Silly Symphonies or Merrie Melodies

As a Uriah Heep fan I can't escape Merrie Melodies.

 

 

I think that WD was better at making the public aware of music, and specially classical music ... remember that at the time he came up LP's were not the big commercial thing yet, and the radio was your only source of "music". Classical Music was very well represented, as was movie music.

 

When TV came around, Cartoons blew them out completely, since no one was going to the movies to see cartoons. And by that time MM had already set the standards for what crazy, insane, beautiful and all that music should, could, or would be. Several of these even won many awards, with "One Froggy Evening" being well known, and the one about the opera singer, that goes through at least 25 operas in the space of 5 minutes!

 

But WD takes the cake with "Fantasia", which is one of the all time great films ever made. However, it's cartoonish view of classical music, was not something that adults enjoyed, since the music was "so serious" and should not be mis-interpreted!

 

Later, btw, if you ever catch it, you must see "Allegro Non Troppo" which is an Italian send up and appreciation to Fantasia ... and the music choices are fantastic! That one ... was not for kids, but what the heck, the subtlety would not exactly be understood by children in one of the pieces.