# Wilhelm Scream original recording uncovered **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2023, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277 "2023-06-29T08:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/21 "2023-06-30T02:38:04Z")
> [@Tabco](#): > > It’s interesting to me that I’ve heard so much about the Wilhelm Scream, but I can’t (off the top of my head) think of a single movie where I’ve ever heard it, nor can I even imagine it in my mind’s ear. > > I listened to the recording just now but it only sounds vaguely familiar. Without knowing what I was listening to beforehand, I wouldn’t have any idea it was _the_ Wilhelm scream. Same here. I’ve known of it since the 90s. I could never recognize it unless pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/22 "2023-06-30T02:59:50Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Even my wife can pick out a Wilhelm scream, and that is saying something. Well duh… anyone can detect Wilhelm’s German accent. 😄 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/23 "2023-06-30T14:23:50Z")
Groucho Mark claims he started the laugh track. Someone in the studio told off color jokes to generate the laughter. [Sheb Wooley](https://www.metv.com/stories/this-rawhide-star-is-responsible-for-the-most-recognizable-scream-in-cinema-history) of Rawhide made the Wilhelm Scream. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/24 "2023-06-30T14:39:41Z")
BTW, if you look at the credit list of the actor who played Pvt. Wilhelm, [Ralph Brooks](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112201/?ref_=nmbio_ov) (born Charles Emil Muller from Baltimore), you’ll notice that he’s rarely credited. I’ve seen his name in some TV episodes, and he’s never easy to spot. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/25 "2023-06-30T16:25:38Z")
They also used laughs from I Love Lucy for decades as a general laugh track. According to Desi Arnaz, Lucy’s mother, DeDe Ball, was at every filming, and her laugh was unmistakable. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/26 "2023-07-01T00:21:25Z")
**Sheb Wooley** voiced the Scream for a 1951 movie called _Distant Drums_ as an uncredited voice-over for some poor soul who got eaten by an alligator. (He did play one of the minor characters in the movie but his voice work was uncredited other than in a studio memo listing voice actors. Then the Scream got reused in 1953’s _The Charge at Feather River_ when Pvt Wilhelm gets shot by an arrow. Here is the raw recording of Sheb doing six screams along with some directorial well, direction. [https://freesound.org/embed/sound/iframe/675810/simple/full\_size/](https://freesound.org/embed/sound/iframe/675810/simple/full_size/) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/27 "2023-07-01T04:10:02Z")
From [IMDB:](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045621/quotes/?ref_=tt_trv_qu) **Pvt. Wilhelm** : Yeah; I’ll just fill my pipe! [_gets shot by an arrow in the leg_] **Pvt. Wilhelm:** AAH! ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/28 "2023-07-01T05:32:20Z")
They say it’s silly. They call it goofy. But who among you can honestly say that if you got bit by an alligator, or fell off a cliff, the last thing you did wouldn’t be to make a noise a lot like that? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2023, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/29 "2023-07-01T22:14:10Z")
Or having a ton of science material fall on one of the birds at the Kurzgesagh YouTube channel. 🙂 (Just spotted the scream when the material falls on the birds in this scene from 3 months ago, they are also a European production) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1x-i9z617z4/maxresdefault.jpg "How We Make Money on YouTube with 20M Subs") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x-i9z617z4) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277/30 "2023-07-11T22:39:42Z")
> [@Tabco](#): > > It’s interesting to me that I’ve heard so much about the Wilhelm Scream, but I can’t (off the top of my head) think of a single movie where I’ve ever heard it, nor can I even imagine it in my mind’s ear. For the longest time, I thought it referred to the Goofy yell, and wondered why I could never notice it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MUL5w91dzbo/maxresdefault.jpg "Goofy Yell") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUL5w91dzbo) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wilhelm-scream-original-recording-uncovered/986277.md?page=1)