Jetsons-Style Space-Age Organ! 1960 Track by the Inventor Behind Hanna-Barbera’s Futuristic Sound

Описание: This video presents the 1960 Capitol (45) single “June Night” performed by Jack Cookerly on his Hammond Chord Organ (with Accompaniment) re‑engineered into *Dyna‑Stereo* from the original mono release.

The original Capitol 45:

“June Night” appeared on a Capitol single backed with “The Little Tune,” and is documented in contemporary trade papers and discographies as Capitol 4447.

Jack Cookerly - Organist and Engineer:

Jack Cookerly was more than a Hammond specialist; he was also an accomplished accordionist who became one of the first players to marry traditional keyboard technique with emerging electronic‑organ technology.

He served as chief engineer for Lowrey organs, where he helped design and refine electronic keyboard circuits and performance features, essentially living at the crossroads of playing and inventing in the late‑’50s and ’60s.

The Jetsons and Hanna‑Barbera sounds:

As part of composer Hoyt Curtin’s studio crew for Hanna‑Barbera, Cookerly played keyboards and provided electronic colors on shows like “Jonny Quest” and, in the broader Curtin/Hanna‑Barbera universe, the same sonic approach underpins the futuristic “Jetsons” organ and effects palette.

In a well‑known interview, Curtin recalled that “my pianist, Jack Cookerly, invented the synthesizer as we know it for that show,” describing a homemade instrument built from orange crates, a keyboard, and “thousands of vacuum tubes” that made the band literally stop and laugh when they first heard it - exactly the kind of contraption that produced those sliding, space‑age organ tones associated with early Hanna‑Barbera sci‑fi cues.

Early electronic devices and “magic box” ideas:

Cookerly’s reputation among engineers and film music historians centers on his custom electronics: a modified Hammond often referred to as a “magic box” that generated distinctive electronic tones and effects used in television and genre productions.

While modern arpeggiators would be formalized later in commercial synthesizers, accounts of Cookerly’s work with Curtin and at Lowrey describe early, hand‑built electronic control circuits and tone‑shaping devices—primitive ancestors to later step‑sequencers and arpeggiator‑like gadgets that automated repeating patterns and other textures in ways session players hadn’t heard before.

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#loungemusic #hannabarberacartoons #audiorestoration