Winston Sharples

Winston Sharples
Winston Sharples, ca 1929
Born	March 1, 1909 Fall River, Massachusetts
Died	April 3, 1978 (aged 69) Hilton Head, South Carolina
Nationality	US
Occupation	musician
Known for	cartoon and film music
Spouse(s)	Daisy Josephine Shockley (m 1931)

Winston Singleton Sharples (March 1, 1909 – April 3, 1978) was an American composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures. In his 35-year career Sharples scored more than 700 cartoons for Paramount and Famous Studios, and composed music for two Frank Buck films, Wild Cargo (1934) and Fang and Claw (1935).

Sharples was born in Fall River, Massachusetts to William, a machinist, and Mary Sharples, and was playing piano in vaudeville at the age of eight. Sharples was well educated, with a BA from Harvard University, an M.F.A. in drama from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and continued studies at the Yale University Graduate School of Drama.

Sharples appeared on radio for two years starting in 1930 through 1932, playing the piano on a 15-minute morning program at various stations in Connecticut. He relocated to New York City in 1932, where he played piano and occasionally bass with Vincent Lopez's orchestra.

Sharples replaced Gene Rodemich in scoring cartoons for the Van Beuren Studios in 1932 after Walter Winchell praised his work with Lopez in a column, which was read by studio owner Amadee Van Beuren. Sharples stayed at Van Beuren until 1936, during which time he composed music for two Frank Buck films, Wild Cargo (1934) and Fang and Claw (1935). In 1938 Sharples composed the music for the Max Fleischer full-length animated production of Gulliver's Travels. Several of the songs from that production were used throughout subsequent years in Paramount shorts, with the most notable being "It's A Hap-Hap-Happy Day." He joined ASCAP in 1948. In 1958 Sharples teamed with Joe Oriolo for musical production on the Felix the Cat television series. That series made extensive use of stock music composed for the Paramount shorts as well as Sharples' distinctive theme song.