Melody (Adventures in Music)

Melody is an educational Adventures in Music animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions, and originally released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on May 28, 1953. It features Professor Owl teaching and conducting his music class, which is a colorful choir of adult-voiced bird children, about melody and its importance to the world of music. It's all around in nature. Only birds and man can sing; man "sings" even when he speaks. We see a quick survey of the stages of life, as captured by songs: the Alphabet Song for primary school, "Here Comes the Bride," "The Old Gray Mare," etc. Some inspirations for song are outlined in song (such as love, sailing, trains, the West and motherhood, inspired by a trio of three canaries--the Canary Sisters), but a pinfeather of the choir named Penelope states that we never, ever sing about brains. Finally, an example is shown of how a simple melody can be expanded into a symphony: an elaborate version of the simple tune which opened the lesson. Despite Disney's claims implying that this was the first 3-D cartoon, it was actually just Disney's first attempt at three-dimensional animation.
==Summary==
Professor Owl teaches his music class, which is an adult-voiced choir of bird children, about melody and its importance to the world of music. Features the song "The Bird and the Cricket and the Willow Tree".
==Characters==
*Bertie Birdbrain (voiced by Bill Thompson)
*The Canary Sisters
*Penelope Pinfeather (voiced by Loulie Jean Norman)
*Professor Owl (voiced by Bill Thompson)
*Suzy Sparrow (voiced by Gloria Wood)
==Songs==
*"The Bird and the Cricket and the Willow Tree"
*"Rock-a-Bye Baby"
*"The Alphabet Song"
*"Far Above Cayuga's Waters"
*"Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes"
*"Here Comes the Bride" (and there goes the groom!)
*"Home! Sweet Home!"
*"Happy Birthday to You"
*"Silver Threads Among the Gold"
*"The Old Gray Mare"
*"Auld Lang Syne"
*"Oh, Dem Golden Slippers"
*"Lemon Drop Moon"
*"A Life on the Ocean Wave"
*"The Old Iron Horse"
*"Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie"
*"Motherhood"
==Releases==
===Television===
* Disneyland, episode #5.24: "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom"
* Donald's Quack Attack, episode #4.
*Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode #27.
===DVD===
*Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities
*Fantasia 2000
*The Fantasia Anthology
==Notes==
*In some airings on The Disney Channel, Bertie Birdbrain's use of the word "Injun" is removed.
*This short was adapted into several record albums:
**The first album was released in 1952 from RCA Victor as a "Little Nipper" story and record, a year before the film was released with the original voices and music from the short.
**The second was a recording of "The Bird and the Cricket and the Willow Tree" released on Golden Records with Anne Lloyd and the Sandpipers singing along with Mitch Miller (of Sing Along with Mitch fame) as the Professor.
**The third was released in 1961 as side 2 of the album A Child's Introduction to Melody by Tutti Camarata and his orchestra along with Thurl Ravenscroft as the Professor.
*Professor Owl claims that only birds and humans are capable of singing. However, there are other creatures that can sing, such as whales, tree frogs, crickets and cicadas.
*In the original ending, the growing willow tree would have transformed into the Hollywood Bowl with an orchestra performing as the Professor and his students observed from a nearby tree branch.
==Gallery==
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Category:Animated shorts
Category:1953 films
Category:1953 shorts
Category:3-D films