Bugs Bunny and Maria Callas

On Boing Boing this morning I was delighted to discover a whole series of musical pieces from the past that were presented by Stephen Worth, the Director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, a museum, library and digital archive devoted to the use of professional artists and students:

Chopin by Sviatoslav Richter, Shirley Temple and Buddy Ebsen at The Codfish Ball, Maria Callas, Louis Armstong, Dave Brubeck and more.

I was raised on quality music and quality cartoons. Mom was a pianist and organist who taught us to love interesting chord progressions. Dad loved swing and jazz. We used to go to classical concerts at the Toronto Symphony in inexpensive school outings. My Latin teacher in high school taught us a bit about opera. I watched the quality of cartooning deteriorate on tv. Bugs Bunny, when I was a kid, was animated by hand, the backgrounds were not replayed constantly and the music was scored from classics that related to the story. The less expensive cartoons followed, and they were mediocre at best.

Creativity can be about the next new thing, but when it is combined with quality it's amazing.

It hasn't vanished. Movies often have incredible talent that we rarely even notice. James Horner's score for the movie "A Beautiful Mind" and Thomas Newman's score for "The Road to Perdition" had some amazing and brilliant chord progressions. The male chorus in "The Hunt For Red October" gives a richness and depth to the movie that adds emotion and poignancy.

Quality hasn't vanished. We just have to look for it in different places.

link to Adventures in Music
link to the Animation Archive
link to YouTube video of Maria Callas singing Puccini