by The Disney Purist

#10 Melody Time (1948)

  1. BACKGROUND
  2. STORY #1: ONCE UPON A WINTERTIME
  3. STORY #2: BUMBLE BOOGIE
  4. STORY #3: THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY APPLESEED
  5. STORY #4: LITTLE TOOT
  6. STORY #5: TREES
  7. STORY #6: BLAME IT ON THE SAMBA
  8. STORY #7: PECOS BILL
  9. PRODUCTION
  10. RECEPTION
  11. LEGACY
  12. FINAL THOUGHTS
  13. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

After an adequate start to post-war movies with the Disney animated release Make Mine Music (1946), the Studios continued to release “package features” through the rest of the 1940s.

Make Mine Music was followed in 1947 by Fun and Fancy Free, a feature consisting of just two longer animated stories, instead of the numerous but shorter segments that appeared in Make Mine Music.

However, in 1948, Melody Time was released, which was another movie just like Make Mine Music, in that it consisted of multiple unrelated animated sequences, loosely connected by the theme of music.

Melody Time was the last music-themed Disney “package feature” of the 1940s. It comprises seven separate sequences.

These seven sections are:

  1. “Once Upon a Wintertime”
  2. “Bumble Boogie”
  3. “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed”
  4. “Little Toot”
  5. “Trees”
  6. “Blame It on the Samba”
  7. “Pecos Bill”

Melody Time is not one of the best Disney animated classics for me. I had only watched it once before this week and I didn’t think much of it then. This time round, it only confirmed my original opinion, and I can now say confidently that Make Mine Music is my “favourite” of these two Fantasia-like “package features”, although I did not completely like either of them; Make Mine Music just happens to have slightly more songs and animated sequences that I enjoy. I actually struggled to like any of the Melody Time shorts.

STORY #1: ONCE UPON A WINTERTIME

Melody Time begins with an Opening Credits sequence, which also features the title song of the film. All the upcoming artists and musicians are first credited, with their names written over the top of the animated sheet music for their specific section. We are also told that this time, unlike in Make Mine Music, we have a “Master of Ceremonies”: Buddy Clark. Buddy Clark was a popular singer within the Big Band era, specifically within the 1940s. He had multiple hit songs, including “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, which he sang with Dinah Shore. Dinah Shore sung “Two Silhouettes” for a sequence within Disney’s Make Mine Music. Clark sadly died in a plane crash in 1949, shortly after recording a radio broadcast with The Andrews Sisters, who also performed songs for both Make Mine Music and Melody Time. The credits continue to be listed over animated sheet music, before moving across to see an animated paintbrush paint a theatre stage, as well as masks. The masks represent Buddy Clark and his background singers for the title song “Melody Time”. This song was written by George David Weiss and Bennie Benjamin. Benjamin and Weiss had also written for Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Disney’s film release before Melody Time. The curtains of the theatre are then pulled back and the show begins.

“Once Upon a Wintertime” is the first segment to be introduced. The short begins with a brief scene of a picture of a couple before seemingly going back in time to see the couple on a sleigh ride in the snow. The couple go ice-skating together on a frozen lake, and are soon joined by a rabbit couple who mimic the human couple. Both couples are so in love, even drawing love hearts in the ice. The girl is not so steady on her feet and struggles to skate alone, however, her partner is only too confident on his skates, racing away and coming back, skidding ice all over her. Naturally, she is annoyed and soon falls down on the ice, before skating away in a huff, as does the female rabbit. However, both are unaware that they are about to skate over thin ice, which begins to break away; the two girls float away on a block of ice, about to go over a waterfall. The men aren’t particularly useful at attempting to rescue their girls, and they end up being rescued by quick-thinking birds, squirrels and horses, which is odd. But the couples make up, and the humans get back in their sleigh and head home together.

As far as the story goes, it is a strange one; I don’t know why the man had to be so useless here, when we know in a real life-or-death situation that forest creatures are not going to be able to save you. It’s not much of a public service announcement on the dangers of skating on random patches of iced-over fresh water! But that’s not the main issue I have with “Once Upon a Wintertime”. That is actually with the animation, which is a difficult thing to admit, as the overall design of the short was developed from concept art by legendary Disney artist Mary Blair, who would go on to produce art for Disney movies, such as Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953), as well as attractions such as it’s a small world. I didn’t like the colour choices or the rounded, less realistic look of the humans, though I did like the look of the animals and the wintry landscapes. The short does also have a “Christmas card”-feel to it, which I believe was the aim. The song is just ok for me. It was written by Bobby Worth and Ray Gilbert who had both worked on previous Disney “package features” including both writing the song “Blue Bayou” for Make Mine Music (1946). The song is performed by Frances Langford, a popular singer, radio performer and actress in the 1930s and 1940s.

