Convict Concerto

Convict Concerto is the 58th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on November 22, 1954, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal-International.[1]

Convict Concerto
Directed byDon Patterson
Produced byWalter Lantz
Story byHugh Harman
StarringDal McKennon
Daws Butler
Grace Stafford
Music byClarence Wheeler
Raymond Turner
Animation byRay Abrams
Herman Cohen
Don Patterson
Raymond Jacobs
Art Landy
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal-International
Release date
  • November 22, 1954 (1954-11-22)
Running time
6' 11"
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Woody is a shy piano tuner who is held at gunpoint by a bank robber named Mugsy (Daws Butler) who is on the lam. Mugsy hides out inside the grand piano Woody is tuning, and directs him to start playing immediately. Mugsy plays part of Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March to threaten Woody, who replies with a rousing rendition of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2." He manages to play the entire piece while being harassed by the gun-wielding Mugsy as well as a bricks-for-brains policeman (also Daws Butler) hot on the trail of the stolen loot.

Notes
  • The normally red wood plank backdrop utilized during the opening theme when Woody bursts through a hole, announcing "Guess who?", is replaced with a light gray-colored wood backdrop starting with this entry. Woody also appears a lot smaller in this particular intro. This lighter background would be used until 1970, when the background reverts to a red wood plank for the remainder of the series.
  • Mugsy refers to Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff when he quips to Woody "Keep up the good work, Rachmaninoff!"
  • Convict Concerto was Don Patterson's final effort as director on a Woody short, although he would stay on at Lantz as an animator until 1960's Heap Big Hepcat. He does not receive on-screen credit as director.
  • Mugsy's voice was used by Daws Butler in a number of later cartoons for Hanna-Barbera.

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 157–158. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  • Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1954". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.


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