In Cock o’ the Walk, a Silly Symphony released on this day in 1935, an arrogant prize fighting rooster comes to town and attempts to steal the hand of a cute chicken from a scrawny rooster. But the underdog proves he’s no chicken when he hops in the ring with the troublemaker, and when he learns the pugilist is married with children, his goose is cooked. In the style of musicals of the time, chickens, doves, and other birds of a feather dance around, in this cartoon to a Busby Berkley-type dance number and an aquacade of ducks. Did you know that the origin of the word “cocky” is actually derived from the way roosters, also known as cocks, appear to jut out their chest and strut around so self-assuredly? It was animator and Disney Legend Vladimir “Bill” Tytla who made certain to include all of those attributes in the star of this film.
