Old King Cole (film)

Old King Cole is a 1933 Disney cartoon in the Silly Symphonies series, based on several nursery rhymes and fairy tales, including Old King Cole. It was directed by David Hand and released on July 29, 1933.[1]

Old King Cole
Directed byDavid Hand
Produced byWalt Disney
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
July 29, 1933
Running time
7:15 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

It's a semi-remake of the 1931 Silly Symphony short Mother Goose Melodies, but in color, with more details and technically advanced animation.

Plot

One evening in Storyland, the story book “Old King Cole” opens itself, and the king's castle folds open. Other nursery rhyme books do the same thing, and several famous characters leave their homes and go to Old King Cole's party. There, all the characters have a small sing-and-dance act. When the Ten Little Indians get on the stage, their dance is so catchy that Old King Cole and all the other characters join in as well. After Old Mother Hubbard accidentally pushes Old King Cole into a fountain, the mice from “Hickory Dickory Dock” tell everybody that it is midnight and that everybody should go home. All the characters return to their books, and Old King Cole sings a farewell song to everybody. Then he puts out a bottle of milk for the milkman before he runs back inside, and the cartoon ends.

Characters portrayed

The cartoon featured popular Nursery Rhyme and Fairy Tale characters. Depicted in the cartoon in chronological order are:

Composers' Credits (Lyrics and Music)
  • KING COLE'S PARTY (Opening Song), Bert Lewis[2][3]
  • PIPER MAN, Frank Churchill
  • LITTLE BOY BLUE, Frank Churchill
  • CROOKED MAN, Frank Churchill
  • KING COLE'S WELCOME SONG, Bert Lewis
  • MARY, MARY QUITE CONTRARY, Frank Churchill
  • SIMPLE SIMON, Frank Churchill
  • THREE LITTLE KITTENS, Bert Lewis
  • THREE BLIND MICE and TEN LITTLE INDIANS, Bert Lewis and Frank Churchill
  • HICKORY DICKORY DOCK, Bert Lewis
  • KING COLE'S GOOD-NIGHT SONG, Bert Lewis and Frank Churchill
  • THE STORY BOOK CLOSES, Bert Lewis[4][5]

Voice cast

Influence

In comparison with Disney's previous version of the same plot ("Mother Goose Melodies") "Old King Cole" is in colour and has a more detailed look. Both story and animation are much better executed. This plot of this cartoon was very influential. Various cartoons have made use of a storyline in which story books come to life and the protagonists of the stories interact with each other. For instance Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938) and The Truth About Mother Goose (1957) by the Disney Studios themselves, the Betty Boop cartoon Mother Goose Land (1933) by the Fleischer Studios and Have You Got Any Castles? (1938), A Gander at Mother Goose (1940), A Coy Decoy (1941) and Book Revue (1946) by the Looney Tunes.

Home media

The short was released on the 2006 Walt Disney Treasures DVD box set More Silly Symphonies.[1]

References
  1. Merritt, Russell; Kaufman, J. B. (2016). Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Disney Editions. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-1-4847-5132-9.
  2. "Bert Lewis". IMDb. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
  3. "Composed by Bert Lewis (great grandfather) - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved 2017-08-24.
  4. Schroeder, Russell (2016). Old King Cole - A Walt Disney - Silly Symphony. Asheville, NC: Voigt Publications. pp. 1–31. ISBN 978-1-5323-0472-9.
  5. Bohn, James (2017). Music in Disney's Animated Features. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 15–16, 20, 22, 26–28, 40–41, 44, 55. ISBN 978-1-4968-1214-8.

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