This animated short gem was part of the musical feature Make Mine Music.
The song was written by Harry Creamer and Turner Leighton. It was performed by Benny Goodman's quartet, with Goodman on the clarinet, Teddy Willson on the piano, Sid Weiss doing bass and Cozy Cole on drums.
I love this short. It features nothing more than than a variety of anthropomorphic musical instruments interacting with each other and dancing to Goodman's music. I would call the animation semi abstract, with exhilarating timing and color styling.
I am not sure who sketched these story/color continuity pages, but they are lovely and make for good study as far as how Disney was breaking down a piece of jazz music with entertaing visual results.
Here is a magazine article featuring tis segment from Make Mine Music.
This is the only Disney film I can think of that somehow isn't on Disney Plus. It's a shame because the animation from this piece alone looks incredible!
ReplyDeleteI love Make Mine Music and Melody Time! Thanks for keeping up with the blog. I know there are a lot of people like me that don't comment on every post, but definitely enjoy and look forward to your entries every week!
ReplyDeleteIn case anyone is wondering, effects animator Josh Meador did all of the animation of this segment.
ReplyDeleteHello! I am rather late here, but a huge THANK YOU Andreas! :-) What with Make Mine Music and its sister film Melody Time being so neglected, I'm delighted whenever new information or material related to these films shows up.
ReplyDeleteThere is something I would like to ask you. In your opinion, why do you think these two films are so often forgotten - or worse - trashed by Disney animation fans themselves?
If you were to ask me I think many viewers go into these films knowing they are animated features but failing to understand that being anthology films the emotional connection they will make with them will be vastly different than with the single-narrative features. Quite frankly, many go in expecting Pinocchio and Bambi, and end up setting themselves up for disappointment. Others write elaborate reviews on their blogs or video essays on YouTube and make it clear that they find it very hard to sit through these films and express relief at having finally watched them and hence being able to return to "normal" Disney animated features.
I also cannot help but notice that the segments that are usually treated with the most indifference are those featuring experimental animation with no clear narrative.
I have always been fascinated by animation, even in the absence of a storyline. For this reason I have never had any problems getting into movies like Fantasia, or indeed the two mentioned above. I specifically remember that when I was very young I used to watch Disney film on VHS and my attention was held JUST by the moving drawings even if I did not understand the story. While I understand that not everybody will be like this, it baffles me when animation enthusiasts claim they cannot sit through a short film with no clear narrative because it's "boring" or "aimless" (I know many who claim to have watched Fantasia because they know it is a masterpiece and feel a need to do so, but couldn't stand it.) The animation is these movies (which is often VERY different to the single-narrative features with many bold stylistic experiments which would have been out-of-place in those) is quite special to me, and I wish more people would enjoy it on a purely visual level. Sometimes I ask myself: Can one consider themselves an animation fan if they derive no pleasure from watching drawings and/or graphic designs move in the absence of a narrative? Is that not potentially the purest form of animation? I sometimes wonder whether those Disney animation fans who dislike the experimental films are in love with the actual animation OR the story, characters and direction, rather than both combined. (Perhaps somebody reading this who falls into this camp can comment?)
I know you must be very busy working on Mushka, Andreas, but I would love to know your thoughts on this, even if it is just two sentences. :-)
Thank you and take care.