This cartoon was done several years before Disney's famous full-length feature "Fantasia" but it has similar elements and is pretty clever material.
We first see some the principal characters in the cartoon drawn first, by the unseen human artist. It's a quick draw, as this artist draws these animal characters in seconds, one after the other. It's finished with a lion dressed in a tuxedo followed by a sketch of a stage and big curtain.
The cartoon then zooms in on the curtain and the story comes to life. The next minute, to me, offered some fabulous dry humor. Dig this elitism from the snobby lion conductor, who introduces the night's music with the following:
"Greetings, my good friends. You all undoubtedly have been under the delusion or shall I say misapprehension that we, of the cartoon animal kingdom, are lacking in the fine sensibilities. Now to disprove this, we shall ask you to forget our former pranks and playfulness, we ask you in the name of dignity and art to put yourselves in a receptive frame of mind and not to expect of us the tomfoolery and clowning you generally associate us with. And now....to our musical program!"
Well, happily, the cartoon animals in the orchestra wind up being whom they are - undignified and clowns - and the symphony winds up in comedic chaos. All the gags are slapstick and some are genuinely funny, along with the conductor's parting words.
This is a very good cartoon and deserves being seen by more people.
We first see some the principal characters in the cartoon drawn first, by the unseen human artist. It's a quick draw, as this artist draws these animal characters in seconds, one after the other. It's finished with a lion dressed in a tuxedo followed by a sketch of a stage and big curtain.
The cartoon then zooms in on the curtain and the story comes to life. The next minute, to me, offered some fabulous dry humor. Dig this elitism from the snobby lion conductor, who introduces the night's music with the following:
"Greetings, my good friends. You all undoubtedly have been under the delusion or shall I say misapprehension that we, of the cartoon animal kingdom, are lacking in the fine sensibilities. Now to disprove this, we shall ask you to forget our former pranks and playfulness, we ask you in the name of dignity and art to put yourselves in a receptive frame of mind and not to expect of us the tomfoolery and clowning you generally associate us with. And now....to our musical program!"
Well, happily, the cartoon animals in the orchestra wind up being whom they are - undignified and clowns - and the symphony winds up in comedic chaos. All the gags are slapstick and some are genuinely funny, along with the conductor's parting words.
This is a very good cartoon and deserves being seen by more people.