Composer Frank Churchill’s toe-tapping “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” featured in Disney’s 1933 animated short “Three Little Pigs,” raised the spirits of countless Depression-weary audiences who adopted the song as a resilient national anthem of hope. Shortly after release of the Academy Award®-winning cartoon, Frank spoke of the song’s surprising success when more than 39,000 copies of sheet music sold within three days of publication in New York City alone.
Quoted in Photoplay magazine, he said, “It seems to be on every phonograph record … and practically every orchestra in the country is featuring this number.”
Inspired by the film’s success, Walt Disney entrusted Frank to compose music for his first feature-length animated motion picture “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” along with fellow Legend Leigh Harline. Ultimately, it was the composer’s musical genius that helped bridge the Studio’s daring transition from animated shorts to features in 1937.
Born… read more
Composer Frank Churchill’s toe-tapping “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” featured in Disney’s 1933 animated short “Three Little Pigs,” raised the spirits of countless Depression-weary audiences who adopted the song as a resilient national anthem of hope. Shortly after release of the Academy Award®-winning cartoon, Frank spoke of the song’s surprising success when more than 39,000 copies of sheet music sold within three days of publication in New York City alone.
Quoted in Photoplay magazine, he said, “It seems to be on every phonograph record … and practically every orchestra in the country is featuring this number.”
Inspired by the film’s success, Walt Disney entrusted Frank to compose music for his first feature-length animated motion picture “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” along with fellow Legend Leigh Harline. Ultimately, it was the composer’s musical genius that helped bridge the Studio’s daring transition from animated shorts to features in 1937.
Born October 20, 1901, in Rumford, Maine, Frank moved to Southern California with his family when he was four years old. An instinctive musician, inspired by classical music and composer Franz Schubert, Frank won his first professional job as a pianist at 15 accompanying silent movies at a local theater in Ventura, California.
At his parent’s behest, he began pre-med studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), but soon dropped school to pursue a career in music. For a time, he played piano for honky-tonks in Tijuana, Mexico, followed by an orchestra in Tucson, Arizona. He returned to Hollywood in 1924, and despite his lack of formal education in music, Frank won a contract as an accompanist and soloist with radio station KNX and later recorded for RKO-Radio Pictures.
In December 1930, Frank joined The Walt Disney Studios where he scored nearly 65 animated shorts, including “Mickey’s Gala Premiere,” “Funny Little Bunnies,” and “Who Killed Cock Robin?” He also wrote music for the famous Pluto and the sticky flypaper sequence featured in “Playful Pluto.”
The tall and slender, quiet and reserved Frank worked from a mere idea, story sequence or character to develop such classic Disney songs as “Whistle While You Work,” “Heigh-Ho” and “Someday My Prince Will Come” for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” earning an Oscar® nomination for Best Music, Score in 1938.
Subsequently, he was elevated to supervisor of music and went on to contribute to (and can be seen in the Studio tour sequence of) “The Reluctant Dragon,” starring humorist Robert Benchley. In 1942, he received two Academy Award® nominations for his work on “Dumbo,” including Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Song for “Baby Mine,” co-written with fellow Legend Ned Washington. A year later, his work on “Bambi,” including the ballad “Love is a Song,” co-written with Lyricist Larry Morey, received similar dual nominations.
Frank Churchill died in Newhall, California, on May 14, 1942. —Disney Legends
