''Symphony Hour'' is a 1942 American animated

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

and released by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

. The cartoon depicts

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

conducting a symphony orchestra sponsored by Pete. The film was directed by

Riley Thomson Riley A. Thomson Jr. (October 5, 1912 – January 26, 1960) was an American animator and comics artist who spent most of his career working with Walt Disney films and characters. He directed six Disney short films including ''The Nifty Nineties'' ...

and features music adapted from the "

Light Cavalry Overture ''Light Cavalry Overture'' is the overture to Franz von Suppé’s operetta '' Light Cavalry'' (German: ''Leichte Kavallerie''), premiered in Vienna in 1866. Although the operetta is rarely performed or recorded, the overture is one of Suppé's ...

" by Franz von Suppé. The voice cast includes

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

as Mickey,

Billy Bletcher William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disn ...

as Pete, and John McLeish as a radio announcer. It was the 117th short in the ''

'' film series to be released, and the second for that year. The film marked the last theatrical appearance of Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and

Clara Cluck The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

for over 40 years, finally reappearing in ''

Mickey's Christmas Carol ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'' is a 1983 American animated family comedy-drama featurette directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', and stars Scrooge McDuck as ...

'' (1983). ''Symphony Hour'' is also the last time that Mickey appeared with either Donald Duck or Goofy in a theatrical film for the same length of time. ''Symphony Hour'' bears similarities with the 1935 film '' The Band Concert''. Leonard Maltin called this short a "

Spike Jones Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...

version of ''The Band Concert''". The soundtrack for the "ruined" version of the ''

'' was used in the October 22, 1956 episode of ''

The Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised ...

''.

Plot

Mickey conducts a

radio orchestra A radio orchestra (or broadcast orchestra) is an orchestra employed by a radio network (and sometimes television networks) in order to provide programming as well as sometimes perform incidental or theme music for various shows on the network. In ...

who performs the Franz von Suppé's ''

''. The sponsor ( Pete, under the name Sylvester Macaroni) loves the rehearsal and agrees to have it shown in concert. On the night of the performance, everyone is soon ready, except, of course, for

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

, who accidentally drops all the instruments under an elevator, severely damaging them and thus rendering them unable to make proper musical sounds. Mickey is left unaware of the unfortunate mishap until the time to go on the air and the musicians start to "play" the damaged instruments. Throughout the outrageous concert, Mickey struggles with anxiety while Macaroni throws a tantrum inside his private viewing room. Macaroni is reduced to tears when the concert ends, believing his reputation to be ruined, but lightens up when he hears the thunderous applause from the audience. He immediately runs to the orchestra room and carries Mickey Mouse in extreme approval, with the latter not knowing anything that happened. Besides Goofy, other members of the orchestra include

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. At one point, Donald is so fed up with the chaos caused by the damaged instruments that he packs his things and leaves. However, Mickey, who is determined to carry on come what may, points a gun at Donald's head to prevent him from leaving. The shot of the gun would be cut in some television prints.

Cast

*Mickey Mouse:

*Sylvester Macaroni (Pete):

*Goofy:

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. C ...

*Radio Announcer: John McLeish Donald Duck, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and Clara Cluck have no dialogue in the film.

Production team

;Principal animation *Jack Campbell * Les Clark *George De Beeson *John Elliotte *

Ed Love Edward H. Love (May 24, 1910 – May 6, 1996) was an American animator who worked at various studios during the Golden age of American animation. He is well known for animating Walt Disney Animations' shorts ''Mickey's Trailer'' and '' Fanta ...

*Jim Moore * Kenneth Muse *

Bernard Wolf Bernard "Berny" Wolf (July 18, 1911 – September 7, 2006) was an American animator and television producer. Wolf was born in New York City. His career in animation started in 1927, when he began work as an inker on Charles Mintz' Krazy Kat silen ...

;Effects animation *Joseph Gayek *Jack Manning *

Ed Parks Edward Harry "Mickey" Parks (February 26, 1917 – June 1987) was an American football player. He was one of nine children and his parents were James Hiram and Laura Belle Robbins Parks. He graduated from Shawnee (Oklahoma) High School in 1933 ...

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two: 1939-Today''.

References

External links