113. A Cartoonist's Nightmare (1935)

Release date: September 14th, 1935

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Jack King

Starring: Billy Bletcher (Beast, Villains, Pianist), Tommy Bond (Beans)

Beans’ first solo cartoon! This is an interesting case to note. Beans (and of course Porky) would be the first star to debut in a Merrie Melodies cartoon as opposed to a Looney Tunes cartoon. There was a rule that Merrie Melodies couldn’t feature reoccurring characters—I hesitate to say that with confidence, since Peter Rabbit was used in Country Boy and My Green Fedora, and a Buddy facsimile was used in Mr. and Mrs. is the Name, but generally characters weren’t reused, much less brought over into other divisions. So, Beans is the first to be brought over! Tex Avery would also break the rule with Daffy Duck and Egghead in 1938, bringing Daffy over from Looney Tunes to Merrie Melodies and also reusing Egghead from Egghead Rides Again.

In terms of synopsis: a cartoonist is dutifully working on a Beans cartoon, but falls asleep. The villain in his project comes to life and kidnaps the cartoonist, and it’s up to Beans to save the day.

Animators bustle to and fro in a cartoon studio that looks like it was spawned from a love affair between Dr. Seuss and Tim Burton. A highly prestigious studio, as indicated by the sign out front: animated cartoon studio. A rather bored, anthropomorphic whistle (Jack King’s Disney roots seep into its design, animated by Bob McKimson) nonchalantly checks it’s stopwatch and gives a tired bellow to indicate the day’s end.

The distance shot of the studio is impressive as all of the animators leave, lights switching off and even an animator jumping off the roof and traveling via umbrella. Various workers bids the elderly groundskeeper goodnight as he locks up for the night.

A lone cartoonist diligently pumps out more work, adding to a towering stack of frames. The groundskeeper pokes his head in, asking “Ya gonna work all night, son?” The cartoonist shrugs. “I gotta finish tonight.” With a bid of good luck, the groundskeeper leaves the animator to his work.

We then spot the fruits of his labor as a close up of the animator’s work is shown. He’s working on a Beans cartoon, drawing a ferocious monster and painting him in. The monster comes to life and gives a terrorizing grunt, cornering a terrified beans. A fun choice to make the animator analyze his work, Chuck Jones providing the animation of the animator commentating “Well, Beans, I guess I’ll have to save ya from the villain again!” He sticks his hand into frame and pulls the monster off of Beans. Furious, the beast turns his attention to the animator instead. The animator uses this as an opportunity to paint some protective iron bars in front of Beans, essentially jailing him. Delighted, Beans teases the beast by blowing a party streamer in his face.

Eventually, the animator tires himself out and falls asleep. Time marches on, and his drawings remain sentient. Trouble arises as the villain reaches out of the frame and drags the animator inside, Jack King providing one of his great perspective shots (above). I’ve come to really appreciate how he plays around with different perspectives and closeups, it brings a lot of liveliness and interest. Obviously, the animator is wide awake by now, struggling as the villain takes him away. Beans speaks his first lines— “Hey! Let go of him!” 

The beast drags the poor animator through the dungeons of the animated world—not far off from some working conditions at certain studios. As the beast drags his victim down a set of rickety stairs, a loose piece of board flies up and clobbers the villain on the head. The beast, assuming it was the work of the cartoonist, punches the sheepish animator in the face.

Past the gag department, story department, and music department they go, each department barred behind an intimidating iron door. There’s some sort of weird lawn mower weapon—like a barbed mower. Essentially, a painful prop. The animator accidentally prompts the handle to thwack the beast in the head, who gives him another pounding.

Finally, the beast arrives at his destination: the cartoon villains chamber. Sound effects are jarring and unfitting (yet almost humorously so) as a laser sound effect accompanies the monster punching the cartoonist, sending him flying. He bumps into a portrait of a kangaroo labeled “Battling Barney”. Barney’s joey leaps out of its pouch and sends the cartoonist hurtling once more towards the main villain.

One by one the animator receives a plethora of beatings, from the beast to the octopus from Mr. and Mrs. is the Name. Thus sparks a musical segment from the villains, the villains lamenting about how they’ve been mistreated and now the cartoon will finally get his, the song a parody of “The Teddy Bear’s Picnic”. I find it interesting that Jack King included musical numbers in his cartoons. From the beginning, those working on the Merrie Melodies complained about how a nice story would be rolling along and then an arbitrary song would disrupt momentum. It seems as though King had the opposite gripe—he wanted to insert more music into his cartoons. An interesting choice. The lyrics are amusing and dark, the chorus going “The tables are turned and now you are in our clutches!” Bletcher also reprises his role as the mad pianist from Buddy the Detective.

