Few African Americans received on-screen credit for their work on animated theatrical shorts. People who contributed their talents for many years received no billing, such as Lillian Randolph as the domestic maid’s voice in Tom and Jerry from 1940 to 1952 – or Roy Glenn, who voiced the Scarecrow in George Pal’s Puppetoons. Max Fleischer was generous in giving star billing to Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and the Mills Brothers in the 1930s for episodes of Betty Boop and Screen Songs. George Pal did the same with Duke Ellington and the Luvenia Nash Singers for Puppetoons episodes. After Eddie “Rochester” Anderson’s credit in 1959 for the Warner Brothers Cartoon The Mouse That Jack Built, the independent studio run by John and Faith Hubley acknowledged work by Benny Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, and Quincy Jones in their shorts.
But in more commercial work, perhaps the last African American on-screen credit in a Golden Age cartoon short went to upright bassist Ray Brown. DePatie-Freleng’s music director Doug Goodwin included him among the credited musicians he assembled to play his cartoon scores. Brown’s name appears on the Roland and Rattfink debut Hawks and Doves (1968) and the debut of the series The Ant and the Aardvark, titled the same (1969). Typically, animated films listed only the studio’s music director in the credits. On the other hand, Goodwin’s musicians were all major talents on their own before their work for DePatie-Freleng. Brown had already co-founded the Modern Jazz Quartet two decades earlier.
Brown’s credit in the initial “Ant And The Aardvark” cartoon (1969)
Pink Panther’s theme, composed by Henry Mancini, is from the live-action feature of the same name. African American tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson gave the theme its memorable solo in the original 1963 recording. The solo and DePatie-Freleng’s animated opening sequence for the movie received more favorable reviews than the movie itself. A short version of the theme (and the saxophone solo) accompanies the opening credits of every Pink Panther short from the studio. Therefore, Extinct Pink has musical influences from two African Americans.
Although only Goodwin receives credit for music in Extinct Pink, Brown’s musicianship contributes to much of the film’s pacing and humor. In the first three minutes of the film, the studio loops Brown’s riff at least three times. Brown’s quick bass-plucking appropriately accompanies the running of Pink Panther, the Little Man, and the dinosaurs in the first half of the film. Chase scenes rarely took place in Pink Panther cartoons, and the fast pace of the action in Extinct Pink required a faster score than the mellow ones that Greene and Lava had provided in previous episodes. Just as the constant running sets the foundation for the characters’ actions in “Extinct Pink,” Brown’s bassline establishes the score’s rapidity.
Unlike the aforementioned shorts crediting other African Americans, the films showing Brown’s name do not have content specifically referencing African Americans. DePatie-Freleng’s shorts do not feature African American characters. By using Brown’s work in cartoons, DePatie-Freleng made the progressive decision to let an African American contribute to a cartoon regardless of the ethnicities of the characters.
Christopher P. Lehman is a professor of ethnic studies at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. His books include American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era and The Colored Cartoon, and he has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University.
I’m afraid that I know of Ray Brown primarily for his notorious “Jazz Cello” album, a musical experiment that should never have been attempted. The only bearable passages are the few when Ray puts down his cello, picks up his bass, and lets his horn players take the lead. A cellist friend of mine used to play the album at parties for laughs, but after about five minutes of it everyone would beg him to put on something more palatable, like Florence Foster Jenkins.
Doug Goodwin’s jazzy musical scores are a big part of the appeal of the DePatie-Freleng cartoons, whether the old fashioned Dixieland of “The Ant and the Aardvark” or the more contemporary stylings of “Extinct Pink”. The latter was a childhood favourite of mine for its dinosaurs and fast-paced gags. Watching it today, I notice that some passages recall monster movies and prehistoric epics. Clever stuff, and as you say, Ray Brown’s bass riffs bring a lot of energy to it.
It’s a pity that most musicians, like most voice actors, went uncredited for decades in animated cartoons. DePatie-Freleng was the first studio to credit every member of the musical ensemble, and this has become more common in recent years. When I saw Disney’s “Encanto”, I was gratified to see the names of all the musicians in the orchestra listed in the closing credits, alongside the craft services and the legal team. Maybe the union’s insisting on that now, and about time, too.
It seemed to me at the time that “pink Panther“ cartoons were being created, cartoon scores were merely just there. Back in the 1930s and 1940s, the score is usually included embellishments when characters did something on screen, and of course, the orchestra followed every movement. We have always been wondering who did certain solos in the jazzer cartoons from Warner Brothers or MGM, and again only the orchestra leaders would have been acknowledged. Thank you for the information on the Mancini score embellishments and who did them. I’m always listening to cartoons anyway since I have no sight to actually see them, but I always find interesting moments in various cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s and even into the 1950s, but none of us ever knew who actually orchestrated the movements on screen or just orchestrated the cartoon in general as far as individual musicianship is concerned.
Back in the 1930s and ’40s, cartoon musical scores were conceived alongside the action, not added in post as was (and is) the case in live action, save for musical numbers. In the 1960s, that was no longer the case. Prerecorded cues edited more for mood than to accent the onscreen action (what little there was) were the norm well into the nineties. Not to say that the music itself was bad — Hoyt Curtin’s “Jetson Jazz” for H-B is as memorable as anything from the golden age.
The Depatie-Freleng scores were some of the best cartoon music of this period (an admittedly small praise, all things considered). Although most of it was reused constantly, its high quality made the repetition more bearable. In the case of the Pink Panther and Inspector shorts, the Mancini themes provided a solid base to work from. Goodwin’s Ant and Aardvark score, particularly Brown’s trumpet work, so memorably used in Extinct Pink, is a particular favorite of mine.
Not to get overly technical, but the trumpet player was Pete Candoli. He and his brother Conte were two very well known jazz trumpeters in LA.
Ray Brown had a pretty impressive resume outside of his contribution to this cartoon’s soundtrack. He was a member of Oscar Peterson’s trio from the early 1950s until 1970 and played bass in bands led by Dizzy Gillespie, Milt Jackson and many other jazz greats. Around the same time as Extinct Pink he was playing bass on the soundtracks of scores composed by Quincy Jones and the recently late Lalo Schifrin, including In the Heat of the Night and Bullet. Post-Extinct Pink he was the bassist on one of Duke Ellington’s last records, Duke’s Big 4. He was also married to Ella Fitzgerald for a couple of years in the 1950s.
Prior to the 1960s, it could be argued that Terrytoons were somewhat progressive in that they had Doug Moye (also an accomplished jazz musician) do the voice of Papa Terry Bear and briefly Clint Clobber, even though neither character is ethnically coded as black.
Walter Greene only did a handful of original scores for both DFE and Warner Brothers, which might’ve been a condition of his loan out from Walter Lantz, where he was musical director, right to the end of the studio.
Always a treat to read another article here by Christopher Lehman.
Thank you. That made my day.
Greg Ford said however that Doug Goodwin’s score for Extinct Pink was made specifically for this cartoon and later used for The Ant and The Aardvark (and Roland and Rattfink).
I’ve always assumed it was the other way around myself. So honestly, which is it?
It’s possible that Greg Ford is correct, considering how much in synch the pacing of the figures’ running in “Extinct Pink” is with Ray Brown’s plucking. The action by the characters in “The Ant and the Aardvark” is not as fast as the plucking solo. I wouldn’t be surprised if Goodwin recorded the music specifically for “Extinct Pink” but that DFE put it in “The Ant and the Aardvark” first.