Jiminy Cricket Sings: The Music of Cliff Edwards

Album: Ukulele Ike Sings Again

Artist: Cliff Edwards

Label: Disneyland

Year Released: 1956

In Disney’s first century, one song and one voice have become emblematic of the company’s ideals. That song is Leigh Harline and Ned Washington’s “When You Wish Upon a Star” from the 1940 film Pinocchio. The voice is that of Jiminy Cricket, provided by musician and actor Cliff Edwards.

Historian and critic Leonard Maltin said of the performance, “His casting as the voice of Jiminy Cricket has granted him a kind of immortality; what man, woman or child hasn’t heard him sing ‘When You Wish Upon a Star?’” It was quite the capstone to a career that began by singing for nickels in saloons.

Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri in 1895. Beginning at the age of 12, he started taking a variety of odd jobs, including at a shoe factory. Two years later, he dropped out of school and began his life as a performer in St. Louis. Most of the saloons he performed in were run down, and their pianos were just as ragged. As a result, Edwards decided to accompany himself on the cheapest instrument he could afford, which is how he took up the ukulele. He taught himself to play, and by the 1910s had relocated to Chicago.

A saloon owner at Chicago’s Arsonia Café could never remember Edwards’s name, and so began referring to him as “Ukulele Ike,” a moniker that would stick for the rest of his life. Before long, he was performing at vaudeville and minstrel shows.

In 1918, Edwards teamed up with songwriter Bob Carleton. The two would perform Carleton’s song “Ja-Da,” which would go on to become a jazz standard and a song featured on Ukulele Ike Sings Again. In his classic book American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950, composer Alec Wilder wrote of the song, “… It fascinates me that such a trifling tune could have settled into the public consciousness as Ja-Da has. Of course, it’s bone simple, and the lyric says almost nothing, except perhaps the explanation of its success lies in the lyric itself. ‘That’s a funny little bit of melody—it’s soothing and appealing to me.’”

The success eventually landed Edwards a spot at the Palace Theater in New York, and in 1922 he was recorded singing in a musical style he called “eefing.” An early form of scat-singing, “eefing” was a falsetto style that reminded many listeners of a kazoo.

Over the course of the 20s, he appeared in the Gerswhins’ Lady Be Good, Jerome Kern’s Sunny, and popularized the song “Singing in the Rain” in the Hollywood Review of 1929 (a full 23 years before Gene Kelly immortalized the number in the film Singing in the Rain).

Between 1922 and 1933, he recorded close to 130 songs. Between 1930 and 1945, he appeared in over 100 films. He also hosted a number of nationally broadcast radio shows during this period.

Sadly, this success coincided with increasing personal turmoil for Edwards. As the Disney History Institute notes, “With this great success came excess–his problems with drug use, wild living, and frequent, short marriages were widely known in the Hollywood community. He had made and lost a fortune by the late 1930s.”

Fortune smiled on Edwards again when he earned the part of Jiminy Cricket in Disney’s Pinocchio. Originally envisioned as “stuffy,” Walt Disney stated that Edwards’s delivery had, “so much life and fun in it that we altered the character to conform with the voice. Thus Jiminy comes to screen…lively and full of funny quips.”

His recording of “When You Wish Upon a Star” won an Academy Award, and Edwards would earn a part as one of the crows in the 1941 animated film Dumbo. Over the ensuing years, he returned to the role of Jiminy Cricket, both in the film Fun and Fancy Free and on The Mickey Mouse Club. He also became a regular guest on the show, performing with his ukulele.

While his personal struggles continued, his career received a slight boost in 1954, when the Disneyland television program used his performance of “When You Wish Upon a Star” as its theme. It was around this time that Walt Disney suggested Edwards record an album that would introduce the public to his glory years in vaudeville. The result was Ukulele Ike Sings Again.

It’s a delightful record, and includes renditions of some of Edwards’s greatest numbers, such as “Singing in the Rain,” “Ja-Da” and “I’ll See You In My Dreams” (the last being a song he performed for the Ziegfeld Follies in 1927). His voice is alternately tender and pensive, to exuberant. Listeners are even treated to examples of Edwards’s “eefing.” Listening, it’s easy to picture him wowing audiences on the old stages of the vaudeville circuit or captivating a Broadway crowd.

