A Symposium on Popular Songs

A Special Cartoon

Release Date : December 19, 1962

Running Time : 19:45

Synopsis

Ludwig Von Drake lectures on the state of popular music punctuated by a number of stop-motion musical numbers.

Characters

Ludwig von Drake

Credits

Director
Bill Justice
Animation
Cliff Nordberg
Eric Cleworth
Fred Hellmich
Dick Lucas
Kay Wright
Bill Keil
Ed Parks
Al Stetter
Backgrounds
Al Dempster
Eyvind Earle
Richard H. Thomas
Collin Campbell
Effects Animation
Dan MacManus
Layout
Xavier "X" Atencio
Basil Davidovich
Dick Ung
Vance Gerry
Story
Bill Peet
Music
George Bruns
Tom Adair
Bill Peet
Page Cavanaugh Trio

Awards

Nominated for an Academy Award (Short Subjects - Cartoons)

DVD

United States
Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s

Technical Specification

Animation Type: Combination stop motion and standard animation

Comments

From Cara : This is a fantastic short! Ludwig Von Drake is extremely funny in presenting each musical section and the compositions are both catchy and extremely authentic to the era they are supposed to represent - The Sherman Brothers really are masters in their field. The stop-motion animation is also beautifully produced - a wonderful masterpiece.
From Baruch Weiss : This is the first (and only) cartoon short to feature my favorite Disney character Ludwig von Drake. He later went on to star in several TV specials such as 'Music For Everybody' and 'Fly With Von Drake,' both of which I have on video. Anyway Ludiwg is funny in his TV shorts as well as this short, I enjoyed all of the songs as well as the scene where a love note to him is revealed.
From DaVon : I first learned about this Disney short through one of the songs from it, " Boo Boo Boo", which was featured on my copy of the Disney Sing-Along Songs Volume 5: Fun With Music video. I'd forgotten about the title of the short where this song came from, that is until seeing that segment again and I'd never seen the whole short until sometime recently, as in the latter half of this year, on Youtube. I think this is among the best and most interesting shorts ever made by Disney and that it has since officially become one of my favorites, it's just really great. Being a big Ludwig Von Drake fan myself and such a music lover, it's perfect and I enjoyed every minute of it. Highly recommended to all of those who are curious about and fascinated by music history like me. All of the songs featured here are much better than the majority of those coming from the mainstream in recent years after the 21st century arrived. I like both the traditionally hand-drawn/2D and stop-motion animation styles.

Another thing I love about this Disney short so much: It's because I find it to be a captivating project by the Sherman brothers Robert B. and Richard M. and I think it's their greatest work, which would be suitable since they're veteran songwriters. Through the opening credits that's how I first learned about them, among the duos of talented, song-writing geniuses and their being a pair of those behind several songs they wrote for Disney. They truly are among the best. And another interesting thing about this short is the fact that we get to see one of their earliest song-writing skills in film. I like how we get to see what it would be like if they didn't do songs for only Disney and other production/ film companies, and they work in a small variety of genres/sub-genres here. Imagine just how much farther they could've gone if they actually worked in the music industry as well, I mean going beyond just writing music for movies and composing tunes in various sub-genres for recording artists/ bands. How awesome that would be. They've since become another one of my favorite song-writing teams and they probably would be one of my influences just for that aforementioned reason if I were doing what they were doing, but I'd take it a step further and do it besides film. I liked it so much I plan on buying the Disney Rarities dvd eventually just for this Disney short ,which I favor the most out of all the rarities. It was a great concept and I'm very glad and (thankful) this was made, not falling victim to the series of Disney shorts that never were and becoming largely forgotten. To me, it's one of the best classics, part of the most underrated and even though I wasn't around yet, I think it's held up well over the past four decades. Thanks Sherman Brothers, for all the music and joy you both have brought into our lives over the years.

From Billy Joe : This is one of the greatest animated shorts ever! See this one if you can! This short has music galore provided by the Sherman brothers. (They also did work on "Mary Poppins" and "Winnie the Pooh" shorts.) The host is Ludwig von Drake, and he hillariously introduces each song (he sings two of them himself). Even if you didn't like him in Mickey Mouse Works or House of Mouse, he is one of the funniest cartoon characters in this short.

The short has brilliant stop-motion animation. It goes well with the songs. All the songs are worthwhile. "Rutabaga Rag" makes a perfect singalong for "VeggieTales." The final song includes Ludwig (still traditionally animated) singing a rock & roll song.

This short is highly recommend. Of a scale of 1-10, it gets a 1,000,000!

From Justin Lovell : I thought this cartoon was pretty good, even though I only liked the last song. The stop motion was kind of cheesy but still really well directed. I give this cartoon a 10/10.

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