A Symposium on Popular Songs (1962)

Arriving at the mansion of acclaimed maestro "Prof Ludwig von Drake", we are shown into his music room where he invites us on a tour of American musical styles through the ages - all of which, of course, were his own original work! With some help from the Sherman brothers - who manage to rhyme synchopate with a surprising number of other words, we proceed to enjoy just about everything from baked potatoes to "Betty Boop" style dancers entertaining us from ragtime through the Charleston before some early examples of crooning. Then follows some power balladering; a little doo-wop and finally something more akin to rock and roll via a duo whom British observers might think looked like an hybrid of the Everly Brothers and the Two Ronnies. As time advances, so do the styles of animation as they vary from the simply drawn/shaded to some cut-out characters via some actually quite creatively crafted stop-motion, and for about five minutes it hits quite an entertaining purple patch. Sadly, though, there is maybe just too much by way of preamble and certainly too much of the ageing academic duck, and despite one or two pithy one-liners it's over-scripted too. Filling twenty minutes was probably too much of an ask here, but it does have it's moments.