The Bandmaster
About The Bandmaster
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit leads a band whose players are only half with him. They take a break in a tavern and leave him outside. Alone, he conducts birds sitting on power lines until a squirrel electrocutes them. He then tries to cheer a crying baby with a water pipe, and nearby objects start to dance. The nurse thinks he is hurting the child and hits him. The baby giggles.
Cast & crew
More about The Bandmaster
Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan directed. Lantz produced. Universal Pictures distributed the black-and-white short on 18 May 1931. James Dietrich wrote the music. A 1947 Lantz short with the same title is a different film and is still under copyright.
Themes
Making
Lantz's Universal unit made it in the Oswald series, with Nolan as co-director and Dietrich scoring.
Music
James Dietrich composed the music.
Preservation
The 1931 short is in the public domain. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The cartoon is in the public domain. The 1947 Bandmaster is not.
- Animators credited include Clyde Geronimi, Manuel Moreno, Ray Abrams, Tex Avery, Lester Kline, Chet Karrberg, and Pinto Colvig.
- Pinto Colvig, later the voice of Disney's Goofy, is on the animation staff here.
- Running time is given as 6 minutes 4 seconds.
- A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- Oswald conducts birds on the wires until a squirrel electrocutes them.
- Objects dance to the water-pipe routine, the nurse hits him, and the baby laughs.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Bandmaster (1931).webm)
