''Midnight in a Toy Shop'' is a 1930 '' Silly Symphonies''

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

directed by

Wilfred Jackson Wilfred Emmons Jackson (January 24, 1906 – August 7, 1988) was an American animator, arranger, musical arranger and film director, director best known for his work with The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Productions. Jackson joined Walt Dis ...

and produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

Summary

It's hard living everyday life in the middle of a snowstorm, but life is not that harsh with this little spider, the protagonist of this short film, that discovers a world full of magic and wonders once entered into a toy store just at the stroke of midnight.

Plot

Outside, in the middle of a

snowstorm A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, Rain and snow mixed, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In Continental cl ...

, a poor

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

clings onto his

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

beside the hanging sign of a toyshop but is thrown off by the powerful wind. He sneaks in through the door's keyhole and finds himself inside the shop, where he has fun mimicking the sound of a ticking

cuckoo clock A cuckoo clock is a type of clock, typically pendulum clock, pendulum driven, that striking clock, strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and ope ...

. When the clock's bird pops out to strike the hour, the spider hides inside a box. When the bird goes back into the clock, the spider creeps along the store's floor. He walks backward and bumps into a large pile of alphabet cubes, the cubes all fall down and scare the spider. As the spider runs away from the fallen cubes, he trips over a wind-up toy car which activates and drives around him in circles. When the car stops driving, the spider looks pleased and laughs joyfully. The spider keeps walking along the store's floor but then gets scared by the barking of a toy dog, he runs away but then bumps into a

jack-in-the-box A jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a Music Box, music box with a Crankset, crank. When the crank is turned, a music box mechanism in the toy plays a melody. After the crank has been turned a sufficient number of ti ...

. The clown pops out of its box and flails around laughing, the spider screams in fear and runs to a more darkened area of the store. There, with a lit

candle A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

to guide him, he finds a toy piano (with a tag on it that says "$1.98" on it) and decides to play a little tune. As he plays the piano, some

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

s on a shelf start dancing and singing. After that, the spider climbs onto a little table and turns on a

record player A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...

, the wooden

marionette A marionette ( ; ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by ...

above it starts dancing as the record spins. The spider looks happy and mimics the marionette's movements and soon all the toys in the store come to life and suddenly start dancing. The spider finds two monkey-like

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

s, puts them on his hands, and makes them dance on some alphabet cubes. A group of

teddy bear A teddy bear, or simply a teddy, is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named by Morris Michtom after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt; it was developed apparently simultaneously in the first deca ...

s starts making music, two other ones ring a bunch of little bells. The spider plays with a toy cash register and a

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

, rolls on a

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...

, and plays with the toy dog from before. He tries his hand at being the dancing marionette but is thrown off the record player. He flies across the store and, holding onto the still-lit candle, lands in a box of

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

. When the candle's flame causes all the fireworks to explode in a massive flurry, the spider is terrorized and screams in pain when one of the fireworks burns his bottom. The spider runs away from a bunch of

firecracker A firecracker (cracker, noise maker, banger) is a small explosive device primarily designed to produce a large amount of noise, especially in the form of a loud bang, usually for celebration or entertainment; any visual effect is incidental to ...

s and jumps out through the keyhole, the short film ends with the firecrackers exploding inside the store.

Reception

'' Motion Picture Herald'' (May 2, 1931): "A ''Silly Symphony'' number which has the merit of lightness, and general amusement. A spider gets badly mixed up in a toy shop. All the little whatevers in the place sing in different keys as the spider spoils their play. The youngsters should enjoy it very much, and the oldsters will be entertained."

Home media

The short was released on December 19, 2006, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two'' in the "From the Vault" section, because of racial stereotypes: the Topsy doll yelling " Mammy!"

References

External links

*
disneyshorts.org
{{Wilfred Jackson American animated short films 1930s Disney animated short films Films directed by Wilfred Jackson Films produced by Walt Disney Silly Symphonies 1930 films Columbia Pictures animated short films Columbia Pictures short films Animated films about sentient toys 1930s American films American animated black-and-white films 1930 animated short films 1930s English-language films English-language short films