This classic Disney cartoon, in which the highfalutin Professor Owl takes his students on a fanciful journey back in time to teach them the principal characteristics of brass, woodwind, string, and percussion instruments, respectively, is noted for several important firsts. It was the first cartoon produced in CinemaScope. And it was the first cartoon distributed by Buena Vista, the Company’s distribution arm, which was founded in 1953. Stylistically, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom looks much like its predecessor, Adventures in Music: Melody. Both films were directed by Charles Nichols and Disney Legend Ward Kimball and were envisioned as part of a series of shorts starring Professor Owl and his class of musical neophytes, but only Adventures in Music and Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom were made. Both shorts were produced in the popular United Productions of America, or UPA, style of limited animation, seen in such works as the Mr. Magoo cartoons of the 1950s. In 1994, Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom was voted No. 29 in a list of the 50 greatest cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
