{"id":68374,"date":"2021-11-17T00:01:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T08:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=68374"},"modified":"2021-11-18T09:53:05","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T17:53:05","slug":"back-to-school-part-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/back-to-school-part-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to School (Part 9)"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

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This week, we continue in our survey of the 1950’s, beginning with an Academy Award winner and more ventures into stylistic limited animation. With the exception of Terrytoons, nearly all films this week, even where retaining full animation of star characters, delve into the impressionistic on their backgrund work, making them distinctively recognizable as products of their era. Yet, entertainment levels remain of reasonable to high quality, demonstrating that theatrical animation had not yet entirely caved under budgetary restraints and the increasing competition of television cutting into studio revenues. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Toot, Whistle Plunk and Boom<\/strong> (Disney, 11\/10\/53 – Charles Nichols\/Ward Kimball, dir.) – The sequel to the previous \u201cAdventures in Music\u201d installment, Melody<\/em>, discussed last week. While likely conceived as a 3-D project like its predecessor, the fad had waned when production began, while a new screen attraction was taking its place – so Disney shifted gears, and adapted the new film to his first use of the widescreen Cinemascope format instead There is the possibility that this conversion took place after work on a 3-D version began, as the film currently exists in two separately-shot editions, in a widescreen and standard screen format, with backgrounds and animation photographed in highly different juxtaposition to one another when comparison is made between the two prints. The standard-screen version is thus not a mere \u201cpan and scan\u201d reprocessing of the widescreen edition, but an entirely different photographic negative. We may therefore be witnessing in the standard edition the completed left or right eye version of one reel our of two of a 3-D cartoon. The film also marked a first, as reputedly the first short distributed under Disney\u2019s own Buena Vista distributing company, though there would continue to be other shorts issued for a time that retained the RKO triangle logo.<\/p>\n

Professor Owl is nearly late for class, speedily fastening on his wardrobe and drinking his morning coffee as he hastens to the schoolhouse. All the usual kids from the preceding episode are in attendance, including Bertie Birdbrain, still sitting in the dunce\u2019s corner. Today\u2019s subject, however, is new – the study of musical instruments. These divide into four categories, as the cartoon\u2019s title tune illustrates – the horns (Toot), the woodwinds\/reeds (Whistle), the strings (Plunk), and percussion (Boom). Proceeding to a rolling chart, the professor attempts to present the development of these families from the dawn of history. Cranking backwards past figures of various eras, the professor accidentally passes an image of four cavemen, briefly moving backwards to piture of an ape (supporting Darwinism), Apologetically, the professor quickly cranks the chart forward again to the cavemen, and begins from there. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The brass and horns are first demonstrated by a caveman\u2019s blowing into an old cow horn, producing a single squawking note. Cranking the chart forward, ancient Egypt shows the rejection of the caveman\u2019s simple note by a clunk over the head delivered by the pharaoh, and the substitution of a brass horn that sets th hieroglyphics jitterbugging. Action moves ahead to a Roman chariot driver, transporting a mile-long, low note horn supported by a chain of three horse-drawn chariots. The vehicle crashes into a Roman column, and the horn is hopelessly bent – but amazingly preserves its original note and tone. The chariot driver begins wildly experimenting with bending the hord barrel every which way, including designs that resemble a maze, and one that spells out his name, \u201cGeorge\u201d, but continues to get the same musical results. Thus, the curved horn was invented, and various modern day models, including French horns and hunting horns, are depicted. Finally, the professor demonstrates how horns of different lengths can produce only certain notes, but cut off the extra lengths used by the different horns and fasten them all on one instrument by valves, and you can play a complete scale – as in the modern-day trunpet. The professor transitions to the next portion of the lectire in a funny manner, by letting the illustration of a modern trumpeter playing a triple-tongue cadenza roll up to the ceiling like a windowshade, his last note rising to an artificially-speeded high, and a litter pile of random valves and horn buttons falling from the ceiling onto the classroom floor.<\/p>\n

\tThe reeds are illustrated with the second caveman, serenading his girlfriend with whistles through an actual reed. The girl is largely unimpressed, until the caveman starts drilling multiple holes into the side of the reed, plugging and unplugging the holes with his fingers to get more notes. Now she is entrhalled – but our caveman still doesn\u2019t get the girl, as another caveman just conks her on the head with a club and drags her off to his cave. But music goes on. The caveman still has a problem with so many holes, having to use both his hands and feet to plug them while playing. Without identifying a particular source, the professor states that \u201csome genius\u201d found a way to beat this poblem in a manner neat, with push buttons to activate multiple hole covers while playing, illustrated by the classical clarinet and a bebop saxophone player.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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The string originates with the plunking of the bowstring on a bow and arrow by caveman three. From this rapidly develops the attachment of more strings and a resonator, leading to development of harps, and then the guitar family. Using two musicians for illustration, the professor shows us that the instruments can be played either by plucking at the strings, or by use of a bow. Various refinements, including the piano, are illustrated, all with one comedy commonality – every instrument depicted has at least one string break in mid performance, often with comic consequence to the instrument\u2019s owner (such as flipping the powdered wig off a musician playing a classical minuet, revealing his bald head).<\/p>\n

The Boom is demonstrated by the fourth caveman, a rotund fellow who can not only beat on objects with his club, but also pound on his own round belly to achieve a bass drum effect. From this develops bells, drums, cymbals, xylophones, oriental and latin rhythm instruments (shown with some politically incorrect imagery), and all other manner of items slapped or hit with sticks or mallets.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

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The film wraps up with a combination of all the musical families. A Salvation Army band marches by, incongruously followed by a float carrying our four cavemen and their original instruments. A montage of more performances is climaxed by a finale at a concert hall, that again gives every impression of having been animated for 3-D, as the camera tracks in past an audience, through the lobby doors, past an usher, and into the huge hall, where each of the four orchestra families is depicted by musicians that seem to be at differing distaces from the camera, with one of the four cavemen sitting in in center stage. The scene finally returns to the schoolroom, where the 3-D effects continue, as a group of flag waving students rise alongside the conducting professor\u2019s podium, and rows of students four levels deep fill the screen for a final chorus. (That would have looked impressive in 3-D.) The last shot also demonstrates dimensionality, as Bertue Birdbrain strikes a single note on a triangle, and from the vibrations, again seemingly at different levels of depth from the camera, materialize the letters on the words, \u201cThe End\u201d. A masterpiece, both on educational and entertainment levels, earning a deserved Oscar. (Attention Disney executives: How much would it cost to reanimate or reprocess this film and \u201cPigs is Pigs\u201d to complete them in proper 3-D? Don\u2019t you think it might be worth it as an added attraction?)<\/p>\n