Raymond Scott Card Diorama

Sean Bright's Etsy shop is offering an adorable new handmade Raymond Scott card diorama: "Card model of musician, inventor, composer and electronic pioneer Raymond Scott. Pre-cut & folded, will be shipped in a flatpack form to ensure it arrives afely & to keep postage costs down. Comes in a delightful cd-size slip case. Measures around 12cm high." Details & ordering info: here

Fan-art by 11-year old girl

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A Raymond Scott fan was moved to tears when given this drawing made by an 11-year old girl as a birthday gift — the proud fan explains: "She doesn't know Raymond's personal background, so this emotion is based only on the music. She played piano for 3 years, moving on to clarinet next week. New influences! It made me cry with happiness."

MAD Magazine-style parody from 1955

The April 1955 issue of the Charlton Comics answer to MAD magazine parodies Raymond Scott as "Raymond Scat," along with his NBC television co-stars, including Scott's wife, as "Dorothy Collars."

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Raymond Scott on Mickopedia

Raymond Scott, as profiled on Mickopedia ("the feckin' free Irish encyclopedia"):

A 1931 graduate of the feckin' Juilliard School of Music, where he studied piano, theory and composition, Scott, under his birth name, began his professional career as an oul' pianist for the feckin' CBS Radio house band. Would ye swally this in a minute now? His older (by eight years) brother Mark conducted the oul' orchestra. Arra' would ye listen to this shite? Harry reportedly adopted the bleedin' pseudonym "Raymond Scott" to spare his brother charges of nepotism when the orchestra began performin' the bleedin' pianist's idiosyncratic compositions. In 1935 he married Pearl Zimney (1910-2001). Be the hokey, here's a quare wan.

On this date, Raymond Scott passed away at age 85: THE NEW YORK TIMES obituary

On this date in 1994 Raymond Scott passed away at age 85 — obituary from THE NEW YORK TIMES:

RAYMOND SCOTT, 85, COMPOSER

FOR CARTOONS AND THE STAGE, DIES

By William Grimes

Published: February 09, 1994

THE NEW YORK TIMES

• click above for larger view •

Raymond Scott, a jazz composer, pianist, band leader and inventor whose music found its way into dozens of Warner Brothers cartoons, died yesterday in the Country Villa Sheraton Nursing Home in North Hills, Calif. He was 85 and lived in Van Nuys, Calif.

The cause was pneumonia, said Irwin Chusid, the director of the Raymond Scott Archives in Hoboken, N.J.

Mr. Scott, whose original name was Harry Warnow, was born in Brooklyn to Russian immigrants. His father was an amateur violinist who owned a music shop. Mr. Scott played piano from an early age but planned to study engineering at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. His older brother, Mark, a violinist and conductor, steered him to the Institute of Musical Art (later renamed the Juilliard School) by offering to pay his tuition and buying him a Steinway grand piano.

Songs of Quirky Humor

After graduating from the institute in 1931, he was hired as a pianist for the CBS Radio Orchestra, which his brother conducted. When not performing, he composed quirky comic tunes, with evocative musical effects, like "New Year's Eve in a Haunted House," "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals" and "War Dance for Wooden Indians."

In late 1936, he changed his name to Raymond Scott and formed a six-man jazz group (he insisted on calling it a quintet) that performed his compositions and achieved considerable popularity for two years. In the 1940's Mr. Scott led several of his own orchestras.

In 1943, Carl Stalling, the music director of Warner Brothers, began incorporating Mr. Scott's evocative music into the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons. His quintet's music from the late 30's is now used as background music for "The Ren and Stimpy Show" on Nickelodeon.

Mr. Scott composed the music for the 1946 Broadway show "Lute Song," composed and performed music for films, and led the band on the television program "Your Hit Parade" from 1950 to 1957.

Early Synthesizer

In the late 1940's, he turned his hand to inventing electronic instruments, such as the Karloff, a machine that imitated sounds like kitchen noises, the sizzle of a frying steak, or a cough. Another of his inventions was the Clavivox, a keyboard instrument that imitated the sound of the human voice. He also created an early version of the synthesizer.

