“What’s the truth about Mother Goose?” This question was posed by an animated trio of jesters in the cartoon short The Truth About Mother Goose, which was released on this day in 1957. The film tells the historical stories behind the popular nursery rhymes “Mary Mary Quite Contrary,” “London Bridge”, and “Little Jack Horner” and featured the music and singing of the famed Page Cavanaugh Trio. The truth about Page Cavanaugh is that he was respected by the greatest names in the music industry, and in fact, Frank Sinatra regularly called on him to perform at his wedding anniversary parties. Page was featured in films including Romance on the High Seas, Lullaby of Broadway, and A Song is Born, and in popular short musical films, often referred to as Soundies, a sort of predecessor to music videos. Shortly before he passed away, the quick-witted, sharp-tongued Page reminisced with D23’s Scott Wolf. “We got a few laughs out of it because everybody was supposed to speak with an English accent, a British accent. One of my boys, Rod Leftwich, he’d get in there and just do the blimey thing all over the place. I couldn’t speak with a British accent. I’m a farmer from Kansas, now leave me alone!” The bass player in the trio was Jack Smalley, who did not sit in a corner, but has vivid memories of his part in the film including a small role in the “Little Jack Horner” segment. “While we were recording, the cartoonists came in and sketched us. I think the logo with the three characters are an amalgamation of the three of us. I also remember doing some of the voices… King Henry, mostly just kind of guttural phumphing! Rod was able to do more of an English accent, so I think he did something with that. They also took us around to the studio where Disneyland was being designed! It was a long time ago, but I remember the fun we had doing it.”