The villains reveal their motive: they want to force the animator down a bottomless pit, making him draw his demise. The poor cartoonist has no choice but to obey. He hesitantly draws a giant circle on the ground, preparing for his demise.

Elsewhere, Beans is still behind bars, sulking. Someone dressed in a woman’s disguise sneaks Beans a loaf of bread (the scene animated by Bob Clampett), much to Beans’ delight as he exclaims “Food!” He takes a big bite out of the bread, but recoils. Inside the bread is a handsaw, perfect to cut the bars with. Beans saws his way through the metal as we cut back to the kidnapped animator, peering into a bottomless pit.

After some stalling, the animator is thrown down the pit. It seems there IS a bottom, inhabited by a hungry alligator. Narrowly does the cartoonist escape being eaten, a branch catching him by the pants. Regardless, the cartoonist momentarily dives into the alligator’s mouth, the gator’s dentures dangling off his head. Paul Smith animates a closeup of the toothless and tearful alligator. Not to fear—the cartoonist returns the alligator’s dentures, who thanks him with a snap of the jaws.

Beans manages to saw his way out and make his escape. He runs ACROSS the stairs, floating on air instead of descending—a cartoon staple. Sliding down a giant pole, beans skids along the ground and knocks into a barrel, the metal rings constricting around beans. A crash to the wall sends the rings flying back into their respective place on the barrel.

Curious, Beans  pokes his head in to watch the torture. All of the villains are gathered around the pit, having a hearty laugh. Concocting a plan, Beans places two boots at the doorway of the chamber. Don Williams animates the two boots who come to life, matching forward towards the hairy beast and giving him a swift kick in the ass.

Undoubtedly, the villain takes notice and spots beans teasing the villains at the door. Beans dashes away and a chase breaks out as the villains follow. They all pass by the barrel from before... which is inhabited by a proud Beans. The coast clear, beans darts back into the chamber and analyzes the pit, scratching his head as he thinks of a way to help the cartoonist. The cartoonist cries for help, the hungry jaws of the alligator nearing him as he perches on the branch that saved him.

With some quick thinking, Beans yells “Hey, catch this pencil!”, tossing down the pencil the cartoonist used in his suicide mission. The cartoonist catches it, beaming as he acknowledges his power. He draws an extendable ladder, turning the crank and scaling to safety.

Never a peaceful moment in the cartooning business as the main beast pokes his head inside the chamber, growling at beans. They have a mini chase sequence as the animator scales to safety. The beast momentarily loses Beans, who notices the animator and shushes him. An abrupt jump cut to beans holding a grease gun, lubricating the floor. He whistles to summon the attention of the villains, and his plan unfolds swimmingly. All of the villains slide straight into the bottomless pit. The cartoonist gives the hairy beast an extra punch for good luck, the beast struggling to stay on the ground. Once all of the nuisances are in the pit, the animator enlists in the help of an eraser and erases the pit in the floor. Beans and the cartoonist slap and shake hands together, beaming at their teamwork.

Bob McKimson animates the scene of the elderly watchman shaking the animator awake as we fade back to the present. The cartoonist ogles at the audience, exclaiming “Wotta dream!” A very literal title to the cartoon. He resumes his work, back to where he left off: the beast terrorizing beans, who’s cowering behind bars. In the style of Bosko, the Talk-ink Kid, the cartoonist sucks the beast back into his pen, as well as the iron bars.

But his work isn’t done yet. As a reward, he sketches out a heaping plate of jello that has Beans’ name written all over it. He calls “Come and get it!” Beans doesn’t have to be told twice—he gorges himself gleefully, eventually disregarding the spoon and licking it straight from the source. Iris out.

This was a very creative and fun cartoon! A good choice for Beans’ first solo act. I like Beans—probably just the relief at the newness of a character and knowing things are starting to gain traction, but he’s cute. The animation was intriguing and fun in the cartoon, as was the music. I certainly think this is King’s best entry yet. I haven’t seen all of King’s cartoons, but out of the ones I have, this is my favorite. A fun premise and lots of personality. The story doesn’t feel too dragged out or redundant, a nice balance between the cartoonist, the villains, and Beans. Overall, a fun, high energy cartoon that’s worth a watch. Though it doesn’t have many gags, the story and premise are interesting enough, as is the historical significance of it being beans’ first solo debut.

Link!