William Lava
| William "Bill" Lava | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William B. Lava |
| Born |
March 18, 1911 St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | February 20, 1971 (aged 59) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | film score |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Years active | 1936–1971 |
William "Bill" B. Lava (March 18, 1911 – February 20, 1971) was a composer and arranger who composed and conducted music for many feature films as well as that for the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated cartoons from 1962 to 1969, replacing the deceased Milt Franklyn, making him the last composer and arranger in the classic era of Warner Bros. Cartoons.
Lava's music was markedly different from that of Franklyn and previous composer Carl Stalling, with a tendency towards atonality. A sense of tension is often created in Lava's scores using sequences based on the notes of the diminished seventh chord.
Lava also composed and sang the theme to the TV western series Cheyenne and composed the original theme from Gunsmoke.
Lava was educated at Von Humboldt Grammar School and Lane Tech High School in Chicago, then attended Northwestern University where his major was journalism. He studied conducting with Dr. Albert Coates in Los Angeles. Lava also wrote short stories for various magazines and was the editor of Northwestern Commerce Magazine and associate editor of Purple Parrot..
Arriving in Hollywood in 1936, Lava arranged for musical radio programs, then scored a number of serials such as Zorro's Fighting Legion and motion pictures, such as The Painted Stallion; A Boy and His Dog; Embraceable You; Dangerously They Live; The Hidden Hand; I Won't Play; Star in the Night and Hitler Lives. He was also responsible for scores for the Warner Bros.' Joe McDoakes short subjects and Republic serials. Among his compositions during this era were The Moonrise Song (It Just Dawned On Me).
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