Release date: August 28th, 1937
Series: Looney Tunes
Director: Bob Clampett
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky, Dog), Cal Howard (Gabby), Earle Hodgins (Honest John), Billy Bletcher (Oil Delivery Man), Shirley Reed (Gopher)
Another cartoon that entails a lengthy preface!
While this is Bob Clampett’s second piece as a director, it’s the first cartoon where he has full control of the helm. His previous entry, Porky’s Badtime Story, was started by Ub Iwerks, who as preceded the unit. But, technically, Clampett was co-directing with Chuck Jones.
Here’s where the famous Clampett-Jones rivalry settles in. Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones did not get along. Even Friz Freleng mentioned that they had been fighting like kids since they WERE kids, which is very true. Clampett and Jones would have both been 24 at the time of the cartoon’s release, Jones turning 25 in September.
Chuck Jones thought that he was co-directing the shorts with Clampett, doing character layouts (which WAS a very hefty job and considered a director’s job) while Clampett did the writing and timing of the shorts. However, the credits only credit Clampett and not Jones, so Jones assumed that Clampett had deliberately gotten rid of Jones’ credit (to which Clampett didn’t have any control over).
Jones would therefore hold this grudge against Clampett all the way to the grave–they were bitter rivals, and Chuck especially was very outspoken about his disdain and contempt towards Clampett. It’s unfortunate how such a big misunderstanding can be inflated into such a bitter rivalry, and even more unfortunate to see two great talents go against each other, but that explains that.
 |
| Lobby card. |
A second extra little treat is that this cartoon has an animator’s draft, courtesy of Devon Baxter, so that we can see who animated every single scene! Devon also has a breakdown video posted so you can see the credits in conjunction with the assigned animation. Thanks a bunch, Devon!
Gabby Goat sings his swan song in this fun, light-hearted clampett entry tentatively titled The Oily Bird Gets Porky: Porky and Gabby are easily swindled by Honest John, a snake oil (emphasis on the oil portion!) salesman who scams the boys into thinking they’ve struck it rich digging for oil.
“When My Dreambot Comes Home” fittingly scores the title card as the cartoon opens. In some clever signage play, the camera trucks back to reveal the title card posted on a sign–the screen fades out, fading back in to reveal a new sign (now scored with the appropriate “With Plenty of Money and You”) advertising “Oh! ~~~ Just oodles of oil!”, with the oil typography actually dripping, courtesy of Norm McCabe.
John Carey provides the animation of the facetiously named Honest John, the antagonistic oil huckster of the film. A fun bit of Clampett continuity: from 1959-1962, Clampett would make a cartoon adaptation of his hit puppet series Time for Beany. One of the characters, the show’s antagonist, was actually named Dishonest John!
Honest John chuffs on a cigarette (his wealth and snootiness indicated by the cigarette holder he sports) as a truck driver asks where to deposit his “erl”. John, voiced by Earle Hodgins, redirects the trucker to park around the fence. It is then that John attaches a hose from the oil tank attached to the truck to a sprinkler system, and presto! Sweet, bubbling “erl” spouts up from hidden sprinklers within a patch of land. Carey’s animation is very smooth and dimensional, a telltale trait of his work.
Satisfied, John now opts to search for his next pair of suckers (”Ahem. I should say prospects. Someone with a little money to invest in…”) Lo and behold, his pair of suckers are right across the street, marching up to the bank.
Said suckers, are, of course, Porky and Gabby, now cast as children. For Porky especially, his age was inconsistent in the ‘30′s and early ‘40′s cartoons–sometimes he was a child, sometimes he was an adult. More often than not, he was a young adult, and would obviously remain that way through the vast majority of his filmography, but there are a few exceptions, such as here. After all, he did debut as a school child.
Bobe Cannon animates the closeup of the duo at the bank, Porky toting a bag of money. Gabby, voiced here by storyman Cal Howard as opposed to Mel Blanc, urges Porky not to store away his money (”Let’s buy us a car, or a yacht, or a trip to europe, or a chocolate soda or somethin’!), but Porky refuses. “Uh-uh, I’m eh-geh-geh-geh-gonna sock my eh-meh-mo-mo–dough in here and get eh-teh-teh-two percent!”
Bobe’s animation of Porky is easy to spot in the Clampett toons, especially around 1938-1939, where he would typically draw Porky with buck teeth.
Suddenly, Honest John swoops in himself to stop the boys from going any further. He introduces himself as John Gusher, doing some gushing of his own as he describes how fortune is going to smile down upon them.
Jerry Hathcock’s animation timing is excellent as John shows the kids his card, zipping it out of his pocket and back in again at the blink of an eye. Without giving the boys any time to think for themselves, John pushes the kids to the oil site, ranting and raving about the wondrous business opportunity before them. To demonstrate, John jabs his cane into the soil, where a mini oil gusher spurts up on command–”Presto!”
More succinct comedic timing as John, finally winding down his spiel, concludes “I won’t take any more of your valuable time. A little parting word, let me say…” after a pause, he jumps right back in with a breathless delivery of “...this land is so saturated with oil that you can literally wring it out with your fingers!” He does, of course, just that, much to the delight of the kids.
