In 1993, a new passage in my life began – a year after my father, Sammy Timberg died. It was at that time, I went to visit my daughter Shannon Cullem during her winter break from The Juilliard School of Music in New York City.

cartoons_05 We went to a nightclub, where Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks were performing the rare orchestrations for which they are well know. Much to my amazement, they played a tune of my father’s from the 1939, full-length feature cartoon, Gulliver’s Travels called, “It’s a Hap-Hap-Happy Day”. Astonishingly, people got up and danced to it – real swing dancing! “How could people dance to cartoon music?” I wondered. Later I asked bandleader Vince, “Isn’t this just background for the cartoons?” The dancers didn’t seem to notice. They loved it!

He told me this music was part of the Big Band sound from the 1930s and 1940s that no one ever heard very clearly because it was obscured by the on screen animation. Nevertheless, these background scores were real swing music, played by some of the best jazz players in the business at the time. Much of it was written and conducted by Sammy Timberg. My father never explained this, in any detail.

Before I realized, I found myself at the Library of Congress opening a large card catalog drawer labeled “T”. Once again…Surprise! The entire drawer – about one-yard long, was filled with Sammy Timberg music written for cartoons, for Broadway shows and a collection of pop tunes composed with such notables as Sammy Cahn and Buddy Kaye. The rejuvenation of this lost legacy became a passion for me.

The search began with discovering the music behind the screen antics. What a wonderful notion – to create a body of my father’s work from the cartoons so people could enjoy the music separately, in its own right without being obscured by the sound effects, visuals and dialog.

At the time of my father’s death, I was director of Young People’s Theater and living in California . It became apparent, my life would have to take a new direction. I would have to move back to New York , where I grew up and learn the music business.

Key to this pursuit was research, research and more research. There was no sheet music to compile, no songs to be played or heard. Complicating this lack of material was the fact that in the early days of the cartoon shorts, composers were not given screen credit. It was very difficult to know in what particular cartoons my father’s songs were featured? Some were easy to place, like the tune, “Brotherly Love” was in the cartoon of the same name. However, a delightful ditty called, “Hamburger Mine” was in one called, WHAT! NO SPINACH?

Consequently, it was necessary to painstakingly peruse old ascap cue sheets to find his compositions. Retrieval of the original celluloid shorts gave me the chance to finally hear the songs.

Soon people heard of my quest and as a result, a vast amount of film, recording and print material found its way to me. The Library of Congress established a special collection of his works. This formed the basis for new projects including CDs, concert performances, a proposed documentary and a possible Broadway show. TimbergAlley.com will transport you to the delightful and harmonious world of Sammy Timberg and the projects being developed. All continuing to be a challenging, informative and ongoing process.