Artist:Oliver Wallace
Song:Countdown to B-Day
Album:Lady and the Tramp: The Legacy Collection
Oliver Wallace was a composer for Walt Disney from 1936 until his death in 1963. Most of his significant scores were in the 50s including the 1955 classic Lady and the Tramp. It was his final animated feature as he fell out of favor and was replaced by George Bruns. He was born Aug. 6, 1887 in London, England. He moved to the US in 1904. He lived in Seattle conducting theater orchestras and playing organ accompanying silent films. Many film composers started out this way. With the advent of sound, Wallace moved to Los Angeles and scored uncredited for B-movies until Disney hired him in 1936. At first Wallace scored Silly Symphonies. He worked on Dumbo and Make Mine Music. His most significant short was probably the 1942 Donald Duck cartoon Der Fuhrer's Face. Wallace continued to score mostly shorts until Cinderella in 1951. He scored Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp. He also scored the 1953 Oscar winning short Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom. Of course the songs for Lady and the Tramp were written by Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke. But Wallace composed all the instrumental music. For years the Lady and the Tramp soundtrack only had the vocal tracks. But in 1997 Disney released Lady and the Tramp as part of their Legacy Collection. The first CD has the complete soundtrack including Wallace's instrumentals. The second CD has demos that were not used in the film. Lady and the Tramp was Wallace's final animated feature. He composed the score for the 1959 film Darby O'Gill and the Little People. And he also scored Disney nature films until his death on Sept. 15, 1963 at age 76. Here's a video for Countdown to B-Day by Oliver Wallace from the score of Lady and the Tramp.
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