DVDizzy Forum

Wonderlicious wrote:But seriously, the Andrews Sisters singing about a tug boat doesn't stand up as this generation doesn't know the Andrews Sisters.

The working title of this film was Sing About Something.

According to a December 7, 1944 Hollywood Reporter news item, producer Walt Disney was planning to make a feature-length animated film entitled Currier and Ives, which was to be "based on the famous print collection." The news item announced that in addition to singer Frances Langford, Disney had hired Al Sack, the "maestro on the Maxwell House Coffee program," to compose the music score and direct the orchestra for the proposed production. February 1946 Hollywood Reporter news items reveal that in addition to the proposed Disney treatment of the story of "Johnny Appleseed," Robert Riskin of RKO and George Bricker of Universal were planning to produce films featuring the character. Also, Groucho Marx was reported to be "mulling" a Broadway musical about the "famed orchardist." Only the Disney version was produced, however.
Although a July 30, 1946 New York Times article reported that the "Pecos Bill" segment would be included in a feature-length film entitled All in Fun, along with cartoons based on Kenneth Grahame's book The Wind in the Willows and the story of "Casey Jones," those plans were altered. The Wind in the Willows was instead adapted for the 1949 Disney release The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, while the "Casey Jones" segment was not produced. According to a December 9, 1947 Hollywood Reporter news item, "Disney originally planned to use the tales built around Pecos Bill and [Johnny] Appleseed as separate pictures, but later decided a merging of the two would give Melody Time added box office strength."

On May 24, 1948, Film Daily reported that "for the first time...film from a modern Walt Disney production" would be presented on television when clips of Melody Time were broadcast on the Small Fry Club show on the DuMont Network.

The "Trees" and "Bumble Boogie" segments were combined into one short called "Contrasts in Rhythm."