As one might predict, it’s called “Sleigh Ride” or “Children Toboganning.” It’s from 1934, which is well into the copyright era; interesting that Melcher feels free to use it. He’s probably relying on parody as fair use. Turns out Dietrich was a self-trained artist, a “naive artist” as the jargon goes. After being ignored for years, he had the good fortune to catch on as the darling of the proponents of “naive art” and was able to support himself by his painting until his death in 1957. He seems to have been very cheerfully commercial about his work, sticking to what made him famous.
As one might predict, it’s called “Sleigh Ride” or “Children Toboganning.” It’s from 1934, which is well into the copyright era; interesting that Melcher feels free to use it. He’s probably relying on parody as fair use. Turns out Dietrich was a self-trained artist, a “naive artist” as the jargon goes. After being ignored for years, he had the good fortune to catch on as the darling of the proponents of “naive art” and was able to support himself by his painting until his death in 1957. He seems to have been very cheerfully commercial about his work, sticking to what made him famous.