137. I Love to Singa (1936)

Release date: July 18th, 1936

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Tex Avery

Starring: Tommy Bond (Owl Jolson), Jackie Morrow (Owl Jolson Singing), Billy Bletcher (Fritz Owl, Penguin), Martha Wentworth (Mama), Berneice Hansell (Fat Chicken), Lou Fulton (Stuttering Bird), Tedd Pierce (Jack Bunny), Tex Avery (Radio Policeman)

A certified classic that almost everyone has either seen or at least heard of, and for good reason! This marks the first of many Jack Benny parodies/appearances. In fact, he makes a number of appearances just as a rabbit—The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos, Slap Happy Pappy, and Goofy Groceries, to name a few. The real Jack Benny cast would lend their voices in The Mouse That Jack Built in 1959. Appropriate, seeing as Mel Blanc frequently shared the spotlight alongside Benny. 

Here, the father owl was originally going to be voiced by Bert Lahr, who you may recognize as the cowardly lion from The Wizard of Oz, but was changed to Bletcher instead. A parody of the Al Jolson movie The Jazz Singer, little Owl Jolson is born into a musical family that forbids any jazz. Kicked out for breaking the strict family rule, Owl finds solace in Jack Bunny’s radio show, where his talents shine—much to the bewilderment of his parents.

Pan into a lovely shot of a quaint little home in a tree trunk, trees creating a framing in the foreground as butterflies flit along. A serene home that can do no wrong. A sign in the shape of a violin is posted just above the door: Prof. FRITZ OWL teacher of “VOICE, PIANO, & VIOLIN” BUT— pan down to a sign below it, painted in all red letters: NO JAZZ! 

Tex is playful as ever with his transitions as we peer through the keyhole of the door. Professor Fritz (not Friz, mind you!) Owl himself paces nervously in front of his wife, nesting on eggs while observing her anxious husband. The underscore is a fitting medley of solfeggios. Fritz approaches his wife solemnly, who stands up and checks to see if her eggs have hatched yet. Nothing but a sympathetic shake of the head.

Time lapses, as we see from the rug below Fritz’s feet. He’s paced so much that he’s worn it into the ground and then some—Tex liked to play around with simple time lapses, a changing background the only indicator of passing time while the animation itself stays the same. Once more, Fritz returns to his wife. This time, we hear faint knocking. They both observe, and his wife is now beaming and nodding expectantly. The big moment at last! She crawls out of her nest, and Fritz takes a conductor’s wand, tapping each egg gently. Each makes a strong, reverberating ring of a bell. Music to his ears... save for the last one, who creates a jangly dissonant sound instead. Fritz and his wife exchange bewildered looks, Fritz tapping on the egg again for confirmation. Still a dud. Very clever use of sound effects by Treg Brown.

Before Fritz can mull on his dud for too long, the first egg hatches. A mini owl version of himself dons a sharp suit, singing a beautiful rendition of “Chi Mi Frena in Tal Momento” from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor. Fritz is absolutely delighted, cooing “Ah, what a fine voice! A Caruso!” (of course referring to Italian tenor Enrico Caruso) 

The next egg is set to hatch, this time the owl playing robert Schumann’s “Traumerei” on violin. He too is met with praise: “What sweet music, a Fritz Kreisler!” 

Third egg hatches, the owl touting a flute and playing Felix Mendelssohn’s “Spring Song”, Fritz appropriately commenting “A lovely melody, a Mendelssohn.” 

And, of course, the final egg. Wonderful incongruity and juxtaposition as Owl Jolson pops out of the egg, blaring red suit and all, informally greeting “Hullo, strenza!” 

“Hello, strenza!” was a popular catchphrase at the time and yiddishism for “Hello, stranger!”, originated from Jack Benny’s character Schlepperman. Owl thusly launches into the eponymous “I Love to Singa”, written by Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg (who both worked on the music for The Wizard of Oz) and featured thrice in 1936’s The Singing Kid. Criminally catchy and a lethal earworm to all... except father Fritz.

“Ach, a jazz singer! A CROONER! Stop! STOP! STOP!!!” Fritz is horrified, tearing his feathers out in agony, only pausing to catch his wife, struck unconscious from the horrible thought of her child becoming the next Bing Crosby. Fritz fans her awake, desperately reassuring “Listen mama, if he must sing, we will teach him to sing like we want him to.” A sensible plan, right? 

