Tag Archives: 1930s

May 11, 1935 – The Silly Symphony, Water Babies, is Released to Theaters

“…it was inspired by the story Water-Babies, written in 1863 by Charles Kingsley, the great English writer and naturalist.” – Walt Disney

On May 11, 1935, the Silly Symphony Water Babies was released to theaters. It was loosely based on the children’s novel The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby by Reverend Charles Kingsley, which was published in 1863. The short was directed by Wilfred Jackson. Merbabies, released in 1938, is considered to be its sequel.

The short opens just as the sun is beginning to rise over a quiet pond. Two birds wake and begin to chirp, flying over the lilypads and trying to rouse the water babies sleeping inside. Once the water babies wake, the jump into the pond and begin to swim away. One baby has decided to remain sleeping, until the flower he’s sleeping in gives him a harsh slap to wake him. With a yawn, and trepidation over the temperature of the water, the baby joins the others as they splash and play around in the pond.

The Water-Babies riding of the back of a swan during a mini parade

As they play, they all hear the trumpets sound and excitedly swim in that direction. A parade has begun, with babies playing flower trumpets and ride on the backs of turtles and swans. Some travel on leaves, and a trio is seen riding on fish. The festival leads the babies to a patch of land where they begin to play in the weeds and with the frogs that live there. Three babies are seen using a spiderweb as a trampoline, and another trio are seen riding bullfrogs as if they were at a rodeo.

Another baby is seen preparing for a bull(frog) fight, pulling down a red petal to use as the red flag. The bullfrog gets his head caught in a flower, and uses the stem as a horn to try and attack the baby. Luckily, the baby sneaks back into the bullfrog’s cage before it can attack him.

All the Water-Babies heading home after the day’s festivities

The trumpets sound again soon after the fight finishes, and the babies all head back to the pond to travel home at the end of a long eventful day. As the sun begins to set, the babies crawl into their lilypad beds after saying their prayers, and quickly fall asleep as the flower petals close up protectively, leaving the audience with a beautiful moonlit night on the pond.

April 20, 1935 – The Silly Symphony, The Robber Kitten, is Released to Theaters

“I never took a bath, and I never will, oh, Dirty Bill!”

On April 20, 1935, the Silly Symphony, The Robber Kitten, was released to theaters. It was directed by Dave Hand, with the story written by William Cottrell; the short stars Billy Bletcher, best known as the voice of Pegleg Pete, as the voice of Dirty Bill the robber.

Ambrose continues his game of robber by threatening his own reflection

The Silly Symphony opens on a coach robbery, a voice telling the passengers to put their hands up. The camera zooms out to reveal a kitten named Ambrose holding two pop-guns, playing robbery with his toys. He continues to threaten his toys, and ends up shooting them because they won’t “give up the money.” Ambrose continues to play robber, until his mother is heard hollering his name from downstairs. Ambrose dismisses his mother’s call, telling no one in particular that Ambrose is no name for him, and from now on, his name is Butch.

Downstairs, his mother is preparing his bath. Ambrose sneers into the mirror and tells himself that robbers don’t take baths. He decides to run away to become a real robber, narrowly avoiding his mother as he steals cookies before heading out the open window to freedom from baths, only to land in a rain barrel. He shakes the water off before grabbing his hobby-horse and riding down the road. Unfortunately for Ambrose, his mother sees him through the kitchen window and demands that he come back, but he ignores her and rides away.

Ambrose sneaks up on Dirty Bill, attempting to rob the criminal

Meanwhile, the robber Dirty Bill is sitting in the woods, staring at his own face on a wanted poster and laughing. Ambrose spots him and attempts to rob him, but as Dirty Bill reaches for a real gun rather than Ambrose’s pop gun, Ambrose’s voice breaks. Dirty Bill turns around to see that Ambrose is only a kid, and asks Ambrose if he would really rob another robber. Ambrose is impressed that he’s really around a robber on a wanted poster.

Dirty Bill offers Ambrose a seat, and Ambrose copies the older robber exactly before asking if Dirty Bill’s mother ever made him take a bath. Dirty Bill brags in song that he’s never taken a bath, nor will he ever do so. Teasing him, Dirty Bill asks the kitten if he’s pulled any big jobs lately. Wanting to impress the robber, Ambrose tells him that of course he has, and begins to tell Dirty Bill about holding up a stagecoach (going back to the game of the morning). Unfortunately for Ambrose, his imagination and story-telling skills are too good, making the robber believe that the bag of cookies Ambrose is carrying is filled with treasure, and Dirty Bill attempts to steal it from the kitten.

