The Skeleton Dance

The Skeleton Dance
Directed byWalt Disney
Story byWalt Disney
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringWalt Disney
Carl W. Stalling
Music by
Animation by
Layouts by
  • Ub Iwerks
Backgrounds by
  • Ub Iwerks
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • August 22, 1929 (1929-08-22)
Running time
5:31
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Skeleton Dance is a 1929 Silly Symphony animated short subject with a comedy horror theme. It was produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks.[1] In the film,[2] four human skeletons dance and make music around a spooky graveyard—a modern film example of medieval European "danse macabre" imagery. It is the first entry in the Silly Symphony series.[1] In 1993, to coincide with the opening of Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, a shortened cover of the cartoon's music was arranged to be featured in the land's background ambiance.[3] The short's copyright was renewed in 1957, and as a published work from 1929 it will enter the US public domain on January 1, 2025.[4][a]

In 1937, Columbia Pictures released the Color Rhapsody short Skeleton Frolic, a color remake of The Skeleton Dance also written and directed by Iwerks.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b Merritt, Russell; Kaufman, J. B. (2016). Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Disney Editions. pp. 55–57. ISBN 978-1-4847-5132-9.
  2. ^ Walt Disney Animation Studios (October 15, 2015). "Silly Symphonies - The Skeleton Dance". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ Walt Disney World FOREVER: Mickey's ToonTown Fair, THE SKELETON DANCE, January 29, 2023, retrieved January 24, 2024
  4. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Library of Congress. 1957.
  5. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (2009). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (3rd ed.). Facts on File. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-8160-6599-8.
  6. ^ https://letterboxd.com/film/skeleton-frolic/


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