Melody Time (1948)


And now for our last entry on one of the package films, Melody Time.

The Movie:

 Melody Time is the 10th movie of the Disney Animated Canon and the 5th film of the Package Film Era.  It is similar in nature to Make Mine Music.

Like Make Mine Music, Melody Time is a series of short segments themed around music, but this time they get narrated introduction by Buddy Clark.  Following the movie's title song and sequence, the segments are:

1. Once Upon a Wintertime - Frances Langford sings the title song while a human couple and several animal couple flirt romantically in wintertime.

2. Bumble Boogie - A bee faces off against a serious of somewhat abstract objects resembling a mix of instruments and flora and fauna, set to a jazzy version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, performed by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra with Jack Fina on the piano.

3. The Legend of Johnny Appleseed - Dennis Day sings and narrates the legend of the pioneer John Chapman, who traveled west and planted apple trees.

4. Little Toot - Based on a story by Hardie Gramatky, this segment tells of a young tug boat wanting to be like his father, with a song sung by the Andrews Sisters.

5. Trees - Joyce Kilmer's poem is set to music by Oscar Rasbach and sung by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, with artist renditions of trees.

6. Blame It on the Samba - Like in Saludos Amigos, Donald Duck and José Carioca are traveling through Brazil, where the Aracuan bird from The Three Caballeros introduces them to the samba with "Apanhei-te, Cavaquinho" by Ernesto Nazareth, here performed by Ethel Smith (who appears in live-action) and the Dinning Sisters, with English lyrics written by Ray Gilbert.

 7. Pecos Bill - Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers tell child actors Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patton the tall tale of Pecos Bill, the legendary cowboy who was raised by coyotes and formed many of the features of Texas.  The performers are shown in the opening and closing of the segment in live-action, while the main story is animated over the songs.  This segment also uses the song "Blue Shadows on the Trail."  This segment is noticeably edited due to smoking in recent versions.

 Overall, though they are nicely animated and well-performed, as a collection these sequences are not as interesting and memorable as the ones in Make Mine Music.  The two most prominent ones are the two longest, The Legend of Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill, but even these American legends cannot carry the whole movie.  Interestingly, while Pecos Bill was the character most prominently featured on the original posters, modern artwork for the movie tends to feature Donald Duck, even though he is only in one of the shorter segments.

 Presence in the Parks:

 Melody Time also has a character with a restaurant in the Magic Kingdom.  This one is Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn and Cafe.  Until recently, it was primarily known as a burger restaurant with a fixin's bar that included such items as sauteed onions and mushrooms and a cheese sauce.  In recent years it has added more Mexican items, including fajitas, tacos, and nachos.


Bacon Cheeseburger plate and frozen drink in souvenir cup
Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, Magic Kingdom, May 2015

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