Clarence E. Wheeler (September 27, 1885 – December 28, 1966) was an American musician and composer. He created the music for many of ''

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker, was created in 1940 by Lan ...

'' series cartoons under

Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios. The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative o ...

along with films in the 1950s.

Biography

Wheeler was born in Walnut, Kansas. He formed an orchestra that appeared on the radio in Chicago in the 1930s, playing on ''The Terminix All-Star Program'' in May 1933 on WBBM. He was music director of the station from 1935 to 1938 and was replaced by Caesar Petrillo, brother of future

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

boss

James Petrillo James Caesar Petrillo (March 16, 1892 – October 23, 1984) was the leader of the American Federation of Musicians, a trade union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada. Biography Petrillo was born in Chicago, Illinois, United S ...

. He arrived in Hollywood that year and began writing music published by

Alberto Colombo Alberto Colombo (born 23 February 1946 in Varedo, Lombardy) is a former racing driver from Italy. He unsuccessfully entered three Formula One Grands Prix in 1978 with ATS (two failures to qualify) and Merzario (one failure to pre-qualify). He ...

. Among his compositions were ''Cinemaland Parade'', ''Silhouette in Rhythm'', ''Sing For Our Fallen Brave''., ''There Must Be a Way'', ''Hey There, Mr. Labor'', ''That Night in Donegal'', ''Tiny Little Big Shot'', ''Hello Broadway, London Calling'', the last four with James J. May. He soon went into scoring short films. His first credit was in the 1941

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

release ''The Carpenters'', directed by former Warner Bros. animator

Paul Fennell Paul Fennell is a male retired British cyclist. Cycling career He represented England in the 10 miles scratch race, the 1 Km time trial and the 4,000 metres team pursuit, at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Ca ...

, where radio commentator

Raymond Gram Swing Raymond Gram Swing (March 25, 1887 – December 22, 1968) was an American print and broadcast journalist. He was one of the most influential news commentators of his era, heard by people worldwide as a leading American voice from Britain durin ...

reviewed the history of the invasion of Poland. He was hired in 1944 by

George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...

to provide the scores for his

Puppetoons Puppetoons is a series of animated puppet films made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by George Pal. They were made using replacement animation: using a series of different hand-carved wooden puppets (or puppet heads or limbs) for ...

and live-action shorts such as ''This is Oil'' (1949), released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. Wheeler also worked on features, providing orchestrations for Shirley Temple's teen star vehicle, ''

Miss Annie Rooney '' Miss Annie Rooney '' is a 1942 American drama film directed by Edwin L. Marin. The screenplay by George Bruce has some similarities to the silent film, ''Little Annie Rooney'' starring Mary Pickford, but otherwise, the films are unrelated. ''M ...

'' (1942), the all-star extravaganza ''

Tales of Manhattan ''Tales of Manhattan'' is a 1942 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier. Thirteen writers, including Ben Hecht, Alan Campbell, Ferenc Molnár, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Donald Ogden Stewart, worked on the six stories in this film. Ba ...

'' (1942), and a number of the '' Blondie'' movies released by Columbia in the 1940s. Wheeler also scored for early television programs, being hired by

Jerry Fairbanks Gerald Bertram Fairbanks (November 1, 1904, San Francisco — June 21, 1995, Santa Barbara, California) was a producer and director in the Hollywood motion picture and television industry. Biography Fairbanks survived the 1906 San Francisco eart ...

to write music for the series ''Public Prosecutor'' in 1948. That same year Wheeler also created the original opening and closing theme for the animated series ''

Crusader Rabbit ''Crusader Rabbit'' is the first animated series produced specifically for television. Its main characters were Crusader Rabbit and his sidekick Ragland T. Tiger, or "Rags". The stories were four-minute-long satirical cliffhangers. The concept ...

'', adapting and arranging the folk melodies The Trail to Mexico (known on cue sheets as "Rabbit Fanfare") and Ten Little Indians (known as "Main Title Rabbit"). Some of Wheeler's film music was recompiled as stock music and leased to television producers, for airing on programs such as '' Topper'', ''

The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...

'', ''

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which law ...

'' and ''

Gumby ''Gumby'' is an American clay animation Media franchise, franchise, centered on the titular green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey. Gumby stars in two television series, the feature-length ''Gumby: The Movie'', and oth ...

.'' His first animated cartoon score was ''The 3 Minnies: Sota, Tonka and Ha-Ha!'' (1949), distributed by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

. When Walter Lantz re-opened his studio in 1950 he hired Wheeler to score all his cartoons, almost 140 in total, beginning with ''

Puny Express This is a list of animated cartoons that star Woody Woodpecker, who appeared in 203 cartoons (196 Woody shorts and 7 miscellaneous shorts) during and after the Golden age of American animation. All the cartoons were produced by Walter Lantz Prod ...

'' through ''The Nautical Nut'', which was released in 1967 after Wheeler's death.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Clarence 20th-century American composers 1885 births 1966 deaths Animation composers Walter Lantz Productions people