William Lava

William Benjamin "Bill" Lava (18 March 1911 - 20 February 1971) was an American composer and musical arranger. He worked on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated cartoons from 1962 to 1969, replacing the deceased Milt Franklyn, making him the last composer in the classic era of Warner Bros. Cartoons. He would finish the score of "The Jet Cage" after Franklyn passed, then proceed to fully score every cartoon released starting from "Good Noose" up to "Injun Trouble" (with the exceptions of "Mucho Locos", "Daffy Rents", and "A Squeak in the Deep" until "Quacker Tracker").
Lava's music was different from that of Franklyn and original composer Carl Stalling, rarely using any of the classical cues at the time. His cues has a tendency towards atonality. This, coupled with a decreasing orchestra due to budget cuts, resulted in significant differences in Lava's scoring, especially after both studio changes.
Lava also composed and sang the theme to the popular TV western series Cheyenne. He would also score a few cartoons for the Pink Panther series alongside Walter Greene; their themes would be recycled in later cartoons of the aforementioned series.
== Looney Works ==
See :Category:Cartoons with music by Bill Lava.
 
Category:Composers
Category:Real People
Category:Deceased
Category:1911 Births
Category:1971 Deaths