The Firehouse Five Plus Two was a Dixieland

Dixieland

Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 band, popular in the 1950s, consisting of members of the Walt Disney Studios animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 department;

Members

Danny Alguire — cornet

Harper Goff

Harper Goff

Harper Goff , born Ralph Harper Goff, was an American artist, musician, and actor. For many years, he was associated with the Walt Disney Company, in the process of which he contributed to various major films, as well as to the planning of the Disney theme parks. During World War II, he was also an...

 — banjo

Ward Kimball

Ward Kimball

Ward Walrath Kimball was an animator for the Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as Disney's Nine Old Men.-Career:...

 — trombone, siren

Siren (noisemaker)

A siren is a loud noise making device. Most modern ones are civil defense or air raid sirens, tornado sirens, or the sirens on emergency service vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. There are two general types: pneumatic and electronic....

, tambourine, sound effects, leader

Clarke Mallery — clarinet

Monte Mountjoy — drums

Erdman (Ed) Penner — bass saxophone

Bass saxophone

The bass saxophone is the second largest member of the saxophone family. Its design is similar to that of the baritone saxophone, with a loop of tubing near the mouthpiece. It was the first type of saxophone presented to the public, when Adolphe Sax exhibited a bass saxophone in C at an exhibition...

 on early recordings, but later switched to tuba

Tuba

The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...

Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas (animator)

Franklin M. "Frank" Thomas was an American animator. He was one of Walt Disney's team of animators known as the Nine Old Men....

 — piano

Later, other Disney artists joined in; Jimmy MacDonald

Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)

John James "Jimmy" MacDonald was a Scottish voice actor and the original head of the Disney sound effects department, and the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1946 to 1977.-Career and sound effects:...

, George Probert

George Probert

George Arthur Probert, Jr. is an American jazz clarinetist, soprano saxophonist, and bandleader active principally on the Dixieland jazz revival circuit....

, Dick Roberts

Dick Roberts

Charles "Dick" Roberts, was a professional banjo and guitar player.Roberts was born in Virginia. He substituted for Harper Goff with the Firehouse Five Plus Two when the latter had to leave the band because of his increasing engagements with Walt Disney's cartoon and movie productions...

, Ralph Ball and George Bruns

George Bruns

George Bruns was a composer of music for film and television who worked on many Disney films. He was nominated for four Academy Awards for his work.-Career:...

. The band was active from 1949 to 1972, playing and recording while never giving up their day jobs as animators and artists with the Walt Disney Studios.

Televised Appearances

The band appeared in several Disney television specials, including the very first special in 1950, One Hour In Wonderland

One Hour in Wonderland

One Hour in Wonderland is a 1950 television special made by Walt Disney Productions. It was first seen on Christmas Day, 1950, over NBC for Coca-Cola, and was Walt Disney's first television production...

. They also appeared on the early Mickey Mouse Club

Mickey Mouse Club

The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that began in 1955, produced by Walt Disney Productions and televised by the ABC, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of teenage performers. The Mickey Mouse Club was created by Walt Disney...

 television shows and appeared in animated form in the 1953 Goofy

Goofy

Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...

 animated short, "How to Dance".

Besides appearing in Disney productions, the band also made an appearance with Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer was an American pop singer whose style incorporated elements of country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950s, recording nearly 600 songs. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular...

 in the 1951 Universal short"Teresa Brewer and the Firehouse Five Plus Two" and appeared as themselves in the 1951 Kathryn Grayson

Kathryn Grayson

Kathryn Grayson was an American actress and operatic soprano singer.From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer. She was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s, soon establishing a career principally through her work in musicals...

 film Grounds for Marriage

Grounds for Marriage

Grounds for Marriage is a 1951 American romantic comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. Written and produced by Samuel Marx, the film stars Van Johnson and Kathryn Grayson.-Plot:...

The band received a homage in the ending of the 2009 Disney film, The Princess and the Frog, with the jazz playing alligator Louis now belonging to a group called "The Firefly Five Plus Lou".

Discography

The band recorded at least thirteen LP records, starting in 1949. The last album, "Live at Earthquake McGoon's" was recorded in 1970 in San Francisco. They have subsequently been re-released on CD and remain available

• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Story, Part One
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Story, Part Two
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Story, Part Three
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Goes To Sea
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Goes South
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Dixieland Favorites
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Plays for Lovers
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Crashes a Party
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Goes To a Fire
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Around the World
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two At Disneyland
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Twenty Years Later
• The Firehouse Five Plus Two Live at Earthquake McGoon's

External links

• Firehouse Five Plus Two fiftieth Anniversary article