- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWalter Scott Bradley
- Walter Scott Bradley was a legendary composer for animated cartoons, namely from the 1920s to the 1950s. He was born on November 26, 1891 in Russellville, Arkansas. Piano was his specialty. Bradley noted that he started out performing a theaters and conductions in Houston, Texas. In 1926, he moved to Los Angeles to practice music even more!
Bradley was very busy during this time; as a staff musician for Walt Disney (1929), Ub Iwerks (1930-1934), and Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising (1934-1938)! His most notable success during this time was 1938's Cartoonia. In 1937, when MGM's new cartoon studio was established, Bradley was permanently hired and remained with the department for 20 years. At first, Bradley composed popular and anonymous music, but by the mid 1940s, his music conduction started to become more original and complex, namely the "twelve tone technique". This began with the 1944 Tom and Jerry short "Puttin' On the Dog. Many people criticized Bradley's composition, with one even saying that he is going to break fingers!
Bradley worked a lot with Tom and Jerry's co-creator William Hanna, because both worked on timing. In 1954, MGM terminated it's weekly contract with Bradley but still paid him $1000 per film. This theme remained evident until the cartoon studio closed it's doors in 1958, after the point which Bradley retired after having spent about 45 years in music.
He died on April 27, 1977 in Chatsworth, California at the age of 85. He lived in Chatsworth for over 40 years! Bradley is still best known for scoring almost all the MGM cartoons. Many of his conductions have been performed in the concert hall, just like what Bradley had done before.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpouseMyrtle Olive Davis(December 2, 1934 - April 27, 1977) (his death, 2 children)
- ChildrenRita HeldNestor Aber, Jr.
- ParentsElmyra "Myra" DoggettHorace Bradley, Sr.
- RelativesEileen A. Bradley(Sibling)Horace Bradley, Jr.(Sibling)
- One of the most important composers if not the best of cartoon music composers in Hollywood golden age of cartoons. Staff musician for Disney (1929), with Ub Iwerks (1930-34), music director for Harman-Ising, and, from 1937, with MGM. Scored more than 300 cartoons, highlighting the antics of Tom & Jerry, Droopy, Barney Bear, Screwy Squirrel, and George & Junior, and the one-shot gag films that were Avery's specialty. During the early 1930s, he also composed tone poems and oratorios, performed in concert in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
- Shawn Roney, in his thesis A Frog, A Cat, A Mouse, A "Deranged Genius" and More: The Story of MGM Cartoons (1998), quoted his interview with Hanna:
"I worked close with Scott Bradley because I did all of the timing of the Tom and Jerrys and did a lot of my work on bar sheets, where the actual notes were written down. . . . And he was always very cooperative and - in working closely with him - why, we could almost tell him exactly, or I could tell him exactly, what we had in mind and we wanted and he always seemed to be able to fulfill that. ... We worked with Scott on a daily basis. He was [a] much older man than we were; and as far [as] having any social life together, we didn't. But he was certainly a pleasure to work with and a great talent and a lot of fun.". - In an 1977 interview with Mike Barrier and Milt Gray, Scott Bradley told them that in 1934 Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were looking for a composer for their new cartoon: "they had a picture they wanted to do at Paramount Studios, and they were looking for someone to do the music. Frank Marsales was working for Rudy and Hugh, but his hand was injured. . . . I was at home and not working at the time, and they called me. I had never met them nor they met me. . . . I knew they were working with a small budget, so instead of charging them $500.00 for the job, I gave them the music for $250.00. ".
- Bradley lived in the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth for over 40 years. His ashes are interred at Chatsworth's Oakwood Memorial Park, Section G.
- Was the sole music director of MGM's cartoon studio throughout its history (1937-1957). In 1954 MGM terminated Bradley's weekly contract but retained his services as an independent contractor, paying him $1000 for each cartoon score. MGM closed its animation department in 1957 and Bradley retired.
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