Lighten up!" because FALSE HARE (1964) has a pleasant musical intro.

Lava's openings for "To Beep or Not to Beep", "Woolen Under Where" and "Claws in the Lease" are light and enjoyable, and his more menacing opening music for "The Unmentionables" fits with the type of music the TV show it was parodying was using. But again all that seems to go back to Lava's problem with writing a good score to a weak cartoon -- when the Warners directors and writers gave him something to work with, he could do a good job, but when the material wasn't there he either couldn't or wouldn't give it any sort of boost from enjoyable/clever use of music. Many of the weakest of the earlier WB cartoons would usually have something from Stalling or Franklyn that would enhance a scene; Lava's scores tend to make the bad cartoons even worse.

[doctoon]

As one of these cartoons is about an unpleasant afterlife and the other starts with a feeling of loneliness amidst desperate, potentially lethal desolation, I would think that such an impression would be indeed quite apt.

Good point. Perhaps Lava took the theme a bit too seriously, though. After all, the scores for HEAVENLY PUSS and SATAN'S WAITING weren't that morbid.

[Jaime_Weinman]

As one of these cartoons is about an unpleasant afterlife and the other starts with a feeling of loneliness amidst desperate, potentially lethal desolation, I would think that such an impression would be indeed quite apt.

Yeah, but that's the thing -- Stalling new how to write music for cartoons like this that could be appropriate to the mood and fun. Like his "scary" theme for the credits of "Hair-Raising Hare" and "Hyde and Hare" (and possibly others I'm forgetting), clearly spooky music, but still lighthearted enough to make you ready for a funny cartoon.

[doctoon]

Many of the weakest of the earlier WB cartoons would usually have something from Stalling or Franklyn that would enhance a scene; Lava's scores tend to make the bad cartoons even worse.

You're right. The music really brings down the films.

[Kevin McCorry]

Yeah, but that's the thing -- Stalling new how to write music for cartoons like this that could be appropriate to the mood and fun. Like his "scary" theme for the credits of "Hair-Raising Hare" and "Hyde and Hare" (and possibly others I'm forgetting), clearly spooky music, but still lighthearted enough to make you ready for a funny cartoon.

I've never seen/heard the original titles to "Devil's Feud Cake"; so, I can't comment further on that one. As for "Aqua Duck", the title music does seem to give the impression to me of a person plodding fretfully alone across the desert (quite empathetic for yours truly, in fact), followed by the stinging motif of the blazing sun in the opening scene. Even if it doesn't set an expectation of a funny cartoon to come, it seems effective.

And it's strange, but I never get the feeling of lightheartedness over the titles of "Hyde and Hare". In fact, the subtly sinister ending notes played over the I. Freleng director credit gives me chills. However, there is a light-hearted sense to the same music playing over the titles to "Hair-Raising Hare" and "Hare-Brained Hypnotist". I can't put my finger on why, though. Must be the Stalling genius for subtlety.

[Vdubdavid]

I agree that most of Lava's scores were nothing to get excited about, but I do give him credit for his opening credit music. Even for stinkers like "Shishkabugs", I'll stick around to at least hear the opening. I for one like the opening for "Devil's Feud Cake", it matches the mysterious and unsettling subject matter rather well in my view.

[Marty26]

Yes, old topic, but I was looking at some archived posts and came across this.

I thought Lava's worst opening music was for Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare. That cartoon's opening music sounded sloppily composed and way too abrasive for such a cartoon. Of course, that is more or less a reflection of the quality of the cartoon. Good Noose is probably the exception to the whole "Good Cartoon = Good Lava Score, Bad Cartoon = Bad Lava Score" rule. A decent cartoon with a rather unremarkable score.