I promised last time that I was going to explain how Warner Brothers cartoon scorer Carl Stalling led me to discover composer Raymond Scott.

Stalling loved to lift bits of public domain music  – (“Tea for two”, “The Lady In Red”, “Oh You Beautiful Doll”, “California, Here I Come”, “Oh Suzanna” – all either publc domain, or owned by Warner Brothers music publishing).  He used most notably “Dance of the Comedians” from “The Bartered Bride” as the background music for the Road Runner tearing up the highway.

And then, he lifted a composition by an avant-garde composer Raymond Scott for scenes featuring assembly lines.  It’s the second movement of this piece at 1:25 by the Raymond Scott Quintet. See if this sounds familiar ;

Here’s the version you’re probably more familiar with :

Raymond Scott wasn’t just a pianist and composer. He was an inventor, as well.

He hung out with Bob Moog, and actually invented not the synthesizer, but the first sequencer – he called it the “Electronium”.

Here’s Mark Mothersbaugh giving it a look-see  :

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And here’s the man himself in his laboratory :

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And all this I discovered from some cartoons and books.

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