STORY #2: BUMBLE BOOGIE

The second short of Melody Time is “Bumble Boogie”, which follows a little bee just trying to get on with his day but finding himself being attacked and bullied by flowers, as well as a piano-looking snake-like creature. It is quite surreal animation, with the “animals” being designed after whichever instrument is featured in the music at that point. It mostly does consist of piano keys, but there are also trumpet-looking flowers which appear. In the end, the bee seems to win out over everything, but again, it wasn’t great. Luckily, it was only three minutes long, being the shortest of Melody Time’s seven pieces.

The music choice is an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee”, arranged by Jack Fina, and performed by Fina on piano, along with Freddy Martin and His Orchestra, and is titled “Bumble Boogie”. It was a huge hit for Fina, who had previously joined Freddy Martin’s band, but formed his own band in 1946. Freddy Martin and His Orchestra were a band formed in 1930s, who continued to perform right up until the 1980s, when band leader Martin died in 1983.  “Flight of the Bumblebee” was considered for Fantasia (1940), when Disney planned to add in additional new material and re-release it, however, that plan did not come to pass[1]. I like the piece of music, so I did enjoy the arrangement, but, although I thought the bee in the animation was cute, it was all a bit of a mess of colour and noise, to be honest!

STORY #3: THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY APPLESEED

“The Legend of Johnny Appleseed”, the second-longest segment of Melody Time with a runtime of about eighteen minutes, is the third short. Buddy Clark begins by mentioning some of the symbols of great American pioneers, such as Paul Bunyan’s axe and Davy Crockett’s rifle, before getting to those of pioneer Chapman, which were a tin pot hat, a bag of apple seeds, and the Bible. The story is then passed over to the “Old Settler” to narrate the legend. The story shows Johnny happy and content growing apple trees at his home, singing and picking the apples from his trees. One day, he sees a group of settlers heading West. Johnny wants to join them but thinks that as all he knows is apple trees, he wouldn’t be any use over there. His angel comes to him and tells him that of course the pioneers will need apples, as they are a very versatile food. Johnny takes a tin pot hat, the Bible and his seeds, and heads out West with renewed confidence. After some time, Johnny comes across a good area of soil and begins planting. The animals of the area are not sure about Johnny, but they soon warm to him as they see he has no hunting equipment so they are not in danger. Many years later, Johnny’s trees have continued to grow, with those settlers now living by the orchards and having festivals in his honour, where they cook all sorts of foods using his apples. One day, an elderly Johnny takes a rest by a tree and dies, with his angel coming to take him to Heaven. Johnny doesn’t think his time on Earth should be coming to an end, but the angel encourages him to plant apples trees in Heaven, and Johnny goes willingly.

Although Johnny Appleseed is based on real-life early pioneer John Chapman (1774-1845), who planted apples trees over areas such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, Walt Disney asked that their version of his story be adapted from the legends surrounding him. Again, Mary Blair’s designs were translated onto the screen, this time they were of a folk-art style, which I quite liked. Disney animators Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston and Eric Larson were directing animators for Johnny, and Winston Hibler wrote the narration. Hibler would go on to contribute lyrics to such songs as “Following the Leader” from Peter Pan (1953) and “I Wonder” from Sleeping Beauty (1959), alongside Ted Sears.

Dennis Day, the performer of this segment, actually provides the voices of the characters (Johnny Appleseed and Johnny’s Angel), as well as all the singing, and the narration. Dennis Day was known as “the singing star” on Jack Benny’s radio show from 1939. Verna Felton, legendary Disney voice artist, portrayed Dennis’ character’s mother on the programme. Day was a versatile voice actor, easily able to do accents and impressions well[2]. The music here was written by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent. The two co-wrote many songs together, including the holiday song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. Kent also wrote the song “(There’ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover”. I didn’t mind watching “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed”; it was alright.

