Melody Time

Melody Time

Film segments[]

This particular film has seven segments:

• Once Upon a Wintertime features Frances Langford singing the title song about two romantic young lovers in December. The boy shows off for his girl, and near-tragedy and a timely rescue ensue. This short was also featured on the compilation videoA Walt Disney Christmas and was shown on TV as part ofThe Wonderful World of Disney specialA Disney Christmas Gift in 1982 andA Disney Channel Christmas in 1983.
• Bumble Boogie is a surrealistic nightmare for a solitary bee trying to escape from a visual and musical frenzy. The music is courtesy of Freddy Martin and his orchestra (with Jack Fina playing the piano) and is a swing-jazz variation of Rimsky-Korsakov'sFlight of the Bumblebee, which was one of the many pieces considered for inclusion inFantasia.
• The Legend of Johnny Appleseed is a retelling of the story ofJohn Chapman, who spent most of his life roaming America and planting apple trees, thus earning his famous nickname. Dennis Day narrates and provides all the voices.
• Little Toot is based on the poem by Hardie Gramatky, in which the title protagonist, a small tugboat, wants to be just like his father but can't seem to stay out of trouble. The Andrews Sisters provide the vocals. Out of all 7 of these musical segments, this one is the most famous, inspiring Robert D. Cardona (producer of the first two seasons ofThomas & Friends) and David Mitton (director ofThomas & Friends from Series 1 to 7) to create the British children's television seriesTUGS, a series about the adventures of two anthropomorphized tugboat fleets,the Star Fleet andthe Z-Stacks, who compete against each other for the best job contracts in the Bigg City Port, during the 1920s.
• Trees is a reciting of the famousAlfred Joyce Kilmer poem by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians with the lyrical setting seen through the seasons.
• Blame It on the Samba hasDonald Duck andJosé Carioca meeting with theAracuan Bird who introduces them to the pleasures of the samba. The Dinning Sisters provide the vocals while organist Ethel Smith plays the organ.
• Pecos Bill, as told byRoy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers, is the film's finale relating the tale of thefamous hero from Texas; the greatest cowboy that ever lived, his horse Widowmaker, and how he was brought back down to earth by a woman namedSlue-Foot Sue. This retelling of the story is courtesy of Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and the Sons of the Pioneers toBobby Driscoll andLuana Patten. This segment was later edited on the film's NTSC video release (but not the PAL release) to remove all scenes of Bill smoking a cigarette. The entire scene with Bill rolling the smoke and lighting it with a lightning bolt was cut and all other shots of the offending cigarette hanging from his lips were digitally removed. Likewise, the segment relating how he fought a native tribal warband was edited out of the sing-along version as it was perceived to be promoting racist stereotypes.

Cast[]

• Buddy Clark - Master of Ceremonies
• Roy Rogers - Himself; Narrator; Singer (Pecos Bill)
• Trigger, the Smartest Horse in the Movies - Himself
• Dennis Day - Narrator; Singer; Characters (Johnny Appleseed)
• The Andrews Sisters - Singers (Little Toot)
• Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians - Singers (Trees)
• Ethel Smith - Herself; Organist (Blame It On the Samba)
• Frances Langford - Singer (Once Upon a Wintertime)
• Bob Nolan - Himself; Narrator; Singer (Pecos Bill)
• Bobby Driscoll - Himself (Pecos Bill)
• Luana Patten - Herself (Pecos Bill)
• Pinto Colvig -Aracuan Bird (Blame It On the Samba),Big Toot (Little Toot)

Promo Gallery[]

Melody Time's first ad

French release promo

Posters[]

Poster from the release inArgentina onJuly 4,1950

Poster from the release inAustralia onMay 21,1949

Poster from the release in Belgium in1951

Poster from the release inFrance onFebruary 28, 1951

Poster from the release inGermany onAugust 3,1952

Poster from the release inItaly in February of 1952, paired withThe Reluctant Dragon

A second poster from the release in Italy

Lobby card from the release inMexico onMay 4, 1950

Poster from the release inSweden onApril 16, 1951

Poster from the release inPoland in1962

Poster from the release in theUnited Kingdom onApril 14, 1949

Poster from the solo release of the Pecos Bill segment

Once Upon a Wintertime solo release poster

Production[]

In late 1947, Disney announced he would be releasing a "regrouping of various cartoons at his studio under two titles, 'Melody Time' and 'Two Fabulous Characters'", to be released in August 1948 and 1949, respectively. Melody Time ended up being a released a few months earlier than planned, in May.

