Musical Moments from Chopin


Musical Moments from Chopin or Chopin's Musical Moments is a 1946 Academy Award-nominated Andy Panda cartoon, co-starring Woody Woodpecker. It features music by Frédéric Chopin and was the second Dick Lundy piece to be nominated for an Academy Award. Lundy directed all of Walter Lantz's classical music cartoon series.

Film

This clip starts with Andy Panda performing a Chopin polonaise on stage. As he does so, Woody Woodpecker wanders out and starts polishing the piano, and seems impressed by Andy's playing. Woody then plays along with Andy on following songs, either on the same or another grand piano, with increasing cut-aways to the animal audience and their own antics.
This film, part of the Musical Miniatures series, was nominated for an Academy Award for Short Subjects, Cartoons for 1946.

Cultural references

The Chopin music used throughout the film includes:
In 1958, the television show The Woody Woodpecker Show premiered, and continued on the air in various forms for the next four decades. Episode 18 of its first season included Musical Moments from Chopin along with a 1948 short called Wacky Weed, and a making-of involving Walter Lantz and storyboarding.