The Pipe and the Pitcher
About The Pipe and the Pitcher
On a summer day Petya, Zhenya, and Pavlik go into the woods for berries, chanting as they pick. Zhenya hates the work and cannot see the fruit under the leaves. An old mushroom, guardian of the patch, trades her a pipe for her little jug: play it and the grass opens so the berries show. One object without the other is useless. She throws the bargain over and picks the strawberries by hand. The last song promises jam on Sunday and tells lazy children they will not be at that table. Zhenya bids the angry mushroom goodbye and says she will stop being capricious.
Cast & crew
More about The Pipe and the Pitcher
Viktor Gromov directed Valentin Kataev’s script from Kataev’s own 1940 story. Antonio Spadavecchia wrote the music. Vladimir Degtyarev was art director. Elena Petrova operated the camera and Boris Filchikov the sound. Soyuzmultfilm released it on 12 October 1950. Verses are credited to Kataev and Mikhail Volpin. The studio catalog length is 10 minutes 48 seconds.
Themes
Making
Kataev both wrote the 1940 tale and the cartoon script, then shared the verse credit with Volpin. The gag is that the pipe shows the berries and the jug is what you put them in, so the trade leaves Zhenya with neither advantage.
Look
Elena Petrova shot the painted cels. Degtyarev’s mushroom is an old bolete, not a costumed man.
Music
Antonio Spadavecchia composed the score, including the berry chant and the Sunday-jam song that closes the reel.
Preservation
A Soyuzmultfilm print of about 11 minutes survives.
Notes
- Georgy Millyar voices the woodpecker. Galina Ivanova is also credited; the role is not named.
- Animators include Dmitry Belov, Mikhail Botov, Renata Mirenkova, Vladimir Arbakov, Gennady Filippov, and Lamis Bredis.
- The children’s picking chant runs: one berry taken, a second looked at, a third noticed, a fourth that seems to appear.
- The closing song says strawberry jam is for Sunday tea, and lazy people will not sit down to it.
- A Melodiya compilation later put the song on children’s records, and Svema issued it on cassette.
Scenes
- The three children chant and pick; Zhenya sits on a stump and cries.
- The bolete hands her the pipe and takes the jug.
- She picks the strawberries herself and the jam song starts.
Influenced by
- The Pipe and the Pitcher (Valentin Kataev, 1940)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (1950. Дудочка и кувшинчик.webm)
Quotes
Angry mushroom, goodbye! I will be good.
