One day in 1942, Walt Disney approached a composer on his staff with a special rush assignment. He needed a song for a Donald Duck cartoon intended to poke fun at the German enemy. The composer, Oliver Wallace, had written scores for many cartoons as well as songs for the movie Dumbo. But this time he felt stumped. That evening while biking to a store, he later recalled: “The music came to me in one flash. It nearly knocked me off my bicycle. My mouth opened in surprise. There followed a second surprise. Words came out of that mouth.” The result was “The Fuehrer’s Face,” which Oscar Hammerstein, II, later praised as the “great psychological” song of the conflict, as in psychological warfare.
Before long, the zany bandleader Spike Jones recorded a version in which he used a “birdaphone” — a rubber novelty shop device — to punctuate each reference to “the Fuehrer’s Face” with a Bronx cheer. The next year, the cartoon was released. Unfortunately, the birdaphone was replaced with a trombone. But the overall effect was such that it was awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The film can be seen on youtube. But I prefer the superior quality of this clip, which is among the vast trove of interesting material available on the France-based website dailymotion.
Donald Duck – Der Fuehrer’s Face (Original… by blackwarrior_6661
Wallace, who was born in England in 1887, enjoyed a long and distinguished career at Disney. After the war, he went on to write music for Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp. He died in 1963. Here’s a cheer — and not a Bronx one — for his memory. He helps remind us that among the most potent weapons that can be employed against tyrants and would-be tyrants is ridicule. That message remains as important as ever today.