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Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom

Professor Owl presents a scholarly overview tracing the evolution of Western musical instruments, beginning with the emergence of primitive brass, woodwind, string, and percussion instruments crafted by ancient cave dwellers at the dawn of history.

Director(s)

Charles August Nichols

Ward Kimball

Cast & Crew

Bill Thompson

Bill Thompson

Professor Owl / Bertie Birdbrain

Charles August Nichols

Charles August Nichols

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Thurl Ravenscroft

Thurl Ravenscroft

The Mellomen

Ward Kimball

Ward Kimball

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Loulie Jean Norman

Loulie Jean Norman

Penelope Pinfeather

Gloria Wood

Gloria Wood

Susy Sparrow

Details

GenresAnimation
Runtime10 mins
Released on10 Nov 1953
LanguageEnglish
Age RatingNR
Produced InUnited States of America
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Reviews

CinemaSerf

7/10

It's the professorial owl who is teaching his class all about musical instruments. It's manna from heaven for an animator as the entertainingly crafted lyrical narration (complete with slightly annoying singing) takes us all on a very basic lesson in musical onomatopoeia! It was the cavemen who started, rather monotonically, with a dead cow's horn. Next, for the Egyptians it's a different kind of "King Toot" who wants something altogether more sophisticated. Trumpets, dear reader. What happens when trumpets get beaten up; the curvy bits and varying lengths give it flexibility and huzzah, the horn was born. You've got the drift by now and as the other three principal sections of the orchestra: woodwind, strings (quite excruciatingly at times) and finally percussion get an the treatment this leads us to the synchronised, and thankfully more tuneful, modern orchestra. It's a bit too long, this, but it is still quite good fun as they even manage to squeeze the bagpipes in there. The singing doesn't get any better, though - sorry.

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom FAQs

The directors of Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom are Charles August Nichols and Ward Kimball.

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