Animated Halloween

Looking over my list of Halloween music, I realized that a lot of it is complete and unadulterated poop. I will admit that I enjoy some of the poop, but that doesn't mean that there is any vocal excellence in it. I love singing along with the "one eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater", but I'm not going to try and pretend that there is anything particularly memorable about the music. Lyrics, yes, but not the music or the singing.

I was happy to note that some of the better music was from children's animations. Animation done for children - not animation done by children, if you get what I'm saying. Some of it is predates me. (Yes, Chris, there is animation that is older than I am. *sigh* )

The Silly Symphony cartoon series was begun by Walt Disney as a means to experiment with animation techniques. This was 1929, and TV hadn't even been thought of. "Talkies" (movies with synchronized sounds) had only been around (to the public) for two years. The first talkie, The Jazz Singer, remember, came out in October of 1927. The first Silly Symphony came out in August of 1929, and was made to be seen on the big screen, as a short before the main movie. The Skeleton Dance has since been used in all sorts of other films, including a brief cameo in the Ghost Rider movie (Johnny Blaze watches it on TV, not knowing that soon he, too. . .  Really, it's there. I remember being one of the very few people laughing in the theater at the reference). 

It really is fun. When you think that each frame had to be completely hand drawn. The level of artistry and creativity is amazing. And at the end of Star Wars, episode 6, when the ewoks are using stormtrooper helmets as musical instruments, it always makes me think of this cartoon. I wonder if the reference was intentional?

While the music always reminds me of Saint-Saens Danse Macabre, the composer, Carl Stalling, said that it was actually a fox trot set in a minor key. He did admit to borrowing a little bit from Edvard Greig's The March of the Trolls. 

Bringing us a little closer to our own time, we now travel to 1949 and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which I was surprised to discover was the original title of the Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. This was originally intended to be a feature length film, but they found that there just wasn't enough story, and decided that it needed to be linked up with another animated film. So, it was released in connection with a story from The Wind and the Willows about Mr. Toad. Narrated by Bing Crosby, this was always one of my favorites for gearing up for Halloween. 


(I did notice that, in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, along with a nod to the headless horseman chase scene - complete with pumpkin - Johnny Depp repeats Ichabod's problems with a tea cup as he's hearing about the horseman for the first time.) 

While I was born too late to remember Bing Crosby at his best, I've got to admit that his warm, smooth tones are soothing and comforting. What an instrument he had. 

Now we jump forward to 1993, and one of my daughter's favorite movies: "This is Halloween" from Nightmare Before Christmas. In reading about this, I found out that movie critics have WAY too much time on their hands. While I'll go along with the thought that this movie is really about a CEO wanting to diversify, I draw the line at the Freudian conflicts between Sally and her creator. 

It's just a hop, skip and a jump to 1996 and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I thought so at the time (and I still think) that this was a horrible idea on the part of Disney. Yeah, let's take a classic story, in which all of the main characters die, and turn it into an upbeat kids' movie. And when we took our young children to see it (two ten year olds, and a six year old) I was a bit surprised at this song. Fortunately, they were too young to really understand what Frollo is singing about. Now that they're older, I think that this is one of the best villain songs that Disney has done. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Hellfire.

This song is such a departure from the usual Disney fare, that it has its own article in Wikipedia. Nowhere have I found anyone mention that the flame woman reminded them of several James Bond movie openings. Except me, right now. Because that was what I first thought of. I did find out that someone at Disney painstakingly went through this sequence to make sure that the woman was covered in every frame. (So, you don't need to go through your DVD on slo-mo. It won't do you any good.) 

Disney had to go to great lengths to keep this movie rated G. It deals with such issues as lust, infanticide, religious hypocrisy, hell, and social injustice, but all with bright cheerful music, just like this one. I did discover that Stephen Schwartz in collaboration with Alan Menken was responsible for the music. Stephen Schwartz has also given us Godspell and Wicked, among a long list of other Broadway and movie hits.

And this brings us to our most recent entry: from 2009 - Friends on the Other Side from The Princess and the Frog. All the kids are now grown, but the Nameless Cynic and I rented this when it came out on DVD, and really enjoyed it. The music was written by Randy Newman, who wrote the music for Toy Story (among many, many other notable hits: he's possibly most famous for the song "Short People"). 

The role of Dr. Facilier was voiced by Keith David, a man with two first names. Both of those names are well-known to anyone who has watched just about any animated anything lately, expecially video games. My younger son is a huge fan of the man. This video was somewhat controversial, I understand, but not having young kids, I loved it.

Though it was not my intention, I've noticed that all of the music in this blog is from Disney studios. Hmm. . . I'm sure that says something. Probably what it mostly refers to is the amount of money that they have to pour into productions. (And people think my husband is the only cynic in the house!)

All Hallows Eve will soon be upon us. My Queen Victoria costume is almost done. I've got the Koh-i-noor sitting on the windowsill waiting to go into the queen's reticule. (Dr. Who reference. If you're not a fan, don't worry:  I'm just going to be dressing as an historical figure.) We've got candy in the spider dish. Are you ready for the ghosties and ghoulies?