Walter Greene (January 23, 1910 – December 23, 1983) was a film and television
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
who worked on numerous productions for over 30 years.
Career
Born and raised in
Tarkio, Missouri
Tarkio is a city in Tarkio Township, Atchison County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,506 at the 2020 census. It was platted in 1880 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Tarkio" is from a Native American word meaning "place where wa ...
, Greene attended
Tarkio College
Tarkio College was a college that operated in Tarkio, Missouri, from 1883 to 1992. The institution was supported by the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, followed by the Presbyterian Church (USA).
It was closed after fi ...
and the
Horner Institute for Fine Arts. He toured with and arranged for
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
s led by
Orville Knapp Orville Knapp (January 1, 1904 - July 16, 1936) was an American dance bandleader born in Kansas City, Missouri. He was the brother of Evalyn Knapp.
Orville Knapp was an autodidact on saxophone, and moved to New York City in the early 1920s, where h ...
,
Freddy Martin
Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.
Early life
Freddy Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Raised largely in an orphanage and by various relatives, ...
,
Horace Heidt
Horace Heidt (May 21, 1901 – December 1, 1986) was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television during the 19 ...
,
Wayne King
Harold Wayne King (February 16, 1901 – July 16, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader with a long association with both NBC and CBS. He was referred to as "the Waltz King" because much of his most popular music involved wa ...
,
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat (; 1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City ...
, and
Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized ...
.
Greene entered the world of film scoring as
orchestrating for MGM, with his first films being ''
Two-Faced Woman
''Two-Faced Woman'' is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Greta Garbo in her final film role, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, and Roland Young. The movie was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Garbo pla ...
'' (1941) and
Abbott and Costello
Abbott may refer to:
People
*Abbott (surname)
*Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist
* Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act
Places Argentina
* Abbott, Buenos Aires United States
* Abbott, Arkansas ...
's ''
Lost in a Harem
''Lost in a Harem'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring the team of Abbott and Costello alongside Marilyn Maxwell.
Plot
When a traveling vaudeville show becomes stranded in the Middle East, their singer, Hazel ...
'' (1944). He became a composer of music scores for films for the
Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...
studio with his first film being ''
Crime, Inc.
''Crime, Inc.'' is a 1945 American film noir crime film directed by Lew Landers starring Leo Carrillo, Tom Neal and Martha Tilton.
Plot summary
The film, based on a story by former crime reporter Martin Mooney, is about a newspaper journalist ...
'' (1945). Other PRC films included
Lash LaRue
Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1917 – May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s.
Biography Early life and education
Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917, he was reared in various towns th ...
Westerns. When LaRue switched studios to
Screen Guild and
Howco
Howco Productions later Howco International Pictures, was an American film production and distribution company based in South Carolina, specialising in low budget B pictures designed for double features.
In 1951 Joy Newton Houck Sr. (born 10 ...
Green continued with the series.
He earned an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nomination in 1946 for his score to the 1945 film ''
Why Girls Leave Home''. Greene composed other films such as ''
Jesse James' Women
''Jesse James' Women'' is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film starring as well as directed, co-produced and co-written by Don "Red" Barry, who portrays Jesse James. The supporting cast features Peggie Castle and Jack Buetel. Filming took ...
'' (1954), ''
Teenage Doll
''Teenage Doll'' is a 1957 film noir directed by Roger Corman, starring June Kenney and John Brinkley. It was financed by Lawrence Woolner, who had previously made ''Swamp Women'' with Corman. One writer called it Corman's "most impressive teen f ...
'' (1957), ''
The Brain from Planet Arous'' (1957), ''
Teenage Monster
''Teenage Monster'' is a 1958 independently made science fiction- horror Western film. It was produced and directed by Jacques R. Marquette, and stars Anne Gwynne and Stuart Wade. The film had a first screening on December 25, 1957, in Los Ang ...
'' (1958), ''
War of the Satellites'' (1958) and ''
Thunder in Carolina
''Thunder in Carolina'' is a 1960 stock car racing film directed by Paul Helmick and starring Rory Calhoun, Alan Hale, Jr., and Connie Hines. Written by Alexander Richards, it contains 1959-vintage stock car race footage.
Filmed at a number of ...
'' (1960). Greene also provided the score for the
Crown International Pictures
Crown International Pictures (CIP) was an independent film studio and distribution company formed in 1959 by Newton P. Jacobs.
History
Jacobs was a branch head of RKO Pictures until 1947, when he formed Favorite Films, an organization which relea ...
