Wilhelm Scream Medley

In the 1951 Warner Brothers flick Distant Drums, one of the characters crossing a swamp gets eaten by an alligator, and his somewhat ridiculous scream was overdubbed during the editing process. Oddly enough, the same sound effect appeared throughout films to follow, and this was actually noticed down the line by sound designer Ben Burtt (who had borrowed the scream from another film for a project he worked on in 1974). When given access to the Warners sound effects vaults for Star Wars, Burtt found the original scream in a reel marked "man being eaten by alligator", and from then on it became an in-joke within Hollywood to pop the "Wilhelm" in there. Needless to say, You Tube has a medley of the many multiple appearances of the scream in one swoop. Who did the scream? It's generally believed to be actor/musician Sheb Wooley (he of "Purple People Eater" fame), who played one of the soldiers in Distant Drums and was called upon for post-shoot sound effects screams. Wikipedia has a list of all the films employing the effect here. Surely this masterpiece can offer up some more soundbyte templates for the future? The laugh perhaps?

Comments

[Holland Oats]

Zinebyte: Didja ever notice how many backs of magazine covers in movies feature an ad for a product called 'Viscount'? I'm just sayin'.

[Boris]

so.... does WFMU own YouTube now? lately, every link on the blog seems to come from there. not everyone, including some of the dj's, has a computer that can run YT. we're not ALL tv writers.... grrrrrrr
some of the poor folk even have paid up mouse pledges....

[bartleby]

You can pick up a computer for less than 200 bucks that can run youtube. I just bought a used eMac for $225. Believe me, if I can afford it most people can. I am curious though if people are familiar with the bloodcurdling scream used over and over in the Tom and Jerry cartoons. We used to call it the "Tom and Jerry scream" and do imitations of it, until we got older and discovered, uh, Dungeons and Dragons.

[Brian Turner]

I have a crappy comp and dialup at home (at least for two more days) that runs You Tube fine. And please keep in mind that most of these vids we showcase also have download ability, this particular post did not.

[Howard Dean]

Hey, that's MY scream.

[Dale Hazelton]

When you know the source is the same, that particular scream seems pretty silly. My main comment? SOMEONE NEEDS TO REMAKE "THEM"! It's one of the better movies of that nuclear scare era. Better than the one with the giant gila monster, on par with "The Amazing Colossal Man". Just don't let Tom Cruise and Steven Speilberg near it....