Music and the Hollywood Cartoon

Soundcheck | May 3, 2010
Throughout the 1930s, '40s and '50s, Hollywood's animated cartoons were a major vehicle for composers writing in a classical and jazz style. Today, music historian Daniel Goldmark gives us a history of the genre, especially the cartoons produced by major animation studios like Warner Bros., MGM, and others. Goldmark's latest book, "Tunes for 'Toons" discusses several well-known cartoons in detail, including "What's Opera, Doc?," the 1957 Warner Bros. parody of Wagner and opera. Also on the show: Associated Press music writer Nekesa Moomby Moody joins us to look at a recent phenomenon: the greatest-hits album. These once stood as a career watershed but in recent years, everyone's doing them. This calls into question just how great they really are.

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