Biography
Milton J. "Milt" Franklyn (September 16, 1897 – April 24, 1962) was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons.
Franklyn moved from New York to Salt Lake City at the age of three, where he went to high school and finished one year at the University of Utah. He was the state junior tennis champion in Utah for six years. The next two years were spent at the University of California, Berkeley, then he began a term at Pennsylvania University when he was called to service in World War One. Franklyn did not serve overseas; he trained as a naval officer for three months and then the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. He returned to Berkeley to finish his education. As Franklyn could play a number of instruments, he joined a band in San Francisco and for the next few years played at the Palace and St. Francis hotels. He began his own nine-piece orchestra, known at various times as the Peninsula Band, the Super Soloists, and the Merrimakers, and appeared in San Mateo (1926 to June 1927), where he also owned a music store, and San Jose (1928 to January 1929), where he was Master of Ceremonies and wrote revues for the California Theatre before moving on to Fresno and Oakland. For two years he was emcee with Fanchon and Marco at Fox West Coast in San Diego; musical director and emcee with Paramount Publix Corporation, travelling to Seattle, Denver, Houston and Toledo; and finally worked on the Loew's circuit in Providence, Rhode Island and New York City from 1933 to 1935. Franklyn quit vaudeville to go to Hollywood in 1935 and spent a year doing occasional work.
In early 1936, he joined Warner Bros. as music arranger to Carl Stalling, becoming music director in 1953. The first cartoon with Franklyn credited as a composer was Bugs and Thugs, released in 1954, though Franklyn estimated at the time his 599th cartoon for Warners was Past Perfumance. Franklyn always composed his scores at home early in the morning; he only went to the studio to watch the 30-piece Warner Bros. Orchestra record the music or to view the finished cartoon. Among the songs Franklyn is said to have composed with director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese is The Michigan Rag for the 1955 cartoon One Froggy Evening, featuring Michigan J. Frog. However, the ASCAP database lists only Maltese as the composer. He became the sole composer in 1958 upon Stalling's retirement.
Franklyn died of a heart attack on April 24, 1962. At the time of his death, Franklyn was composing the score for a Tweety cartoon, The Jet Cage. The first two minutes of the cartoon were scored by Franklyn, the rest by William Lava, who had been working on the Warner Bros. main lot and replaced him as musical director. The Jet Cage opening credits lists Franklyn and not Lava, while the ASCAP database credits Franklyn with composing the opening title, with no mention of Lava, but a change in composing style in the cartoon is noticeable. Franklyn joined ASCAP in 1954 and was a member of the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. After his death, Franklyn's music also appeared in Bugs Bunny on Broadway.
Filmography
all 213
Movies 213
Director 11

The Duxorcist (1987)

Zip Zip Hooray! (1965)

Roadrunner a Go-Go (1965)

Mother Was a Rooster (1962)

The Jet Cage (1962)

Honey's Money (1962)

The Slick Chick (1962)

Zoom at the Top (1962)

Bill of Hare (1962)

Mexican Boarders (1962)

Crows' Feat (1962)

Quackodile Tears (1962)

Fish and Slips (1962)

A Sheep in the Deep (1962)

Wet Hare (1962)

Nelly's Folly (1961)

The Last Hungry Cat (1961)

Beep Prepared (1961)

What's My Lion? (1961)

Daffy's Inn Trouble (1961)

Prince Violent (1961)

Compressed Hare (1961)

Lickety-Splat (1961)

D' Fightin' Ones (1961)

Birds of a Father (1961)

Strangled Eggs (1961)

Hoppy Daze (1961)

Zip 'n Snort (1961)

Cannery Woe (1961)

Lighter Than Hare (1960)

High Note (1960)

Dog Gone People (1960)

Trip for Tat (1960)

The Dixie Fryer (1960)

From Hare to Heir (1960)

Mice Follies (1960)

Mouse and Garden (1960)

Crockett-Doodle-Do (1960)

Rabbit's Feat (1960)

Hyde and Go Tweet (1960)

Who Scent You? (1960)

Person to Bunny (1960)

Wild Wild World (1960)

Horse Hare (1960)

West of the Pesos (1960)

People Are Bunny (1959)