The years that followed were not kind to Edwards. In his final years, he was known to hang around the Disney Studio on the off chance that they might have work for him. Jimmy Johnson, who became general manager of the Walt Disney Music Company in 1958, and served as its president from 1970 until March of 1975 recalled, “I recorded Cliff as the Cricket on some of our Disneyland Records and he was paid royalties for those. But in his declining years—for Cliff was declining right before our eyes–I made some work for him on records which we really didn’t need…Toward the end, royalties from records were his only source of income. The last time he came into my office, he didn’t seem to know where he was or who I was. He was a sad and sorrowful sight that brought tears to my eyes. His housekeeper steered him out to her car. I never saw him again as he died shortly afterward.”

While his life and end were the stuff of tragedy, we’re lucky to have an example of the brilliant, vibrant artist he had once been in the form of Ukulele Ike Sings Again.

Suggested Listening

Song: Nobody

Artist: Bert Williams

Label: Victor

Year Released: 1905

Song: Second Hand Rose

Artist: Fanny Brice

Label: Victor

Year Released: 1922

Song: Ida! Sweet As Apple Cider

Artist: Eddie Cantor

Label: Decca

Year Released: 1947

Disney Songs the Satchmo Way

Album: Disney Songs the Satchmo Way

Artist: Louis Armstrong

Label: Buena Vista Records

Year Released: 1968

In 1950, Bing Crosby said of Louis Armstrong, “He is the beginning and the end of music in America.” Literary critic Harold Bloom listed Armstrong as one of the two most important artists in American history, stating, “I would say that the genius of this nation at its best is indeed Walt Whitman and Louis Armstrong.”

As one of the most important and recognizable figures in the history of jazz, he is also one of the titans of American history, for as Wynton Marsalis explained, “Jazz music is America’s past and its potential, summed up and sanctified and accessible to anybody who learns to listen to, feel, and understand it.”

In that sense, it seems almost inevitable that his path would intersect with Walt Disney, another uniquely American figure who revolutionized the world of entertainment. The 1968 album Disney Songs the Satchmo Way treats us to the incomparable union of these two geniuses, with the Satchmo providing listeners with his interpretation of 10 classic Disney songs.

The record was not Armstrong’s first experience with Disney, but the culmination of a relationship years in the making. After the success of the Datenite at Disneyland promotion, the park decided to add another special event. This was to be known as Dixieland at Disneyland, which debuted in the park on October 1, 1960.

The event was a hit and remained a staple of the park for the next decade. It featured a Mardi Gras parade and performances by different Dixieland-style bands on stages throughout the park. Musical artists featured over the years included Kid Ory, The Firehouse Five Plus Two, Teddy Buckner, and others.

During the second year of Dixieland at Disneyland, the official D23 page notes that the bands, “all sailed the Rivers of America on rafts and keelboats, performing during this unforgettable event.” The highlight was unquestionably the Disneyland debut of Louis Armstrong, who made his first performance in the park on September 31, 1961. It was also notable for bringing Armstrong and Kid Ory back together. The two had performed together in Ory’s Woodland Band and later as part of Armstrong’s group The Hot Five. Speaking of Ory, Armstrong would later state, “Every time he is a guest and my band plays at Disneyland, he still has the old power and tone that made him famous in New Orleans.”

The following year, Armstrong would appear on “Disneyland After Dark,” an episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. In it, Armstrong performs on the Mark Twain Riverboat at Disneyland, accompanied by Johnny St. Cyr and Kid Ory, and performing alongside singer Monette Moore.

Disney Songs the Satchmo Way leans less into Armstrong’s Dixieland/hot jazz roots, and more into the style of his later career, which focused less on dazzling, virtuosic solos, and relied more heavily on his distinctive vocal talents.

The change was due to failing health. Over the years, Armstrong developed a litany of health problems, suffering his first heart attack in 1959 and later developing kidney problems and chronic leukoplakia of the lips. The latter forced him to adopt a special salve to soothe the lips. He also suffered from a situation that is now commonly known as “Satchmo Syndrome,” which takes place when the lip muscles essentially rupture. Friends frequently urged him to retire, but Armstrong decided instead to alternate playing the horn with increased singing.

