Godspeed Composer Maury Laws

Maury Laws, best known as the composer and musical director on many Rankin/Bass television specials and feature films, died on March 28 2019 at the age of 95.

Maury Laws was born on December 6 1923 in Burlington, North Carolina. He entered the music business when he was only twelve. By the time he was sixteen he had taught himself to play guitar and performed at various local dance clubs and with various jazz groups. During World War II he served in the United States Army. Upon his return to the United States, he played in clubs around both the U.S. and Canada. He eventually moved to New York where he received a formal education in music. Among his teachers was Hungarian violinist and composer Tibor Serly.

He later toured with the Vaughn Monroe Orchestra. With various vocal groups he appeared on such television programmes as The Perry Como Show, Arthur Godfrey Time, and The Ed Sullivan Show. Starting in the Fifties he began writing arrangements for various recording artists. He also worked on commercials for such companies as General Electric, Eastman Kodak, American Motors, Firestone, and Revlon.

It was in 1964 that he was hired as musical director for Videocraft International, which would later become better known as Rankin/Bass. He served as musical director on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He would go onto serve as a composer on the bulk of Rankin/Bass television specials afterwards, including Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, The Hobbit, and The Wind in the Willows. He also served as a composer on feature films produced by Rankin/Bass, including The Daydreamer (1966), Mad Monster Party? (1967), and The Last Dinosaur (1977). He served as a composer on the Saturday morning cartoon King Kong, which was produced by Rankin/Bass in conjunction with Toei Animation.

Although many people might not recognise Maury Laws's name, I have to suspect that his compositions may well have been heard by more people than some better known composers. In most of the Rankin/Bass specials in the Sixties and Seventies, it was Maury Laws's music that one heard. And there is no doubt that he had an ear for catchy music. People can remember the theme song of King Kong even when they can remember little else from the animated cartoon. "The Snow Miser/Heat Miser Song" remains one of the best remembered songs from any television special. If the Rankin/Bass specials remain popular to this day, much of that credit must go to Maury Laws.