Apparently not. Owl is desperately uncomfortable and unhappy as he begrudgingly sings “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes”, his mother oblivious to his plight as she accompanies him on piano. She pauses to turn the page, and Owl gives a quick, hurried, whispered rendition of “I Love to Singa” behind her back. Haven’t we all done that before? Personality is very strong in this cartoon, and that’s what sells it, even more than the song itself. Mama resumes her playing, and Owl resumes his torture session. Fritz walks in the doorway to admire his converted son, beaming. Owl is unaware of his father’s presence, and as his mother pauses to turn the page he sings some more jazz, but it doesn’t go unnoticed.

Bob Clampett animates Fritz kicking Owl out of the house, groveling “Enough, it’s too much! Out of my house, you hotcha, you crooner! You falsetto! You jazz singer! You... You...YOU..!” Fritz is red-faced, sputtering and struggling desperately to find the perfect insult. Instead, he opts for slamming the door shut. A pause. He opens it back up and quips “PHOOEY!” before slamming it back shut. Perfect comedic timing for a gag that will be used in many a cartoon.

Owl is frustrated at first, sardonically introducing to the camera “That’s mein pop.” Nevertheless, his mood changes in an instant as he realizes he’s free to sing all the jazz he wants. He strolls along, happily singing his favorite song. A much happier scene than indoors, where mama tearfully suggests that Fritz was being “a bit too hasty.” 

Back outside, where owl is strolling along gaily as ever, whistling all the way. There’s a beautiful multi-plane pan with trees and scenery overlaying in the foreground. You get the sense that everything is going to be just fine, that the world is worth singing about. A very positive and upbeat yet subtle scene. Inside once more, where mama calls the police in tears to search for her missing child.

The happy go lucky expedition of Owl Jolson is put to a halt when he hears a harmonica. It’s coming from a building with a line in front of it: RADIO STATION G-O-N-G. Below it: AUDITIONS TODAY. Various people are given the boot, the telltale gong sounding as they’re plummeted down a slide and out into the cruel world. Owl is enticed, and hurries to join the line.

A few animals perform their failed auditions: a few birds on a flute and saxophone each, another on the accordion, a penguin singing “Laugh, Clown, Laugh” (a common song featured in many Looney Tunes shorts), a fat chicken singing “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”, etc. All of the potential candidates get gonged by a rabbit caricature of Jack Benny, and they’re all sent plummeting through a bottomless chute. The fat chicken is so plump that she gets stuck in the chute, and Bunny has to give her an extra thwack on the head to get her to go down. Very amusing timing.

Back at home, mama and Fritz are both listening to the radio for an update on their son. Mama exclaims tearfully, “I wonder if they found my little boy...” and in a bit of Tex Avery genius, the radio announcer answers in a deadpan voice “No we didn’t, lady.” 

At the radio station, Lou Fulton voices a hayseed, stuttering bird with an overbite, struggling to recount the tongue twister of “Simple Simon”. After awhile, the bird gets tired of his OWN act, muttering “Oh well, shucks,” hitting the gong himself and tugging on the rope that would send him into oblivion. 

Elsewhere, a bird reads a telegram out loud, delivered by the telegram boy. She pronounces each “stop” (as I mentioned in my last review, since there is no morse code equivalent to a period, telegrams would use “stop” instead), and we pan over to Owl Jolson and Jack Bunny. However, the bird continues to read each stop, growing louder and louder, and we pan back over to see the telegram boy repeatedly attempting to hug her while she keeps shouting “Stop!” Sexual harassment... ‘t’ain’t funny, McGee. In terms of technicality, it’s a very well structured gag, but is in poor taste and comes across now as more uncomfortable than funny.

Nevertheless, Jack Bunny asks “Well, what’s your name, son?” Owl eagerly hands him his very own card, proudly displaying the words “Owl Jolson” in red ink. He gives a happy salute, and thus formally starts the musical number. 

