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Disney And Concertinas


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I'm beginning to suspect that one/some of the artist(s) in the Disney studios were concertina players. Why? Because:

a) one of the seven dwarfs plays concertina in Snow White & ...

B) one of the alley cats plays concertina in Aristocats, and

c) the toymaker in Pinnochio plays concertina (and so does a clown on one of his clocks).

 

Any other Disney sightings?

Samantha

 

PS they all seem to be anglos to me!

Edited by Samantha
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a) one of the seven dwarfs plays concertina in Snow White & ...

B) one of the alley cats plays concertina in Aristocats, and

c) the toymaker in Pinnochio plays concertina (and so does a clown on one of his clocks).

 

Any other Disney sightings?

Some years ago at a shop in New York City that sold animation studio celluloids as artwork, I remember one with a gnome/troll/whatever playing concertina. I really wanted it, but at the time I didn't have the cash (a few hundred dollars). As I recall, he was similar to Warner Brothers' Tassie Devil (now retired and a member of C.net, yes? :D), but not quite the same, and the label said it was a Disney sheet.

 

Edited to add: Oh yeah, also an anglo (or maybe a duet?). I think it's a lot easier to someone playing that kind, because you don't need to worry so much about the finger positions.

Edited by JimLucas
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Howdy:

 

My father was in the motion picture business for the better part of his life and way before the advent of home video and home theater, he would borrow and bring home 16mm motion pictures from his office to show to the family in our living room in Brooklyn.

 

One of my favorites, and no doubt still my favorite Walt Disney film, was "Pinocchio", which as a child I was obsessed with, and I wonder to this day if repeated viewings of this wonderful film, might have planted the concertina seed somewhere's within me.

 

I recently purchased a copy fo the color stiil (not the animation cell, which i would love to have) of Pinocchio's maker, Gepetto, dancing with his creation in his workshop and playing his 34 (or so) fold bellows (with hand straps) concertina.

 

I have also managed to get a few other Disney related items with concertinas on Ebay which do regularly appear and usually quite inexpensively.

 

I have a really nice large pin (of which I was recently informed is another of the Disney's unending methods of creating "collectibles" which Disneyphiles, and I guess myself, are obesessed with) of Gepetto holding his instrument, which I have affixed to the inside cover of my concertina case along with a smaller pin of Bashful of the Seven Dwarfs holding a concertina.

 

I'd be curious if Walt himself had any interest in the instrument or might have played himself.

 

A quick search on the web found this on Bob Tedrow's site

 

"Those of us (myself included) here in the United States who were introduced to the concertina by a relative or friend; those whose first view of a concertina was in a Disney cartoon will probably know very little of the concertina's rich Victorian tradition in the 1800's."

 

and this from "PRELIMINARY DRAFT and DISCUSSION NOTES for:

TV Special on: 'WHEATSTONE AND THE CONCERTINA"

 

"The current perception of, and misconceptions about, the concertina today. The 'squeeze-box' image, patronisation of the instrument by Walt Disney, confusion with the Piano Accordion, use of the name to describe sliding doors and train crashes!"

 

and this

 

"In the most famous social occasion in dogdom, the scalawag Tramp took his Lady to an Italian restaurant for a spaghetti dinner in the back alley. The two larger-than-life canines slurped pasta and fell in love to the music of the concertina, and Walt Disney had another animated hit on his hands."

 

Also forgot about this from one of Disney's great early live action films "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea"......

"There's concertina during Kirk Douglas' "Whale of a Tale" song though it sounds like an accordion was actually recorded".

 

So did the Disney studios help and promote or destroy and misinform about the image of the instrument?

 

In the end Walt and friends are no doubt the biggest of the money makers ever in The Magic Concertinakingdom!!!

 

Have fun,

Perry Werner

 

PS: Oh yeah.

<---------------- Don't forget to view my avatar to the left <----------------

Edited by Perry Werner
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There's a concertina used by the ghost pirates in recent "The Pirates of the Caribbean" with Johnny Depp. This is another Disney sponsered movie. I couldn't tell if it was an anglo or even how many sides it had, but it did look to be more than 4-sided.

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I'm beginning to suspect that one/some of the artist(s) in the Disney studios were concertina players. Why? Because:

a) one of the seven dwarfs plays concertina in Snow White & ...

B) one of the alley cats plays concertina in Aristocats, and

c) the toymaker in Pinnochio plays concertina (and so does a clown on one of his clocks).

 

Any other Disney sightings?

Jim Lucas recently showed us this picture of Mickey Mouse (look at the pillowcase) in the "Crypt of Civilization" thread.

