Make Mine Music

Make Mine Music
Walt Disney / RKO, 1946, Color, 74 minutes, ***
Premiere release April, 1946
General release August, 1946

A collection of musical shorts with animation. The first short is "The Martins and the Coys" (subtitled "A Rustic Ballad"), about a feud between two hillbilly families. Next up is "Blue Bayou" ("A Tone Poem"), sung by The Ken Darby Chorus and set to animation of egrets flying over a moonlit bayou. Benny Goodman provides the music for "All the Cats Join In" ("A Jazz Interlude"), featuring pencil sketches of teenage bobby-soxers jitterbugging at a malt shop. "Without You" ("A Ballad in Blue"), sung by Andy Russell, is an abstract piece with rain pouring down a windowpane which is reflecting changing colors. Jerry Colonna narrates the story of "Casey at the Bat" ("A Musical Recitation"), the famous poem about the mighty baseball player who strikes out. Dinah Shore sings "Two Silhouettes" ("Ballade Ballet") in which Tatiana Riabouchinska and David Lichine of the Ballet Russe perform. Sterling Holloway narrates the tale of "Peter and the Wolf" ("A Fairy Tale with Music"), accompanied by the classic Prokofiev score. "After You've Gone" is a visualization of the Benny Goodman number, with various musical instruments engaged in a dueling jam session. The Andrews Sisters sing the story of "Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet" ("A Love Story"), about two hats in a store window who fall in love and try to reunite after being bought and separated. The closing segment is "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" ("Opera Pathetique"), with Nelson Eddy providing all of the voices for this story of a giant whale with an incredible singing voice who aspires to perform at the opera.

Produced By: Joe Grant
Production Supervisor: Joe Grant
Directors: Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Bob Cormack, Josh Meador
Story: Homer Brightman, Dick Huemer, Dick Kinney, John Walbridge, Tom Oreb, Dick Shaw, Eric Gurney, Sylvia Holland, T. Hee, Ed Penner, Dick Kelsey, Jim Bodrero, Roy Williams, Cap Palmer, Jesse Marsh, Erwin Graham
Music Director: Charles Wolcott
Associates: Ken Darby, Oliver Wallace, Edaward Plumb
Songs by: Ray Gilbert, Eliot Daniel, Allie Wrubel, Bobby Worth
Art Supervision: Mary Blair, Elmer Plummer, John Hench
Animation: Les Clark, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, John Lounsbery, Milt Kahl, Ollie Johnston, John Sibley, Fred Moore, Hal King, Hugh Fraser, Judge Whitaker, Jack Campbell, Harvey Toombs, Cliff Nordberg, Tom Massey, Bill Justice, Phil Duncan, Al Bertino, Hal Ambro, John McManus, Ken O'Brien
Effects Animation: George Rowley, Andy Engman, Jack Boyd, Brad Case, Don Patterson
Sound Recording: C. O. Slyfield, Robert O. Cook
Process Effects: Ub Iwerks
In Technicolor
Color Consultant: Mique Nelson

Cast: Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, The Andrews Sisters, Jerry Colonna, Andy Russell, Sterling Holloway, The Pied Pipers, The King's Men, The Ken Darby Chorus, Tatiana Riabouchinska, David Lichine

Musical Program: [0:00] Make Mine Music (sung behind titles by ); [0:01] A Tone Poem: Blue Bayou (sung by the Ken Darby Chorus, visuals are two egrets in a bayou); [0:06] A Jazz Interlude: All the Cats Join In (a CariCATture) (featuring Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, visuals are cartoon drawings of teenagers going to a drugstore to dance); [0:11] A Ballad in Blue: Andy Russell singing Without You (visuals are a cartoon of a blue rainy day); [0:14] A Musical Recitation by Jerry Colonna entitled Casey at the Bat (introduction sung by The Ken Darby Chorus, visuals are a cartoon baseball game ca. 1900, Jerry Colonna narrates and sings based on the famous poem "Casey at the Bat"); [0:23] Ballade Ballet: Tania Riabouchinska and David Lichine - The Dance, Dinah Shore - the Song Two Silhouettes (visual is hand-drawn silhouettes of Tani and David dancing); [0:27] A Fairy Tale with Music: Peter and the Wolf (by Sergei Prokofiev, told by Sterling Holloway, visuals are cartoon renderings of Peter and animals); [0:42] The Goodman Quartet (Cozy Cole, Sid Weiss, Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman) After You've Gone (visuals are cartoon renderings of musical instruments); [0:45] A Love Story (sung by the Andrews Sisters): Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet (a cartoon rendition of the story of a fedora and a blue bonnet falling in love); [0:53] Opera Pathetique (presenting Nelson Eddy - who does ALL the voices for the tragic story of... The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met (visuals are a cartoon whale who sings opera. Nelson Eddy sings and narrates); The Martins and the Coys (The King's Men) [included in film, but deleted for the videotape]