It’s been rumored that singer Johnnie Davis provided the singing voice, but I don’t think that’s true. It still sounds like Tommy Bond to me, and even when I heard him singing in My Green Fedora as Peter I knew he voiced Owl Jolson right away, connecting it back to this scene. I doubt they hired a separate person for singing, but what do I know? Nevertheless, as I’ve repeatedly mentioned, the song is criminally catchy and the animation is cute and fun. Bunny is immediately impressed, his defensive glower melting into a gleeful grin.

Mama catches wind of her own son back at home, hearing his voice singing on the radio. Once more, Bob Clampett animates mama dragging her entire family outside, happily declaring “It’s him at the radio station!” 

Owl has clearly won Bunny’s heart, already displaying the hearty first prize trophy on his desk while he dances along ecstatically to the music.

At long last, the Owl family arrives at the station, and they can hardly believe it. Everyone crowds around the window outside, peering inside with awestruck disbelief. Just as Owl as surely clinched the award, he catches a glance of his family and freezes up immediately. Now terrified and fearing the worst, he reverts back to his nasally rendition of “Drink to Me Only With Thine Own Eyes”. Bunny can’t believe it, even pausing to take his cigar out in disbelief as he ogles at his star pupil. He shoves aside the first prize trophy, ready to pounce.

Thankfully, the Owl family notices this and they all rush inside. Just as Bunny is about to call it a day, raising the faithful hammer, Fritz cries “STOP! STOP! STOP!!!” He rushes to his previously disavowed son, once more repeating “Enough, it’s too much!” but in an entirely different context. A very clever parallel. Slowly he attempts to coerce Owl back into his song, urging him that it’s okay. “You want to singa! About your moon-a and your June-a and your spring-a, go on and singa!” 

Hesitant at first, Owl picks up his rendition, and in no time things are back to normal. A relieved and ecstatic Jack Bunny snags the first prize trophy and hands it to Owl, shaking his hand. A very endearing, happy, ultimately feel good scene as the Owl family dance behind their star, the entire family giving one last chorus of “We love to sing!” 

Iris out... leaving the first prize trophy on the black screen. Owl pries the iris open and collects his prize, irising out for good (a gag that would be recycled in another Avery cartoon, Porky’s Garden.)

A lot to unpack, but all you need to know: a great short that is absolutely worth the watch. If you haven’t seen it already, watch it! If you have, watch it again! One of those cartoons that everyone knows or has at least heard of. Do I think this is Tex’s best cartoon? Probably not. But I DO think this is a major turning point for Warner Bros. Tex saved the studio by shunning the Disney attitude instead of adopting it, and this cartoon reflects that. A strong, solid plot with amusing gags (such as the radio bit) would eventually become the norm for the upcoming cartoons. The songs were really beginning to be put on the back burner, and eventually dropped altogether.

I argue that the success of this cartoon lies in the personality more than the song. Absolutely, the song is a big contributor. Very catchy, fun to sing, and one that everyone knows. But I don’t think the cartoon is great just because of the song. Many of the Merrie Melodies have a lot of great songs, but have faded into obscurity because of weak plots or personality. When was the last time you saw someone lauding Harman and Ising’s We’re in the Money? A very popular song no doubt, but it isn’t held to the same candle as I Love to Singa because the personality is so staunch. No memorable characters or emotions or motivations or what have you.

All of the personalities are strong, subtle or not. Owl has a strong personality, even though 90% of his dialogue is singing. Where he begrudgingly sings “Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes”, glaring and moping, kicking his feet or making mocking expressions, pausing to give a few breathless verses of “I Love to Singa”... strong personality. Fritz Owl has a very strong personality, if not overbearing. 10 seconds into the cartoon and you already know he hates jazz, holding so much contempt for it that he has a sign outside of his house to advertise it. The mother another strong figure, caring deeply for her son and even calling the police to get her son back. Even Jack Bunny, who only says one line in the entire cartoon. It’s obvious he’s fed up with listening to the same old amateur hour acts, and his genuine glee at the freshness of Owl’s act feels real and relatable. Pair all this with a catchy song and you have yourself a deal.

I think, at the same time, this follows the formula of a lot of Tex’s Merrie Melodies at the time, and I suppose it may be just a bit (for lack of a better term) overrated. Not in a bad way, but it isn’t staunchly different from other Merrie Melodies Tex has been pumping out. But with that said, it’s still a classic and a great short that you certainly need to watch. It’s definitely a spirit raiser.

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