Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection
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Abstract
The Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection chronicles the career of Norman "Buddy" Baker in his roles as composer, orchestrator, conductor, and musical director with Walt Disney Studios from the mid 1950s to the 1980s. The bulk of the collection consists of autograph, typed, and photocopied music scores, sketches, lead sheets, musical breakdowns and parts from music composed for Walt Disney theatrical, television, and theme park productions.
Biographical Note
The Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection, consisting of nearly 12,000 pages, chronicles the celebrated career of Norman "Buddy" Baker in his roles as composer, orchestrator, conductor, and musical director with Walt Disney Studios - much of it spent in daily collaboration with Walt Disney. Initially hired as an orchestrator for the 1954 television series Davy Crockett, and appointed as the musical director of the original Mickey Mouse Club in 1955, his twenty-eight years with Disney Studios featured 40 films, 125 television shows, and music for the Disney theme park attractions worldwide, including The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of The Caribbean, and It's A Small World at Disneyland. Among his scores for live-action and animated theatrical features were The Monkey's Uncle (1965), the Cannes award-winning featurette Donald In Mathmagicland, the Oscar-nominated Napoleon and Samantha (1971), and The Fox and The Hound (1981).
He was awarded the accolade Disney Legend in 1998, the Walt Disney Corporation's most prestigious creative award. Honoring his multifaceted career as composer and pedagogue, Buddy was the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. Buddy Baker's pre-Disney years, as jazz trumpeter and composer/arranger in the big-band era, featured collaborations with jazz legends Harry James and Stan Kenton. His 1944 arrangement of Stan Kenton's And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine became a Top 10 hit. Buddy also served as music director for the live radio shows of Bob Hope and Jack Benny.
Buddy's music is embedded in American culture through television in The Wonderful World of Color, The Mousketeer Club, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. In the years following Disney's death in 1966, Buddy Baker continued to compose music for many of the attractions and rides throughout the Disney theme parks, including The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of The Caribbean. At one point, Buddy had composed the lion's share of all music heard in the Disney parks worldwide.
Buddy Baker was a pioneer and great proponent of the study of film scoring in higher education. His teaching career began in the 1940's at Los Angeles' City College, where one of his students was Jerry Goldsmith. From 1987 until his death on July 26, 2002 at the age of 84, he was the driving force and Chair of the USC Program in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television.
Arrangement
The Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection is arranged into four series in which the material is arranged alphabetically by production title.
Series I: Manuscript Scores by Buddy Baker;
Series II: Manuscript Scores by Others;
Series III: Assorted Media;
Series IV: Miscellaneous.
Scope and Content Note
The Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection, consisting of nearly 12,000 pages, chronicles the celebrated career of Norman "Buddy" Baker in his roles as composer, orchestrator, conductor, and musical director with Walt Disney Studios - much of it spent in daily collaboration with Walt Disney. The Collection consists of 94 boxes of approximately 103 linear feet of materials. The majority of the collection consists of manuscript scores composed by Buddy Baker for Disney productions. The purposes of the scores fall under the broad categories of film, television, and theme parks, along with a fair amount of material whose production purpose is unspecified.
The collection includes various autograph, typed and photocopy versions of materials, including autograph scores, conductor short scores, sketches, typed scripts, vocal and orchestral parts, lead sheets, and music breakdown forms.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open without restrictions. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Use Restrictions
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, which was created by Norman "Buddy" Baker, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); The Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection; MSS 158; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection was donated to the Fales Library in 2004 by Buddy Baker's wife, Charlotte Baker.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials that have not been preserved may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Separated Material
There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
