Believe it or not, there was a time when the Disney Channel showed more than just “Hannah Montana” and “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody”. They actually used to play a number of their classic shorts and animated films. Unfortunately, they rarely dipped into their black and white efforts from the 20s and early 30s, which was a shame, as the original Ub Iwerks animated shorts are among some of Disney’s finest creations, not to mention some of the most landmark animation in history. Thankfully, these almost forgotten gems have been unearthed and preserved on Disney’s amazing “Treasures” line (the sets that come in those snazzy tins), making even their earliest or most controversial productions available to everyone.
Plot? Well, it’s midnight in some church graveyard out in the middle of nowhere. If you’ve ever spent the night in a graveyard, then you should know that midnight is when the skeletons dig themselves out of their own graves and have freaky dance parties. It’s kind of like “When the Teddy Bears Have their Picnic”, except if the skeletons catch you spying on them, they’re going to fucking eat your brains. Of course, that doesn’t happen in this short, but can you imagine?
I first became aware of “The Skeleton Dance” when I was itty bitty and religiously watched a TV special on the Disney Channel called “Disney’s Halloween Treat” every October. The special was hosted by a pumpkin puppet who introduced a collection of clips gathered from various animated shorts and feature films over the years which all had the unifying theme of “scary shit”. The opening song featured a brief clip of “The Skeleton Dance”, which was horribly colorized with a random smattering of piss-yellow. That was the only clip from “The Skeleton Dance” they showed in the special and it always riled me up, because I wanted to see the whole thing really, really badly.
“The Skeleton Dance” is one of Disney’s most classic and groundbreaking shorts. While “Steamboat Willie” was the first synchronized sound cartoon (or at least it claims to be), the short was animated as a silent film and then had the sound synchronized to the animation. “The Skeleton Dance” did things oppositely. A score was produced by Carl Stalling and then the animators (or, well, Ub Iwerks) drew the cartoon to sync up with the music. That may mean nothing today, but this was a first back in 1929. “The Skeleton Dance” launched Disney’s “Silly Symphony” series, all of which featured cartoons synced to musical numbers. It would also influence other studios to make their own knock-offs, such as MGM’s “Happy Harmonies” series and Warner Bros’ “Merry Melodies” series.
As far as the animation goes, well, dude, it’s Ub Iwerks. That guy was the man. He could pencil a full cartoon in two weeks. Two weeks. Even the most overworked Korean animator who gets paid 10 cents a day and works twenty hour shifts couldn’t match that. Iwerks was one of a kind; a man just as responsible for the success of the Walt Disney Corporation as the man the company is named after. And speaking of names, isn’t his fucking awesome?
“The Skeleton Dance” is an old cartoon (this August will mark its 80th birthday). As such, it suffers from a few staples of really, really old cartoons which can strain the patience of a modern viewer. Gags are repeated three or four times, getting less entertaining with each repetition. Back in the 20s, audiences were just amazed at animation in general, not sure how it worked (true story: many folks back then used to think it was all done with puppets), so a gag repeated ad nasuem didn’t really bother them, as they were happily “oohing” and “ahhing” at the purdy effects.
A lot of the more impressive qualities to the cartoon might seem dull to the modern viewer, but you have to realize that Iwerks was a pioneer of animation and these early shorts were very experimental. His use of perspective, for instance, is absolutely stunning. The way that one skeleton in particular dives at the audience likely had people cringing back in their seats. And the actual “Skeleton Dance”, the way the quartet of corpses line up and boogie in unison, is so famous it remains parodied even today (“The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” doing a pretty funny one).
In their early days, Disney had balls. If you watch a lot of these early shorts, you’ll notice that besides anti-Semitism, one of the most reoccurring themes was “Satanic Raves”. “The Skeleton Dance” was the first, though subsequent shorts such as “Hell’s Bells” and “The Haunted House” (a Mickey Mouse short, no less), would feature plenty of demons and dead bodies getting down with their bad selves. Disney’s infatuation with dark and devilish imagery would eventually peak with the "Night on Bald Mountain” segment of “Fantasia”, one of the most kickass things ever put to animation, and I don’t care how gay the rest of the movie was.
Iwerks and Disney would eventually have a falling out, forcing Iwerks to ditch Disney in favor of rival studio, Columbia. As if to give Disney the big “F U”, one of Iwerks’ shorts for Columbia happened to be a blatant clone of “The Skeleton Dance” entitled “The Skeleton Frolic”. Despite all that, Iwerks eventually returned to Disney and proceeded to develop lots of innovative gadgets for the company, such as the multi-plane camera.
Now, history lessons aside, is “The Skeleton Dance” any good? Well, if you’re a student of animation or just a fan of old fashioned cartoons with a historical impact, then yes. If you have a stubbornly modern mindset and you’re only criteria is that the cartoon make you laugh, then no. Personally, I love it.
Grade: A (as in “Although, how come in cartoons from the 20s, everybody’s spit is colored black”?)
Plot? Well, it’s midnight in some church graveyard out in the middle of nowhere. If you’ve ever spent the night in a graveyard, then you should know that midnight is when the skeletons dig themselves out of their own graves and have freaky dance parties. It’s kind of like “When the Teddy Bears Have their Picnic”, except if the skeletons catch you spying on them, they’re going to fucking eat your brains. Of course, that doesn’t happen in this short, but can you imagine?
I first became aware of “The Skeleton Dance” when I was itty bitty and religiously watched a TV special on the Disney Channel called “Disney’s Halloween Treat” every October. The special was hosted by a pumpkin puppet who introduced a collection of clips gathered from various animated shorts and feature films over the years which all had the unifying theme of “scary shit”. The opening song featured a brief clip of “The Skeleton Dance”, which was horribly colorized with a random smattering of piss-yellow. That was the only clip from “The Skeleton Dance” they showed in the special and it always riled me up, because I wanted to see the whole thing really, really badly.
“The Skeleton Dance” is one of Disney’s most classic and groundbreaking shorts. While “Steamboat Willie” was the first synchronized sound cartoon (or at least it claims to be), the short was animated as a silent film and then had the sound synchronized to the animation. “The Skeleton Dance” did things oppositely. A score was produced by Carl Stalling and then the animators (or, well, Ub Iwerks) drew the cartoon to sync up with the music. That may mean nothing today, but this was a first back in 1929. “The Skeleton Dance” launched Disney’s “Silly Symphony” series, all of which featured cartoons synced to musical numbers. It would also influence other studios to make their own knock-offs, such as MGM’s “Happy Harmonies” series and Warner Bros’ “Merry Melodies” series.
As far as the animation goes, well, dude, it’s Ub Iwerks. That guy was the man. He could pencil a full cartoon in two weeks. Two weeks. Even the most overworked Korean animator who gets paid 10 cents a day and works twenty hour shifts couldn’t match that. Iwerks was one of a kind; a man just as responsible for the success of the Walt Disney Corporation as the man the company is named after. And speaking of names, isn’t his fucking awesome?
“The Skeleton Dance” is an old cartoon (this August will mark its 80th birthday). As such, it suffers from a few staples of really, really old cartoons which can strain the patience of a modern viewer. Gags are repeated three or four times, getting less entertaining with each repetition. Back in the 20s, audiences were just amazed at animation in general, not sure how it worked (true story: many folks back then used to think it was all done with puppets), so a gag repeated ad nasuem didn’t really bother them, as they were happily “oohing” and “ahhing” at the purdy effects.
A lot of the more impressive qualities to the cartoon might seem dull to the modern viewer, but you have to realize that Iwerks was a pioneer of animation and these early shorts were very experimental. His use of perspective, for instance, is absolutely stunning. The way that one skeleton in particular dives at the audience likely had people cringing back in their seats. And the actual “Skeleton Dance”, the way the quartet of corpses line up and boogie in unison, is so famous it remains parodied even today (“The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” doing a pretty funny one).
In their early days, Disney had balls. If you watch a lot of these early shorts, you’ll notice that besides anti-Semitism, one of the most reoccurring themes was “Satanic Raves”. “The Skeleton Dance” was the first, though subsequent shorts such as “Hell’s Bells” and “The Haunted House” (a Mickey Mouse short, no less), would feature plenty of demons and dead bodies getting down with their bad selves. Disney’s infatuation with dark and devilish imagery would eventually peak with the "Night on Bald Mountain” segment of “Fantasia”, one of the most kickass things ever put to animation, and I don’t care how gay the rest of the movie was.
Iwerks and Disney would eventually have a falling out, forcing Iwerks to ditch Disney in favor of rival studio, Columbia. As if to give Disney the big “F U”, one of Iwerks’ shorts for Columbia happened to be a blatant clone of “The Skeleton Dance” entitled “The Skeleton Frolic”. Despite all that, Iwerks eventually returned to Disney and proceeded to develop lots of innovative gadgets for the company, such as the multi-plane camera.
Now, history lessons aside, is “The Skeleton Dance” any good? Well, if you’re a student of animation or just a fan of old fashioned cartoons with a historical impact, then yes. If you have a stubbornly modern mindset and you’re only criteria is that the cartoon make you laugh, then no. Personally, I love it.
Grade: A (as in “Although, how come in cartoons from the 20s, everybody’s spit is colored black”?)
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