Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Distributor: United Artists
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
Mickey Mouse conducts a small brass band in a park bandstand, wearing a uniform far too big for him. They finish Hérold's Zampa to applause and begin Rossini's William Tell Overture. Donald Duck, pushing a cart of popcorn, peanuts, lemonade and ice cream through the audience, pulls out a flute and plays "Turkey in the Straw", and the band, absent-mindedly, follows him. Mickey breaks the flute; Donald produces another, and another, from his sleeves. A bee pesters Donald and ends up in the band; the ice cream Donald throws at it goes down Mickey's back, setting off a brief excursion into "The Streets of Cairo". During the storm section of the overture, a real tornado arrives. Mickey and the band play on as the twister lifts them, the bandstand and the audience into the sky, still in time with the music, until they finish the finale draped over a tree. Donald, unharmed, pops up and plays one last chorus of "Turkey in the Straw", and the band pelts him with their instruments.
Why It Matters
- The tornado finale, with the band whirled into the air and never missing a beat, is a marvel of timing, the music and the action locked together through every spin. Mickey's determination to finish the concert while the whole world turns against him is one of his finest performances.
- It was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon released in colour, and it is regularly ranked among the greatest Disney shorts. Animation professionals voted it number 3 in the 1994 book The 50 Greatest Cartoons, and it was added to the National Film Registry in 1994.
Notes and Trivia
- Donald Duck, voiced by Clarence Nash, is the only character who speaks.
- The conductor Arturo Toscanini is often reported to have named it his favourite film.
- See also: Fiddling Around (1930), Mickey's Service Station (1935).