Convict Concerto

Convict Concerto
Convict Concerto
	Title Card
Directed by	Don Patterson (uncredited)
Story by	Hugh Harmon
Produced by	Walter Lantz
Starring	Dal McKennon; Daws Butler; Grace Stafford; (all uncredited)
Music by	Clarence Wheeler; Piano Player:; Raymond Turner
Animation by	Ray Abrams; Don Patterson; Herman Cohen
Backgrounds by	Raymond Jacobs; Art Landy
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Walter Lantz Productions
Distributed by	Universal International
Release date	November 22, 1954;
Running time	6:11
Country	United States
Language	English

Convict Concerto is a 1954 Woody Woodpecker cartoon directed by Don Patterson. 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. Patterson was not credited as a director for this short.

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.

External links

Convict Concerto at IMDb

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[1] Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 157–158. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.

[2] Cooke, Jon, Komorowski, Thad, Shakarian, Pietro, and Tatay, Jack. "1954". The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia.

[3] 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.

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