July 26 - Buddy Baker

Image courtesy d23.com

On this day, in 2002, Norman Dale Baker passed away in Hollywood, California. Born in Springfield, Missouri on January 4, 1918, Buddy, as most people called him, learned to read music before he could read lyrics. He began playing the piano at the age of 4, learned the trumpet at 11 and had formed his own band by his teen years. He studied music at Southwest Baptist University, eventually earning his doctorate in it before moving to Los Angeles in 1938.

Buddy began his professional career as a trumpet player and musical arranger on the radio programs of the day. He started on The Bob Hope Show before moving on to Jacky Benny and Eddie Cantor's shows. When World War II started, he returned to Bob Hope and became his show's musical director. Buddy brought big band leader Stan Kenton to the show and arranged Ken's first big hit, And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine. Following the war, he added Professor to his resume taking a job at Los Angeles City College in their school of music. He wasn't above helping out his students though. In 1954, he composed the hit jazz song Journey into Love with drummer Louis Bellson. And then one day later that same year, he got a call from another former student, George Bruns, who worked over at the Walt Disney Studio.

Image copyright Disney

George was looking for someone to compose some music for a couple of episodes of the Disneyland television series and he thought of his former professor. Buddy agreed to spend a couple of weeks at the studio coming up with something for Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. It ended up being a really long two weeks as Buddy wouldn't retire from Disney until 29 years later. In those three decades, he became the studio's musical director and one of the most prolific composers Disney ever had.

Image copyright Disney

Buddy wasn't as flashy as his contemporaries at the studio. Most people have at least heard of the Sherman Brothers, and don't get me wrong, Robert and Richard Sherman produced some fantastic work over the years, but even though you might not know Buddy's name, a walk through any of Disney's theme parks would be awfully quiet if none of his work existed. The first category we'll talk about is movie scores. He did dozens of them for Disney but a short list of his live action work would have to include Summer Magic, The Monkey's Uncle, The Gnome-Mobile, The Million Dollar Duck, The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Shaggy D.A. and Hot Lead Cold Feet. In 1972, he earned an Oscar nomination for Napoleon and Samantha, which also happened to be Jodie Foster's screen debut. On the animated side of things, Buddy scored several shorts including the classic Donald in Mathmagicland and all three of the original Winnie the Pooh shorts (including additional material for the 1977 Winnie the Pooh feature). In 1981, he made his second foray into animated features providing the score for The Fox and the Hound.

Image copyright Disney

As impressive as Buddy's film work is, it's in the category of music written for theme parks that some of his most recognizable tunes occur. His most famous song has to be Grim Grinning Ghosts which he wrote with fellow Legend Xavier Atencio for the Haunted Mansion. He also scored the eerie music that can be heard throughout that same attraction. Buddy and Xavier also wrote the original music that is used in the classic Country Bear Jamboree show and the song It's Fun to Be Free for the World of Motion pavilion at EPCOT. Buddy's other music written and arranged for attractions includes The Universe of Energy, America Sings, If You Had Wings, Kitchen Kabaret, Impressions de France, the American Adventure and Tokyo Disneyland's Journey to the Center of the Earth and Sinbad's Seven Voyages. Buddy also came out of retirement briefly in the nineties to arrange his own music for the various Winnie the Pooh rides that popped up in Disney theme parks at that time.

Image courtesy findagrave.com

By the time Buddy retired in 1983, he had over 200 Disney credits to his name. Much of the background music you hear just walking through areas of parks like the Mexican Pavilion at Epcot or Tomorrowland in Disneyland is arrangements of his compositions. When he left Disney, Buddy also had the distinction of being the last composer at a major Hollywood studio. They literally don't make them like him anymore. Buddy didn't stay retired for very long, though. In 1987 he became the director of the University of Southern California's Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program and taught courses there for the remainder of his life. He received the ASCAP Foundation Life Time Achievement Award in 1999 and having already been declared an official Disney Legend the year before. Three years later, Buddy would pass away from natural causes at the age of 84.

