Let's All Go to the Lobby
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| Let's All Go to the Lobby | |
|---|---|
 Four Anthropomorphic snack food items singing Let's All Go the Lobby. |
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| Release date(s) | 1953 |
| Running time | 1 minute |
"Let's All Go to the Lobby" is a 1953[1][2] animated musical snipe played as an advertisement before the beginning of the main film. It featured a family of four talking concession stand products, singing "Let's all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat" and walking to the concession stand.
The trailer was animated by Dave Fleischer (producer of Popeye cartoons) and produced by Filmack Studios of Chicago, a company that specialized in snipes. It was part of a series of Technicolor trailers aimed at informing audiences about a theater's newly installed [3] concession stand. The melody bears a striking similarity to "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow" but many songs are attributed to this melody. It is uncertain who may have originally composed the melody, but it appears to be well known first as a French folk song called "Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre" ("Marlborough has left for the war") in the 18th century about John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.
In 2000, "Let's All Go to the Lobby" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Further color snipes, such as ones using a clock and featuring singing and dancing hot dogs, popcorn boxes, candy bars and other concession stand products took their cue from this trailer. Those targeted at drive-in theaters directed their patrons to the snack bar. Such shorts are still used for this purpose.
[edit] In popular culture
- 7 Up recreated the short for a 1971 animated commercial, "Go On Out To The Lobby".
- In a short movie named The Animation Show by Don Hertzfeldt
- This was parodied in several episodes of The Simpsons, including "Burns' Heir" and "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken", and the DVD of The Simpsons Movie.
- The short is referenced in the webcomic The Order of the Stick.[vague]
- In a season four episode of the sitcom Two and a Half Men, titled "Smooth as a Ken Doll", both Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Myra (guest-star Judy Greer) are drunk and singing "Let's all go to the lobby..." in the back seat of Charlie's brother, Alan's (Jon Cryer) car, after returning from a movie.
- Southern California improv team The Lobby is named after the song. The group originally intended to use the song as introduction music, but they have rarely done so.[4]
- In the Scrubs episode "My Life in Four Cameras", when asked by Carla what their song is, Turk begins humming the tune. However, Carla refers to it as the "Let's All Go to the Movies" song.
- In the cult television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force 's film, the original foods telling you to go to the lobby are interrupted by a hardcore food band played by Mastodon.
[edit] References
- ^ Inspiration - Filmack Catalog. February, 1954. Volume 15, Issue 2. Page 10.
- ^ Original prints are Kodak date coded 1953.
- ^ Valentine, M:"The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre, Starring S. Charles Lee". Yale University Press, 1996.
- ^ Racket Magazine interview with The Lobby
