Classics: Musical Memories

In this cartoon, an old married couple reminisces about their years together while listening to a radio broadcast of American song favorites from earlier decades. As the songs play, the husband and wife use a once-popular stereopticon device to look at 3-D photos of themselves in younger years. This leads to flashbacks set to songs, including scenes of kids at play on the streets of New York as we hear the song, "Sidewalks of New York." One of the "kids" turns out to be a caricature of New York Governor Al Smith, complete with derby and cigar, who sings along in a gravelly voice. The couple is next seen in their courtship phase to the accompaniment of "Little Annie Rooney" and then on a canoe in a lake while "In the Good Old Summertime" is sung. They begin a family and ride on a "Bicycle Built for Two," while that song is heard. Additional scenes are played out to "After the Ball" and "Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet," until we're brought back to the old couple in the present.rnrnEach scene is animated against detailed 3-D backgrounds of rundown city streets, a sprawling dance hall, country roads, and spacious residential streets away from the city. There are occasional cartoon-style gags and action, such as a shot of the bicycle-built-for-two being followed by a bicycle for five carrying the couple's five kids. During the dance hall scene in the courtship phase, a misstep on the dance floor provokes a comical fight between our hero and a Bluto-like bruiser. (IMDb)