Melody Time is considered to be the last anthology feature made by theWalt Disney Animation Studios (the next film to be released wasThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which featured two stories). These package features were "little-known short-film compilations that Disney produced and released as feature films during World War II". 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", an endeavor which they successfully completed two years later withCinderella. While the shorts "contrast in length, form, and style", a common thread throughout is that each "is accompanied by song[s] from musicians and vocalists of the '40s" - both popular and folk music. This sets it apart from the similarly structuredFantasia, whose segments were set to classical music instead. As opposed toFun and Fancy Free, whose story was bound to the tales ofBongo andJack and the Beanstalk, in this film "Walt Disney has let his animators and his color magicians have free rein".

The entire film was produced at theWalt Disney Studios, in Burbank,California.

It was made with 35 mm film negatives, through the spherical cinematographic process, in Technicolor, and had an aspect ratio of 1.37:1.

Melody Time was the last film The Andrews Sisters took part in. They sang throughout the 10-minute segment known asLittle 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 andWalt 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 ofPecos Bill (Bobby Driscoll andLuana Patten) also appear together inSong of the South andSo Dear to My Heart.

Melody Time was the last feature film to includeDonald Duck until the1988 movieWho Framed Roger Rabbit.

Marketing[]

The various taglines of the film were: "For Your All-Time Good Time!", "7 Hit Songs! 11 Musical Stars!", and "Walt Disney's Great New Musical Comedy".

Collectible items for the film include books, figures, and posters.

Songs[]

The songs in Melody Time were all "largely based around (then) contemporary music and musical performances".

Release[]

The film was originally released in USA, Brazil, and Argentina in 1948, and in 1950 in Mexico. From April of 1949 (UK) to 15 September 1954 (Denmark) the film was released across Europe. The film was known by a variety of names includingВреме за музика in Bulgaria,Mélodie cocktail in France,Musik, Tanz und Rhythmus in Germany, andSäveltuokio in Finland.

Disney later released a package film entitledMusic Land, a nine-segment film which "recycled sequences from both Make Mine Music and Melody Time". Five selections were from Melody Time while another was the shortTwo For the Record, which consisted of two segments produced under Benny Goodman's direction.

Melody Time was unusual in that, until 1998 (50 years after its initial release), it remained "one of the handful of Disney's animated features yet to be released on videocassette". Some of the segments "have been re-released as featurettes", andOnce Upon a Wintertime has "been included on other Disney video cartoon compilations".

Critical reception[]

At the time of its release, the film received "generally unfavorable reviews". However,Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom notes that an article in Time Magazine around that time "celebrated the global scope of the Disney product", and 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. A 1950 review of the film for The Los Angeles Times said the "acts"Johnny Appleseed andPecos Bill, which the "new variety show from Walt Disney [gave] special attention to" are "'human' sagas" and as a result "more endearing" than the rest of the segments.The Andrews Sisters: A Biography and Career Record notes that "the public liked the film and it was a box-office success".

A 1948 review by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the film was a "visual and auditory delight" and added that if Disney were able to reach his audience's other senses, "there's no doubt he'd be able to please them too". It says a "tuneful and functional soundtrack rounds out the Disney art". It said that Bumble Boogie "reverted back to fantasia-like interpretive technique". It also notes that the abstraction ends afterTrees, and the final three shorts are "story-sequences". It says the simple story of Johnny Appleseed is done with "touching perception". It saidLittle Toot "is destined to become a fable of our time" and adds "the Andrew Sisters tell the story in lilting song". The review ended with the author saying "deserving accolades will go to [Walt Disney] and his whole production staff, as well as to the staff whose voices he has used as well".

