February 10, 1934 – The Silly Symphony The Grasshopper and the Ants is Released to Theaters
“Oh, the world owes me a living…”
In 1934, the Disney Studios released what was to become another wildly popular Silly Symphony, The Grasshopper and the Ants. Based on the fable by Aesop, it was adapted by William Cottrell, directed by Wilfred Jackson, and starred Pinto Colvig as the Grasshopper. Colvig is better known as the original voice of Goofy, and the song in this short, “The World Owes Me a Living,” would become a theme song for Goofy in later shorts. The song was composed by Larry Morey and Leigh Harline, and was so popular that sheet music for the piece was published. The short is also notable for being the first instance of a character turning blue from the cold. Although this is a common idea these days to show how cold the weather is, the Technicolor process was still new in 1934, therefore any color change to show emotion would have been relatively fresh.
The first shot we see is of the Grasshopper skipping down a flower-filled path, playing his fiddle merrily. As he stops for something to eat and drink, we see that the Grasshopper is actually quite wasteful, taking one bite of a leaf before throwing it away to grab another. He becomes distracted, however, when he sees a hive of ants busily working to store food for the winter, doing such chores as picking off the individual kernels from an ear of corn to chopping up slices of carrots, making it easier to bring the food inside their hollow tree.
The Grasshopper gets a young ant to shirk his work to sing and dance
The Grasshopper begins to laugh at their efforts, and calls over an ant to join him. “Listen,” he tells the ant, “the Good Book says the Lord provides. There’s food on every tree. I see no reason to worry and work, no sir, not me.” With that, he goes into the theme song for this short, “The World Owes Me a Living,” enticing the ant to “play and sing and dance,” to which the impressionable ant agrees, imitating the Grasshopper’s dancing. Unfortunately for the ant, the Queen arrives, shocked to see an ant shirking its duty. The ant, embarrassed at being caught, rushes back to his work at breakneck speed.
The Grasshopper greets the Queen and tries to entice her the way he did the ant, but the Queen is firm. “You’ll change that tune when winter comes and the ground is covered with snow,” she warns him. But the Grasshopper assures her that winter’s a long way off, and begins to sing again. The Queen leaves him to his foolishness, and the Grasshopper continues to sing and dance, and not “spoil his Sunday pants like the other foolish ants.”
The Grasshopper begins to dance his way through the seasons, caring little for the upcoming winter
As he continues to fiddle and dance, the seasons quickly change from summer to autumn, with the leaves beginning to fall. The scene begins to grow more desolate, but the Grasshopper continues to blithely fiddle and dance, unaware that all he considers food is quickly disappearing with the changing of the seasons.
As heavy winds begin to blow, we see the ants finishing up their food gathering, and rushing inside their hollow tree for shelter before it begins to snow. The Grasshopper is seen wandering the snowy fields, searching for any morsel of food, but sadly, the trees are all bare. Finally, he spots one lone leaf on a branch, and just as he is about to grab and devour it, a strong gust of wind swoops in and blows it out of reach. He begins to turn blue from the cold as he keeps walking in the heavy snows, looking for food and shelter. At last, he spies the ants’ tree, and makes his way to the door, spying through the window.
The last piece of food the Grasshopper can find
Inside, every ant is well fed and merry, clinking glasses and enjoying the fruits of their labor. The Grasshopper knocks on the door, but is so weak from hunger and the cold that he faints just before they open the door. The ants carry him inside and warm him while feeding him soup. The Queen makes her way over to the Grasshopper, looking angry at his presence. He tries to make amends for his previous lackadaisical attitude, begging her to not throw him out. “With ants,” she tells him, “just those who work may stay. So take your fiddle.” The Grasshopper, visibly upset, takes his fiddle from her and begins to leave. But the Queen has other ideas: “And play,” she says, giving him the opportunity to earn his keep by entertaining the ants during the long winter. The Grasshopper is more than willing to meet her terms, adding a new verse to his song about his whole change of attitude.
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