Symphony Hour is a 1942 Mickey Mouse short. In premise, it is similar to The Band Concert, although things take a much different turn, for the worse.
Mickey stars as the conductor of an orchestra sponsored by Sylvester Macaroni (Pete). Macaroni loves the orchestra's rehearsal of Franz von Suppé's "Light Cavalry Overture", but after the instruments and Goofy have an unfortunate encounter with an elevator, the live performance quickly becomes an unmitigated disaster.
"Symphony Hour" provides examples of:
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Or rather, Mickey grabs a gun.
- Beyond the Impossible: In Real Life, the instruments being as badly damaged as they were would not be able to play anything, let alone Stylistic Suck. Yet the orchestra manages to play their instruments and keep in relative intonation, with a few key signature and rhythm changes.
- Special notice to Clarabelle Cow, who managed to pluck out her violin solo with two strings after her fiddle got squashed flat.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Goofy looks straight at the audience with a proper Oh, Crap! look on his face when he realises what happened to the instruments.
- Brown Note: Dear lord, the entire performance compared with how the song actually sounds.
- Compilation Re-release: Once got a Classical Music-themed VHS release alongside Disney's Peter and the Wolf and Music Land.
- Crazy Consumption: "Sylvester Macaroni" reacts to the horrible performance by taking a bite out of his chair.
- Determinator: Mickey. And most of the orchestra, for that matter, since despite their instruments being busted they keep playing.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite their busted instruments, the orchestra manages to put on a passable and entertaining show, earning many encores from the audience.
- Furry Reminder: Horace Horsecollar briefly laughs at Donald's Asian caricature, sounding like a horse's whinny.
- Heroic RRoD: After the concert is done, Mickey collapses on stage, his hands still conducting.
- Idiot Ball: Mickey probably should have known better than to trust Goofy with the instruments.
- Impact Silhouette: Goofy after crashing through the glass elevator doors, sending him (and all the instruments he's carrying) down the empty shaft.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Macaroni is in tears at the end of the disastrous performance, convinced his reputation is shot. He cheers up immediately when he hears the audience shouting for more.
- Manchild: When he hears the symphony hour gone wrong, Macaroni throws a temper tantrum, doing everything from tearing a poster of the concert to literally Chewing the Scenery to crying his eyes out at the end of it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sure, Goofy wrecks the instruments, but the audience loves it anyway.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Goofy when he discovers the busted instruments.
- Also Donald when he realises he's staring down the barrel of a gun held by Mickey.
- "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Mickey briefly makes one at Macaroni during the live performance.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The infamous moment in the short where Mickey, in a desperate effort to keep Donald from walking out on the concert, blocks his path and holds him at gunpoint.
- Rambunctious Italian: Sylvester Macaroni, especially during the performance segment.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Donald attempts to bail after everything goes wrong, but Mickey forces him to stay and keep playing at gunpoint.
- The Show Must Go On: Despite his orchestra having to play with damaged instruments, Mickey is one determined conductor.
- Stop, or I Will Shoot!: In one of the funnier moments of the short, Mickey stops Donald from leaving by pulling a gun on him.
- Stylistic Suck: How the music sounds after the instrument is busted. With that said, the orchestra keeps in tune relatively well.
- This Is Gonna Suck: The look on Goofy's face says it all when he looks straight at the audience after realising what happened to the instruments.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Clara Cluck was only around for the rehearsal, she wasn't seen at all at the live performance.