This is a fall sound that was often used in the Famous Studios/Paramount/Noveltoons cartoons from the 1940's to the 1960's. It was also used in some Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons, among other films.
Info
- First Recorded: 1938
- Creator: Fred MacAlpin
- Owner: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1938-late 1940s), Warner Bros. (1941-1968), Famous Studios (1944-196?)
- Origin: United States
- Year Debut: October 1, 1938
- First Heard: The Winning Ticket (a Captain and the Kids short)
- Area Used: N/A
The sound was probably first recorded in 1938 at the MGM cartoon studio for the Captain and the Kids cartoon "The Winning Ticket".
WB would later pick it up in 1941 starting with Elmer's Pet Rabbit and have it rarely used for some cartoons in favor of their trademark Looney Tunes Cartoon Fall Sound, but Famous Studios also picked the sound up in 1944 and used it as their trademark falling whistle sound (even after the studio became "Paramount Cartoon Studios" in 1956) until the 1960's.
Other studios like DePatie-Freleng, Chuck Jones, and Total Television started to use the sound in the 60's, but its frequent use was later abandoned by the 1980's (only very few studios used it at that time, namely DiC Entertainment). However, some sound studios used it in movies and TV shows after the 1980s, but only very few.
It is yet to be determined if the sound was included on any sound effect library; it was never included on the more major sound effects libraries.
Used In
TV Shows
- The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin (Heard once in "Escape from the Treacherous Mountain".)
- Beetle Bailey
- Felix the Cat (1959 TV Series)
- Gumby
- King Leonardo and His Short Subjects
- The New Casper Cartoon Show
- Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures
- The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil?
- Popples (1986 TV series) (Heard once in "Tree House Capers".)
- The Simpsons (Heard once in "Bart Sells His Soul" in the Itchy and Scratchy short "Skinless in Seattle".)
- Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
- The Tom and Jerry Show (Possibly heard once in "Three Heads are Better Than One"?)
- Underdog
TV Specials
Movies
- 9 (2009) (Heard once as the first of three shells/smoke grenades launched fall.)
- American Pop (1981)
- Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) (May be confused with a similar whistle as a refrigerator flies from a nuclear explosion.)
Shorts
- Attack! Battle of New Britain (1944) (Heard in its entirety after the Looney Tunes Cartoon Fall Sound, twice, as bombs drop.)
- Assault and Peppered (1965)
- Barney Bear (Heard in "The Flying Bear" and "The Uninvited Pest".)
- Casper The Friendly Ghost
- Cats and Bruises (1965)
- Corn on the Cop (1965)
- Famous Studios Cartoons
- Herman and Katnip
- Hocus Pocus Pow Wow (1968)
- Little Lulu Cartoons
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
- MGM Cartoons (Heard once in "The Winning Ticket", maybe "Peace on Earth" (heard with Sound Ideas, WHINE, CARTOON - SHELL SCREAMING WHINE DOWN), "Red Hot Riding Hood" and "What's Buzzin', Buzzard?"; twice in "The Stork's Holiday", and multiple times in "The War Dogs" and "Blitz Wolf".)
- Modern Madcaps
- Noveltoons
- Popeye Cartoons
- Rocky Raccoon Cartoons
- Screen Songs
- Snyder Films Cartoons
- Sugar and Spies (1966)
- Tom & Jerry (Used once in "The Bowling Alley Cat" [1st half, reverse and normal edits], "Yankee Doodle Mouse" [1st half], "The Mouse Who Came to Dinner" [briefly], "Tee for Two", "Springtime for Tom" [long form], "The Cat's Me-Ouch" [2nd half], "Puss 'n Boats" [1st half in a much higher pitch], and "O-Solar Meow" [2nd half, briefly]; and twice in "Cat and Dupli-cat".)
Commercials
- Soaky Toys - Superman & Tennessee Tuxedo (Commercials)
- M&M's Minis Commercials (1996) (Commercials) (Used once in "Factory".)
Previews
- Disney's Favorite Stories Preview (low volume)
YouTube Videos
Image Gallery
Famous Studios Cartoon Fall Sound/Image Gallery
Audio Samples