During World War II, the Disney studio had deep economic problems, with many staff members away at war and much of the studios’ facilities being utilized for war efforts. This combination of factors made it impossible to produce typical full-length animated features. Thus, the “package” features were created, combining shorter segments into motion picture compilations. In 1946, Make Mine Music, the first of these package features, was released with cartoon segments set to music performed by the hottest artists of the day. It was followed just two years later by another film of “note,” Melody Time, released on this day in 1948, which amongst its seven segments, introduced the world to Disney’s versions of Johnny Appleseed and a little tugboat known as “Little Toot.” Unlike Make Mine Music, two of the seven segments in this film included live action. In Blame It on the Samba, Donald Duck is taught to samba by José Carioca and interacts with real live Ethel Smith on the organ. Roy Rogers, the Sons of the Pioneers, and young actors Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten are amongst the group sitting around the campfire in the live-action intro to Pecos Bill. The song “Pecos Bill” ended up having a life of its own in the Disney parks and must be some sort of world record holder, as it has been performed live tens of thousands of times over the past few decades in Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue and Walt Disney World’s Diamond Horseshoe Revue shows. Today, actual soundtrack music from Melody Time is still heard as background music in the various versions of Toontown in Disney parks around the world.
