
Hoyt Curtin
Sound
1922-09-09 - Present
Hoyt Curtin was born in Downey, California, but grew up in San Bernadino. He began playing the piano when he was 5, and by ninth grade, he had his own orchestra. He graduated from the San Bernadino High School in 1940 and the University of Southern California in 1943. While at USC, he enrolled in the Navy V-7 program, and after graduation, was assigned to Northwestern University for advanced training. He received his commission as an ensign in 1944 and was assigned to the destroyer base in San Diego. He saw duty in the Pacific during World War II and was slightly injured with a shrapnel wound in his leg. After the war, he completed his Master's Degree in music from USC. While there, he took a course in composition for motion pictures, taught by Miklos Rozsa. His intention was to be a film composer. However, his big break came in the late 1950s when he scored a Schlitz beer commercial that was being produced at MGM. The producers of the commercial were William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, who asked Curtin if he would write the music for a cartoon series they were going to produce, called "Ruff and Ready." The producers called him on the phone with the lyrics, and five minutes later Curtin called them back with a song. When Hanna and Barbera left MGM to form their own company in 1957, they took Curtin along. Curtin would write the songs for "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons," the same way he wrote his earlier songs; back and forth on the telephone. He eventually became the musical director for the company. Curtin died on December 3, 2000, at a hospital in Thousand Oaks, California.
Credits

Casper's First Christmas

Yogi's First Christmas

The Flintstones: Little Big League

Mesa of Lost Women

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park

Star Fairies

Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper

Jail Bait

The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone

Timber Tramps

The Last of the Curlews

A Christmas Story

Oliver and the Artful Dodger
Daniel and the Lion's Den

The Easter Story

The Creation - Greatest Adventure Stories from the Bible

The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special

Snoopy Loopy

The Flintstones: Jogging Fever

Samson and Delilah

Trouble Indemnity

Yogi's Birthday Party

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't

Magoo's Canine Mutiny

The Count of Monte Cristo