The health problems would increase throughout the 60s, with his kidneys, gallbladder, and liver failing. It was in the midst of all of these issues in 1966 that Walt Disney personally approached Armstrong about recording an album.

Making the record seems to have been a source of comfort and joy during all of these struggles. According to Disney music executive Jimmy Johnson, “The dates with Louis were among the happiest I can remember. He had been quite ill but had gone on a rigorous diet. He was very thin but looked well and was full of energy.”

One song in particular seemed to resonate with Armstrong. Writing to producer Tutti Camarata, Armstrong said, “This goldarned “Wish Upon a Star” is so beautiful and more than that, man – I listen to that tune three or four times a night. Man, did you know I’m a doggoned long-time wishing cat? Well, I am man…I haven’t enjoyed anything better than our recording sessions since – well I can’t remember when.”

The album contains many familiar favorites, such as the Academy Award-winning “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” and songs like “The Bare Necessities,” “Whistle While You Work,” and “Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah.” As you’d expect, Armstrong does a wonderful job of interpreting these classics, maintaining the essence of the songs while making them his own. The album also includes two songs from the 1968 live-action Disney film The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band, a film which has fallen into relative obscurity over the years. The songs, “Ten Feet Off the Ground” and “‘Bout Time,” were both penned by the Sherman Brothers and are two of the best on the record.

Despite his health issues forcing him to spend less time on the trumpet, the moments we do get solos are exquisite. It’s a touch bittersweet, as the record would represent some of his final trumpet recordings. It’s a testament to his passion and skill as a performer that, despite his struggles at the time, the music remains lively and fun throughout.

Suggested Listening:

Song: West End Blues

Artist: Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five

Label: OKeh

Year Released: 1928

Song: Struttin’ With Some Barbeque

Artist: Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra

Label: Decca

Year Released: 1938

Song: Dream a Little Dream of Me

Artist: Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald

Label: Decca

Year Released: 1950

P.S. Want to learn more Disney fun facts? Check out my new book Main Street Gossip: The Inside Scoop on All Your Favorite Disney Characters. It would also make a great holiday gift for the Disney fanatic in your life!

Hot Jazz at the Happiest Place on Earth

Album: At Disneyland

Artist: Firehouse Five Plus Two

Label: Good Time Jazz

Year Released: 1962

Harper Goff. Ward Kimball. Frank Thomas. Names that conjure up some of the finest animation and Imagineering in Disney history. Thomas served as the lead animator for Walt Disney animation and worked on nearly 20 features including Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Goff was known for designing the Nautilus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the concepts for Main Street U.S.A., and The Jungle Cruise, and worked with Walt Disney himself on the design of Disneyland. Then there was Ward Kimball. He animated Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, Tweedledee and Tweedledum in Alice in Wonderland, Lucifer the Cat in Cinderella, directed two Academy Award-winning animated shorts, and helped write and direct Babes in Toyland, to name just a few accomplishments.

All three men also happened to be passionate jazz musicians and members of the Firehouse Five Plus Two. A hot jazz (or Dixieland) group made up primarily of Disney Studio personnel. Over the course of the band’s history, a total of 19 different men played in the band, including George Probert, Eddie Forrest, Jimmy MacDonald, Danny Alguire, and others.

In 1949, Kimball recalled the group’s origins, stating, “We used to get together for record sessions, at which the guys would take out their horns and accompany the pros on wax. One day the phonograph broke down, and someone had the startling notion to play without it. To our surprise, it sounded better than when we played with the record! I know it sounds corny but it’s true. And from then on we went on playing in our own strictly ‘no style’ style.”

The records in question were by artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Baby Dodds, and Louis Armstrong, those innovators of traditional jazz born in New Orleans. As they began playing together, that was the form of music they created, and before long they were playing parties and dances under the name The Huggajeedy Eight. They later changed the name to the San Gabriel Valley Blue Blowers, before eventually landing on the name Firehouse Five Plus Two.

