CLEAN AND CLEAR SKIN PRODUCTS

TOOT, WHISTLE PLUNK AND BOOM BOXED PIN SET
Designed by Kevin Kidney
Released in 2003. Limited Edition of 2500. © Disney

"Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom" is a favorite film for many, MANY people who grew up weaned on 16mm Disney educational reels in elementary school. This also happens to be the FUNNIEST Disney animation ever, with more big laughs packed into its 20-minute running time than just about any other cartoon I could name. Anyone with an eye for style can tell you that Eyvind Earle and Tom Oreb struck gold in 1953 with this Oscar-winning romp through musical history.

In 2002, as the 50th anniversary of the short was approaching, Jody and I concepted a whole line of collectible merchandise that we would have loved to produce, but only this pin set made it onto the final assortment. The biggest challenge was to choose 10 characters out of the all the whimsical creatures that populate the movie, most only on screen for a mere few seconds (there are many more I would like to have included.) Using the actual pencil clean-up drawings stored in Disney's Animation Research Library, Rob Zangrillo hand-inked each character. I painted a sponge-background and styled the packaging to resemble a Whitman Publishing book from the '50s.

The inside liner notes were written by Stacia Martin:
"Brass, wind, string and percussion instruments may make an orchestra, but Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom - that's where the music comes from. This educational "Adventures in Music" featurette traced the history of elemental sounds from cavemen to jazzmen as presented through the rhythmic rhetoric of Professor Owl. Animating director Ward Kimball, with art stylists Tom Oreb and Eyvind Earle crafted an avant-garde opus of color, shape and wit as had never been presented on film. Audiences were dazzled by animation's first use of wide screen CinemaScope and a full stereophonic soundtrack. "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom," which later became a grade school staple, has built a fervent following among many of today's artists and animators who continue to draw inspiration from it half a century later.

"This commemorative pin set honors the 50th anniversary of the Academy Award winning short and celebrates in particular the unique genius of Disney Legend Ward Kimball, who proudly said of this project, "We broke all the rules."

Well just look at you, young people, you've gone and got lord knows what all over yourself and your rubber suits and ball gags and whatnot, well, you just sit yourself down there and let Mom and Pop clean that right up for you and you're looking a little thin, why don't you go ahead and fix yourself a snackeroo and we'll be all set in a jiff