After the conclusion of WWII, Walt Disney revisited the formula of short musical vignettes that he had incorporated into the classic animated feature film, Fantasia. Updating the premise with a collection of “popular” music this time around, he was able to add another memorable film to his catalog, while limited to a shoestring budget resulting from the economic hardships that his company faced as a result of the war.

Make Mine Music, released in 1946, consisted of ten individual musical shorts woven together into a feature film. The opening sequence, “A Rustic Ballad” centered around the never-ending war between two Appalachian families, the Martins and the McCoys, who are trying to come to terms with the impending marriage between Henry Martin and Grace McCoy – all set to the tune “The Martins and the Coys” recorded by The Kings Men.   

Next up was “Blue Bayou” consisting of animation that was originally intended for Fantasia, featuring a pair of moonlit flamingoes, and synched to Debussy’s Claire de Lune. The third segment, “All the Cats Join In” featured the swinging sounds of Benny Goodman and an innovative sequence of a pencil rapidly drawing the scenes of a group of frenzied 40’s teens caught up in the throes of popular music. Rounding out the first half of the film are “A Ballad in Blue” a tale of lost love set to Andy Russell crooning the song, “Without You” and “A Musical Recitation, which features Jerry Colonna reciting the famous “Casey at the Bat” poem about the arrogant ballplayer who falls victim to his own cockiness.

In the second half, non-animated ballet dancers perform amidst cartoon backdrops in “Ballade Ballet” featuring the voice of Dinah Shore singing “Two Silhouettes.”  Next is the familiar adaptation of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. Narrated by Sterling Holloway, the story of a young boy hunting a wolf is characterized by specific orchestral instruments taking on the roles of each character. Then it’s time for another Benny Goodman number, this time “After You’re Gone,” featuring four anthropomorphized musical instruments journeying through a musical playground.

“A Love Story” features the inimitable Andrew Sisters singing “Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet” a story of the romantic adventure between two hats who meet in a department store display window. Finally, the whole thing wraps up “The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At the Met.” Nelson Eddy narrates and handles all the voices including Willie the Whale, an accomplished singer whose dreams of opera stardom are thwarted by Professor Tetti-Tatti  in this bittersweet tale set to the opera, Lucia di Lammermoor.

Many of the individual segments of Make Mine Music would eventually become separate entities and either re-released as a part of other Disney features, or shown repeatedly on various Disney television shows. The only segment that didn’t enjoy the same longevity was “A Rustic Ballad” When Disney re-released Make Mine Music on video, it left this segment on the cutting room floor, thanks to the comical gunplay being deemed inappropriate for young viewers. And to date, Make Mine Music sadly holds the distinction of being the only Disney animated feature canon to not be released on DVD.