A 1948 review of the film for The News-Sentinel described Pecos Bill as the best segment, and said it "caused a stir among the small fry in the audience".

Contemporary reviews are more mixed, noting film's faults, but also praising it for various technical achievements.

DVDizzy notes that in regard to the mix of shorts and 1940s music, "the marriage often does not work, and the melodies are not particularly the film's forte", however, it adds that this is a modern day opinion and that paying audiences at the time the film was released probably "felt better about the music". The site then reviewed each segment, in turn, saying:Once Upon a Wintertime is "physical slapstick" that doesn't match the "dramatic singing by Frances Langford",Bumble Boogie is "fun but forgettable",The Legend of Johnny Appleseed is the "most enjoyable" of the segments,Little Toot is "rather generic",Trees features "some nice imagery",Blame it on the Samba "involve[s] Latin dancing and nothing more", andPecos Bill has "Disney...go[ing] back and us[ing] today's technology to alter [Bill's smoking,] what admittedly is a minor point in one short of a film that's predominantly going to be watched and purchased by animation enthusiasts/historians". It explains the "video quality is consistently satisfying" and that the "audio has the dated feel of other '40s Disney films".

The film received a score of 77.06 out of 100 based on 50 votes, on the site Disney Movies Guide.

In his bookThe Animated Movie Guide, Jerry Beck gaveMelody Time a rating of 2/5 stars, and described the film as "odds and ends from a studio geared up towards revival". He said that by this time the post-war formula of releasing anthologies had become "tired", with only a few of the segments being interesting, and feeling as if the animators kept "pushing for something more creative to do". He commented that the film, a "vast underachievement" for Disney, felt dated like its predecessor Make Mine Music, and added that he found it hard to believe that the artists who made this film had also made Pinocchio eight years before. He praised the "exceptional designs and palettes" by stylist Mary Blair, including the "flat styli[s]ed backgrounds" ofWintertime, and the Impressionist painting/folk art look of The Legend of Johnny Appleseed. He highlighted the "slapstick...impressive montage of Bill's impressive feats" as a "true treat". He described the "manic interpretation" of Flight of the Bumblebee known asBumble Boogie, in which a bee terrorized by musical instruments and notes "change[s] colors and outlines from one moment to the next as the backgrounds seamlessly dissolve, change or morph around him", as "Disney's best piece of surrealism since the 'Pink Elephant on Parade' sequence in Dumbo". He also spoke about the "stellar special effects" involved in the dynamite exploding Ethel Smith's organ instrument, in the segmentBlame it on the Samba. However, he added that the rest of Melody time was "sad[ly]...forgettable".

As part of a series of videos collectively known as Disneycember, internet reviewer Doug Walker, AKA theNostalgia Critic, reviewedMelody Time, along with the other traditionally animated Disney movies throughout December 2011. He noted its similarities toMake Mine Music (stories mixed with variations of modern songs and some poetry), and said a suitable name to the "almost identical" film would have been Make Mine Music 2. He said that just like the former package film, this one "works pretty good too". He says that some of the narratives are "more forgettable than others", and citesTrees (which he describes as the animators "drawing what they hear when the poem is read") as "especially nice". He compared Bumble Boogie to the Elephant sequence and said it had some "fun imagery". He said The Legend of Johnny Appleseed "st[ood] out the most" with its "really heavy atmosphere and really heavy visuals", and its "incredible" backgrounds. He complimented its "size and scope" although also described it as "corny", and praised the surreal "apple trees becoming...clouds" sequence. He says the short is "gripping" and should have stood on its own as a short rather than being "tucked away in here". He calls Pecos Bill "fun" and "really creative" although questions why it was chosen to finish the film as opposed to the "far superior" Johnny Appleseed short (adding that it ends on a bizarre tone). He said that as a whole, Melody Time has both good shorts, music, and animation, and that there are some points thorough the film where the animation hits the "real Disney charm" that was featured throughout Fantasia. His closing statement was that one should "definitely check it out".