July 15 - Al Bertino

Image courtesy disney.fandom.com

On this day, in 1912, Albert Bertino was born in California. And that statement is literally as close as I have been able to pinpoint his place of birth. Somewhere in the vast swathe of area known as California. Needless to say, there's a reason we pick up Al's story in 1934 when he began working for the Charles Mintz Studio (for those of you who think that name might sound familiar, it is the same studio that screwed Walt out of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit six years earlier). After some time there, Al moved over to the Harman-Ising Studio, thinking that he was moving to a better outfit. Unfortunately, Harman-Ising was soon going to lose their distribution deal with MGM and would cease to exist. That's how Al ended up as an assistant animator at the Walt Disney Studio in 1939.

Al started on features like Pinocchio and Fantasia before moving up to animator in the Shorts Department and eventually landing in the Story Department. His name actually appears as part of the 1945 Goofy short Hockey Homicide. All the players in the short are named after real people at the studio and Ice Box Bertino keeps getting into fights with Fearless Ferguson, named after fellow animator Norm Ferguson (the real irony here is that by all accounts Al was a sweetheart of a guy and wouldn't fight anyone).

Image copyright Disney

When the medium of television came along, Al began writing episodes of the Disneyland anthology series. One of his favorite stories to tell was about a show they wrote for the Christmas season that included a segment on the birth of Christ. Walt sent Al to the church down the street to get the nuns approval on his script. The Mother Superior read it over, declared it good and asked where Al got his good ideas. Al, mindful of who he was talking to, look upwards and said he wasn't shy about getting "help from the man upstairs." The Mother Superior immediately agree that Mr. Disney was indeed a wonderful man, Al was too flustered to correct her and took his leave before he burst out laughing.

When Disney dissolved its Shorts Department in the late Fifties, Al became a victim of downsizing as most of his story work had been with that group. He then began doing freelance work with whatever studio needed him, a time he once described as one of the happiest of his life (mainly because he got paid more for contract work). He spent the next several years working for UPA on Dick Tracy and Mr. Magoo, Terrytoons on Hashimoto and Hector Heathcote, Bob Clampett on Benny and Cecil, and the Walter Lantz Studio.

Image courtesy tripadvisor.com

In the mid Sixties, Al returned to Disney, this time as an Imagineer with WED Enterprises. He became part of the teams that created such classic attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, America Sings and the Country Bear Jamboree. Big Al, the large Country Bear that keeps trying to sing Blood on the Saddle during the show, is not only named after Al, but he considers it a bit of a self portrait in the medium of Audio-Animatronic bear. Call it the perks of being an Imagineer.

Al retired from Disney in 1977, but he did one more freelance project before actually finishing his career. He was co-designer of the Monster Plantation (now called the Monster Mansion) dark ride that opened in 1981 at the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park. Al continued to reside in Los Angeles, California until his death on August 18, 1996. He was 94.

July 14 - Dallas McKennon

Image courtesy imbd.com

On this day, in 2009, Dallas Raymond McKennon passed away in Raymond, Washington. Born on July 19, 1919 in La Grande, Oregon, Dallas was sent to live with an aunt and uncle on their farm following the sudden death of his mother when he was still pre-school aged. He fell in love with the animals and began trying to imitate them, starting with the dogs and moving on to horses, chickens, mules, any and every animal he could find. In high school, he not only took theater classes but took his mimicry skills to the local radio station, earning pocket money by recording commercials. Dallas enrolled in classes at the University of Washington, but wasn't there long before World War II reared its ugly head. He joined the United States Army Signal Corps and spent most of the war stationed in Alaska.

