Oliver Wallace
Encyclopedia
Oliver George Wallace was a British composer and conductor. He was especially known for his film music compositions, which were written for many animation
, documentary
, and feature films from Walt Disney Studios
.
s. At the same time, he also made a name as a songwriter, writing tunes such as the popular "Hindustan". With the advent of the talking film era, he worked increasingly for Hollywood film studios in the 1930s.
In 1936 he joined Disney Studios, and quickly became one of the most important composers in the studio for short animated films. Wallace provided the music for more than 100 of these shorts. One of his best-known pieces is the song "Der Fuehrer's Face
" from the 1942 Donald Duck
propaganda
cartoon
. This parody of a Horst Wessel
song was, mainly through the version by Spike Jones
and His City Slickers, one of the biggest hits during the Second World War. Other shorts Wallace scored include "Ben and Me
" (1953), about Benjamin Franklin
and a mouse, and the Oscar-winning "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
" (1953), the first cartoon to use the new Cinemascope
process. In 1949 Wallace composed the music and voiced the villainous Mr. Winkie in the Disney film "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
".
Walt Disney
also had Wallace score full-length films for the studios. His first big success was Dumbo
(1941), for which he, together with Frank Churchill
, won his first and only Oscar in 1942. He went on to score Cinderella
, Alice in Wonderland
, Peter Pan
, and Lady and the Tramp
. Characteristic of all these productions was the cooperation of several composers in the creation of the music. Wallace understood this and integrated leitmotiv-like elements from the individual songs into the film scores.
When the Disney studios began increasingly producing full-length films, Wallace also wrote scores for these. In Darby O'Gill and the Little People
(1959), Wallace wrote not only the score but also set the Lawrence Edward Watkin
-penned popular songs "Pretty Irish Girl" and "The Wishing Song". In Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with the Circus (1959), he appeared as an actor, playing the conductor of the circus
band.
Starting with Seal Island (1948), Wallace also specialized in musical accompaniments for Disney documentaries, including nearly all the films for the "People and Places" series and some of the "True Life Adventures". The music of White Wilderness (1958) was even nominated for an Oscar in 1959, a rare event for a documentary film.
Overall, Wallace contributed music to nearly 150 Walt Disney productions. He remained active in the studio in Los Angeles
until shortly before his death at the age of 76.
Wallace also received four other Oscar nominations for the music to the film Victory Through Air Power (1943), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and White Wilderness (1957).
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, and feature films from Walt Disney Studios
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
.
Biography
Wallace was born on August 6, 1887 in London. After completing his musical training, he went to the United States, where he initially worked primarily on the West Coast as a conductor of theater orchestras and as an organist accompanying silent filmSilent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
s. At the same time, he also made a name as a songwriter, writing tunes such as the popular "Hindustan". With the advent of the talking film era, he worked increasingly for Hollywood film studios in the 1930s.
In 1936 he joined Disney Studios, and quickly became one of the most important composers in the studio for short animated films. Wallace provided the music for more than 100 of these shorts. One of his best-known pieces is the song "Der Fuehrer's Face
Der Fuehrer's Face
Der Fuehrer's Face is a 1943 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon, which features Donald Duck in a nightmare setting working at a factory in Nazi Germany, was made in an effort to sell war bonds and is an example of...
" from the 1942 Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
. This parody of a Horst Wessel
Horst Wessel
Horst Ludwig Wessel was a German Nazi activist who was made a posthumous hero of the Nazi movement following his violent death in 1930...
song was, mainly through the version by Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
and His City Slickers, one of the biggest hits during the Second World War. Other shorts Wallace scored include "Ben and Me
Ben and Me
Ben and Me was Disney's first animated two-reel short subject and released theatrically on November 10, 1953. It was adapted from the children's book written by author/illustrator Robert Lawson and first published in 1939...
" (1953), about Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
and a mouse, and the Oscar-winning "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom is an educational Adventures in Music animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters by Buena Vista Distribution on November 10, 1953...
" (1953), the first cartoon to use the new Cinemascope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
process. In 1949 Wallace composed the music and voiced the villainous Mr. Winkie in the Disney film "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 animated feature produced by Walt Disney. The film was released to theaters on October 5, 1949 by RKO Radio Pictures and is the eleventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
".
Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
also had Wallace score full-length films for the studios. His first big success was Dumbo
Dumbo
Dumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
(1941), for which he, together with Frank Churchill
Frank Churchill
Frank Churchill was an American composer of popular music for films. He wrote most of the music for Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"...