InThe Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, Steven Watts explains that while some sequences likePecos Bill "recaptured some of the old magic", the film as a whole, along with the other "halfhearted...pastiche[s] of short subjects", came across as "animated shorts surrounded with considerable filler and stuff into a concocted package". He adds that as a result they "never caught fire" due to their "varying wildly in quality", with moments of creativity being outweighed by the "insipid, mediocre, stale stretches of work".

The authors ofThe Cartoon Music Book saidMelody Time was "much better" than the other post-Fantasia Disney package films of the era, adding that it was "beautifully designed and scored", paving the way for the "'populuxe' style" of Disney's first renaissance (starting with Cinderella in 1950). They stated thatTrees andBlame it on the Samba (which they described as a "psychedelic Latin American sequence") are "charming, if still obscure, entries in the Disney pop song catalogue.

The Andrews Sisters: A Biography and Career Record author H. Arlo Nimmo said: "in general, [the Andrew Sisters-sung]Melody Time holds up well, and the story of 'Little Toot' is as appealing to today as when it originally appeared fifty-some years ago". He described the singing as "unremarkable but narrat[ing] the...story cleverly". He adds Variety's quote: "'Little Toot,'...is colorful and engrossing. Andrew Sisters give it popular vocal interpretation", and said that although The New York Times preferred the film toMake Mine Music the magazine added, "The Andrew Sisters sing the story...not very excitingly". He also included Metronome's indifferent comment: "The Andrew Sisters sing a silly song about a tugboat". The articleThe Walt Disney Classics Collection Gets "Twitterpatted" For Spring deemedLittle Toot one of Melody time's highlights.

In a review of the 2004 Disney filmHome on the Range, the articleFrisky 'Range' doesn't measure up: Disney delivers fun said that the "sendup of the Wild West...has some fitful comic vitality and charm - [but] it can't hold a candle to the 'Pecos Bill' segment of the studio's late-'40s anthology, 'Melody Time'".

A 1998 Chicago Tribute review of the film, in honor of its VHS release, described the film as a "sweet, old-fashioned delight and one of the few Disney animated films that pre-schoolers can watch alone without danger of being traumatized", but also added that the younger generation might be bored by it due to their being "attuned to the faster, hipper rhythms of the post-'Mermaid' era".

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of the critics gave the film a positive review based on 8 reviews.

Censorship and controversy[]

Due to the controversy surrounding the smoking inPecos Bill, the segment was "heavily edited" when the film was released onto video in 1998. While the character of Bill is shown "smoking a cigarette in several sequences", the edited version cuts these scenes, "resulting in the removal of almost the entire tornado sequence, and [creating] some odd hand and mouth movements for Bill throughout". In a review at DVDizzy, it is noted that if one has an interest in the shorts, one will "probably be upset to know that Disney has decided to digitally edit out contents of the 50-plus-year-old frames of animation". In the Melody Time section of theYour Guide To Disney's 50 Animated Features feature at Empire Online, the review said of the editing: "at least, it was [done] for the US releases, but not for the rest of the world. Go figure." The scenes are removed on both the 50th Anniversary VHS and theGolden Collection DVD releases, although the earlier Japanese laserdisc (released in 1987) and UK DVD are uncut. The segment's full unedited presentation in the movie was included onDisney+ in 2019 with a disclaimer.

According to a source, upon reviewing the music that Ken Darby had composed for "Johnny Appleseed", Walt Disney "scorned the music", describing it as "like New Deal music". Darby was "enraged", and said to Disney "THAT is just a cross-section of one man's opinion!". Darby was only employed at The Walt Disney Company Darby for a short while after this supposed incident.

Jerry Beck, in his bookThe Animated Movie Guide, comments on a risqué joke in Pecos Bill that somehow made it past the censors, when Bill kisses Sue and his guns rise from their holsters and begin to fire by themselves, simulating ejaculation. He adds jokingly that "perhaps Roy Rogers was covering the eyes of Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten during this scene".

Legacy[]

Many of the seven segments were later released as shorts, and some of them became "more successful than the original film". "Bumble Boogie" was among the few segments to receive huge popularity upon individual release. The articleThe Walt Disney Classics Collection Gets "Twitterpatted" For Spring notes that "the 'Little Toot' segment of the film was so popular that it was re-released on its own as a short cartoon in 1954, and was subsequently featured on Walt Disney's popular weekly television series".