In the 1970's, Berry Gordy Jr., who had seen some of Mr. Scott's electronic instruments, hired him to head the electronic music division of Motown Records. After retiring in 1977, Mr. Scott continued to experiment with electronic instruments.

His best-known compositions were recently released by Columbia on "The Music of Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights."

Mr. Scott's first two marriages, to Pearl Winters and the singer Dorothy Collins, ended in divorce.

He is survived by his third wife, Mitzi; three daughters, Carolyn Makover of Fairfield, Conn., Deborah Studebaker of Los Angeles, and Elizabeth Adams of Watervliet, N.Y.; a son, Stanley, of Mamaroneck, N.Y., and 10 grandchildren.

T-shirt by 13-year old art student

Recently, I reported that 13-year old student Bronwyn Gragg had painted a portrait of Raymond Scott for her high school art portfolio. She's now made this t-shirt based on a paper insert that was included with the 1957 promo-only LP, The Jingle Workshop, a collection of (non-electronic) musical commercials by RS.

New painting by 13-year old art student

Bronwyn Cragg writes:

"I painted this portrait of Raymond Scott for my high school art portfolio! I did a series of similar paintings with people who have influenced me in the different arts: film, music, and literature. I also did portraits of H.P. Lovecraft and Stanley Kubrick. Raymond Scott rules!"

Demotivational Poster

“A motivational poster is commonly designed for use in schools and offices. This kind of poster has been repeatedly parodied, and parody motivational posters have become an Internet meme.”

The mischief-makers responsible for "I Can Has Cheezburger?," "FAIL Blog," and other popular comedy sites, have published this on their VeryDemotivational.com:

Selected comments:

"It’s Raymond Scott, Not Hausmann"

"OMG! He’s tormenting Dorothy Collins!"

"They were married. Doesn’t that go with the territory?"

"I believe this Raymond Scott and he produced many of the beats off of loneytunes. Also if this is the track I Think he is doing it is light works, search it. Its a hell of a track."

• SEE ALSO: "Urban Dictionary"

Toy Story: Taki76 Strikes Back

Last year, I reported that funk/soul/electro artist Taki76 had created a stop-motion video featuring the Raymond Scott figurine, with a home-made doll of himself. Now, Taki has made this new 1-minute animated film to celebrate the recent DVD release of the documentary, DECONSTRUCTING DAD. See Taki's original vid: here

What A Character

A few years ago David Garland, host of WNYC's SPINNING ON AIR, wrote to me:

I'm about a third of the way into Michael Chabon's [Pulitzer Prize winning novel], The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (published by Random House), and to my surprise Raymond Scott shows up as a character in the story. The novel is set in New York City, and at this point in the story it's 1940. They've just gone to a party for Salvador Dali:

"Most of the names were unfamiliar to Joe, but he did recognize Raymond Scott, a composer who had recently hit it big with a series of whimsical, cacophonous, breakneck pseudo-jazz pop tunes. Just the other day, when Joe stopped at Hippodrome Radio, they had been playing his new record, 'Yesterthoughts,' over the store PA. Scott was feeding a steady diet of Louis Armstrong platters to the portable RCA while explaining what he had meant when he referred to Satchmo as, 'the Einstein of the blues.' As the notes fluttered out of the fabric-covered loudspeaker, he would point at them, as if to illustrate what he was saying, and even tried to snatch at one with his hands. He kept turning the volume up, the better to compete with the less important conversations taking place around him."

