![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jack-de-Mello-Conducts.jpg\")
Jack de Mello Conducts<\/p><\/div>\n
Jack de Mello lived to be 102 and was still writing music shortly before he passed away a few months ago. Though enthusiasts of Hanna-Barbera background music might naturally think of Hoyt Curtin or Ted Nichols, de Mello\u2019s work is also instantly recognizable.<\/p>\n
It was purely an uncredited, work-for-hire deal. According to his son Jon, getting credit was not a big deal to Jack. He simply loved what he did. <\/p>\n
This was happening during a period of huge growth for Hanna-Barbera. Like many TV series producers, each show might generate a limited number of original music for a few episodes. Each new set of cues was then reused wherever needed. (Some of this music, when it was first used, directly matched the action the first time. For example, there is a scene in which Shaggy and Scooby get into an airplane in the first episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?<\/em> and a few bars of \u201c A primetime series with a bigger budget might justify a score, while a short syndicated cartoon would have to rely on whatever was already in the library. The Loopy DeLoop<\/em> cartoons, because they were produced for Columbia Pictures for theatrical release and had an original music budget, generated a substantial amount of cues for other H-B TV cartoons. This was also true for Hoyt Curtin\u2019s underscore for Alice in Wonderland<\/em>, a primetime special with two major corporate sponsors, Rexall and Coca-Cola. The Magilla Gorilla Show<\/em> and The Peter Potamus Show<\/em>, both part of a merchandising deal with Ideal Toys, must have generated cash for cues as well, because a lot of music resulted\u2014and quite a few were de Mello compositions. <\/p>\n These are just a few random cues heard countless times on Hanna-Barbera cartoons and records:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/MagillaAlice.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cDad met Bill Hanna in Hawaii and they struck up a friendship,\u201d Jon de Mello told me from their family music business in Hawaii, The Mountain Apple Company<\/a>. \u201cBill told Dad that they needed music. He invited Dad to write some for them when he was in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Marine Hymn<\/del> The U.S. Air Force Song (Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder)\u201d is heard. That cue was reused constantly but of course, the reference rarely mattered again.)<\/p>\n