Musical Moments from Chopin | |
---|---|
Directed by | Dick Lundy |
Story by | Ben Hardaway Milt Schaffer |
Produced by | Walter Lantz |
Music by | Darrell Calker |
Animation by | Laverne Harding Les Kline Grim Natwick (unc.) Paul J. Smith (unc.) Casey Onaitis (unc.) Sid Pillet (effects, unc.) |
Backgrounds by | Fred Brunish |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 7:46 |
Language | English |
Musical Moments from Chopin (also known as Chopin's Musical Moments) [1] is a Musical Miniatures cartoon, co-starring Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker. It was directed by Dick Lundy and released on February 24, 1947.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for best short subject in 1946, losing to MGM's Tom and Jerry cartoon The Cat Concerto , which also featured a piano concert setting.
This short starts with Andy Panda performing a Chopin polonaise on stage. As he does so, Woody Woodpecker wanders out and starts polishing the piano, and seems impressed by Andy's playing. Woody then plays along with Andy on the following pieces, either on the same or another grand piano, with increasing cut-aways to the animal audience and their own antics. [2] At some point, an intoxicated horse up in the rafters who was trying to light his cigar tries to use a ceiling lamp to light it, but accidentally causes it to fall and spread a fire onto the stage. Andy manages to finish his piano performance while Woody extinguishes the flames.
The short would be the first Musical Miniatures cartoon produced by the studio, and is the only entry to receive an Academy Award nomination for best short subject. [3] This was Lantz's eighth Academy Award nomination. [4]
Dick Lundy previously tested the concept in the 1946 Andy Panda cartoon, The Poet & Peasant. It was proven to be a success as it was also nominated for an Academy Award. Lundy would direct all of the remaining Musical Miniatures cartoons until the studios brief closure. [5]
The short features music by Frédéric Chopin played by Woody and Andy, which includes:
In 1958, the television show The Woody Woodpecker Show premiered, and continued on the air in various forms for the next four decades. Episode 18 of its first season included Musical Moments from Chopin along with other Lantz cartoons, and a making-of involving Lantz and storyboarding. [6]
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures.
Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures since 1940. Woody's last Woody Woodpecker was produced by Walter Lantz in 1972.
Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.
Knock Knock is an animated Andy Panda short film, produced by Walter Lantz. The cartoon is noted for being the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker, and was released by Universal Pictures on November 25, 1940.
Richard James Lundy was an American animator and film director who worked at several animation studios including The Walt Disney Company, MGM, and Hanna-Barbera. Lundy was a pioneer of personality animation and is best remembered as one of the creators of Donald Duck. Throughout his career he worked as a primary animator on at least 60 films, both short and feature-length, and directed 51 shorts.
Robert Fred Moore, was an American artist and animator for Walt Disney Animation Studios. Often called "Freddie," he was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Despite limited formal art training, he rose to prominence at Disney very quickly in the early 1930s, due to his great natural talent and the tremendous appeal of his drawings. His drawings are still greatly admired by animators and animation fans.
Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive penguin. He was created by director Paul Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953, and developed further by Tex Avery in the two subsequent films following Smith's debut entry. The character soon became the second most popular Lantz/Universal character, behind Woody Woodpecker. Fifty Chilly Willy cartoons were produced between 1953 and 1972.
The Woody Woodpecker Show is a 30-minute American television series mainly composed, of the animated cartoon shorts of Woody Woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, The Beary Family and Inspector Willoughby all released by Walter Lantz Productions. The series was revived and reformatted several times, but remained popular for nearly four decades and allowed the studio to continue making theatrical cartoons until 1972 when it shut down. It also kept the Walter Lantz/Universal "cartunes" made during the Golden Age of American animation a part of the American consciousness. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN.
Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947, and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a cute panda. Andy became the second star of the Walter Lantz cartoons after Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He achieved considerable popularity until being eventually supplanted by Woody Woodpecker.
Wally Walrus is an animated cartoon character who appeared in several films produced by Walter Lantz Productions from the 1940s through the 1960s. He has also since appeared in various cartoon programs of more recent decades.
The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection is a three-disc DVD collection of theatrical cartoons produced by Walter Lantz Productions for Universal Pictures between 1930 and 1956. The set was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on July 24, 2007, and marks the first time a collection of cartoons starring Woody Woodpecker and the other Lantz characters have been widely available on home video.
This is a list of Walter Lantz "Cartunes" featuring Andy Panda. All are entries in Lantz's Andy Panda series, except for $21 a Day , Musical Moments from Chopin, and Banquet Busters and The Woody Woodpecker Polka, two Woody Woodpecker cartoons.
This is a list of Walter Lantz "Cartunes" featuring Wally Walrus. Most are entries in Lantz's Woody Woodpecker, but Wally has also appeared in The Overture to William Tell, Dog Tax Dodgers, Kiddie Koncert, Clash and Carry, and Tricky Trout, which are Musical Miniatures, Andy Panda and Chilly Willy cartunes.
Convict Concerto is the 58th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on November 22, 1954, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.
Woody Woodpecker is the first animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on July 7, 1941, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Frank Alfred Marsales was a Canadian composer best known for his work scoring many classic animated films by Warner Bros. Cartoons in the 1930s. He also worked with Walter Lantz Studios in the mid to late 1930s.
Inspector Willoughby is a cartoon character created by Walter Lantz, named after the Hollywood avenue which runs alongside the building where Lantz's office was housed. 12 cartoons were produced between 1960 and 1965. His cartoons were often shown on The Woody Woodpecker Show alongside Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy and Andy Panda.
Homer Pigeon is an animated character created by Walter Lantz, who made his first appearance in the cartoon "Pigeon Patrol" in 1942. His final appearance was in 1964, in The Woody Woodpecker Show episode "Spook-A-Nanny".
Swing Symphony is an American animated musical short film series produced by Walter Lantz Productions from 1941 to 1945. The shorts were a more contemporary pastiche on Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies, and often featured top boogie-woogie musicians of the era. While the first cartoon include the characters Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda, it mainly features a variety of different characters created exclusively for the series, with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit making an appearance in one cartoon.
Fish Fry is a 1944 Andy Panda cartoon directed by James Culhane and produced by Walter Lantz Productions. The plot centers around a street cats endless attempts to eat Andy's goldfish after ordering it from a pet shop.