105. Into Your Dance (1935)

Release date: June 8th, 1935

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Friz Freleng

Starring: Joe Dougherty (Stuttering Dog), Tedd Pierce (Captain Benny, Poet), Elvia Allman (Cow)

One of the very few times Joe Dougherty does a voice for someone that isn’t Porky or his father. Also interesting to note that storyman Tedd Pierce has a vocal credit--out of all of the storymen, he lended his voice to the shorts the most (though Bill Scott, storyman for Art Davis in the mid-late '40s, was the voice of Bullwinkle Moose.) Fans may recognize Pierce as "Babbit" in the Abbot and Costello trilogy (A Tale of Two Kitties, A Tale of Two Mice, The Mouse-merized Cat) and Tom Dover in The Dover Boys at Pimento University. Here, we have relatively plotless cartoon: a showboat is putting on a variety of vaudeville acts.

I love the reflection of the lights in the water! A showboat paddled it’s way through the moonlit waters, chuffing out steam in rhythm to the underscore. It passes through a waterfall, still chuffing to the music but sounding submerged and watery. The boat passes by a dock of cheering fans.

The song number “Into Your Dance” is introduced by four blackface caricatures. They dance on a stage, a banner reading “CAPTAIN BENNY’S SHOW BOAT”. To give credit where credit is due, the synchronization between the music, animation, and sound effects is very well done. Captain Benny distributes tickets to those coming aboard.

Footage recycled from Shake Your Power Puff (but now colorized) shows the crowd settling in for the show, the pit orchestra warming up. Captain Benny ambles out onto stage, introducing “Folks! We have with us tonight the world’s most popular orchestra leader—take it away!” 

A jolly pig caricature of Paul Whiteman leaps out onto the stage, clasping his hands together and shaking them for the glory. The audience is receptive, pummeling him with a shower of tomatoes and laughs. The animation is very well done of the pig dodging the tomatoes, twirling around and trying not to get blasted. Tentatively he tiptoes back onto stage, greeted with more laughter and more tomatoes. The scene is great—the audience laughter is obnoxious yet adds so much to it. Much more than a simple chorus of boos.

He enters a third time, this time adorning a disguise of tinted glasses and a long beard. He’s met then with applause as he sinks into the orchestra pit and prepares to direct. He launches into “Light Cavalry Overture”, animation solid as he directs. A squeaky trombone loudly breaks up the flow of the song on each ending note, much to the conductor’s visible chagrin. Eventually, he knocks the player on the head offscreen, and no more interruptions are to be heard.

While the song continues its exposition, a conniving dog ties the pig’s tail to an electrical cord. He turns the knob that starts the flow of electricity, and the pig is instantly electrocuted. Look at the accomplished glee on that dog’s face! The conductor instantly launches into a very fast, high pitched, frantic rendition of “William Tell Overture”. It’s a lovely scene. All the orchestra players frantically attempt to keep up. An overworked turtle hammers away at the xylophone, the conductor twirls and jerks around in pain, the strings sections saw away at the strings... the song ends when a dog and a goat smash the conductor over the head with a violin and a trumpet respectively. The audience applauds.

Next order of business is “amateur night”, Captain Benny emulating Ted Lewis by announcing “It’s only the beginning, folks! Only the beginning!” A cow comes out onto stage and sings “Shadow Song” extremely poorly, her shrill voice piercing through the crowd. Captain benny hits the bell backstage to end the act, but his singer won’t be pacified. She only stops when she gets the cane treatment, yanked so forcefully that her clothes float in place on stage. They, too, are hauled off.

Next is an effeminate poet, voiced by Tedd Pierce. Looney Tunes certainly has its gracious share of inflammatory gay stereotypes, and I should probably take more offense to them than I already do, being LGBT myself, but I love the incongruity between this guy’s tough appearance and his stereotypically effeminate voice. The spirit of Tex Avery is strong in this scene. He recites a poem, which goes something like this: 

“Hark, hark! A little birdie has begun to sing.” A duck quacks offscreen.

“The north wind has ceased, for now it is spring!” A huge gust of wind and snow barrels towards the poet.

“Oh, look! The little birdie has started to fly.” The poet flaps his wings, accompanied by the sound of an airplane plummeting to the ground.

“Oh dear, I’m so happy, I almost could cry.” A bell rings, and the poet puts up his dukes and begins to shadowbox. A boxing glove attached to an extended arm hits the poet on the head (a horseshoe inside the glove), and he too gets the cane treatment. A great scene. It’s all about timing, and the timing is just right. Snappy, quick, funny. Pierce’s happy delivery makes it even better. Definitely one of the funnier scenes we’ve seen thus far, and really holds true to that looney spirit.

Captain Benny is chuffing on a pipe backstage, clearly unenthused at how the show has been unraveling. He (no pun intended) barks “NEXT!”, and a dopey dog (who looks like a distant relative of Goofy’s) smiles eagerly. He whispers something into benny’s ear, pointing at some sort of invisible nuisance. Benny goes to investigate, and the dog takes the bell off its hinges and stuffing it in his pants, knowing his act won’t be well received. He may not be as stupid as he looks after all! 

Slowly the dog ambles out onto stage, carefully tipping his hat with both hands. Archetypal and stereotypical as his design is, you gotta love it. Skinny neck, big collar, dopey yet contented gaze, rubbery legs and big floppy shoes... the lovable idiot, a go to for comedy. Though they grow rather trite, there’s still something very endearing about them all these years later—Beaky Buzzard is a good example.

The dog (vocals provided by Joe Dougherty) sings “Go Into Your Dance” poorly, stuttering but still happy. The audience boos and jeers at him, but he isn’t offended in the slightest. He glances offstage to see if Captain Benny is watching, continuing on with his song. Benny rushes over to the wings to see the catastrophe for himself, clutching his ears and preparing to smack the bell... which is currently hidden in the dog’s pants. He continues to sing poorly, at one point laughing “Huhuhuh, it’s got me.”

Good setup of the captain pacing around in agony backstage. His peg leg gets caught in a hole and he does a whole circuitous pace missing his peg, not at all showing any signs of struggle, once again picking up the leg when he returns to the hole. Meanwhile, the dog’s sly, goofy, gleeful expression is perfect. He knows very well what he’s doing, and knows there’s nothing anything or anyone can do to stop him. It’s a very good premise.

Finally, the dog tips his hat, met with absolute silence. The stands are empty. A great surprise, especially when boos and jeers and laughter flooded the performance throughout. You had no way of knowing that the audience left, except when the clamor quieter down with the final verse of “Go Into Your Dance”. Dumbfounded, he scratches his head.

Captain Benny takes note of the absence of volume, too. He snags a board with a nail driven into it, chasing the dog off the stage, off the dock, and into the hills, whacking him repeatedly on the butt. Iris out.

This was a REALLY enjoyable cartoon. I think it’s one of the best ones we’ve seen so far. It’s fun, it’s light-hearted, it’s snappy. It feels a lot like a Tex Avery cartoon, same witty execution. The highlights are definitely the final two acts, the poet reciting his incongruous poem and the stuttering dog gleefully singing to his powerless crowd. The electrified performance of “William Tell Overture” is also a plus. Dougherty’s stutter works out well for the dog’s scene, even though it’s the butt of the joke. Ultimately, a very high-energy, fun, happy cartoon. Definitely worth a watch, though view at your own discretion for the blackface singers at the beginning. It isn’t too long, but any inclusion of blackface is inherently long.

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