, won his first and only Oscar in 1942. He went on to score Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
, Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
, Peter Pan
Peter Pan (1953 film)
Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
, and Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp
Lady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955, by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen...
. Characteristic of all these productions was the cooperation of several composers in the creation of the music. Wallace understood this and integrated leitmotiv-like elements from the individual songs into the film scores.
When the Disney studios began increasingly producing full-length films, Wallace also wrote scores for these. In Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a 1959 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery and Jimmy O'Dea, in a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with leprechauns. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and its screenplay written by...
(1959), Wallace wrote not only the score but also set the Lawrence Edward Watkin
Lawrence Edward Watkin
Lawrence Edward Watkin was an American author and scriptwriter. He has become known especially as a scriptwriter for a series of Walt Disney films of the 1950s....
-penned popular songs "Pretty Irish Girl" and "The Wishing Song". In Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with the Circus (1959), he appeared as an actor, playing the conductor of the circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
band.
Starting with Seal Island (1948), Wallace also specialized in musical accompaniments for Disney documentaries, including nearly all the films for the "People and Places" series and some of the "True Life Adventures". The music of White Wilderness (1958) was even nominated for an Oscar in 1959, a rare event for a documentary film.
Overall, Wallace contributed music to nearly 150 Walt Disney productions. He remained active in the studio in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
until shortly before his death at the age of 76.
Awards
- 1942 - Oscar for DumboDumboDumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
- together with Frank ChurchillFrank ChurchillFrank Churchill was an American composer of popular music for films. He wrote most of the music for Disney's 1937 movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, including "Whistle While You Work" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come"...
Wallace also received four other Oscar nominations for the music to the film Victory Through Air Power (1943), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and White Wilderness (1957).
Filmography (selection)
Most of the films were scored in collaboration with other composers.- 1941 – DumboDumboDumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
– Score - 1942 – Der Fuehrer's FaceDer Fuehrer's FaceDer Fuehrer's Face is a 1943 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon, which features Donald Duck in a nightmare setting working at a factory in Nazi Germany, was made in an effort to sell war bonds and is an example of...
– Score and title song - 1943 – Victory Through Air Power – Score (participation)
- 1947 – Fun and Fancy Free – Score (participation)
- 1948 – Seal Island – Score
- 1949 – The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. ToadThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. ToadThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 animated feature produced by Walt Disney. The film was released to theaters on October 5, 1949 by RKO Radio Pictures and is the eleventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
– Score,Voice (Mr. Winkie) - 1950 – CinderellaCinderella (1950 film)Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
– Score (participation) - 1951 – Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (1951 film)Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
– Score - 1953 – Peter PanPeter Pan (1953 film)Peter Pan is a 1953 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
– Score and some songs - 1953 – Ben and Me – Score
- 1953 – Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom – Score
- 1954 – Siam – Score
- 1955 – Men Against the Arctic – Score
- 1955 – Lady and the TrampLady and the TrampLady and the Tramp is a 1955 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released to theaters on June 22, 1955, by Buena Vista Distribution. The fifteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, it was the first animated feature filmed in the CinemaScope widescreen...
– Score (participation) - 1957 – Old YellerOld Yeller (1957 film)Old Yeller is a 1957 Walt Disney Productions film starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire and Beverly Washburn, and directed by Robert Stevenson. It is about a boy and a stray dog in post-Civil War Texas. The story is based upon the 1956 Newbery Honor-winning book Old Yeller by Fred Gipson. Gipson...
– Score and song - 1958 – White Wilderness – Score
- 1958 – Tonka – Score
- 1959 – Darby O’Gill and the Little People – Score and song
- 1960 – Jungle Cats – Score
- 1960 – Ten Who Dared – Score
- 1961 – Nikki, Wild Dog of the NorthNikki, Wild Dog of the NorthNikki, Wild Dog of the North is a 1961 Walt Disney film directed by Jack Couffer and Don Haldane.This story, based on the novel "Nomads of the North" by James Oliver Curwood, is about the adventures of a malamute dog named Nikki. Nikki and his kind master, Andre Dupas, are traveling via canoe...
– Score - 1962 – Big Red – Score
- 1962 – The Legend of Lobo – Score
- 1963 – Savage Sam – Score
- 1963 – The Incredible Journey – Score
External links
- Oliver Wallace at IMDB