Plot:
The different sequences of the film are divided by turning title pages in a “program,” and so we first read of “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Metropolitan.” [sic] The next page tells us: “Any similarity between voices in this story are [sic] easily explainable because they are all Nelson Eddy.”
A baritone voice is heard, holding a high note and the page begins to flutter, then is blown away in a great gust of wind that also contains hats, curtains, flowers, and newspapers. One newspaper settles down in camera range, and we read the headline about a singing sea monster. The camera pulls back, and the paper is now in the hand of a newsboy who is hawking his papers on a crowded city street. The passersby sing of their disbelief.
A group of eminent voice authorities also don’t believe it, until one of them, Professor Tetti Tatti, gets an inspiration. The whale has swallowed an opera singer! What marvelous publicity, what fame, what fortune if he should rescue the singer. The professor departs with a harpoon to find the modern Jonah.
Walt Disney (right) shows Jerry Colonna and Nelson Eddy the story boards for Nelson’s episode in the multi-part Make Mine Music. Colonna narrated the “Casey at the Bat” segment. Copyright MCMXLVI by Walt Disney Productions.
But out in the ocean there really is a singing cetacean. His name is Willie and he is happily entertaining the seals and pelicans with “Shortnin’ Bread” (Eddy’s classic concert song) while the seals clap their flippers in unison. Whitey, the sea gull, flies in at top speed with a newspaper announcing that the famous impresario Tetti Tatti of the Metropolitan Opera is looking for Willie. This is what Willie has been waiting for! To sing at the Metropolitan! “After all these years of casting his shortnin’ bread upon the waters....”
Willie finds the Professor and begins to audition. First he dazzles him with “Figaro” (actually “Largo al Factotum” from The Barber of Seville—Hollywood never discovered there is no song called “Figaro”), his rapid arpeggios delivered through a cascade of bubbles. The crew of the tiny ship are enchanted, and Tetti Tatti leaps up and down with delight.
Next, Willie launches into the beginning of the sextet from Lucia di Lammermoor, singing all three male voices. “He’s a swallowed three h’opera singers!” cries Tetti Tatti.
Willie imagines himself dominating the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in appropriate costume, his gigantic voice dislodging the hairdos of the ladies in the balconies. Tetti Tatti races for the harpoon gun, but the frantic crew cling to him, trying to spare this wondrous creature.
In Willie’s fantasy, he is performing in I Pagliacci, Tristan und Isolde (both voices), and Mefistofele to ever increasing waves of applause. The sailors are transfixed and relax their hold. Tetti Tatti leaps for the harpoon gun and pulls the trigger. The light glints on the murderous spear as it hurtles toward its target. There is a terrible thrashing and a last toss of the mighty tail. Then quiet.
Whitey the sea gull sits alone as Eddy’s voice tells us: “Now Willie will never sing at the Met. But don’t be too harsh on Tetti Tatti. He just didn’t understand. You see, Willie’s singing was a miracle and people aren’t used to miracles...but miracles never die. And somewhere, in whatever heaven is reserved for creatures of the deep, Willie is still singing....”
The three voices of Willie are heard, and we see him singing happily on a celestial cloud bank. The pearly gates close softly, revealing a small sign: “Sold Out.”
All dialogue copyright MCMXLVI Walt Disney Productions, used with permission.
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