Ted Nichols, who composed, conducted and arranged the music for beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoons such as Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, where are you! and Josie and the catsHe died. He was 97 years old.
Nichols had a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and died Jan. 9 at a nursing home in Auburn, Washington, said his daughter, Karen Tullichug. Hollywood Reporter.
Nichols worked for Hanna-Barbera Productions from 1963 to 1972, serving as the company’s music director for the last eight years of his tenure. He began working alongside another legendary HB composer, Hoyt Curtin, before being succeeded and subsequently replaced by him.
Nichols composed the score for the sixth and final season (1965–66) of the original primetime run of Flintstones on ABC as well as for a 1966 feature The man named Flintstone.
He is perhaps best known for his work on Scooby Doo Where Are You!, which premiered on CBS Saturday mornings in September 1969.
“Ted Nichols confirms[to[forScooby Doo]is what I consider to be a near-perfect set of music for animation,” says Cade Utterback in his comprehensive 2021 documentary on Hanna-Barbera’s music. “It’s perfect for the show it was on. You can’t tell me it doesn’t help set the mood.
“There are a few tracks that run for a few minutes and contain several sections. The music editors knew this was a bonus as they mixed and matched parts of all the tracks to create a beautiful Frankenstein’s monster on a musical bed in each episode.”
Utterback points out that Nichols’ music will continue to be used everywhere Scooby Doo Series until 1985.
An only child, Theodore Nicholas Svlotsos was born on October 2, 1928, in Missoula, Montana. He and his parents, Nicholas and Josephine, moved to Spokane, Washington, and he began playing the violin at the age of ten.
He graduated from John R. Rogers High School and in 1946 joined the U.S. Navy, where he performed in a swing band based in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the Korean War, he was commandant of the USAF Band Training School, recruiting musicians from Juilliard and other schools.
Along the way, he earned music degrees from Baylor University and Texas A&I and taught public school in Corpus Christi, where he conducted the youth symphony. Nichols then moved to California, directing the band at Santa Ana Junior College and singing with the Dapper Dans at Disneyland from 1958 to 1960.
While serving as music minister at Open Door Church in Glendora, California, he first met Hanna-Barbera co-founder William Hanna.
In 1964, Nichols collaborated with Curtin to write the score for the first incarnation of the adventure cartoon. Johnny Quest Before Curtin left the company in 1965, Nichols became the primary musical director.
He went to work on Space ghost, Birdman and Galaxy Trio, Herakloid, The Fabulous Four, Secret Squirrel Show, Shazan, Atomic Ant Show, Wacky Races (And the branches Penelope Pitstop Risks and Treacherous and Motley and their flying machines), Josie and the pussysand Show gravel and bam bam and live event series The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Nichols left HB to write operas and gospel works, serve as musical director for the Campus Crusade for Christ, and organize children’s musical groups.
“TED’s music successfully bridged the gap between science fiction and Saturday morning slapstick programming as demands for greater social control and regulation of media violence grew in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968,” said Kevin Sandler, co-editor of the 2024 book. Hanna-Barbera talksHe pointed out in a statement to THR.
“He used woodwinds and brass instruments less and more in his instrumentation Scooby Doo and other sitcoms for a lighter, more fun sound.
In addition to his daughter, survivors include his son, David; grandchildren Tawny, Kevin, Brian, Alex, Carson and Cami; and six granddaughters. He was married twice, to Doris from 1950 until her death in October 2009 and to her younger sister Catherine from 2011 until her death in December 2020.
