Mother Goose Goes Hollywood - Cultural References

Cultural References

• The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, but lost to another Disney cartoon short, Ferdinand The Bull
• Katharine Hepburn's type of speech, which pronounces the word "really" as "rally", has been spoofed in other 1930s and 1940s era cartoons, including Red in Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood)
• Donald Duck makes his second and final appearance in a Silly Symphonies cartoon. (The first one was his debut in The Wise Little Hen (1934).
• Charles Laughton's role as the captain references his starring role as Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film).
• Spencer Tracy appears as Manuel Fidello, in his Oscar Award-winning role in Captains Courageous (film).
• When Hepburn sails by on sea she quotes the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
• W. C. Fields' role as Humpty Dumpty references him playing the same part in the 1933 film Alice in Wonderland.
• W. C. Fields' line, "my little Chickadee", is a reference to a line associated with him, which was later used as the title of one of his famous films two years later.
• W. C. Fields was often ridiculed by Charlie McCarthy on the NBC-Red "Chase and Sanborn Hour."
• Oliver Hardy whistles the Laurel and Hardy Signature Tune, the famous theme music of the Laurel and Hardy movies.
• Laurel and Hardy's pie fight is a reference to similar scenes in their films.
• Greta Garbo's famous quote: "I want to be alone" is a reference to her role in Grand Hotel (film).
• The joke where someone hits a clarinet player on the head with a hammer, causing his clarinet to sound like a bassoon, had also been used in another Disney cartoon: The Band Concert (1935)
• When Chico Marx plays Waller's piano he points his hand like a pistol, in reference to his famous piano playing style.
• Cab Calloway sings "Hi-de-hoo" and "Zah-zu-zah-zu-zah", references to his songs "Keep that Hi-de-hoo in your soul" and "Zah-zu-zah".
• Martha Raye and Joe E. Brown are dancing together, because they were both famous for their big mouths.
• An official Disney page (see below) claims Rudy Vallee is also caricatured in this cartoon.
• Katharine Hepburn appears in the same scene as Spencer Tracy even though they had never met or worked together before. After 1942, they made ten movies together and secretly had an affair for 25 years.