BLUDDLE-UDDLE-UM-DUM!

Dashing down the stairs and across to the fireplace, Snow White uses a cloth to swing the stewpot off the fire and to lift the lid. She samples its contents with a spoon. The dwarfs assemble on the landing outside their bedroom, last of all Dopey poking his head through a tight space in the railing’s ornamental structure. They take a group sniff and smelling soup, they hasten downstairs and mob their dining table. Dopey experiences difficulty extracting his head out of the railing, but eventually manages to do so and to follow the others down and across to the dining area.

Snow White interrupts their à table free-for-all by informing them that dinner is not quite ready yet and they will have just enough time to wash before eating.

Wash? This is apparently a foreign concept to the dwarfs. They cannot figure out why washing is necessary since it’s not New Year’s and they “ain’t goin’ nowhere”. Disgusted, Grumpy discards his spoon and mutters “knew there’s a ‘catch’ to it!” Noting their reluctance, Snow White suggests that perhaps they washed already. Doc confirms that “perhaps” they have. “But when?” the princess wants to know. Doc sputters out a series of tentative answers – “last week, month, year” – and settles the matter with a noncommittal “recently”. Adopting a rather stern motherly attitude for such a new member of the household, Snow White insists they show her their hands. Each with characteristic reticence the dwarfs display their grimy palms to her – except of course Grumpy, who examines one of his own hands himself then hides it in a gesture of defiance. Again rather brashly maternal, Snow White tells them to “march straight outside and wash or you’ll not get a bite to eat”. Shamefacedly, the dwarfs turn one-by-one and then exit single-file out the front door. Dopey looking back adoringly at the princess starts out in the wrong direction, turns back and in his haste to catch up with the others misses the door’s opening entirely and crashes into the wall behind it. He emerges as usual unscathed and follows the others outside. Grumpy is predictably the one hold-out and scowls at Snow White. When she asks him “has the cat got his tongue”, he sticks it out at her to prove otherwise, then frowning back at her stomps toward the exit poking his nose in the air. His attention thus diverted, he bumps his nose into the door. When Snow White expresses concern that he hurt himself he responds with a furious “humph!” and tramps out, slamming the door behind him. He takes a seat outside on a barrel beside the entrance, picks a sprig of wheat to chew on and mutters one last word of contempt for womenkind.

The others have convened around a trough of water where they decide – despite it’s being wet and cold – they’ll “take a chance” for the sake of the princess. Ignoring Grumpy’s verbal disdain Doc instructs them in this unfamiliar routine of personal hygiene as Churchill’s music vamps into the next song “Bluddle Uddle Um Dum”. The dwarfs’ procedural questions come in rhyming verses segueing into the song proper. The lyrics are almost never sung but instead are spoken by Doc – and a few by Grumpy – over their melodic lines. The song’s title is an attempt to alliterate the sound these little men make as they slosh handfuls of water onto their faces, the closest their spoken dialogue – in this case that sound – gets to being on pitch. This entire sequence was animated by master Bill Tytla (1904-1968) at the same time as the Bedroom Sequence was being animated by Fred Moore. Since these two scenes together comprise the very first animation of the dwarfs their two artists single-handedly delineated these characters for the remainder of the film – their graphic appearances, personalities, relationships, quirks and characteristic movements.

During extended orchestral repeats of Churchill’s tune, the sequence riffs on the theme of washing. First, Sleepy’s companion housefly gets its own little cameo here as it bathes itself in a bubble on top of the bar of soap. Next, Doc uses a long-handled scrub brush to scour bald pates all ’round until he gets to Dopey who attempts to avoid the brush but at last gets dunked into the trough and his posterior brushed instead of his head. From the sidelines Grumpy continues to lambast the others for complying so readily with Snow White’s effeminate requirements. More action at the tub: Happy shakes the water out of his beard right into Doc’s face; Dopey can’t rid his brains of a waterlog which actually distorts his cranium until he sticks a finger in his mouth and blows the offending liquid out both ears; and blinded by the soap in their eyes, Sneezy grabs the bottom of Bashful’s shirt to use as a towel and at Bashful’s other end Sleepy uses his beard for the same purpose, the two lifting him off the ground between them. Chiding them as “water lillies”, Grumpy continues his tirade until he thoughtlessly utters a fateful challenge: “I’d like t’ see anybody make ME wash if I didn’t wanna!”

Doc has had enough of this bluster and summons the other dwarfs into a huddle. Pointing back at Grumpy Doc whispers something that amuses Happy. Dopey pokes his head up but gets it pulled back down lest he give away their confab. All in agreement, they come out of their huddle and whistling the “Bluddle Uddle Um Dum” melody they sidle across to Grumpy still seated on his barrel, Dopey as usual hitch-stepping to keep up. At the signal from Doc – “Get ‘im!” – they pounce on Grumpy splintering the barrel and splaying him between them held arm and leg. A struggle ensues –– as under Doc’s rather chaotic direction the other dwarfs hoist Grumpy across and alongside the trough of water. While each individual dwarf is distinctly depicted, in this amazing legendary animation by Tytla the group as a whole moves rather like a gigantic amoeba expanding and contracting and filling the entire screen. Dopey in a last-ditch effort to help gets kicked backwards and tumbles into Doc’s lap. Doc tells him to get the soap and returns to the fray.

This leads to a long “single-shot” improvisation on Dopey’s puppy-like attempt to obey his leader but instead of “getting” the soap he swallows it when it ricochets off Doc’s posterior and down Dopey’s throat. He begins hiccupping bubbles. Meantime back at the trough Grumpy is getting a thorough scrub down, including even his teeth! – as Doc leads the other dwarfs in a final verse of the song. This time they actually sing the last two lines in chorus together. At its conclusion, Dopey is revealed now completely surrounded by bubbles and still hiccupping more of them. He tries holding his breath, turns beet red, then emits a mighty hiccup which produces an especially large bubble which momentarily supplants his entire head until it pops and his cap falls back down upon Dopey’s actual brow. The other dwarfs are tying ribbons in Grumpy’s beard and draping a garland of flowers across his pate when Snow White banging on the side of the kettle with her spoon summons them back inside for dinner. They toss Grumpy in the air and scramble away. The poor old grouch lands in the tub. He emerges out of the water with the garland now suspended hanging over his bulbous nose.