Disney’s Skeleton Dance Almost Didn’t Get Out of the Graveyard

When Walt Disney released “The Skeleton Dance” in August 1929, people were already in love with Mickey Mouse. Disney’s dancing animated skeletons were the first in a new series called Silly Symphony. But people were not amused when they learned about it.

“Why does Walt want to fool around with skeletons,” Disney says in a clip playing “The Skeleton Dance” cartoon at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. “Give us more mice.”

But “with the success of Mickey,” Walt was “determined to diversify.” He may not have known exactly where that little mouse and him were headed, but he wasn’t going to let anything or anyone —especially not naysayers— stand in his way.

That was one of the things that surprised me most at the museum. There were, of course, a lot of exhibits that shared Disney’s successes, but many were hard-fought victories. Including when he got the idea for Silly Symphonies in his head, which, as he put it, almost did “not get out of the graveyard.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect during a jaunt to the Walt Disney Family Museum, a short walk from the Yoda fountain in the Presidio. It wasn’t hearing Walt himself talking about “The Skeleton Dance,” that’s for sure. Nor was I expecting to discover just how pivotal that cartoon was in particular.

The Skeleton Dance: The First Silly Symphony (that almost wasn’t)

If Disney had just stayed with the mouse and hadn’t experimented, he may not have gone on to create the classics that still endure to this day. Or many of the animation techniques that broke new ground for their time. He was a true pioneer in both vision and spirit.

A placard near where the cartoon was playing wasn’t an exact transcript of what Disney had to say about its creation, but it was pretty close.

“By nature, I’m an experimenter. So, with the success of Mickey, I was determined to diversify. I had another idea —the Silly Symphonies—a series without a central character, which would give me latitude to develop the animated cartoon medium. The first was The Skeleton Dance. The reaction was, Why does Walt fool around with skeletons? Give us more mice. So, for a while, it looked like the first Silly Symphony would not get out of the graveyard. But once more, a showman came to the rescue. Fred Miller, who was managing director of the Cathay Circle Theater in Los Angeles, took a chance on the film. The Skeleton Dance got a wonderful reception and wonderful reviews. Thus was the series launched.”

In His Own Words

Here’s a Shorts I posted of a video I took of the cartoon playing while Disney talks about it.

The Skeleton Dance Cartoon

Thanks to the Walt Disney Animation Studios YouTube channel, you can watch the very first Silly Symphony cartoon. Maybe with a better appreciation of its significance?

For More Info

To plan a visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum, visit waltdisney.org.

You can also purchase tickets through Viator:

The Walt Disney Family Museum Admission Ticket in San Francisco

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Did you know “The Skeleton Dance” almost didn’t get out of the graveyard, or were you surprised to learn that too?