December 27, 1930 – The Silly Symphony Playful Pan is Released to Theaters
On December 27, 1930, the Silly Symphony Playful Pan was released to theaters. The short was based on the Greek mythological character Pan, the god of the wild. It was directed by Burt Gillett.
The short begins with Pan playing his pipes on a rock in a pond, with the fish dancing around to the melody. The fish follow Pan as he frolics across the pond on rocks and logs. As he lands on the other side of the bank, the flowers begin dancing to his melody. Pan gets all the flowers nearby to participate in the music-making before getting the bugs nearby to dance to the music. The trees and the clouds start dancing as well, with the clouds creating lightning from their moves. Unfortunately, one bolt of lightning cuts down a tree and accidentally starts a fire in the forest. All of the animals scurry away to avoid the flames, and several trees are destroyed by the flames. The animals work together to save each other and try and put out the flames. A raccoon finds Pan and explains the problem, and Pan hurries to find half of the forest in flames. He attempts to manipulate the fire with his pan pipe music, acting as a pied piper to lead them to the pond, where the flames are quickly put out. After relieving the forest of the fire, Pan disappears.
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