Following his discharge from the Army, Dallas returned to Oregon and got a job as Mr. Buttons, the host of a children's show on Portland radio station KGW. After several years of doing live radio, Dallas managed to get a bit part in a Jimmy Stewart movie that was filming nearby, Bend of the River. Looking for something new, he decided to move to Los Angeles and try his luck there. With his wide range of vocal talents, Dallas would find plenty of work but would also quickly become one of those actors you recognize but don't know their name. Honestly, he was okay with that.

Image courtesy metv.com

One of the first gigs, Dallas got in Los Angeles was hosting another kid's show, this time on television station KNXT in Hollywood. He played Captain Jet, introducing Little Rascal and Laurel and Hardy reruns on a show called Space Funnies weekday mornings. When the character of Gumby was spun off from Howdy Doody onto his own show in 1957, Dallas was hired to play the little green guy, a role he would perform off and on for three decades. Not only did he provide the voice for the title character but over the years he would also do Pokey, Gumbo, Prickle, Professor Kapp, Denali, Nopey, Henry and Rodgy for the series. During the same time period, Dallas had a string of guest appearances on Western shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza, mostly as villains. He quipped in an interview once that his specialty on those shows was burning down barns.

Image copyright Disney

Dallas stayed quite busy throughout the Sixties. In addition to The Gumby Show, he provided the voice for Woody Woodpecker's nemesis Buzz Buzzard, the title character in Q.T. Hush, Archie Andrews and Mr. Weatherbee for The Archie Show, Courageous Cat in Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse and Frank Hardy and Chubby Morton on The Hardy Boys. Just for kicks, he also did live action work, most notably as Cincinnatus, the innkeeper on Fess Parker's Daniel Boone series. By the end of the decade, Dallas, his wife Betty and their eight children decided to move back to Oregon. For the rest of his career, he commuted to LA whenever he had work to do.

Image copyright Disney

Early in his career, Dallas became part of the Disney family and his voice is still with us in many ways now. Let's tackle the movies first. It started in 1955 with several roles in Lady and the Tramp: Toughy, Pedro, Professor and the laughing Hyena (that distinctive hyena laugh would actually take on a life of its own; you can hear that same recording being used in it's a small world, the Crash Badicoot video games, several other video games and the movie Elf). In 1958, he voiced Cal MacNab for the Paul Bunyan short, followed by Maleficent's raven and Vernon the Owl in Sleeping Beauty, additional voices in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, the merry go round operator and some horses in Mary Poppins, the bees in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Bear in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and an episode of the Goof Troop television series. He also made live action appearances as Charlie Cooney in The Cat From Outer Space, a Saloon Man in Hot Lead and Cold Feet, a juror in Son of Flubber and Detective Hutchins in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones. An impressive list of credits indeed and yet you would probably recognize him even more for the work he's recorded for Disney attractions.

Image copyright Disney

In the late Fifties, when the Living Desert area of Disneyland's Frontierland was being upgraded to include more ecosystems and renamed Nature's Wonderland, the Mine Train attraction was also upgraded and the new version included a narration done by Dallas. This would eventually lead to one of Dallas' most famous recordings ever. When the Mine Train gave way to the more thrilling Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, he was brought in to record the ride's safety spiel. Every few minutes, from 1979 right up to this very moment, guests hear him warn people that they are about to experience one of the wildest rides in the West. There are several other attractions you can hear Dallas' voice on, too. He plays Zeke in The Country Bear Jamboree, Andrew Jackson in the Hall of Presidents, a deaf old man in the Haunted Mansion and gives a virtuoso performance as Benjamin Franklin for the American Adventure in Epcot.

Outside of performing, Dallas became interested in and a master of the history of the Oregon Trail (the actual trail, not the video game). He would regularly give talks at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and even helped gather historical documents and songs in preparation of the Trail's 150th anniversary celebration. Dallas also helped Oregon's Public Broadcasting stations develop a series to help children learn to speak German. His final years were spent in his beloved Oregon, enjoying his 21 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. He passed away in a nursing home from natural causes just five days short of his 90th birthday.