Thinking the kitten is actually holding treasure, Dirty Bill suddenly turns violent

When Ambrose tries to convince Dirty Bill that he really is only holding cookies, Dirty Bill pulls out a knife, lusting for what he thinks is treasure. Scared out of his wits, Ambrose leaps out of his clothing, leaving the cookies behind as well, and sprints as fast as he can home and into the bathtub, where his mother is waiting to punish him. Sheepishly, he greets his mother, and plays with the bubbles in the tub, his robber days now behind him.

April 14, 1934 – The Silly Symphony, The Big Bad Wolf, is Released to Theaters

“There’s danger in them woods. Beware! The big Bad Wolf is lurking there!”

On April 14, 1934, the Silly Symphony, The Big Bad Wolf, was released to theaters. Capitalizing on the popularity of The Three Little Pigs Silly Symphony, it marks the return of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, but the short was not nearly as successful as its parent Silly Symphony, and is today still considered inferior to the original, despite some clever gags. It was directed by Burt Gillett, and stars the vocals of Billy Bletcher as the Big Bad Wolf, Pinto Colvig as the Practical Pig, Dorothy Compton as the Fifer Pig, and Mary Moder as the Fiddler Pig.

Little Red passes by the brick house of the Three Little Pigs

Little Red Riding Hood is skipping down the path to her grandmother’s house, and passes by the Three Little Pigs’ house, with the Practical Pig hard at work on an addition to the brick house, while his two brothers play their instruments and dance. The brothers greet Little Red Riding Hood, and when she explains that she is on her way to Grandma’s house, the two pigs tell her to take a shortcut through the woods. The Practical Pig, alarmed at their advice, tells her not to go through the woods, because the Big Bad Wolf is lurking there.

The two brothers begin to laugh at the Practical Pig’s advice, calling the wolf a sissy and offering to go along with Little Red to protect her before singing “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” The Practical Pig just shakes his head at their folly, but continues to work on the house. Just as the three begin their journey on the short cut, the Big Bad Wolf is seen sneaking through the forest, disguised as a bush. He spies the three skipping merrily down the path, and leaves his disguise to climb up a tree and set his new plan in motion.

"Goldilocks, the Fairy Queen" lands in front of a frightened trio

The three are stopped suddenly by a “fairy” falling from the sky (the wolf in disguise), and the two pigs hide underneath the shivering Red’s cloak. The “fairy” introduces herself as Goldilocks, the fairy queen, and begins flying around, telling them that they’re safe with her. Unfortunately, the suspenders the Wolf used to help him fly are attached to a broken branch, which splits and lands on his head, knocking off his disguise. Alarmed, the three take off running but are separated, with the Wolf hot on Little Red’s tail. Fortunately for her, he gets stuck between two trees, giving her a chance to get away. The Wolf isn’t angry for long, for he comes up with another plan.

Using another shortcut, the Wolf reaches Grandma’s before Little Red, and peers through the window to see Grandma in bed, knitting. When she hears a knock at the door, she tells the visitor to come inside, and the Wolf enters, laughing menacingly. Grandma leaps out of bed and locks herself in the closet, with the Wolf trying to open the doors. Outside, Little Red is seen speeding through the front gate, stopping at the door to calm herself down before she enters what she thinks is the safety of Grandma’s house. Alerted by the knocking at the door, the Wolf quickly stops trying to get Grandma, and focuses his attention on getting the girl. He quickly disguises himself in Grandma’s robe and bonnet and slips into bed before calling Little Red in. Little Red notices what big eyes Grandma has, and what a big nose Grandma has (to which the Wolf looks at the audience and asks, “How am I doing?”). When Little Red points out the big mouth Grandma has, the Wolf strikes, chasing her around the room.

