Melody Time (1948)

An anthology of animated vignettes set to contemporary music.

Directors:

Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson

Writers:

Winston Hibler (story), Erdman Penner (story)

Stars:

Roy Rogers, Trigger, Dennis Day

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Roy Rogers	...	Roy Rogers / Narrator (segment "Pecos Bill")
Trigger	...	Trigger The Smartest Horse in the Movies (as Trigger the Smartest Horse in the Movies)
Dennis Day	...	Narrator / Johnny Appleseed / Johnny Appleseed's Angel (voice)
The Andrews Sisters	...	The Andrews Sisters (singing voice) (as Andrews Sisters)
Freddy Martin	...	(credit only)
Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians	...	Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians (singing voice)
Ethel Smith	...	Ethel Smith - Organist
Frances Langford	...	Frances Langford (singing voice)
Buddy Clark	...	Buddy Clark - Master of Ceremonies (voice)
Bob Nolan	...	Bob Nolan
Sons of the Pioneers	...	Sons of the Pioneers
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Dinning Sisters	...	The Dinning Sisters (singing voice)
Bobby Driscoll	...	Bobby Driscoll
Luana Patten	...	Luana Patten

Storyline

Segments: "Once Upon a Wintertime," two lovers rescued from an icy river by friendly animals; "Bumble Boogie," bee beset by musical instruments and symbols come to life; "Johnny Appleseed," story of the legendary pioneer tree-planter; "Trees," mood piece set to musical treatment of Joyce Kilmer's poem; "Little Toot," story of a heroic little tugboat who saves an ocean liner; "Blame it on the Samba," Donald Duck and Jose Carioca have the blues blown away at a Latin cafe; "Pecos Bill," story of the legendary cowpoke, his trusty mount Widowmaker and his sweetheart Slue Foot Sue.

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Plot Keywords:

half dressed cartoon animal | barefoot cartoon animal | jose carioca character | donald duck character | cartoon duck | 

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Taglines:

For Your All-Time Good Time!

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

47 years later, Disney revisited the Pecos Bill legend in a live-action film, Tall Tale (1995).

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Goofs

At the end of Pecos Bill, when Pecos and Widowmaker go back to live with the coyotes, it's seen that Pecos has removed his clothes and left them in a pile in the desert and Widowmaker has removed his horseshoes. However, Widowmaker lost his horseshoes earlier in the cartoon when he was bucking around when Slue-Foot Sue was riding him and a cowboy was seen being hit in the head by the horseshoes.

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Quotes

[introduction to "Pecos Bill"]
Master of Ceremonies: Here's a tall tale straight from the chuck wagon, just the way the old-timers used to tell it. According to them, Pecos Bill was the roughest, toughest, rootin'est, tootin'est, shootin'est cowpoke that ever lived. Well, any story about old Pecos is bound to be right strong medicine, so maybe it's best to sashay into it kinda gentle-like.

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Alternate Versions

In 1998 Disney changed the "Pecos Bill" segment. They cut a scene of Bill rolling a smoke and digitally removed all other shots of the offending cigarette hanging from his lips. The cigarette was edited out in each case resulting in the removal of almost the entire tornado sequence and some odd hand and mouth movements for Bill throughout. The UK DVD had these scenes uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in Heavy Traffic (1973)

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Soundtracks

Little Toot
Written by Allie Wrubel
Performed by The Andrews Sisters

User Reviews

Disney animation with music shorts (again)

Following on the heels of 'Fantasia' (which used classical music to accompany animated shorts) and 'Make Mine Music' (which used popular songs and recital instead), comes another musical anthology, 'Melody Time', the weakest of the three.

The Andrews Sisters perform 'Little Toot' to give life to a charming tale about a mischievous tug-boat who eventually redeems himself; while Roy Rogers performs the dullest piece of the film, 'Pecos Bill'. In-between we have a mixed bag - a choral version of the croaky old poem 'Trees'; a hot samba with Ethel Smith and Donald Duck; 'Bumble-Boogie' (which has a bee trying to escape from the musical cacophony which is Freddy Martin's orchestra and The Flight of the Bumble Bee); and the tale of Johnny Appleseed.

OK to pass the time but does not have anything on the scale of 'The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met' or 'The Nutcracker Suite' from the previous films.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 May 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

All in Fun

Filming Locations:

Walt Disney Feature Animation - 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min 72 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1