Mickey Mouse & Friends - The Band Concert (1935)

The orchestra is performing the William Tell overture, but then Donald Duck (in his third appearance in a Mickey cartoon) appears selling ice-cream. Uninvited, Donald takes out his flute and distracts the band into playing Turkey in the Straw.

The cartoon is notable for being the first Mickey Mouse film in Technicolor, although two more Mickey cartoons were made in black and white before they were produced in colors on a permanent basis; Mickey's Service Station and Mickey's Kangaroo. It is said that when conductor Arturo Toscanini first saw the cartoon in a movie theater, he was so delighted with it that he ran up to the projection booth and asked the projectionist to run it again.

In 1994 it was voted #3 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. Also, according to Leonard Maltin in a commentary for this film when it was included in one of the Walt Disney Treasures, The Band Concert was remade (somewhat) years later as Symphony Hour.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[Lexicop2]

Thanks for posting this, and special thanks for not attaching an ad to it. The grouch who commented that the kids of 1935 would be in their 80s today forgets that Disney broadcast this cartoon on "Disneyland" a generation later. We baby-boomers saw it as children and remember it fondly as a masterpiece of comic art. There are some musical elements nothing short of inspired, such as overlaying "Turkey in the Straw" upon the "flight" theme. And any performer understands the problems of page-turns!

[RelativelyBest]

This is still one of the best cartoons ever made.

[Luke Embling]

If you go to Disney castle in kingdom hearts 2, all the hedges are shaped like the band characters from this cartoon. Love stuff like that.

[Michael Lewis]

The first cartoon to use a hammer.

[manu109310]

Tutta la canzone è presa dall'overtoure del Gugliemo Tell!

[iansalazar22]

is better than others cartoons...

[Jourell1]

his cart had several different items on it, the ice cream and small bags which probably has peanuts in them. the hot dogs were probably in a place where you cant see them, but you can see they were there indirectly- the jar on the cart usually contained things like mustard or ketchup

[Jourell1]

At this time it was common for theaters to show news segments and cartoon shorts (like this one) before a feature film. Legend has it that when the great conductor Arturo Toscanini saw this short in the theater, he loved it so much that he ran up to the projection booth and asked the projectionist to play it again, which he did.

[Juan Manuel Valera Ramiro]

¿Cómo se llama la melodia que toca el pato Donald?

Come si chiama la canzone che suona Paperino?

[Jizelle Smarty]

I don't get why he left he stand which he was trying to sell hot dogs when I only saw ice cream on it o_o

[Jizelle Smarty]

Donald: Bravo Bravo Bravo. Then they all throw the instruments at him LOL