Buddy Baker (composer)

Norman Dale "Buddy" Baker (January 4, 1918 – July 26, 2002) was an American composer who scored many Disney films, such as The Apple Dumpling Gang in 1975, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again in 1979, The Shaggy D.A. in 1976, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1977, and The Fox and the Hound in 1981.[1]

Buddy Baker
Birth nameNorman Dale Baker
Born(1918-01-04)January 4, 1918
Springfield, Missouri, U.S.
DiedJuly 26, 2002(2002-07-26) (aged 84)
Hollywood, California
GenresSoundtrack
Occupation(s)Composer
Years active1934–1994

Biography

Baker was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, and got his degree in music from Southwest Baptist College. He later went to the West Coast in the 1930s to arrange music scores for radio. He became the Musical Director on Bob Hope's radio show.

Career

One of his first hits as a big band arranger on record was "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He later became a professor at L.A. City College in the early 1950s. Among his early students were film composer Jerry Goldsmith and jazz drummer Louis Bellson with whom he composed and arranged Journey Into Love (Norgran, 1954).[2]

At about this time, his friend George Bruns asked him to compose music for the Disney television show Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. He stayed on at the Disney studio, and eventually became its music director, as well as chief composer for Disneyland and other Disney theme parks.

Buddy Baker was nominated for an Academy Award for his score to the 1972 film Napoleon and Samantha. His work appears in many Disney cartoons and featurettes, including Donald in Mathmagic Land, which was nominated for a 1959 Academy Award (Best Documentary - Short Subjects). In 1978, he composed the music for the first Walt Disney Home Video logo, known as the "Neon Mickey" logo. The music was a loud string fanfare.

Buddy Baker arranged and conducted most of the Winnie-the-Pooh musical featurettes. He also conducted the music for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh theme park attractions worldwide at the age of 81 in 1999.

The eerie music played throughout the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland was another work by Baker, as was the infectious theme to Walt Disney World's If You Had Wings. Baker arranged the medley of French classical music that accompanies the film Impressions de France at EPCOT Center, which artfully integrates works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, among others. The music to the Tokyo DisneySea theme park attraction Journey to the Center of the Earth, which opened in 2001, was also composed by Baker.

Later years and death

Baker retired from Disney having been the last contracted music staff composer still on contract at any studio. Although occasionally returning to work on theme park, film and television projects, he spent the majority of his later years teaching film scoring at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. He held that job until his death from natural causes at age 84 in 2002. His interment was at Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery. In 2004, Baker's wife Charlotte donated his papers to the Fales Library at New York University.

Selected filmography
Year Title Director(s) Studio(s)
1953Wicked WomanRussell RouseUnited Artists
1960Toby TylerCharles BartonWalt Disney Productions
1963Summer MagicJames NeilsonWalt Disney Productions
1964A Tiger WalksNorman TokarWalt Disney Productions
The Misadventures of Merlin JonesRobert StevensonWalt Disney Productions
1965The Monkey's UncleRobert StevensonWalt Disney Productions
1967The Gnome-MobileRobert StevensonWalt Disney Productions
1969RascalNorman TokarWalt Disney Productions
Guns in the HeatherRobert ButlerWalt Disney Productions
1970King of the GrizzliesRon KellyWalt Disney Productions
1971The Million Dollar DuckVincent McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
1972Napoleon and SamanthaBernard McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
Run, Cougar, RunJerome CourtlandWalt Disney Productions
1973Charley and the AngelVincent McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
SuperdadVincent McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
1974The Bears and IBernard McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
1975The Apple Dumpling GangNorman TokarWalt Disney Productions
1976No Deposit, No ReturnNorman TokarWalt Disney Productions
Treasure of MatecumbeVincent McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
The Shaggy D.A.Robert StevensonWalt Disney Productions
1977The Many Adventures of Winnie the PoohWolfgang Reitherman
John Lounsbery		Walt Disney Productions
A Tale of Two CrittersJack SpearsWalt Disney Productions
1978Hot Lead and Cold FeetRobert ButlerWalt Disney Productions
1979The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides AgainVincent McEveetyWalt Disney Productions
1981The Devil and Max DevlinSteven Hilliard SternWalt Disney Productions
The Fox and the HoundTed Berman
Richard Rich
Art Stevens		Walt Disney Productions
1987The Puppetoon MovieArnold LeibovitArnold Leibovit Entertainment

References
  1. A Buddy Baker Tribute, accessed December 15, 2015
  2. Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program NEA Jazz Master interview: Louis Bellson, October 2 & 21, 2005
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