106. Buddy's Bug Hunt (1935)

Release date: June 22nd, 1935

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Jack King

Starring: Billy Bletcher (Spider, Judge), Jackie Morrow (Buddy), Berneice Hansen (Butterfly, Witness)

And then there were 4. Buddy’s fate is nearing to a close. We have this, Buddy in Africa, Buddy Steps Out, and Buddy the Gee Man, all directed by Jack King, save for Buddy in Africa, which is a Hardaway cartoon. I don’t really hate Buddy as much as I thought I would, but there have been times where I’ve been watching a cartoon and thinking “I miss Bosko”. Jack King probably makes the better Buddy cartoons. Opinions aside, this cartoon also has the neat distinction of featuring the first ever ACME gag. Here, Buddy dreams he’s being tried in insect court for causing harm to bugs. 

Buddy’s eagerly pursuing a butterfly, swatting his net carelessly as he dashes around on a farm. He scales a set of stairs, going back down on a different set of stairs—a cow, a farmer, and a pig. He passed a sign advertising “BE SURE TO SEE SEASIDE BEACH!”, where the butterfly is resting on a broken piece of wood. Buddy swats his net and lands the catch... or so he thinks. An angry woman pops up with the net around her head, her bow serving as the fake butterfly. She throws the net down and stalks away. The REAL butterfly flutters into view, and Buddy runs after it.

The chase continues into Buddy’s bughouse (labeled as such outside a shabby little shack). After some searching, Buddy spots the butterfly resting on a flower in a flowerpot. He runs his hand down the flower, squeezing the butterfly into a glass enclosure below. It turns out his bag is filled with live butterflies—he dumps them into a separate enclosure, satisfied with his work.

Big excitement when Buddy finds a spider. He plucks it off its dangling web, gluing it under a microscope. Wow, cruel! The spider is crying as buddy peers into the microscope with oblivious glee. However, he accidentally turns the knob on a can of ether, the fumes knocking him out. Thus launches the dream sequence.

To begin, Buddy’s victim, the spider, frees himself from the glue. It’s clear he seeks revenge as he gives a good ol’ Billy Bletcher villain laugh. He sneaks to the aid of his other spider victims, trapped inside a jar. With a bit of elbow grease he tugs the lid open, and his comrades are freed. He motions for them to follow, and thus begins a liberation movement.

I wonder if something was cut or if it’s just extremely poor staging. Earlier, the main spider had peered down to make sure the coast was clear—Buddy was still unconscious. However, NOW he’s trapped beneath a web, crying “Help, help! Lemme outta here! Stop!” There was no indication of him waking up, nor any indication of the spiders trapping him. There could have been a scene cut here, but at the same time I doubt it.

Together, the insects work to reduce Buddy in size. Nothing like some “reducing pills” to do the trick! They stuff a funnel in Buddy’s mouth. The pills are mixed in with water, and a frog pipets the mixture through his mouth and into the funnel.

Look, ma! Baby’s first ACME reference! The bugs cheer as Buddy shrinks to their size, no longer a dominant force. All of the bugs gather around Buddy and jeer at him. Song segments have been typically reserved for Merrie Melodies only, but not here. The insects (and frog) launch into an original number, “You’ll Get Yours Today”—a song about how Buddy is at their mercy. The lyrics are amusing, as is a quick dance segment, but nothing mind blowing.

Two of the insects separate a roller skate in half, another poking a tied up Buddy  in the butt with a pen point. He’s forced into the roller skate, the insects typing him in so he can’t break free. Damn, they really want revenge! One of the bugs wheels Buddy through a radio labeled “SUPREME COURT”. Bug court, love it! 

All of the insects in the courtroom are ecstatic to see buddy get what he deserves. Another ACME reference, the ACME fly paper advertising “HEAR YE HEAR YE! BUDDY WILL BE TRIED IN COURT FOR CRUELTY TO INSECTS”. The jury sit patiently in an egg carton, while a bug announces in rhyme that “His Honor’s coming into court”, riding away on a grasshopper.

Sure enough, a cuckoo clock reveals the judge, sitting in typical judge garb (a powdered wig, no less!). He smacks the gavel against the table, knocking water from the pitcher into a glass. He holds up a heart playing card and asks that Buddy cross his heart not to tell a lie. Buddy is dumbfounded and provides no answer—a great gag as the judge hits him over the head with the gavel immediately and grunts “WON’T TALK, EH?” 

The judge then asks to hear from the witnesses. A grasshopper with a clothespin for its leg laments about his experience with Buddy, how he yanked his leg off “and now they call me peg!”. The judge tuts in disapproval and asks to hear the next witness—a butterfly who looks strikingly similar to Cookie. She laments that buddy took her parents away, leaving her to die. Man, Buddy’s seriously got a lot on his record! 

After another witness gives her testimony, the appalled judge whacks Buddy on the head with the gavel once more for good measure, gingerly brushing it off as if it had been contaminated—good gag. He then asks the jury what Buddy’s verdict is: guilty as charged (“Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! And we want to hear him squeal!”).

With that, the insects position Buddy on top of a cigar lighter, plugged into a remote that sends electric shocks. What a twist! They crank up the volts, which cause Buddy to get singed with the flames of the lighter. Buddy flops onto his stomach, yelping in pain.

Back to reality as Buddy comes to on the floor. His magnifying glass is positioned just so it catches the sun’s rays, burning his butt. Buddy hurriedly throws himself into a spare washtub, grinning in relief as the flame is extinguished. He dries himself off, and, with a change in heart, frees all his captives. He slams the door shut once they’re gone, his clubhouse collapsing into a pile of wood. Buddy pokes his head out of the pile in a daze, two frogs using a piece of board as a seesaw as we iris out.

Like Buddy, I had a change of heart. First watch through I thought this cartoon was bad. I thought it was discombobulated, incoherent, and trite. Thank god for those rewatches I do while typing this whole shebang out! This isn’t my favorite Buddy cartoon, but it’s not at all my least favorite. It’s definitely surreal and strange, and I applaud directors who go down that route and try something new. I’ve said before how I don’t like Jack King’s Porky cartoons—they pale in comparison to those put out by Tex Avery and Frank Tashlin in 1936. They’re strange and downright creepy, but I also applaud that. I like that king takes a different approach to things and can appreciate it, even if it doesn’t align with my tastes. Billy Bletcher did a great job as the judge, seeing Buddy get whacked with the gavel is always a plus. It’s not the most riveting of cartoons, but it isn’t a dreadful watch, either. Heads up, though: the rip is pretty worn and has some damage to it, so there’s a lot of flashing and distortion towards the top of the screen.

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