Conte de ma mère l'Oye

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

MOTHER GOOSE GOES Hollywood when a collection of animated celebrities spoof the characters in wacky interpretations of famous old Nursery Rhymes.

Aided by excellent voice artists, the Disney animators get to display their caricaturing talents in this very enjoyable cartoon. This was not as easy as it looks, melding the personality of the celebrity with the persona of the Nursery character and leaving them both recognizable. And it gets even more complicated than that. In the 3 Men In A Tub sequence, the celebrity is also spoofing a famous movie role they've played (Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, Spencer Tracy as Manuel in CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS & Freddie Bartholomew as David COPPERFIELD). That Disney was able to pull off these characterizations in the space of only a few seconds speaks volumes for the high level of expertise attained by the Studio.

Movie mavens will love spotting & naming each animated celebrity. Others will have a difficult time, since many of these stars are now rather obscure. Here, for the record, is a listing of the celebrity spoofs: Katharine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep; Hugh Herbert as Old King Cole; Groucho, Chico & Harpo Marx as the Fiddlers Three; Ned Sparks as the King's Jester; Joe Penner as the King's Servant; Donald Duck as himself; Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy & Freddie Bartholomew as the 3 Men In A Tub; W. C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty; Charlie McCarthy as himself; Stan Laurel as Simple Simon; Oliver Hardy as the Pieman; Edward G. Robinson & Greta Garbo in See Saw Margery Daw; Wallace Beery as Little Boy Blue; Edna May Oliver, Mae West & ZaSu Pitts as the trumpeters; Clark Gable as the flautist; George Arliss as the saxophonist; Joe E. Brown & Martha Raye as the jitterbug dancers. Apparently, unedited versions of the cartoon also feature 'appearances' by Fred Astaire, Cab Calloway, Eddie Cantor, Stepin Fetchit & Fats Waller.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

I wasn't really sure what this had to do with "Mother Goose" but once it got going it was quite an entertaining little series of characterisations of Hollywood stars doing things from nursery rhymes or just having a darned good time. I'm sure I saw Katharine Hepburn, Edward G. Robinson, Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers and Charles Laughton in this sing-along and some of the animation hits the nail on the head - especially Laughton and Hepburn as as very adaptable "Little Bow Beep". It's essentially a celebration of animated caricatures and though entirely forgettable, passes ten minutes with a lively score easily enough.

AND YET WE have another example of the Disney Production crew bringing us an example of creating a cartoon around the caricaturing of popular Hollywood figures. Due to the successes achieved by the Studio with the titles such as MICKEY"S GALA PREMIER (1934), MICKEY"S POLO TEAM (1936)and the Donald Duck vehicle, THE AUTOGRAPH HOUND (1938), the subject had grown into a favourite; being repeated often.

IN MANY RESPECTS, this entry belongs at the top of the list. With its multitude of episodic gags, each and every one being tailored to both the Mother Goose Story and to the Star(s) being fitted to the mannerisms and physicality of that subject, it has a unity of purpose and theme. That it is both diverse and concise at once.

ONE OF THE main differences that separates this from the other is that there is no Disney character that is cast in the main, starring role. Other than the very brief appearance of Donald Duck, in what can only be described as the quintessence of the Cameo, no other regular cartoon characters appear.

THE CARTOON LIKNESSES of the Elite of Film-land, on the other hand, are legion in their numbers. Going chapter by chapter, the all so familiar stories of the Mother Goose are lampooned by the infusion of the stars persona. For example, we have Katherine Hepburn as LITTLE BO PEEP, Charles Laughton (as Captain Bligh from MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY), and both Spencer Tracy & Freddie Bartholomew (from CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS) as the THREE MEN IN A TUB.

THE MANY OTHER appearances we find are: Hugh Herbert, Ned Sparks, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Anderson, Laurel & Hardy, Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo, Eddie Cantor, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Lincoln Perry (Stepin Fetchit), Fred Astair and many others.

BEING THAT THIS Cartoon was a part of the SILLY SYMPHONY Series, one could infer and assume that the Musical Score would be both important and elaborate. Well, you'd be right. All the way from the opening Theme to the various musical quotations that appear in the incidental music, it is outstanding and indeed a great listening experience.

ANOTHER REMARKABLE ASPECT of this short is its seeming freshness. Although it is now over 75 years old, it couldn't be better if it were made yesterday. This is due to a couple of factors.

FIRST OF ALL, the films and actors being lampooned are all classic and well remembered today. Most all of those characters are instantly recognizable due to the near immortal status achieved by those performers in their lifetime.

SECONDLY AND PERHAPS the most obvious reason for the almost legendary reputation associated with films such as this is that it is a Walt Disney Production.

WE BELIEVE THAT this factor needs no further proof or validation.

This was a rather boring cartoon where we see caricatures of famous Hollywood actors during the Golden Era. No plot and not much laughter - just appearances of a bunch of actors.

Donald Duck makes a cameo appearance, which I thought I was the highlight of the cartoon, along with the pie-in-the-face of the Bo-Peep character.

Grade D+

This Disney animated short puts Hollywood stars of the 1930's into roles from Mother Goose stories. For example W.C. Fields is Humpty Dumpty and the Marx Brothers are the fidlers three. I'm sure much of this film's humor depended on a knowledge of the stars of the day. Today it's just not as amusing. Still, the animation is wonderful. Donald Duck does make a cameo appearance. The version Disney shows on TV has obviously had pieces edited.