Customer Reviews:
 Superb August 15, 2009
lexo1941 (Edinburgh, Scotland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Daniel Goldmark's study of the relationship between Hollywood cartoons and music doesn't get five stars from me only because, as Goldmark himself acknowledges, it's "far from objective or definitive". If I could give it 4.9999... stars, I would. Right now it seems less like a coherent book and more like a collection of essays.
But they're great essays. Goldmark is not the first writer to note the proto-postmodernity of Carl Stalling, the in-house composer for Warner Bros' cartoon department during the golden age of the Hollywood cartoon. John Zorn, among others, has acknowledged his debt to Stalling's work, and in the 90s a couple of lushly packaged CDs of Stalling's music were made available. But Goldmark also pays handsome tribute to Scott Bradley, Stalling's counterpart at MGM, who wrote the music for practically every classic Tom & Jerry cartoon. Bradley was Stalling's opposite. He seldom relied on quoting existing music, preferring to write as much original music as possible, and he didn't just work from gag to gag but built up the score over the course of the entire cartoon, working towards a dramatic climax. Most of Stalling's music was for cartoons that were dialogue-heavy; Bradley preferred to write for characters like Tom & Jerry who never spoke at all.
With this book, Daniel Goldmark opens up a new field of study. More work will come, but this one sets up the important themes and will send you back to your Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry DVDs with sharpened ears. I look forward eagerly to Mr. Goldmark's next contribution.
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