Convict Concerto

1954 animated short film by Don Patterson

November 22, 1954 (1954-11-22)

Running time

6:11CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Convict Concerto is the 58th animated cartoon short subject in the Woody Woodpecker series. Released theatrically on November 22, 1954, the film was produced by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal International.^[1]^[2]

Plot

Woody is a shy piano tuner who is held at gunpoint by a bank robber named Mugsy who is a fugitive. Mugsy hides out inside the grand piano Woody is tuning, and directs him to start playing immediately. Mugsy plays part of Frédéric Chopin's Funeral March to threaten Woody, who replies with a rousing rendition of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2". He manages to play the entire piece while being harassed by the gun-wielding Mugsy as well as a bricks-for-brains policeman hot on the trail of the stolen loot.

Production notes

In Convict Concerto, the familiar red wood plank backdrop featured in the opening theme of Woody Woodpecker, where he bursts through a hole while announcing "Guess who?", is replaced by a light gray-colored wood backdrop. Notably, Woody appears noticeably smaller in this particular intro. This lighter background remained in use until 1970 when the series reverted to the red wood plank backdrop, albeit with the smaller Woody animation retained.

Veteran animator Hugh Harman is attributed with the story for this installment. He and Lantz had previously collaborated on the Oswald The Lucky Rabbit series during its production under Charles Mintz.^[3]

A reference to Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff occurs when Mugsy quips to Woody, "Keep up the good work, Rachmaninoff!"

Convict Concerto marked Don Patterson's final contribution as director on a Woody Woodpecker short, although he continued to work as an animator at Lantz until Heap Big Hepcat in 1960.

References

^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 157–158. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
^ Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1954". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.
^ Webb, Graham (2011). The animated film encyclopedia: a complete guide to American shorts, features and sequences, 1900-1999 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-7864-4985-9.