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Old King Cole (film)
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Wikipedia article
'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.
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:
* Old King Cole
* Pied Piper of Hamelin
* Little Boy Blue
* A literally crooked man ('There Was A Crooked Man')
* 'Old Mother Hubbard'
* The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
* Mary and her lamb ('Mary Had A Little Lamb')
* Little Bo Peep and her sheep
* Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf
* Goldilocks and the Three Bears
* A cat playing the fiddle ('Hey Diddle Diddle')
* Queen of Hearts
* Mary and her garden ('Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary')
* Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
* Jack Sprat
* Goosey Gander
* Humpty Dumpty
* The spider from 'Little Miss Muffet'
* Simple Simon
* Three Little Kittens
* Three Blind Mice
* Ten Little Indians
* The butcher, baker, and candlestick maker from 'Rub-a-dub-dub', all dancing together in their washtub
* The mice from 'Hickory Dickory Dock'.
Composers' Credits (Lyrics and Music)
* KING COLE'S PARTY (Opening Song), Bert Lewis
* 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
Voice cast
* King Cole: Allan Watson
* Girl trio: The Rhythmettes (including Mary Moder and Dorothy Compton
* Additional voices: Marcellite Garner
Influence
'"Old King Cole"' is similar in plot and style to the black and white Silly Symphony '"Mother Goose Melodies"'. 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, including 'Mother Goose Goes Hollywood' (1938) and 'The Truth About Mother Goose' (1957) by Disney Studios themselves, the Betty Boop cartoon 'Mother Goose Land' (1933) by Fleischer Studios, and the Looney Tunes shorts 'Have You Got Any Castles?' (1938), 'A Gander at Mother Goose' (1940), 'A Coy Decoy' (1941) and 'Book Revue' (1946).
Home media
The short was released on December 19, 2006 on 'Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two'.
References
More information
*
* '[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0506964/?ref_=nv_sr_1 Bert Lewis on IMDB]'
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170608203653/http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=190 Disney Shorts Information]
Category:1933 films
Category:1933 short films
Category:1930s Disney animated short films
Category:1930s color films
Category:Silly Symphonies
Category:1933 animated films
Category:Films directed by David Hand
Category:Films produced by Walt Disney
Category:Films based on nursery rhymes
Category:Films about royalty
Category:Films based on fairy tales
Category:Disney film remakes
Category:Short film remakes
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Works based on nursery rhymes
Category:1930s American films
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