Disney Animated Shorts

Willie the Operatic Whale (1946x15)

: 15, 1946

News comes to the music and science world of a whale that can sing opera. The news is met with disbelief and jeers from the musical and science communities. One person who may have a different theory about the whale's reputed musical abilities is opera showman Tetti-Tatti. He believes that Willie the Whale has swallowed an opera singer and is holding him prisoner in his belly. Hiring an expedition, the showman heads for the North Pole to kill Willie. But the whale tries to show the impresario that he can really sing opera. Some time after, we, the viewers, see a montage of what would be Willie's performances in the Metropolitan Opera House (montage sequences include Pagliacci, Tristan and Isolde, and Mephistopheles). After the montage, however, despite all of Willie's efforts, Tetti Tatti shoots his spear gun and kills Willie.