There are many references to the Pecos Bill segment in theFrontierland part ofMagic Kingdom: there is a sign of Bill outside thePecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, as well as various images of him, the other characters, and their accessories around the cafe. A pair of gloves with the inscription "To Billy, All My Love, Slue Foot Sue" is located in a glass display case. In the World of Disney, Jose Carioca fromBlame it on the Samba appears in a mural on the ceiling among many other characters. In a glass case, behind the windows of the All-Star Movies, there is a script for Melody Time.

The scene ofJoe skating and drawing a pair of hearts with a single arrow through them on the ice from "Once Upon a Wintertime" representedMelody Time in the "Back to the Past" segment of "Wonderful World of Animation".

In the queue forRoger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, there is a bulletin board which displays a message for an audition for Toons at the Disney Studio to appear in this movie, which is in production. According to the message, Toons are invited to bring a two-minute song (the only exception to that might as well beOnce Upon a Wintertime as that's 7 minuets long, due to there being the whole ordeal between Jenny and Joe in the short and the reprise near the end), plus any specialties. Ironically, the message ends by reading "Toons only, no live actors need apply.", which is funny asPecos Bill starts as a live-action segment

Home video[]

Main article:Melody Time (video)

Melody Time was first released on January 25, 1987, in Japan, on laserdisc. It was later released on VHS on June 2, 1998, under theWalt Disney Masterpiece Collection title. The 1998 VHS release is edited to remove all instances of Pecos Bill smoking cigarettes from the film's Pecos Bill segment.

Its latest release was on June 6,2000, on VHS and DVD under theWalt Disney Gold Classic Collection, released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The DVD has bonus features in the form of the following 3 cartoons: "Casey Bats Again", "Lambert the Sheepish Lion", and "Donald Applecore". In addition, the NTSC DVD release contains the exact same edits as for the 1998 VHS, though the PAL DVD version of the film is uncut. The film was finally released uncut and uncensored in the US, as an exclusive Disney Movie Club Blu-ray release on November 2, 2021.

Though the film has not been released on DVD in the United States since the 2000 DVD's discontinuation, it was however later released on DVD again in the UK and Brazil in 2014, and in Italy and Mexico in 2015, and in Sweden in 2018.

Worldwide release dates[]

• UK:April 14,1949
• Australia:May 21,1949
• Ireland:November 9,1949
• Mexico:May 4,1950
• Argentina:July 4,1950
• Uruguay:July 5,1950 (Montevideo)
• Brazil:July 26,1950
• France:February 28,1951
• Sweden:April 16,1951
• Italy: June 6,1951
• Portugal:April 12,1952
• West Germany:August 9,1952
• Finland: April 17,1953
• Norway: March 16,1954
• Denmark:September 15,1954

Gallery[]

Title card

Coyote howls in the Pecos Bill segment

Ma Coyote gets confused seeing Bill with her pups

Videos[]

Melody Time - 1948 Theatrical Trailer

Original 1948 Theatrical Trailer

Melody Time - 1998 "50th Anniversary" Masterpiece Collection VHS Trailer

1998 Home Video Trailer

Trivia[]

• Most of the segments in this film were re-issued individually as standalone shorts in the mid 50's, butTrees andBumble Boogie were compiled into a double bill asContrasts in Rhythm.
• The standalone short versions ofOnce Upon a Wintertime andLittle Toot open with a musical variation of the Melody Time theme.
• The film's copyright was renewed onMay 9,1975.^[1]
• The previews from the 1998 VHS are the same previews as on the 1999 VHS releases ofDumbo,Alice in Wonderland,The Sword in the Stone,Robin Hood,Mary Poppins, andPete's Dragon.
• The music ofLittle Toot can be heard inMickey's Toontown (Disneyland) andToontown (Tokyo Disneyland) as a background area.

References[]

External links[]

• Melody Time onWikipedia
• Melody Time onIMDb

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