STORY #4: LITTLE TOOT

Next up is “Little Toot”, a little tugboat who spends a lot of time messing about and playing around, despite the fact his antics constantly disrupt his dad working and that he continuously halts traffic around the harbour; Little Toot doesn’t seem to understand the importance of being a tugboat. Little Toot is told off by his father and tries to be good, even helping his dad bring in a large ship, however, he causes more harm than good, with the ship crashing onto dry land. Little Toot is taken away by the “harbour police” and exiled in the open ocean. On a very stormy night, whilst trying to stay upright in the waves, Little Toot sees a stranded ocean liner. He sends out an SOS call, which is heard by other boats, including his dad, but before they can even get there, Little Toot has attached himself to the ship and started tugging it to the harbour. He returns as a hero. I quite liked this story; it reminded me a lot of another short called “Pedro”, which appears in Disney’s Saludos Amigos (1942), except that story is about a little plane, instead of a little boat.

The story “Little Toot” was published in 1939 by former Disney animator, Hardie Gramatky, who worked for Disney between 1929 and 1936. The Disney short features The Andrews Sisters singing the story. The Andrews Sisters were a singing group who had previously sung the story of “Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet” for Make Mine Music (1946). Capitol Records produced a record of the “Little Toot” story and song which became the first children’s record to hit the one million sales mark on Billboard.

STORY #5: TREES

The fifth segment is called “Trees”. It is a sung version of Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees”, with the music being written by pianist and composer Oscar Rasbach. The animation consists of multiple drawings of trees, set in different types of weather and times of day. A few animals, like deer and squirrels, also make an appearance, but there is no story here; it is just meant to be nice to watch. Because of this, I lost interest in this segment quite quickly. Plus, due to the nature of singing through a poem, I could barely understand it at times. Though the poem may be popular, I feel like it should’ve been spoken through instead to ensure it was fully comprehensible to all. I also did not like the wailing singing voices trying to imitate the windy, stormy weather. Luckily, this segment is the second-shortest of the seven in Melody Time, at only four minutes, so I didn’t have to sit through it for long. “Trees” was also planned to be included in a new version of Fantasia (1940) like “Flight of the Bumblebee”.

STORY #6: BLAME IT ON THE SAMBA

“Blame It on the Samba” is the sixth short, and this time it features the familiar characters of Donald Duck and José Carioca. José Carioca first appeared in Saludos Amigos (1942) alongside Donald Duck. This short is quite psychedelic with its imagery, and has a very basic story: Donald and José are walking through the forest, looking quite glum, when they come across the Café Do Samba, and are treated to samba music to cheer them up by the Aracuan bird. The Aracuan bird was first introduced in The Three Caballeros (1944), where Donald and José also appeared. Pinto Colvig, who was the original voice of Grumpy and Goofy, provides the voice of the Aracuan bird, reprising his role from The Three Caballeros and the Disney short cartoon Clown of the Jungle (1947)[3]. Throughout the segment, the birds are dancing and mixing cocktails, but the animation is incredibly abstract as within one of those cocktails is Ethel Smith performing on an electric organ with Donald and José dancing on top of it. The animation is bizarre at times, but the music is fun, and it’s always good to see familiar characters within these types of films!

This segment was originally supposed to be part of a third “package feature” based on and within Latin America, as Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros had been. However, as that third film never happened, it was used in Melody Time instead. Organist Ethel Smith had even come in the Disney Studios to record the music in 1945, but then had to return to the Studios again in February 1947 to film the live-action portions that would feature in the new feature film, Melody Time[4]. The Dinning Sisters singing group perform the vocals to this song. They were very popular around the late 1940s, and were considered to be Capitol Records’ answer to The Andrews Sisters. The music was written by Brazilian composer and pianist Ernesto Nazareth and lyricist Ray Gilbert.

STORY #7: PECOS BILL

The final short, and longest of the film at around twenty minutes, is called “Pecos Bill”, the fictional cowboy from American folk stories. It begins with a typical animated desert landscape, complete with cacti and tumbleweeds. We then get to a live-action section, of cowboys sitting around a campfire. The song “Blue Shadows on the Trail” has been playing during this animation, and it turns out these cowboys have been singing it. The song was performed by Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers. The Sons of the Pioneers are a Western singing group, still performing today. They have appeared in movies as well as on the radio. Roy Rogers, then called Leonard Slye, Tim Spencer and Bob Nolan founded the group, however when Slye change his name to Roy Rogers, he left the group in 1937. Roy Rogers was a singer and actor. He appears in this segment alongside his horse, Trigger, who featured in many of Rogers’ films and television appearances. At this campfire, Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers tell the story of Pecos Bill to Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten, who have not heard the story. These two child stars appeared together in the Disney films Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1949)[5]. Driscoll would go on to star in Disney’s animated film Peter Pan (1953) as the title character.

