Symphony in Slang

Symphony in Slang
Directed by	Tex Avery
Written by	Rich Hogan
Produced by	Fred Quimby
Animation by	Michael Lah Grant Simmons Walter Clinton
Color process	Technicolor
Distributed by	MGM
Running time	6 minutes, 43 seconds

"Symphony in Slang" is a 1951 cartoon short directed by Tex Avery, written by Rich Hogan and released by MGM. Minimalist and abstract in style (many of the "gags" are created either with single, still frames or limited animation), it tells the story of a man John Brown, who finds himself at the Pearly Gates explaining the story of his life to a bewildered Saint Peter and Noah Webster using slang of that era. The majority of the short is made up of sight gags based on Peter and Webster's imagined, literal understandings of such phrases as "I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth" and "Outside it was raining cats and dogs."

Plot

A young man (a real swinging hep cat) goes to Heaven and steps before St. Peter. But his life story is so peppered with slang that neither St. Peter nor Noah Webster can understand him. What follows is a series of sight gags based on Webster's literal interpretations of the slang terms (for example, when the guy says "I guess the cat had her tongue," we see a cat sitting there, smiling a wicked smile, holding a tongue in his paw!).

Slang Terms

Here is a list of slang terms used, and their definitions:

• “I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”
• “I grew up overnight.”
• “At the crack of dawn…”
• “….I woke up with the chickens.”
• “I got a job slinging hash…”
• “…because the proprietor was short-handed.”
• “But I couldn’t cut the mustard…”
• “…so the guy gave me the gate.”
• “I went back to my hole in the wall.”
• “I was beside myself with anger.”
• “I decided to get a train ticket to Texas. There I made some dough punching some cattle.”
• “From there, I flew to Chicago.”
• “There, a beautiful girl stepped into the picture.”
• “Our eyes met.”
• “My breath came in short pants.”
• “And I had goose pimples.”
• “I was all thumbs.”
• “Mary’s clothes fit her like a glove.
• “…with her hair done up in a bun.”
• “She had good lookin’ pins too!”
• “Finally, she gives me a date.”
• “I put on my white tie and tails.”
• “And brother, did she put on the dog!”
• “We went around together for some time…”
• “…painting the town red….”
• “…going to the Stork Club…”
• “…we had a box at the opera.”
• “…I had a cocktail and Mary had a Moscow Mule.”
• “…Mary let her hair down…”
• “…and ate like a horse.”
• “By then, my money started running out on me.”
• “So I wrote a check. It bounced!”
• “I was in a pickle…”
• “The proprietor drew a gun on me.”
• “So I gave him the slip…”
• “…and head to the foothills.”
• “The law was on my heel.”
• “…the judge tried to pump me.”
• “…everytime I opened my mouth, I put my foot in it.”
• “So he sent me up the river…”
• “…to do a stretch in the jug.”
• “I was up against it…”
• “…and felt myself go to pot.”
• “I raised a big stink.”
• “…let me talk to an undercover man.”
• “I went through a lot of red tape…”
• “…he sprung me!”
• “It sure felt good to stretch my legs…”
• “…I caught a Greyhound…”
• “…I dropped in on Mary…”
• “…and threw myself at her feet.”
• “But she turned her back on me.”
• “But she got on her high horse."
• "I couldn’t touch here with a 10 foot pole!”
• “She wouldn’t say a word. Guess the cat got her tongue.”
• “So, I walked out on her.”
• “After that, I went to pieces.”
• “…where a bunch of the boys were hangin’ around.”
• “The guy at the piano played by ear.”
• “I felt a tug at my elbow…”
• “We sat down and chewed the rag a while.”
• “I heard through the grapevine…”
• “…Mary was going around with an old flame.”
• “That burned me up!”
• “Because I knew that he was feeding her a line.”
• The guy really spent his money like water.”
• “I think he was connected with the railroad.”
• “As they danced, I tried to chisel in…”
• “…but the guy got in my hair.”
• “Outside it was raining cats and dogs.”
• “I was feeling mighty blue.”
• “And everything looked black.”
• “But I carried on!”
• “I went to the 1000 Islands.”
• “There, I became a beachcomber.”
• “…and a tear ran down my cheek.”
• “So I sends her a cable.”
• “The next day, she sends me a wire.”
• “I rushed back to the US on a cattle boat…”
• “…and I hotfooted it over to Mary’s apartment.”
• “When I opened the door, I noticed quite a few changes…”
• “Why Mary, she had a bunch of little ones.”
• “The groom had his hands full, too!”
• “So, all this struck me so funny, I died laughing!”

External links

• Symphony in Slang at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Analysis of Symphony in Slang
• Gallery of images from the cartoon including layouts, backgrounds and stills.