May 22 - Thurl Ravenscroft

Image courtesy discogs.com

On this day, in 2005, Thurl Arthur Ravenscroft passed away in Fullerton, California. Born in Norfolk, Nebraska on February 6, 1914, Thurl hit the road soon after high school, landing in Los Angeles, California. He began an art education at the Otis College of Art and Design. While at Otis, he became part of a singing quartet known as the Sportsmen Quartet. They could frequently be heard on Jack Benny’s radio show. Thurl’s first brush with the Walt Disney Studio came in 1940. The singing group he was a part of (it’s usually credited as the Mellomen, but that group didn’t form until 1948, so it may have been the Sportsmen) sang a song for Pinocchio called Honest John. The song was cut from the final film. Some sources claim it only ever existed for promotional purposes, but parts of the melody can be heard underscoring scenes with Foulfellow and Gideon, so who really knows anymore. Thurl himself got to remain in the film, though, as he had also been recorded as Monstro the Whale’s ‘voice.’ 

Image copyright Disney

In 1948 (as near as I can tell), Thurl got together with a few friends a formed a quartet usually known as The Mellomen (they recorded under a variety of names over the years). In addition to singing backup to the likes of Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee and Elvis Presley, the Mellomen made appearances in all sorts of Disney projects. You can hear them as the guards painting the roses red in Alice in Wonderland, pirates and native Americans in Peter Pan, the dogs in the pound in Lady and the Tramp, the elephant patrol in The Jungle Book, the trees in Babes in Toyland, singing the opening to Zorro, as the Honeypot Quartet in the Winnie the Pooh shorts and singing A Pirates Life for Me throughout the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The group was also featured on several episodes of the Disneyland anthology television series and Disneyland Records albums. The Mellomen performed together well into the Seventies before running out of steam and harmonizing their way into the sunset. 

Image copyright Disney

Thurl not only racked up an impressive list of Disney credits with his quartet, but he holds iconic solo roles, too. In one of them, he actually gets the dubious distinction of being mistaken for Walt Disney more than anyone else, ever. Have you ever had someone try to tell you that one of the singing busts in the graveyard scene of the Haunted Mansion was Walt himself? It’s not. It’s actually Thurl (must be the whole mustache thing). And for those of you who wonder about that sort of thing, his bust has a name: Uncle Theodore. He is also the voice of the drunken pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean, Buff, the American bison head, in the Country Bear Jamboree, and the first mate on the Mark Twain Riverboat. Thurl can also still be heard every half hour or so in The Enchanted Tiki Room as Fritz, the German accented macaw.  

Image copyright Disney

Lest you think that Thurl only soloed when it came to Disney attractions, you might recognize his deep bass from any one of the following Disney films: Paul Bunyan in the short Paul Bunyan (what else), Captain the Horse in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Sir Bart in The Sword in the Stone, Billy Bass, the Russian Cat, in The Aristocats and Kirby in The Brave Little Toaster series (while not created by Disney, they were distributed by the company). In 1995, Thurl was declared an official Disney Legend for all the incredible voice work he’d done over the years. 

Image copyright Kellogg's

Thurl didn’t do a whole lot of voice work outside of Disney, but what he did do is instantly recognizable. He is the uncredited singing voice of the Grinch in holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He sang the song No Dogs Allowed for the 1972 Peanuts special Snoopy Come Home. But one of his most famous roles was one he first did in 1953 and continued doing until 2005, long after he’d retired from everything else. For 52 years, Thurl was the (until the end) uncredited voice behind Tony the Tiger, telling everyone how Grrreat! Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes are. He’s been replaced as Tony since then by Lee Marshall, but if you listen closely to the commercials, every once in a while you can still hear a recycled bit of Thurl. Only a few months after recording his last tagline, the great bass voice succumbed to prostate cancer at his home in Fullerton, California. He was 91.