A few pages later, Dali, who was wearing an old-fashioned diving suit, begins to suffocate, and Raymond Scott tries to remove Dali's metal helmet. In that scene, when someone suggests they remove Dali's helmet, Scott shouts, "What the f*ck do you think I'm trying to do?!" That seems uncharacteristic to me, but what the f*ck do I know about how much d*mn cursing Raymond did? So far, I'm enjoying the book a lot.
—David Garland

Another email I received today:

Hi: I am a librarian in San Bruno, CA and I have a patron who is trying to find the sound/music for something he thinks Raymond Scott wrote. Michael Chabon, in his "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," writes, "The doorbell played its weird tune, Raymond Scott's shortest composition, 'Fanfare for the Fuller Brush Man.'" Does such a composition exist and if yes, can I get the sheet music or do you know where the patron could hear it?
 Thank you in advance.

Although Scott released a tune titled "Yesterthoughts" in 1940, the events depicted in this novel, as well as the composition "Fanfare for the Fuller Brush Man," are creations from Chabon's imagination. Scott did, however, invent an electronic musical doorbell.

• Order the book from: Amazon

The Return of Taki76

A few weeks ago, I reported that Ropeadope recording artist Taki76 had made a toy of himself to 'jam' with his Raymond Scott figure. With these dolls and others, Taki has now created an RS tribute video featuring his homemade stop-motion animation. The soundtrack is Taki's new cover of Scott's "Powerhouse," with rhymin' courtesy of Jenny Jen The Skate Woman. (Don't blink or you'll miss cameos by Andre 3000, Mr. T, Doom's mask, Pac-Man, and others.)

Select a video format:

• YouTube • Vimeo • MySpace Video

Download a free MP3 of Taki76's "Powerhouse" cover and other goodies here.

UPDATE from Taki: "I made a black & white version just for fun. I used an original Scott recording of 'Powerhouse': here."

Taki76

Funk/soul/electro artist Taki76 reports:

"I love the Raymond Scott toy figure so much, it inspired me to make one of myself!"

He's A Doll!

After two years in development, Japanese artist toy company Presspop Gallery have released their Raymond Scott 100th Anniversary vinyl figurine & CD set.

The deluxe limited edition package features a miniature replica of Scott's Clavivox, his patented 1950s keyboard synthesizer, and a CD featuring rare, unreleased tracks from the Scott Archives. Presspop have produced only a small batch of these unique high-quality sets, so order now (Presspop's Bob Moog figurine sold out quickly). RaymondScott.com is the exclusive US retailer. In-stock & shipping now.

>>> Order: here

• Vinyl figure height: 6" • Vinyl Clavivox height: 3"
• Figure wears jacket of fabric
• CD: 5 tracks (2 Previously Unreleased)
• Designed by: ARCHER PREWITT
• Project Advisor & CD producer/compiler: JEFF WINNER

P.S. Celebration on the Planet Boing.

Portrait by DREW FRIEDMAN

A portrait of our revered musical control freak by renowned caricaturist (and Raymond Scott fan) Drew Friedman. The image depicts a beaming RS at the controls in a spaghetti-tangle of mic cords while his legendary 1937-39 Quintette runs through the ninety-sixth take of "Screwball Music for a Pack of Weary Sidemen."

You can buy a signed, limited edition fine art print of the painting: HERE. We're offering 30 numbered & titled giclée prints signed by the artist in a large (16" x 15") wall display format. The launch price is $300 for each of the first ten prints, after which the price will increase as the edition sells out.

Strange as it may seem considering the popularity and stature of Mr. Friedman's imagery, this is the first time his work is being offered in a signed limited edition.

P.S.: The tightest comprehensive bio of Scott ever — 650 words — posted at BoingBoing.com.

P.P.S.: Scott concert Sunday afternoon, Sept. 14 at West Point.

"Famous Young Maestro & Composer of Modern Music"

THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS published this not-so-flattering caricature of Raymond Scott, drawn by Roy C. Nelson, when Scott's orchestra swung at Chicago's Blackhawk Restaurant in 1940.

Thanks to illustrator & animation designer Shane Glines (Spumco, Warner Bros. Batman, Superman.) of CartoonRetro.com ("home to the world's largest online archive of vintage illustration, animation, comics and cartoons") for archiving this curio.

Scott by Marc Crisafulli

pen and felt-tip marker on paper (1997)