A trick question: NAME THREE COMPOSERS WHO DEFINED CARTOON MUSIC? (Hint: You cant. There are only two.) Ask any reasonably well-informed movie buff who the major film composers are and youre likely to get a pretty long list of names. Youll hear Mancini, Williams, Barry, Goldsmith, Bernstein, Steiner, Hermann... But cartoons? Even the most obsessed cartoon-o-phile comes up short when the subject turns to music. Which is pretty strange when you think of how important music is to the manic power of cartoons. (Try watching a few of your favorites with the sound off and youll begin to see what I mean.) Still, the fact remains: In 50 years of cartoon history, only two truly identifiable musical voices have emerged. Theres Carl Stalling at Warner Bros., who wove together brilliant orchestral pastiches--often rivaling the mad montages of Charles Ives-- to accompany the antics of Bugs, Daffy and the rest. And then theres Hoyt Curtin at Hanna-Barbera. Like Stalling, Curtin called upon the dominant musical form of his day--in Hoyts case, the big band sounds of the forties and fifties--and translated it into a series of themes and scores that are maddeningly catchy, effortlessly funny, and utterly unmistakable. You can tell a Hanna-Barbera cartoon from across the street, just by hearing a few strains of music. Hoyt Curtins music jumps out at you and wraps itself around that part of your brain where the giddy, childlike pleasures live. It nudges and jolts and eggs the action on. Its as bright and instantly recognizable as the Hanna-Barbera color palliate. Thats

called style. To hear what Im talking about, pick up a copy of Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Themes volume 1. (If you have trouble finding a copy write to Rhino Records, 10635 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90025.) Just put that collection on your player, and then sit back and get ready to enjoy a prolonged involuntary grin. (How long has it been since youve had that experience?) Bill Burnett Creative Director Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc.