Mother Goose Goes Hollywood

1938 Silly Symphony cartoon

Mother Goose Goes Hollywood

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Wilfred Jackson
Produced by| Walt Disney
Starring| The Blackbirds
Dave Weber
Clarence Nash
Thelma Boardman
Ann Lee
Sara Berner
Al Bernie
Music by| Edward H. Plumb
Animation by| Jack Campbell
Ward Kimball
Isadore Klein
Grim Natwick
Don Patterson
Robert Stokes
Color process| Technicolor

Production
company

Walt Disney Productions

Distributed by| RKO Radio Pictures

Release date

* December 23, 1938 (1938-12-23) (USA)

Running time

| 7 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English

Mother Goose Goes Hollywood is a 1938 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures.[1] The short was released on December 23, 1938.[2] The film parodies several Mother Goose nursery rhymes using caricatures of popular Hollywood film stars of the 1930s. The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson and was the third-to-last Silly Symphony produced.

## Plot

[edit]

This cartoon short depicts a series of sketches showing popular Hollywood stars of the day acting out traditional nursery rhymes.

Old King Cole is Hugh Herbert, his jester is Ned Sparks and his three fiddlers are The Marx Brothers. Joe Penner brings in a bowl containing special guest Donald Duck.

Rub-a-dub-dub is portrayed with Charles Laughton, Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew.

W. C. Fields plays Humpty Dumpty with special guest Charlie McCarthy.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play Simple Simon and the pieman.

See Saw Margery Daw is performed by Edward G. Robinson and Greta Garbo on a seesaw.

Eddie Cantor is Little Jack Horner in a big musical sequence featuring Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Stepin Fetchit. Others who appear are Wallace Beery, Clark Gable, George Arliss, Martha Raye, Fred Astaire, Joe E. Brown, Edna May Oliver, Mae West and ZaSu Pitts.

In a running gag, Katharine Hepburn appears at various points as Little Bo Peep.

## Reception

[edit]

On July 2, 1938, Variety said: "Mother Goose Goes Hollywood. Also haywire. She thinks she is Leo the Lion and opens the picture with that Metro college yell, three leonine rahs. So in angles Katharine Hepburn Bo Peep with a Back Bay accent. She has lost her sheep on account of she looks hungry enough to eat a flock of mutton. While she is paging her sheep, up pops Hugh Herbert who looks more like a roast beef. He is dressed up like Old King Cole and calls for fiddlers three but all he gets is the Ritz Brothers... This is a preview of Mother Goose Goes Hollywood at the Pantages last night, and if you think the previewer is crazy, go and look at it yourself. A Walt Disney production for RKO-Radio release. Running time not long enough."[3]

Since the 1960s, Mother Goose Goes Hollywood has been broadcast infrequently on television, due to the stereotypical depictions of black people in some scenes. It has occasionally been seen with the African Americans edited out, but as animation critic Charles Solomon noted in his book, Enchanted Drawings: History of Animation, that the caricatures of Fats Waller and Cab Calloway do not poke fun at their race, and are spoofed like the other caricatured celebrities seen in this cartoon.[4]

## Voice cast

[edit]

* The Blackbirds: Cab Calloway
* Dave Weber: Eddie Cantor, Charlie McCarthy, Joe Penner, Edward G. Robinson
* Clarence Nash: Donald Duck
* Thelma Boardman: Freddie Bartholemew
* Ann Lee: Martha Raye
* Sara Berner: Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn
* Al Bernie: Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy[1]

## Home media

[edit]

The short was released on December 19, 2006 on Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two.[1]

## See also

[edit]

* Mickey's Gala Premiere
* Mickey's Polo Team
* The Autograph Hound
* Hollywood Steps Out
* Slick Hare
* Hollywood Daffy
* Felix in Hollywood

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Merritt, Russell; Kaufman, J. B. (2016). Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Disney Editions. pp. 206–207. ISBN 978-1-4847-5132-9.
2. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 135–136. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
3. ^ Sampson, Henry T. (1998). That's Enough, Folks: Black Images in Animated Cartoons, 1900-1960. Scarecrow Press. p. 190\. ISBN 978-0810832503.
4. ^ Solomon, Charles (1994). Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation. Random House Value Publishing. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0517118599.

## External links

[edit]

* Disney Shorts
* Mother Goose Goes Hollywood at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Silly Symphony film series

1929|

* The Skeleton Dance
* El Terrible Toreador
* Springtime
* Hell's Bells
* The Merry Dwarfs

1930|

* Summer
* Autumn
* Cannibal Capers
* Frolicking Fish
* Arctic Antics
* Midnight in a Toy Shop
* Night
* Monkey Melodies
* Winter
* Playful Pan

1931|

* Birds of a Feather
* Mother Goose Melodies
* The China Plate
* The Busy Beavers
* The Cat's Out
* Egyptian Melodies
* The Clock Store
* The Spider and the Fly
* The Fox Hunt
* The Ugly Duckling

1932|

* The Bird Store
* The Bears and the Bees
* Just Dogs
* Flowers and Trees
* King Neptune
* Bugs in Love
* Babes in the Woods
* Santa's Workshop

1933|

* Birds in the Spring
* Father Noah's Ark
* Three Little Pigs
* Old King Cole
* Lullaby Land
* The Pied Piper
* The Night Before Christmas

1934|

* The China Shop
* The Grasshopper and the Ants
* Funny Little Bunnies
* The Big Bad Wolf
* The Wise Little Hen
* The Flying Mouse
* Peculiar Penguins
* The Goddess of Spring

1935|

* The Tortoise and the Hare
* The Golden Touch
* The Robber Kitten
* Water Babies
* The Cookie Carnival
* Who Killed Cock Robin?
* Music Land
* Three Orphan Kittens
* Cock o' the Walk
* Broken Toys

1936|

* Elmer Elephant
* Three Little Wolves
* Toby Tortoise Returns
* Three Blind Mouseketeers
* The Country Cousin
* Mother Pluto
* More Kittens

1937|

* Woodland Café
* Little Hiawatha
* The Old Mill

1938|

* Moth and the Flame
* Wynken, Blynken, and Nod
* Farmyard Symphony
* Merbabies
* Mother Goose Goes Hollywood

1939|

* The Practical Pig
* The Ugly Duckling

Related|

* Donald Duck
* Comic strip
* Silly Symphonies: The Complete Disney Classics
* Bucky Bug
* "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
* The Thrifty Pig
* Mickey Mouse Works
* Once Upon a Studio
* Disney Magic Kingdoms

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Wilfred Jackson

* Mickey's Follies (1929)
* Midnight in a Toy Shop (1930)
* The Castaway (1930)
* The China Plate (1931)
* The Cat's Out (1931)
* Egyptian Melodies (1931)
* The Clock Store (1931)
* The Spider and the Fly (1931)
* The Fox Hunt (1931)
* The Ugly Duckling (1931)
* The Bird Store (1932)
* The Grocery Boy (1932)
* Barnyard Olympics (1932)
* Mickey's Revue (1932)
* The Bears and the Bees (1932)
* Musical Farmer (1932)
* Mickey in Arabia (1932)
* The Whoopee Party (1932)
* Touchdown Mickey (1932)
* The Klondike Kid (1932)
* Santa's Workshop (1932)
* Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933)
* Father Noah's Ark (1933)
* Mickey's Mechanical Man (1933)
* Lullaby Land (1933)
* The Pied Piper (1933)
* Puppy Love (1933)
* The Pet Store (1933)
* The Night Before Christmas (1933)
* The China Shop (1934)
* The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934)
* Funny Little Bunnies (1934)
* The Wise Little Hen (1934)
* Peculiar Penguins (1934)
* The Goddess of Spring (1934)
* The Tortoise and the Hare (1935)
* The Band Concert (1935)
* Water Babies (1935)
* Mickey's Garden (1935)
* Music Land (1935)
* Mickey's Grand Opera (1936)
* Elmer Elephant (1936)
* Mickey's Rival (1936)
* Toby Tortoise Returns (1936)
* The Country Cousin (1936)
* More Kittens (1936)
* Woodland Café (1937)
* The Old Mill (1937)
* Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
* Farmyard Symphony (1938)
* Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)
* Pinocchio (1940)
* Fantasia (1940)
* Dumbo (1941)
* Golden Eggs (1941)
* The New Spirit (1942)
* Saludos Amigos (1942)
* Song of the South (1946)
* Melody Time (1948)
* Cinderella (1950)
* Alice in Wonderland (1951)
* The Little House (1952)
* Peter Pan (1953)
* Lady and the Tramp (1955)

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