Directing Animator / Contributor
Posted:
Nov 19, 2011, 6:38 PM
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The Walter Greene Pink Panther scores
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One thing that interested me about the theatrical Pink Panther cartoons was the music that Walter Greene composed for the cartoons. His first score was "Plink, Plunk, Plink," but it wasn't much of a "score" as it was mostly about the Pink Panther trying to sneak in the theme to an orchestra performance. But after Bill Lava left DFE after "Smile Pretty, Say Pink!" (as well as the Inspector short "Cock-a-Doodle Deux Deux" and WB short "Snow Excuse"), Walter Greene became the main music man for DePatie-Freleng's theatrical output.
BUT... even he didn't stay around for much long. He only composed the six theatrical Pink Panther cartoons made after that, and left to work full-time for Walter Lantz's studios. SO... DePatie-Freleng most likely loved Greene's scores for those six cartoons, and for the most part recycled them ad-nauseum from 1967 (beginning with "Pink Posies") up until the original theatrical series was discontinued in 1977. (Exceptions were the Doug Goodwin-scored "Prehistoric Pink," and "Slink Pink" which started with some Greene music, then switched to old Bill Lava music halfway through, both 1969.)
Out of these six scores, the one that was most frequently used was the one first heard on "Rock-a-Bye Pinky." This is personally my favorite Walter Greene Pink Panther score. Sometimes I even watch the cartoons using this score just to listen to the music (I've just got "Pink Aye" playing in the background as I type this, just to hear that same music score!) Running at five minutes and twenty-eight seconds, this is the score that starts off as the distinctive Mancini tune (with a brief bassoon piece in the opener,) then it kicks into Greene's distinctive '60s "go-go" style, and after that we get a few other pieces in the same tempo and style as the rest of the score, complete with flute, twangy bass guitars and big-band trumpets (all Walter Greene trademarks!) It has the nicest flow of the other scores and Greene's original stuff blends in the best with the classic Mancini parts.
This score continued to be recycled and recycled in many Pink Panther shorts throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a brief hiatus from 1972-1974, the Pink Panther series was revived, but the music then began to change. The first two shorts in this "revival" ("Pink Aye" and "Trail of the Lonesome Pink") used the "Rock-a-Bye Pinky" score like many of the previous cartoons did, but after that it was unfortunately retired, in favor of recycling the other Greene scores, even throwing in some old Bill Lava pieces from time to time. In fact, by 1976 it began to sound more like made-for-TV stock music! (And DON'T get me started on the new Steve DePatie/Doug Goodwin music that was brought in for the 1978 made-for-TV Pink Panther cartoons which really WAS stock music!)
So in short, it may not have been as full or lush as the Carl Stalling scores at WB, or Scott Bradley's scores at MGM, but that "Rock-a-Bye Pinky" score was pretty much distinctive and made a Pink Panther cartoon VERY easy to identify (at least if the Pink Panther does not show up until 30-45 seconds into the short.)
Any comments?
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"Being a genius certainly has its advantages."
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Intern
Posted:
Nov 28, 2011, 1:24 PM
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Re: The Walter Greene Pink Panther scores
[In reply to]
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A couple of pieces of music I liked in the shorts were the xylophone-like music that started some of them (Slink Pink is an example), and the flute sections.
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"The Aardvark strikes again...even again...and again if necessary!"
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