POP! SIX! SQUISH! CICERO! LIPSCHITZ!

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.

Alice in Wonderland 1951, dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Melody Time

33 in x of animated feature film history Release: May 27th, 1948 Country: USA Directors: Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson

Made up of sequences set to popular music and folk music, Melody Time is, like Make Mine Music before it, the popular music version of Fantasia. 

The film consists of 7 musical segments––Once Upon a Wintertime (sung by Frances Langford), about two romantic young lovers in December; Bumble Boogie (performed by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra), a surrealistic battle for a solitary bumble bee as he tries to ward off a visual and musical frenzy; The Legend of Johnny Appleseed (narration and voices by Dennis Day); Little Toot (sung by The Andrews Sisters), based on the story of the same name by Hardie Gramatky, in which a small tugboat wants to be just like his father; Trees (performed by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians), a recitation of the 1913 poem ‘Trees’ by Joyce Kilmer; Blame It on the Samba (featuring The Dinning Sisters and organist Ethel Smith), in which Donald Duck and José Carioca meet the Aracuan Bird, who introduces them to the samba; and Pecos Bill (with Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and the Sons of the Pioneers), the tale of Texas’ famous hero.

Melody Time is considered to be the last anthology feature made by the Walt Disney Animation Studios. They were ‘financially (and artistically) lightweight productions meant to bring in profits [to allow the studio to] return to fairy tale single-narrative feature form.’

This was the last film The Andrews Sisters took part in. They sang throughout the 10 minute segment known as Little Toot. Andrews Sisters member Maxine said: ‘It was quite an experience. On the wall at the studio they had the whole story in picture form. Two songwriters played the score and Walt Disney explained it to us. It was a new thing for Disney. We sang the narrative. It was very exciting to work with Disney-he was such a gentleman.’

The two children who hear the story of Pecos Bill (Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten) also appear together in Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart. Patten also appears in Fun and Fancy Free.

At the time of its release, the film received ‘generally unfavorable reviews’. However, a 1948 review for The News-Sentinel said the ‘charm and skill’ that one had to expect from Disney is ‘delightful entertainment’ for all children.

Melody Time was the last feature film to include Donald Duck & José Carioca until the 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”

(source)

Clips of Melody Time are available on YouTube.

UPDATED: 5/27/18

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?

ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske

My heart has wings and I can fly… I’ll touch every star in the sky. So this is the miracle that I’ve been dreaming of… So this is love. Cinderella (1950) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Pinocchio (1940)

Cinderella (1950) dir. Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson

101 Dalmatians (1961) dir. Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske & Clyde Geronimi