Melody (1953 film)

Melody is a 1953 Walt Disney short animated cartoon film, originally released on May 28, 1953.[1] This film was the first in a proposed series of shorts teaching the principles of music, called Adventures in Music. Only one other film in the series was made, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.

Melody
Directed byWard Kimball
Charles A. Nichols
Produced byWalt Disney
Story byDick Huemer
StarringBill Thompson
Loulie Jean Norman
Harry Stanton
Gloria Wood
Music byJoseph Dubin (music)
Sonny Burke
Paul Webster (songs)
Animation byWard Kimball
Julius Svendsen
Marc Davis
Harvey Toombs
Hal Ambro
Marvin Woodward
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
May 28, 1953
Running time
10 mins (one reel)
LanguageEnglish

Walt Disney was always a fan of music, and it shows in all of his films. He said: "There's a terrific power to music. You can run any of these pictures and they'd be dragging and boring, but the minute you put music behind them, they have life and validity they don't get any other way."[2]

Plot

The short film shows Professor Owl instructing his class of birds on how to find melody around them.

The short starts with the birds entering the schoolhouse and Professor Owl taking roll call. Following this, Professor Owl discusses that today they will learn about "something we really can't do about", although Bertie Birdbrain interrupts him with 2 guesses of what the topic of the short is about (food and money; in which Bertie flings a dime with his hand at that point). Papers scrambled all over the floor as Professor Owl continues his search until he hears a red bird tweeting in a nest next to the school's window. He then teaches the children what melody means. Bertie thinks about malady, a disease or a medical condition. Professor Owl then silenced Bertie while holding on a piece of paper. As the school birds began to demonstrate on melody, Bertie then explains: "Gosh teacher, what is a melody"? The answer takes it to Professor Owl, which he then plays 2 notes, then 3 notes, then 4 notes, and then 7 more (bringing a total to 16) on a small piano to give us a clear demonstration of how melodies are assembled.

Following this, they fly off to discover the many melodic sounds of nature. However, Bertie cannot hear them because his dunce cap is stuck inside his head, caused by Professor Owl after hitting Bertie's dunce cap with Professor Owl's teaching stick after his finale of the introduction to melody. Professor Owl takes his accept as he pulls it off unstuck to make him feel better. Then there is a short song interlude in which the chorus sings about the sounds of nature that are listed which including a robin, who was seen holding an umbrella and walking on a branch; followed by a cricket staring at the screen rubbing his wings, and the willow tree gliding through the air. This makes the song "The Bird and the Cricket and the Willow Tree". Following this, Professor Owl discusses on how the only two creatures that can sing are birds and humans. After showing the male example named "Homo Sapiens" (in which Bertie shockingly grabs his neck in fear), the male caricature asks what he means, and Owl demonstrates by mocking him while playing notes on the saxophone. Then he shows some female examples which are more musical than average males. The female voices overlap causing Owl's ears to get off track. He then demands the females to shut up and be quiet so that he can re-concentrate and continue the lesson but literally keeps interrupting 2 more times, in which the last considers Professor Owl, madly talking to the students that he got irritated by the gibberish women. He turns to the center frame with an angry look and begins poking his teaching stick to the paper behind the paper in front as all 3 women screamed. Professor Owl covers his mouth and continues his lesson to the students.

Then there is a scene that shows the "Steps of life", demonstrating how melody is evident throughout the life of an average man. As we go through time, the overall colors shown for each step changes subtlety, as warm ochre, yellows and reds, suggesting growth and vitality, are for his childhood and school years, up until his marriage. When he gets older, the color scheme subtlety changes from reds to purples to blues, depicting maturity and loss of vitality. There is a quick survey of the stages of life, as captured by the following songs and sequences: The sketch begins with "Rock-a-bye Baby" for birth with a sleeping stork refusing to rock the baby's cradle after Professor Owl recommend its first words: "We are born"; and touches the stork with his stick in which the stork immediately drops the newborn down to the cradle in which begins to cry. This was followed by Professor Owl recommending "We go to school”; in which the stork flings the cradle and sends the child flying and landing on a chair, where it followed by "The Alphabet Song" for primary school where a little boy writes "ABc" on a gliding chalkboard. There is no song in the "higher education" section. This was followed by "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" for college in which contains the man rushing wearing a football jersey and helmet, and another scene where he grabbed his diploma while rushing; "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" for the 'mating season' in which the man (and his future girlfriend) was shown on a boat while the man strums in his guitar with a speech bubble appears featuring pictures instead of words. Afterwards, the song was interrupted, as the girl immediately catches the man and kisses him. Ribbons and other effects scrambled all over the screen (along with a hand drawn picture of a rifle firearm). Afterwards, the screen then shifted to a church where "Here Comes the Bride" and there goes the groom shows up for their Wedding Day in which the man was shown depressed on the left, and the woman happily on the right. Afterwards, it goes to "Home! Sweet Home!" on the man's 'prime of life' at the top before the descending begins in which the man was shown holding a baby crying with a bottle in his other hand. Other babies were then scrambled towards him and gives the crying baby a bottle. Afterwards, it goes to "Happy Birthday to You" for the middle aged man who is beginning to regret getting older with the man trying to steal the candles; "Silver Threads Among the Gold" for getting the first gray hair in which the man picks his only stick of gray hair; We begin to slow down with "The Old Gray Mare" when the man's body begins to feel his age as he falls down hard on the stairs by an incomplete set of roller skates while pretending to be a football player wearing his former college jersey and helmet while holding on a football. Apparently, he suffered hearing loss, a broken leg, and blindness. Meanwhile, "Auld Lang Syne" begins to play for the decrepit old man (riding on a bicycle with casts and glasses while holding a horn towards his ear on one hand and a yo-yo on the other) before he gets his 'reward' (while being kicked off by the baby New Year's, the song was literally interrupted by that point), and "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers" finishes it off with the man who gave up his ghost and gleefully became one more angel for the Heavenly Band while wearing the Golden Slippers on a cloud.

Some inspirations for song are outlined in song (such as love, trains, cowboys, Indians (in which the cowboy gets hit by an arrow from the Indian), motherhood, and a combination about a moon, rain, steamboats and planes; but Penelope Pinfeather in the class states that they never, ever sing about brains.

Finally, an example is shown on how a simple melody can be expanded into a symphony: an elaborate version of the simple tune which opened the lesson. A reprise of "The Bird and the Cricket and the Willow Tree" was also revealed with various background and patterns on the 3 meanings from the beginning of the short.

Cast

Theater releases

The first world showing of Melody in public was shown in 2 Los Angeles theaters on its release day, including the Paramount Theatre.

Home video releases

This cartoon was released on DVD twice: once on Fantasia 2000 and then on Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s–1960s.

It was also released on television twice: once on Mickey's Mouse Tracks Episode 27 and on Donald's Quack Attack Episode 4.[3]

Soundtrack

Melody was released in the year 1953, some songs of the official soundtrack are "The Bird and the Cricket and the Willow Tree" by Sonny Burke. It was sung by the Disney Studio Chorus over a sequence showing animated birds chirping, crickets rubbing their legs together, and wind blowing through a willow tree. The song has a pleasant tune and lyrics that are simply a list of these musical nature sounds.[4][5]

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  2. Hischack, Thomas. The Disney Song Encyclopedia, Preface
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-04-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Melody (1953) Soundtrack".
  5. Hischack, Thomas. The Disney Song Encyclopedia, page 20
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