As Kimball explained, the group was asked to perform for the Horseless Carriage Club’s auto tour of San Diego. They acquired a 1914 American La France fire engine to use and made firemen’s gear their “official” band uniform and adopted the new moniker. When asked by Groucho Marx on the show You Bet Your Life to elaborate further on why their name was the “Firehouse Five Plus Two,” Kimball offered the somewhat cheeky response, “Because there are seven of us.”

Record producer (and Paramount Studio writer) Lester Koenig heard the group one evening when they were performing at a high school dance and invited them to record with him. He created Good Time Records specifically for them. It would become one of the leading Dixieland labels, releasing records for jazz notables such as Kid Ory, Bunk Johnson, Turk Murphy, the Castle Jazz Band, and even some posthumous releases for Jelly Roll Morton. The label would release all 12 of the Firehouse Five Plus Two’s albums, beginning with The Firehouse Five Plus Two Story, Part 1 in 1951 and ending with The Firehouse Five Plus Two Live at Earthquake McGoon’s in 1970.

The group was part of the West Coast Revival of Dixieland, which began with Lu Watters Yerba Buena Jazz Band, a sort of backlash to the Chicago Style of Dixieland which was played in more of a swing style. The group’s popularity rapidly increased, and they became regulars at a variety of events on the West Coast, including Bing Crosby’s golf tournaments. They also appeared in a Universal short, on the Mickey Mouse Club, in a Disney special titled One Hour in Wonderland, and in the 1951 film Grounds for Marriage.

They also became regular performers at the Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland during the summer months. It was there that the album At Disneyland would be recorded. As stated in the album’s liner notes, “In their latest excursion, the famous Firehouse Five Plus Two takes you to Disneyland, U.S.A for a typical outing on “Date Nite” any Friday or Saturday during the summer of 1962.” The notes, written by Koenig, go on to note that it was the group’s first “in person” recording, with Good Time Jazz’s microphones set up on the Golden Horseshoe’s stage to capture the energy and feel of the performance, right down to Ward Kimball’s banter in between numbers.

Curiously, the album doesn’t start with traditional hot jazz. Or rather, it does and it doesn’t. The piece performed is Ward Kimball’s jazzified arrangement of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Anvil Chorus” from Il Trovatore. From there it dips into favorites like “Muskrat Ramble,” “Coney Island Washboard,” and “Tiger Rag” (one of the group’s most popular tunes). Altogether, the album is a toe-tapping good time that makes the listener wish they could be in the Golden Horseshoe on a summer, sipping a Pepsi or dancing with their sweetheart.

In 1986, Kimball would write of his time with the band, “As I flip back to the days when I was the Firechief and designated trombonist in the jazz band called the Firehouse Five Plus Two, it’s difficult to deny that those 22 years were some of the most bizarre times of my life. Here we were, a bunch of artists, writers, and technicians who worked together for Walt Disney by day, turning out those wonderful animation films of the Golden Age and, on weekends, playing our raucous style of New Orleans jazz, all dressed up in red shirts, white suspenders, and genuine leather fire hats.”

Suggested Listening:

Song: Black Bottom Stomp

Artist: Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers

Label: Victor

Year Released: 1926

Song: Dippermouth Blues

Artist: King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

Label: Gennett Records

Year Released: 1923

Song: Livery Stable Blues

Artist: Original Dixieland Jass Band

Label: Victor

Year Released: 1917

The Music of Wish

From the moment that Ariana DeBose begins to sing “Welcome to Rosas” at the beginning of Disney’s new film Wish, it’s clear that the audience is in for a musical treat. In the grandest of Disney traditions, the movie delivers gorgeous animation, a heart-warming story, and stunning music that simply begs for a sing-along.

Julia Michaels, who has written songs for artists like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Brittney Spears, and Justin Bieber, wrote the songs for the film, with Dave Metzger providing the score and Benjamin Rice providing additional music.

Born in Davenport, Iowa, Michaels relocated to California at a young age. Her sister was a singer, and her mother worked to provide the family with opportunities to pursue their talents. As she related, “My sister was the singer. My mom would take her everywhere and I would follow along to watch her dance classes and vocal lessons. I started writing poetry. When I was 11 my mom saw a baby grand piano for sale on the street. She didn’t have any money with her, so she handed her diamond ring to the guy who was selling it and said, ‘I’ll be back for this.’”

