# A Death to Set Your Toes a-Tappin' **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191 "2000-12-12T17:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/1 "2000-12-12T17:20:47Z")
Hoyt Curtin died on December 3, at the age of 78. He wrote the theme songs for such cartoons as “The Flintstones,” “The Jetsons,” “Ruff and Reddy,” “Quick Draw McGraw,” “Yogi Bear,” “Scooby Doo,” “Magilla Gorilla,” “Top Cat,” and “Jonny Quest.” Now, all together, in a slow, funereal march tempo: "Flintstones . . . Meet the Flintstones . . . " ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/2 "2000-12-12T17:36:56Z")
That’s a macabre way to put it Eve but now I’ll have the Flinstones song and Joe Jackson running through my head all day. ---
**Author:** ![Scarred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Scarred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarred)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/3 "2000-12-12T17:43:06Z")
Shouldn’t that be “Headstones…”? Or not. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/4 "2000-12-12T18:05:43Z")
Damn, **Eve** , ya beat me to it! [sub]stupid work obligations _grumblemumble_[/sub] Headstone! Curtin’s headstone Now it’s occupied for all to seeeee Hoyt has Shuffled off this Mortal coil and into historeeeeee Let’s ride In the hearse that’s big and black We’ll have one less rider coming back Thanks, Hoyt For the theme songs We’ll be singin’ them a long time A really long time We’ll sing 'em ALL THE TIIIIIIME! _inspired by **Scarred**. So sue me._ ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/5 "2000-12-12T19:06:11Z")
Thanks for that musical interlude, Olent . . . If you think I’m falling down on the job, please visit the “crackers in soup” thread for MY latest Top-40 hit. ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/6 "2000-12-12T19:19:55Z")
“Ruff and Reddy”? Was that some type of porn-anime or something? 😉 Olen, bang up job on the song, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/7 "2000-12-12T20:53:08Z")
Nice one, Olent! But now I’m going to have to tell my husband that the guy that wrote the theme to his favorite cartoon is gone. He’s gonna be bummed. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/8 "2000-12-12T21:22:22Z")
Ruff and Reddy were far back enough that my memory of them is pretty hazy, and I’d need Eve to jog my mind on the theme song. But I watched them when I was a kid. A cartoon dog-and-cat duo. I opened this thread thinking, “That sounds like a mystery title - I didn’t know **Eve** was a mystery fan.” So I was misled. 😉 Now I’m going to have to sing Olent’s “Headstones” to my wife. Boy, does she put up with a lot. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/9 "2000-12-12T22:34:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > **Ruff and Reddy were far back enough that my memory of them is pretty hazy, and I’d need Eve to jog my mind on the theme song. But I watched them when I was a kid. A cartoon dog-and-cat duo.** Perhaps these will help: [http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1187.php](http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1187.php) [http://www2.wi.net/~rkurer/ruffredd.htm](http://www2.wi.net/~rkurer/ruffredd.htm) The second site has the theme song in RA format and an entire episode encoded for 56Kbps RealVideo. Before someone cracks wise, I’m not **that** old. The first run of _Ruff and Reddy_ predates my birth by seven years. But it was a staple of the Bozo show on KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Mr.B\_to\_you](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@It\_s\_Mr.B\_to\_you](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Mr.B_to_you)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/10 "2000-12-12T22:42:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Padeye \* > \*\*That’s a macabre way to put it Eve but now I’ll have the Flinstones song and Joe Jackson running through my head all day. \*\* Actually, that’s exactly how I heard about it on the news. The Happy Chatty format egged them into making it the “Circular File” item for the show, usually reserved for crooks who make a mistake and kill themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/11 "2000-12-12T23:09:26Z")
Just showed Olent’s parody to my husband. He smiled, but then said “a little disrespectful.” I said “no it’s not! It’s FUNNY! Besides, the man wrote themes for _cartoons._ You think he wouldn’t like it?” He changed his mind. Now he thinks it’s funny. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Welfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e56c9b/32.png) [@Welfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Welfy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/12 "2000-12-12T23:34:32Z")
Nice song, Olent. I think he would have enjoyed it. I hope my funeral is funny. I told my mother to play Eel’s “Going to your Funeral Part One” at mine, but she refused. Gees. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/13 "2000-12-13T16:40:07Z")
[sponge mode] Thankya, thankya verramush. [/sponge mode] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/14 "2000-12-13T17:12:16Z")
More under-reported recent show-biz deaths: • Liane Haid, 105, died about a week ago. She was Austria’s first film star; made her film debut in 1910, and retired in 1954. • Marie Windsor, star of such epics as “Force of Evil” and “Cat Women of the Moon,” died Sunday at the age of 81. . . . Is this our “three?” ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-death-to-set-your-toes-a-tappin/45191/15 "2000-12-13T17:44:36Z")
I honestly don’t know if this is the three for this week or not, but how odd must it be to spend longer in retirement than you did working?