Disney's owl drops music theory on you—in 3D! Your brain will sing along.
An owl teaches his class full of birds about melody. It's all around in nature. Only birds and man can sing; man "sings" even when he speaks. We see a quick survey of the stages of life, as captured by songs: the alphabet song for primary school, Here Comes the Bride, The Old Gray Mare, etc. Some inspirations for song are outlined in song: love, sailing, trains, the West, motherhood, etc., but "we never sing about brains." Finally, an example of how a simple melody can be expanded into a symphony: an elaborate version of the simple tune that opened the lesson
Direction
Ward Kimball's wacky, kinetic Disney energy crammed into 10 minutes.
Production
Genuinely pioneering 3D animation—yes, THIS from 1953.
Writing
"We never sing about brains"—devastating self-own.
Director
Charles August Nichols
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Disney's first 3D animated short, part of their 'Adventures in Music' series that also spawned 'Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom.'
The 'man sings when he speaks' bit? That's straight-up proto-rap philosophy from 1953. Disney knew.
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