The two pigs watch the Wolf howling with pain back into the woods

Meanwhile, the two pigs have made it back home and alerted their brother about Little Red’s predicament. The Practical Pig runs to his collection of “Wolf Exterminators” and begins to load them into his bag before setting off for Grandma’s, leaving the two pigs cowering in the doorway. As the Wolf continues to chase Little Red, Grandma uses an umbrella to scoop the girl up and pull her into the closet for safety, with the Wolf once again trying to open the doors. The Practical Pig arrives just in time, and sneaks in while the Wolf isn’t noticing, and begins to place popcorn kernels down the Wolf’s pants, and then grabs some hot coals from the fire. Placing the shovel with coals in with the kernels, the Wolf cries out in pain and leaps through the ceiling of the house, and runs back into the woods, with the popcorn kernels popping wildly.

The two other pigs show up just in time to see the Wolf running away, and shake hands in happiness that the Wolf has been bested again. Inside Grandma’s house, Little Red and the Practical Pig are playing the piano while Grandma knits, with the two other pigs dancing and singing “Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf?” once more.

March 28, 1936 – The Silly Symphony, Elmer Elephant, is Released to Theaters

“Elmer’s got a funny nose, looks just like a rubber hose!”

On March 28, 1936, the Silly Symphony, Elmer Elephant, was released to theaters. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, the short film tells the story of an elephant named Elmer, who is cruelly teased about his appearance, particularly his nose, but is able to use his nose to save the day from a runaway fire. Elmer would go on to be a popular merchandising character, and even had his own short-running Silly Symphony comic.

As the story opens, Elmer is seen skipping through the jungle, holding a bouquet of flowers, which he adds to as he passes by a flower bush. He knocks on the door to Tillie Tiger’s house, where the song “Happy Birthday” is heard being sung to Tillie. Elmer peeks in and sees the kids skipping in a circle around Tillie, and then they implore her to blow out the candles on her birthday cake. She agrees, but is unable to extinguish the birthday candles. Sweetly, she asks Joey the Hippo to do it for her, and he agrees.

Elmer and Tillie, with Tillie fawning over the flowers he brought for her

Just as Joey is preparing to let out massive breath of air, Elmer appears on the other side of the table, and is rewarded with Tillie’s cake in his face, as Joey left the candles on the plate, still burning brightly. While the kids laugh, Tillie pulls out a napkin and cleans away the cake from Elmer’s face. Tillie spots the flowers in Elmer’s hand, and begins to coo over them, calling them “the nicest present of all.” She gives him a kiss on the nose, which causes him to react comically.

Some of the boys get together and begin to whisper as Tillie scuttles up to her tree house, telling everyone to have a good time and that she will be right back. As Elmer sits down to wait, the boys appear, holding various long objects as “noses” and pretending they have big, floppy ears. Poor Elmer is so embarrassed that he tries to tuck away his nose. The boys bully him, pulling on his nose and sending him flying down a hill and back into the jungle, when all the party guests appear and begin to sing their taunts to him.

The kindly Old Giraffe, giving Elmer some well-needed advice

Elmer walks away from the party, very upset, when he runs into an elderly giraffe, who asks him what’s the matter. When Elmer explains, the giraffe tells him that “They used to make fun of me too, son, but I don’t care.” He then points out the pelicans nearby in an attempt to make Elmer feel better about his nose.

Just then, sirens are heard in the distance, with the crazy fire truck heading straight for Tillie’s. Tillie is seen trying to beat away the flames with a broom, yelling at her guests to help her get down from the tree house. The boys pull out a blanket for her to jump into, but the flames pull her back and they jump into the outstretched blanket, turning it to ashes. The fire team finally arrives at Tillie’s place, but can’t stop the flames from chasing them down the ladder. The flames trap Tillie up a pole, where she screams for help.

The Old Giraffe, Elmer, and the pelicans use their perceived flaws to work together and save the day

Having observed all of this from the Old Giraffe’s head, Elmer slides down his neck and begins to run at breakneck speed to save Tillie. The Old Giraffe follows, along with the pelicans, and they all work together to put out the flames: the Old Giraffe holds Elmer up to the top of the tree house, the pelicans provide the water, and Elmer uses his nose as a hose. Although the flames are stubborn, Elmer uses some fancy moves to extinguish the flames.

Stuck on her precarious perch, where four little flames are taking apart the pole one splinter at a time, Tillie calls out for Elmer. Elmer comes to her rescue, extinguishing the flames and grabbing the pole Tillie’s holding onto before it completely breaks apart. Tillie calls Elmer her hero, and the two share a kiss, with Elmer using his nose to pull her closer, and one of his ears to keep the moment a bit more private.