Buddy Baker

Who was Buddy Baker?

Norman "Buddy" Baker was an American composer who scored many Disney films, such as The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, The Shaggy D.A., The Million Dollar Duck and The Fox and the Hound.

Baker was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, and got his degree in music from Southwest Baptist College. He later went to the West Coast in the 1930s to arrange music scores for radio. He became the Musical Director on Bob Hope's radio show.

One of his first hits as a big band arranger on record was "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" for the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He later became a professor at L.A. City College in the early 1950s. Among his early students was Jerry Goldsmith.

At about this time, his friend George Bruns asked him to compose music for the Disney television show Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. He stayed on at the Disney studio, and eventually became its music director, as well as chief composer for Disneyland and other Disney theme parks.

Baker was nominated for an Academy Award for his score the film Napoleon and Samantha. His work appears in many Disney cartoons and featurettes, including Donald in Mathmagic Land, which was nominated for a 1959 Academy Award. In 1978, he composed the music for the first Walt Disney Home Video logo, known as the "Neon Mickey" logo. The music was a loud string fanfare.