We then move into the animated retelling of Pecos Bill’s story. After falling out of his family’s wagon into the Texas desert, he is raised by coyotes. Bill also starts to learn from all the other animals, such as jumping like a jack-rabbit and hissing like a snake. One day, a young Bill comes across a small, ill horse, and saves him from being eaten by vultures. Bill names his new horse Widowmaker and becomes one of the best cowboys ever, as it is a profession where he can work alongside his horse. We are then told of all the wonderful things that Bill did for Texas, such as bringing the rain from California into Texas to stop a drought and this is how the Gulf of Mexico came to be. He also needed water one day and dug the Rio Grande to get some! One day, he comes across a female cowboy, Slue Foot Sue and instantly falls in love with her. Widowmaker, Bill’s horse, is not impressed at being ignored while Bill “courts” Sue, and is even more annoyed, and jealous, when he finds that the two are getting married. As part of the wedding celebrations, Sue wanted a dress with a bustle and to ride to the ceremony on Bill’s horse, however, although she got the dress she wanted, Widowmaker was not happy to have Sue on his back and bucks her off him. Unfortunately, due to her bustle, Sue doesn’t just fall to the ground, but hits it and bounces up continuously, getting higher and higher each time. Bill calmly gets ready to use his lasso to get Sue down, but it misses – thanks to Widowmaker stepping on the end of the rope. Eventually, Sue bounces up so far that she ends up stuck on the moon. Bill went back to the coyotes, filled with sadness, but never forgot Sue. Every night, Bill mourned her by howling up at the moon, with the other coyotes joining in, and that is why coyotes howl at the moon, answering the question that Luana Patten asked during the campfire. The segment ends with another verse from “Blue Shadows on the Trail”, and that is the end of the film.

Both the song “Blue Shadows on the Trail”, as well as “Pecos Bill” were written by Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange. Eliot Daniel went on to write the song “Lavender Blue” for So Dear to My Hear (1949), which was Oscar-nominated, and then compose the theme from I Love Lucy (1951-1957). Johnny Lange was a songwriter, whose song “Mule Train, was also Oscar-nominated and featured in the film Singing Guns (1950). I found this short to be very long, and didn’t feel like we needed the live-action segment before it, though I did like the song “Blue Shadows on the Trail”. The actual story of Pecos Bill wasn’t too bad, but I’m not a big fan of Westerns or stories about cowboys!

PRODUCTION

After Fantasia (1940) was released, Walt Disney, and the Studios, got some backlash to the movie, as, although the whole point of the film was to make it as close to a concert as you could see in a movie theatre, this approach was considered too “high-brow” for audiences and reviewers. So, when the Disney Studios decided to make Make Mine Music (1946), another “package feature” similar to Fantasia with heavy emphasis on its musical choices, they decided to use more popular genres and musicians to appeal to a wider audience. This is the same approach that was used for Melody Time[6].

The reason a “package film” was necessary was because the Disney Studios had suffered financially both because of World War II and its impact on both domestic and foreign markets, as well as the 1941 animators’ strike which affected the Disney Studios badly, both in terms of finances and their reputation. “Package features” were cheaper to make, as they weren’t overly focused on the animation design, and also quicker, which satisfied Disney’s distribution contract with RKO to release their animated features.

It was also good because though they had ideas for stories, these stories did not contain enough material to fill a full-length feature film, so by having multiple sections, or shorts, within one movie, they could still use these story ideas in and amongst other, potentially shorter subjects. For example, for Melody Time, Walt stated in a short essay that he wrote for the 1948-49 volume of Film Review, that they liked the idea of doing full animated features on the legendary Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed, but as they were both mostly based in legends, with little life-story or factual evidence to back up their deeds, there was not enough material for a full movie. By using these two stories within a film like Melody Time, it satisfied their want to tell these two specific tales that otherwise may have remained untold, at least in an animated medium. Walt did also make it clear, though, that these types of “multiple episode cartoon fantasy” would not replace Disney’s classic animated picture[7]. One more “package feature” would be released by Disney the year after Melody Time in 1949: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which did only feature two stories; one based on The Wind in the Willows novel by Kenneth Grahame and the other on the short story by Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It was originally titled Two Fabulous Characters, with both that movie and Melody Time being announced by Disney as being in production in 1947.