US released of the German/Polish 1960 film ''
First Spaceship on Venus
''Milcząca Gwiazda'' (german: Der schweigende Stern), literal English translation ''The Silent Star'', is a 1960 East German/Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel ''The Astronauts'' by Polish science fiction wri ...
'' and the
Woolner Brothers
The Woolner Brothers were an American film releasing company formed in 1955, made up of Lawrence (April 22, 1912 – July 21, 1985), Bernard (June 9, 1910 – February 21, 1977), and David Woolner.
History
After US Army service in World W ...
US release of ''
Hercules and the Captive Women
''Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis'' ( it, Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide, lit=Hercules at the Conquest of Atlantis) is a 1961 film directed by Vittorio Cottafavi and starring Reg Park in his film debut as Ercole/Hercules. It was origina ...
'' (1963).
Greene started his career in scoring cartoons at the
Walter Lantz Studio
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 ...
, first credited in the 1963 ''
Greedy Gabby Gator
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 Produ ...
''
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 ...
short. Starting with 1967's ''
Hot Time on Ice''
Chilly Willy
Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive penguin. He was created by director Paul Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953, and developed further by Tex Avery in the two subsequent films following Smith's debut entry. The character ...
short, Greene would be the sole composer of the Lantz cartoons until the last one, which is 1972's ''
Bye, Bye, Blackboard'', in which also would be the final cartoon short with new Greene music (as mentioned below, later Pink entries would reuse his cues).
Around 1966, he started providing musical scores for some ''
Pink Panther
''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film ''The Pink ...
'' animated shorts (as well as those of ''
The Inspector
''The Inspector'' is a series of 34 theatrical cartoon shorts produced between 1965 and 1969 by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The cartoons are dedicated to an animated version of Inspector Clouseau comical ...
''), replacing
William Lava
William "Bill" Benjamin Lava (March 18, 1911 – February 20, 1971) was a composer and arranger who composed and conducted music for feature films as well as that for the Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' animated cartoons ...
. Greene's scores were built around "
The Pink Panther Theme
"The Pink Panther Theme" is an jazz composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film ''The Pink Panther'' and subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 37th Academy Awards but lost to the She ...
" composed by
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...
, creating different variations of the famous theme. Unlike the music scores composed by Bill Lava, which were custom made for a specific entry, his compositions were generic and could be reused more freely. He is first credited is in the 19th ''Pink Panther'' theatrical short, ''
Pink, Plunk, Plink'', with his final original music in ''
Pink Panic''. From ''
Pink Posies'' on, he never composed music for other shorts, even though his name his mentioned. This is because most of his cues (and some Lava cues as well) were reused frequently. His is last mentioned in the Pink Panther short ''
Therapeutic Pink
This is a list of the original 124 ''Pink Panther'' animated shorts produced between December 18, 1964, and February 1, 1980, by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (DFE Films). 92 shorts were released theatrically. The first 62 entries appeared on Sa ...
'' in 1977 (he didn't compose the music, as his cues were reused).
Greene also composed musical scores for the
1966 ''Tarzan'' TV series with some episodes linked together for feature film release and ''
The New Three Stooges
''The New 3 Stooges'' is an American animated television series that ran during the 1965–66 television season starring the Three Stooges. The show follows the trio's antics both in live-action and animated segments. The cast consisted of Moe H ...
'' (1965).
Putting the context of his short-lived contract with
DFE, he indirectly recorded some music for six ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ''/''
Merrie Melodies
''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...
'' shorts from 1966 to 1967. Those include ''
A Squeak in the Deep'', ''
Feather Finger
''Feather Finger'' is a 1966 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. It was released on August 20, 1966, and stars Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales.
Plot
The story takes place in a town called Hangtree, Texas. Daffy Du ...
'', ''
Swing Ding Amigo'', ''
Sugar and Spies'', ''
A Taste of Catnip'', and ''
Daffy's Diner
''Daffy's Diner'' is a 1967 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Robert McKimson. The short was released on January 21, 1967, and stars Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales. It was the final Warner Bros. cartoon to be produced by DePati ...
'', all of these are Daffy\Speedy entries (except ''Sugar and Spies'', which is a Road Runner\Wile E. Coyote entry).
Death
Greene died on December 23, 1983 in
Victorville, California
Victorville is a city in Victor Valley in San Bernardino County, California. Its population as of the 2020 census was 134,810.
History
In 1858, Aaron G. Lane came to what is now known as Victorville and founded a waystation called "Lane's Cro ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Walter
1910 births
1983 deaths
American film score composers
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century American composers
People from Tarkio, Missouri
Animation composers
Walter Lantz Productions people
Warner Bros. Cartoons music composers