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Howdy again:

 

One day I'll get the hang of this.........

 

Here's another attempt....................

 

By the way, I guess the color version is an accordion according to the caption!!!!!!

 

Bye, Perry

 

PS: Close enough!!!

post-168-1124539371_thumb.jpg

post-168-1124539405_thumb.jpg

Edited by Perry Werner
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Interesting. Noe that Perry's avatar and Jim's pillowcase depict very different Mickeys, (note the size of the eyes, the pointedness of the nose) and are likely from different eras and different artists. This speaks to the original question posed above:

I'm beginning to suspect that one/some of the artist(s) in the Disney studios were concertina players.
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By the way, I guess the color version is an accordion according to the caption!!!!!!

The caption is a simple rhyme in Dutch language:

 

Zoo'n trekding heet accordeon

Ik wou, dat 'k er op spelen kon

 

Translated (and trying to keep the rhyme):

 

Such a "pull-thing" is called accordeon

a thing I wish I could play on

 

I think it is called an accordeon by ignorance and/or because of the rhyme.

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Note that Perry's avatar and Jim's pillowcase depict very different Mickeys, (note the size of the eyes, the pointedness of the nose) and are likely from different eras and different artists. This speaks to the original question posed above:
I'm beginning to suspect that one/some of the artist(s) in the Disney studios were concertina players.

Different eras, most certainly. Perry's avatar is a very early version of Mickey. And while the artists were probably different, too, that's more likely because of the different media than the different appearance. Such characters evolve over time, even with a single artist. (Look up some of the earliest drawings of Charlie Brown and friends by Charles Schulz.)

 

In fact, Mickey seems to have developed into a softer, rounder character more or less along with the Disney cartoons becoming staples for children, rather than novelties for adults, which the first ones were. And it's generally true that softer, rounder features are characteristic of immature animals of all types (well, birds and mammals), and viewed with exaggerated tolerance and affection even by adults of other species. (How else to explain the popularity of the Teletubbies? :unsure:)

 

I suspect that the same principal artist was responsible for Mickey's development from his conception to his "final" form, which has now remained stable for many decades. But once his image did become fixed, then it became easy for any other artist to copy him, without any trace of his being drawn by another hand.

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  • 4 years later...
In the famous "Lady and the Tramp" scene where they're eating spaghetti, the waiter is in the background playing "La Bella Notte" on the concertina.

 

In "Mary Poppins" doesn't Bert play the concertina when we first meet him (the one-man-band scene)?

Are you dead sure about the waiter (the proprietor)? I have a strong feeling it was piano accordion. But wait till after Christmas - a series of old Disneys at 3 o'clock on the 24th's afternoon are firmly embedded in the Swedish Christmas tradition and this is one of them. Then we'll know for sure.

 

More Christmas

Which brings us to another - there is a clip of Donald and the kids, playing carols in front of people's houses and he plays concertina on that occasion.

 

Jules Verne

Now, I am mixing things up here, the 50s: I had the notion that Kirk Douglas had a role in "The Journey to the End of the World", but when deep-google it, I find that he isn't on the list of actors and it wasn't a Disney production either. So it must be "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" (Disney) where he plays the sailor Ned Land, in red-white stripes (sailors wear that) and concertina (sailors play that). What haunts me, it the memory of the concertina being pulled out of his hands by magnetic force (force fields do that).

 

Anyone with better memory?

 

/Henrik

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I'm beginning to suspect that one/some of the artist(s) in the Disney studios were concertina players. Why? Because:

a) one of the seven dwarfs plays concertina in Snow White & ...

B) one of the alley cats plays concertina in Aristocats, and

c) the toymaker in Pinnochio plays concertina (and so does a clown on one of his clocks).

 

No, none of them had any idea and none had any inclinations to know. All of their "concertinas" are looking funny, played funny, strapped funny and sound wrong. Exception is Russian cartoon about a stray dog, "Kashtanka", I posted a clip a few days ago. There one can clearly see a research and intent to make it right. Doesn't make Rotoscoping into a great animation, but details are taken care of.

Here it is once again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajLmOLdHOoU

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Hi Henrick

 

Kirk Douglas faked playing in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Fabian faked it in Five Weeks in a Baloon.

Pat Boone had it ripped out of his hand in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

 

There is more information here:

http://www.concertina.net/forums/index.php...ost&p=83866

 

If you don't want to wait for Christmas, Mary Poppins is here in 15 practically perfect parts:

http://www.dailymotion.pl/relevance/search...22full+movie%22

 

Here is Donald Duck. It's at the 5:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxRych8ehcY&fmt=18

 

Thanks

Leo :D

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