The Man on the Flying Trapeze

The old song is the basis for a cartoon about a woman's betrayal of her husband for the better things in life.

UPA did do the occasional musical, but they tended to go full jazz for those cartoons, with ROOTY-TOOT-TOO being "Frankie and Johnny". This one takes the song dated from 1867 about aerialist Jules Leotard (who also had the tights he wore during performances named for him), and gives it an 1890s twist.

UPA was, in many ways, different from the other studios in its approach. This cartoon is a relative rarity for them in its use of music. While UPA shorts did use scoring and music was part of the package, music wasn't as significant for them as it was for other studios like MGM, Disney or Warner Brothers. Apart from the Ham and Hattie series, which was basically two shorts in one and were songs that were animated, I can only think of two shorts by UPA where music was not only involved in the plot, but crucial to the success of the short: Rooty Toot Toot and this one. The animators even put a somewhat subtle spin on the song as well, by their animation and the implications included through character behavior. Not typically the idea one gets from the lyrics of the song, at least not an impression I ever got. Typically excellent animation and a marvelous short. Well worth hunting down. Recommended.