Symphony Hour

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Symphony Hour
Mickey Mouse series

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Riley Thomson
Produced by Walt Disney
Voices by Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig, Walt Disney, Florence Gill, John McLeish, Clarence Nash
Animation by Jack Campbell, Les Clark, Ed Love, Jim Moore, Kenneth Muse, Riley Thomson, Bernard Wolf
Studio Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)
  • March 20, 1942 (1942-03-20)
(USA)
Color process Technicolor
Running time 6 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Preceded by Mickey's Birthday Party
Followed by Squatter's Rights

Symphony Hour is a 1942 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon depicts Mickey Mouse conducting a symphony orchestra sponsored by Pete. The film was directed by Riley Thomson and features music adapted from the "Light Cavalry Overture" by Franz von Suppé. The voice cast includes Walt Disney as Mickey, Billy Bletcher as Pete, and John McLeish as a radio announcer.

The film marked the last theatrical appearance of Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and Clara Cluck for over 40 years, finally reappearing in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). Symphony Hour is also the last time that Mickey appeared with either Donald Duck or Goofy in a theatrical film for the same length of time.[1][2][3]

Symphony Hour bears similarities with the 1935 film The Band Concert. Leonard Maltin called this short a "Spike Jones version of The Band Concert".[4]

Plot

Mickey leads a radio orchestra who performs the Light Cavalry Overture (by Franz von Suppé). The sponsor (Pegleg Pete as Mr. Sylvester Macaroni) loves the rehearsal and agrees to have it shown in concert. On the night of the performance, Goofy drops all the instruments under an elevator which destroys their musical sounds. Macaroni and Mickey are unaware of the mishap until the orchestra starts to "play" the ruined instruments. Throughout the outrageous concert, Mickey struggles with anxiety while Macaroni throws tantrums from inside of his private viewing room. Macaroni is reduced to tears when the concert ends, believing his reputation to be ruined. But he suddenly lightens up when he hears the thunderous applause from the audience. Clara Cluck is in the orchestra in the beginning "rehearsal" sequences but not in the actual performance at the end. Other characters appearing in this short are Donald Duck, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.

At one stage, Donald is so fed up with the chaos caused by the wrecked instruments that he packs his things and leaves. Mickey, determined to carry on come what may, points a gun at Donald's head to get him back into playing. This scene is missing in some versions of the short.

Cast

Production team

Principal animation
Effects animation

Notes

  1. ↑ Symphony Hour at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ Symphony Hour at the Big Cartoon DataBase
  3. ↑ Symphony Hour on The Encyclopedia of Animated Disney Shorts
  4. ↑ "Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two"

External links

Shorts
Featurettes
See also
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