Tweet Dreams (1959)

Unnatural History (1959)

Wild About Hurry (1959)

Bonanza Bunny (1959)

Cat's Paw (1959)

Wild and Woolly Hare (1959)

Tweet and Lovely (1959)

Mexicali Shmoes (1959)

Really Scent (1959)

Backwoods Bunny (1959)

A Mutt in a Rut (1959)

Hot-Rod and Reel! (1959)

Trick or Tweet (1959)

Apes of Wrath (1959)

China Jones (1959)

Mouse-Placed Kitten (1959)

Cat Feud (1958)

Knighty Knight Bugs (1958)

Dog Tales (1958)

Now, Hare This (1958)

Feather Bluster (1958)

A Waggily Tale (1958)

Whoa, Be-Gone! (1958)

A Pizza Tweety-Pie (1958)

Hare-Less Wolf (1958)

Tortilla Flaps (1958)

Don't Axe Me (1958)

Drafty, Isn't It? (1957)

Rabbit Romeo (1957)

Gonzales' Tamales (1957)

Mouse-Taken Identity (1957)

Touché and Go (1957)

Zoom and Bored (1957)

Bugsy and Mugsy (1957)

Ducking the Devil (1957)

Birds Anonymous (1957)

Tabasco Road (1957)

What's Opera, Doc? (1957)

Boston Quackie (1957)

Steal Wool (1957)

Piker's Peak (1957)

Fox-Terror (1957)

Cheese It, the Cat! (1957)

Boyhood Daze (1957)

Bedevilled Rabbit (1957)

Ali Baba Bunny (1957)

Go Fly a Kit (1957)

Scrambled Aches (1957)

Tweet Zoo (1957)

To Hare Is Human (1956)

The Honey-Mousers (1956)

90 Day Wondering (1956)

Deduce, You Say (1956)

Tree Cornered Tweety (1956)

Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z (1956)

Rabbitson Crusoe (1956)

Tweet and Sour (1956)

Broom-Stick Bunny (1956)

Weasel Stop (1956)

Too Hop to Handle (1956)

One Froggy Evening (1955)

Roman Legion-Hare (1955)

Two Scent's Worth (1955)

Knight-Mare Hare (1955)

Dime to Retire (1955)

A Kiddies Kitty (1955)

Double or Mutton (1955)

Lumber Jerks (1955)

Rabbit Rampage (1955)

Tweety's Circus (1955)

Past Perfumance (1955)

Stork Naked (1955)

Pests for Guests (1955)

A Hitch in Time (1955)

Pizzicato Pussycat (1955)

Baby Buggy Bunny (1954)

Devil May Hare (1954)

Claws for Alarm (1954)

Dr. Jerkyl's Hide (1954)

Bell Hoppy (1954)

The Cats Bah (1954)

Bugs and Thugs (1954)

A Street Cat Named Sylvester (1953)

Much Ado About Nutting (1953)

Fowl Weather (1953)

Duck Amuck (1953)

Forward March Hare (1953)

Water, Water Every Hare (1952)

Little Beau Pepé (1952)

French Rarebit (1951)

Rabbit Every Monday (1951)

Rabbit of Seville (1950)

Big House Bunny (1950)

Long-Haired Hare (1949)

High Diving Hare (1949)

I Taw a Putty Tat (1948)

Roughly Squeaking (1946)

Daffy Doodles (1946)

Baseball Bugs (1946)

Fighting Tools (1943)

Hiss and Make Up (1943)

Greetings Bait (1943)

To Duck.... Or Not to Duck (1943)

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)

Daffy's Southern Exposure (1942)

Wabbit Twouble (1941)

The Henpecked Duck (1941)

Aviation Vacation (1941)

Meet John Doughboy (1941)

Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)

Dangerous Dan McFoo (1939)

Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (1939)

Have You Got Any Castles? (1938)

Picador Porky (1937)

Milk and Money (1936)
Information
Known ForSound
GenderMale
Birthday1897-09-16
Deathday1962-04-24 (64 years old)
Birth PlaceNew York City, United States
CitizenshipsUnited States
Also Known AsMilt J. Franklyn, Milt Franklin, M. Milt Franklyn
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