Despite this optimism for the “package feature” format that was primarily used by Disney in the 1940s, it was not favoured by Walt Disney himself, as they aren’t particularly creative or inventive, and they lacked the usual Disney magic of story-telling. The 1940s was not an easy decade for anyone working at the Studios. In January 1947, a screening of the work-in-progress “Pecos Bill” short was being shown to Walt Disney in its pencil form. It had been worked on by Ward Kimball and Milt Kahl. According to Kimball’s family, even though the piece was not finished, Walt found the “Pecos Bill” piece uplifting, saying it was the most encouraging thing he’d seen at the Disney Studios for six years. It is believed Walt meant that he could still see the talent within the animators and had hope that in the future they would be able to make great things again[8].

RECEPTION

Melody Time premiered on 27th May 1948 at the Astor Theatre in New York City’s Times Square. It was then released internationally over the next couple of years. Unfortunately, Melody Time received mixed reviews, much like the other “package films”, due to its variety of material and the natural fact that not every section would appeal to everyone. Within US critics, though, many did agree that “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed” and “Pecos Bill” were the two highlights of the movie, as they were both legendary heroic figures within American folklore. Some reviewers were not so kind, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times writing that Melody Time was a “gaudy grab-bag” of shorts, with some good and some bad[9], though that is basically the standard response to this movie.

Many of the shorts within Melody Time were later released separately on different Disney media, like “Pecos Bill” was released as a stand-alone short in February 1954; “Once Upon a Wintertime” in September 1954; and “Johnny Appleseed” in December 1955. This gave the “better” pieces a wider audience and meant viewers did not have to watch the entire film to find them. Luckily, with the success of Cinderella (1950), the animated “package features” were no longer required; audiences had made it clear that they wanted a full story, not a mish-mash of short sequences, from Disney.

It would not be until 1998 when Melody Time was first released on home video in the US, despite the sequences within Melody Time having been available to watch on previous Disney compilations. When Melody Time was re-released on VHS and released for the first time on DVD, the US version of the movie was censored, much like Make Mine Music was. This censoring removed any and all cigarettes from Pecos Bill’s mouth within the whole short of “Pecos Bill”, which meant large portions of the short, such as those with the cyclone and the “painted Indians” were cut, as Bill had a cigarette dangling in his mouth throughout. The Indians scene perhaps should’ve been cut for other, more obvious reasons… Foreign releases were uncut[10]. However, despite this earlier censorship, the original, unaltered version of Melody Time was released on Blu-Ray in 2021, as well as on Disney+, where it begins with their negative depiction/stereotype warning.

LEGACY

Due to the style of movie that Melody Time is, it did not receive a sequel and it is highly unlikely that it will ever receive the “live-action” treatment from Disney. The only other movie that Melody Time helped create was the last “package feature” to be released during Walt’s lifetime: Music Land (1955). It was never released on home video, and only played in 1955, and once more at the 1970 Tribute to Walt Disney retrospective at the National Film Theater. Music Land (1955) is not the animated short of the same name, released in 1935 as part of the Silly Symphonies catalogue, but a film that took four segments from Make Mine Music and five from Melody Time, thrown together and released on 5th October 1955. It was only made to satisfy Disney’s contract with RKO, who needed one more release under that contract before Disney could use their own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution. From Melody Time, Music Land used these shorts: “Once Upon a Wintertime”, “Bumble Boogie”, “Trees”, “Blame It on the Samba” and “Pecos Bill”[12].

Surprisingly, some of the Disney theme parks do feature references to some of the sections of Melody Time, with the biggest one being the quick-service restaurant, Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, which appears in Frontierland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, as well as in Westernland within Tokyo Disneyland.

At Magic Kingdom, Pecos Bill Cafe opened in 1971, with two separate dining locations: the Cafe and the Mile Long Bar. In 1998, the two locations were combined into one restaurant, with it being renamed Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe. The location features many references to the Disney short “Pecos Bill” as well as the legends surrounding him and all the things he created for Texas, such as digging the Rio Grande. The Disney-created backstory of the restaurant states that Pecos Bill was convinced to open his own “watering hole” in 1876, with gifts being left by those who came here, which were later adorned on the walls of the restaurant. Some gifts include Paul Bunyan’s axe and Johnny Appleseed’s pot-hat. Bill’s long-lost love, Slue Foot Sue, even left her gloves to him, signed “To Bill, All My Love, Slue Foot Sue”; they can be found within a frame hanging on the wall.

Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe mostly served burgers, with a full toppings bar, until 2015, when the menu changed to serve “Tex-Mex”-style dishes, such as tacos, nachos and fajitas. I suppose this menu fits in better with the overall theming of the area, but I preferred when they had burgers! Posters advertising the restaurant can be seen within the queue for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction[13]. Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe opened at Tokyo Disneyland on 15th April 1983 when the park first opened. It also serves Mexican food.

Elsewhere within Magic Kingdom, an old-fashioned calliope, or steam organ, can be found outside the Pete’s Silly Sideshow character meet-and-greet location within Storybook Circus. It is inscribed with the words “Melody Time: Brass Horn Band”. It also says at the top “Toot, Plunk, Whistle, Boom”. This may appear to be another small reference to the movie Melody Time, as the word “Toot” could reference the specific short “Little Toot” from the movie, however, Disney released a short in 1953 titled Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, so it is likely to be a nod to that short instead.

There is apparently a script of Melody Time that can be seen in one of the windows behind the bus stop queues at the All-Star Movies Resort at Walt Disney World, however, I have not found a picture of it online to confirm it, nor did I see it any of the numerous resort walkthroughs that I found on YouTube. I guess no-one thinks bus stops are interesting enough for their travel vlogs. Rude.

Finally, a very brief scene, literally a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, from “Once Upon a Wintertime”, with the guy skating love hearts into the ice, can be seen during the Wonderful World of Animation nighttime show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. It is almost at the very end of the show, within the compilation of scenes from various movies that follows the Encanto scene; it is on the screen furthest left of The Chinese Theater – in case anyone wants to find this scene one day!

At Disneyland and at Tokyo Disneyland, another reference to the movie can be found within the queue line for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, there is a poster detailing on audition for “toons only” on Tuesday for the “upcoming Disney pic MELODY TIME”.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Melody Time is not my favourite of the Disney’s 1940s movies; I didn’t find much of it that I really liked, which surprised me, as I thought there would have been at least one short that I did like. I guess “Blame It on the Samba” was ok, but the imagery was too abstract for me, so despite the familiarity of Donald and José, I wasn’t bothered when it finished! Most of it was just “alright” for me, but I know that other people may disagree with me, and in particular might love “Pecos Bill” or “The Legend of Johnny Appleseed”. As I’m not American, perhaps that folklore just doesn’t hit me in the same way.

Regardless of anyone’s feelings about Melody Time, this and its other “package film friends” were a necessity to keep the Disney Studios financially stable. It worked and it meant Disney could move on to better things from the 1950s onwards.

I don’t think Melody Time should put anyone off Disney “package features” as some of their other ones are much better and I do really like those. Sadly, Melody Time is just not one of those “other ones” for me. 

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Michael Lyons, ‘Music with Character: The 75th Anniversary of “Melody Time”’, CartoonResearch.com, 28th April 2023.

[2] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? 10 Tuneful Facts About Walt Disney’s Melody Time’, D23.com, 24th May 2018.

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Melody Time’, pp. 28-30.

[4] Credit: Jim Fanning, ‘Did You Know? 10 Tuneful Facts About Walt Disney’s Melody Time’, D23.com, 24th May 2018.

[5] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Melody Time’, pp. 28-30.

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 5 (2016), ‘The Disney Package Features’, pp. 65-73.

[7] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Walt Talks About the Disney Package Features’, MousePlanet.com, 2nd December 2015.

[8] Credit: Lucas O. Seastrom, ‘Hope for the Future – A Story about Walt Disney’s Melody Time’, The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog, 25th July 2018.

[9] Credit: Bosley Crowther, ‘Disney’s Newest Cartoon Array, ‘Melody Time’, Opens at Astor – Seven Scenes Featured’, The New York Times (online), 28th May 1948.

[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Melody Time’, pp. 28-30.

[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Walt Talks About the Disney Package Features’, MousePlanet.com, 2nd December 2015.

[13] Credit: Lydia Storks, ‘The Secrets You Didn’t Know About This Popular Disney World Restaurant’, AllEars.net, 26th March 2021.

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