Carl Stalling

Carl W. Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was a noted American composer and arranger of music for animated cartoons. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he worked, averaging one complete score each week, for twenty-two years. Stalling was born and grew up in Lexington, Missouri. He started playing piano at six. By the age of 12, he was the principal piano accompanist in his hom... more

Carl W. Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was a noted American composer and arranger of music for animated cartoons. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes shorts produced by Warner Bros., where he worked, averaging one complete score each week, for twenty-two years. Stalling was born and grew up in Lexington, Missouri. He started playing piano at six. By the age of 12, he was the principal piano accompanist in his hometown's silent movie house. By the time he was in his early twenties, he was conducting his own orchestra and improvising on the organ at the legendary Isis Movie Theatre in Kansas City. During that time, he met and befriended a young Walt Disney who was producing animated comedy shorts in Kansas City. Stalling composed several early cartoon scores for Walt Disney, including Plane Crazy and Gallopin' Gaucho in 1928, (but not Steamboat Willie, Disney's first released sound short). Early discussions with Disney about whether the animation or the... less