While still a teenager, she connected with songwriter Joleen Belle and the two began working together. Songs that Michaels wrote began appearing on television when she was only 16. She was in her high school math class when she got word that one of her pieces had been selected as the theme song for the film Austin & Ally.

Her career in music continued to blossom, eventually earning number-one hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the Justin Bieber hit, “Sorry” and Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me.” Along the way, she also racked up five Grammy Award nominations, including Song of the Year. That ability to craft catchy, melodically brilliant songs would be put to perfect use when Disney came calling.

When it came to her work on Wish, Michaels noted that executive music producer and president of Walt Disney Music Tom MacDougall reached out to her in 2020 to see if she would be interested in working with the company. She readily accepted, and immediately suggested that she work with Ben Rice, stating, “I’ve been working with Ben for so long—almost a decade—and he knows me better than most people. I wanted to do this with someone who I loved, who I trusted, who really understood me, and vice versa. And now here we are, three years later!”

A Grammy Award-winning record producer, Rice began his career at Record Plant Studios in California, cultivating relationships within the music community that eventually led him to work with artists like Lady Gaga, John Legend, and James Bay.

His most notable work came from his collaborations with Lady Gaga, who brought him on board for the music to 2018’s A Star is Born. He co-produced multiple songs on the album, including the monster hit “Shallow.” Together, he and Michaels crafted a collection of songs that would sound just as comfortable on a Broadway stage as on a Top 40 radio station.

The first song written for the film was the ballad “This Wish” performed by Ariana DeBose. Michaels based the song on a single paragraph that served as a synopsis of the movie. With the movie coming out during Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration, she wanted the song to feel simultaneously classic and modern. Speaking with The Walt Disney Company, she related, “I love complicated rhythms, I love a cadence, and I really wanted to incorporate as much of our style as we could into this song. It was so magical to be able to do that.”

For his part, Rice described “I’m a Star” as the most challenging number in the film. The balance of making the song an ensemble piece that was simultaneously catchy, while explaining a legitimate science lesson (the fact that everything, including every living thing, is made up of elements born in a star) was a balancing act that the team pulled off beautifully.

Perhaps the most surprising song in the film is “Knowing What I Know Now,” a song of protest and uprising. It’s hard to think of another song in the Disney canon that captures the spirit of rebellion and righteous anger, accented by driving drums and a melody line that is simultaneously ominous but inspiring.

Taking to Instagram, Michaels wrote, “4-year-old me that grew up watching Disney films and fell in love with Disney music wouldn’t believe that I get to be a part of the music that shaped so much of my childhood. And to share the floor with these incredible people?!! My imposter syndrome doesn’t know how to take it all in.”

Providing the film’s score was longtime Disney collaborator Dave Metzger, who earned a Grammy nomination for his work on Frozen 2. His other Disney collaborations include orchestration for Disney’s Broadway musicals Frozen and The Lion King, and film orchestration for films like Wreck-It Ralph, Moana, and Disenchanted, among many others.

According to Metzger, the first movie he ever saw was 1967’s The Jungle Book, which began a lifelong love affair with Disney. In his 20’s he even performed at Disneyland as a bassist. Despite his frequent work with Disney, Wish represented his first chance to fully score a film, and it was an experience he deemed a “wish come true.”

When it came to creating the ambient music for the film, Metzger stated, “I utilized ethnic percussion as well as instruments from the Mediterranean region such as guitars to bring color to the score and evoke that kingdom.”

He also wanted the music to have a Renaissance-type feeling, even going so far as to embrace older instruments, such as the oboe d’amore (a Renaissance-era oboe) and a dulcitone (a keyboard instrument built in the 1800s).

As a final nod to Disney’s 100th anniversary, he also incorporated bits of the classic song “When You Wish Upon a Star” into the score, a decision that helps neatly tie the film into the great pantheon of Disney films.

The music of Wish, whether it be the songs or the score, is a brilliant achievement that builds a beautiful bridge from Disney’s first century to the next.