Forty Boys and a Song is a 1941 short film (ten minutes) directed by Irving Allen.
It's about the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, consisting entirely of boys aged 8 to 14. The choir, run by organist Robert Mitchell, appeared in Hollywood productions for over thirty years
. According to this short film, the boys were recruited to go to a special school where they would go through regular classroom instruction until 1 pm, after which they'd do choir practice. The kids are also shown performing in a church on Sunday as well as camping, as they are all part of the same Boy Scouts troop.
Tropes:
- Billed Above the Title: The entire choir, as the opening title card is actually "The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir in 'Forty Boys and a Song'."
- Documentary: A documentary about the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir.
- Inopportune Voice Cracking: One boy croaks like a bullfrog as he's attempting to perform his scales. His time in the Robert Mitchell choir may be limited.
- The Musical: The kids perform several songs in the course of this brief short, including "Home on the Range", "My Bonnie", and "Shortnin' Bread".
- Narrator: There's no scripted dialogue, only a narrator telling the story of the choir, and the choir singing songs.
- The Noun and the Noun: Forty Boys and a Song
- One-Gender School: The boys all attend the same school where they take regular elementary and middle school instruction before doing music practice.