John Carey takes over and does a rather impressive little scene of Porky and Gabby contemplating signing the deed. Gabby urges Porky on, telling him that they won’t get another chance like this (prompting a rather humorous delivery of “uh… ‘til death do us part” from Earle Hodgind as John.)
Carey’s animation is extremely smooth, brimming with subtle character action. Porky and Gabby’s differences shine, but also unite: Gabby is much more outspoken about his eagerness to sign the deed, nudging Porky and literally pushing him to sign the deed. Porky, on the other hand, is more cautious and timid, having to mull it over by thinking and tapping his chin with the pen.
But, of course, Porky shares Gabby’s excitement–it doesn’t take much for him to change his mind. He signs the deed, Gabby excitedly looming over his shoulder. Even the animation of John tapping and signaling towards the deed is well crafted.
John Carey’s animation is very appealing–once Chuck Jones would leave the Clampett unit, Carey would take over as his layout man, all the way until 1941 when he moved to Norm McCabe’s unit.
The boys are now excused, free to dig for oil. The shift from minor to major key in the underscore of “With Plenty of Money and You” reflects their excitement as they rush to get the equipment. Bobe Cannon animates Gabby drilling into the soil–he strikes something, and sure enough, he hauls up an entire canister of oil. He’s delighted, rather than outraged or confused at being scammed, gleefully remarking “Porky, look! Oil!”
Thus sparks the B plot of the cartoon. This isn’t as segmented as other Clampett cartoons with A and B plots as, say, Porky’s Party, but it’s a start–Clampett would sort of introduce the concept of having A and B plots in his cartoons, which wasn’t quite something that existed before in pre-existing Warner Bros. cartoons (off the top of my head, anyway.)
A stray dog stumbles upon the oil site, curiously approaching the dirt pile left by Porky as he digs for sweet, sweet “erl”. Much to the dog’s delight, Porky digs up a bone, which the dog takes away and buries for himself. The scene (animated by Bill Hammer) definitely takes inspiration after the rising popularity in Pluto cartoons over at Disney, demonstrating that WB wasn’t entirely free from the Disney stranglehold just yet.
As the dog digs, the bone is suddenly propelled into the air by a mini-gusher. The dog carefully covers the gusher by lowering the bone down, but gets smacked in the face in the process as the gusher propels upwards once more.
Bill Hammer was an animator over at the Iwerks unit, and a bit of that Iwerks flavor is still present in the dizzy lines hammer animates after the dog gets struck in the head with the bone. Resigned, the pooch covers the hole back up, only to get squirted in the eye by another gusher. And, to top it all off, we have more Naughty Clampett Humor as the gusher from before brushes against the dog’s nether regions, prompting him to giggle delightedly. This isn’t the first nor last gag of its kind in a Warner Bros. cartoon–especially a Clampett cartoon!
Frantically, the dog attempts to plug up all of the rapidly appearing gushers beneath him, a double-exposure technique used to convey the urgency of his plight. Gushers prevail as the pup is launched into the air, propelled by a stream of oil beneath each paw. In all, the scene drags along and definitely plays into that “curious puppy” humor filled with polite chuckles, but some of Hammer’s poses and facial expressions make for a treat.
Back to the boys in the next sequence, handled by Bone Cannon. Gabby, perched on a jackhammer, asks Porky how to operate it, but he immediately begins drilling uncontrollably before he can finish his sentence. Cal Howard’s vocals as Gabby are amusing, especially his ad-libbed cries for help–his Gabby is less scratchy and high pitched than Mel’s Gabby, and instead deeper voiced and more goat-like in inflection, sounding like he’s bleating at certain points.
Porky rushes to speak into the hole that Gabby dug himself into, anxiously asking “Uh-guh-eh-guh-eh-Gabby! Uh-weh-eh-where are ya?”
Gabby answers his query by digging out of an adjacent hole, breaking cartoon physics by drilling and floating upside down in the air. He manages to land safely, the drill stopping just enough for him to chew Porky out for not helping him. And, of course, the drill starts up again, sending Gabby within the earth’s soil once more. Porky asks if he’s alright, prompting a bleat-y “What do you think!?” from an offscreen Gabby.
It should be noted that the underscore here is, of course, “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”, a rather fitting and amusing choice. Interestingly enough, Clampett’s next entry, Rover’s Rival, would be the first cartoon to debut that song as the Looney Tunes theme song, which would be used all the way up until the last short in 1969.
Chuck Jones hones in on one of his three specialties: dogs (the others being drunks and close-ups–sometimes all three at once!). He animates the malcontent pooch fiddling with his bone. A bump in the ground, and a gopher pops up, doing a little twirl in the process, Bugs Bunny style, like a magic trick. Clampett always fostered a love of magic tricks, and this fascination pokes through in this scene.
The gopher signals for the dog’s attention before ducking inside the hole, much to the dog’s delight–a hole to bury his bone into! As he tosses the bone inside, he’s treated with a rude awakening as the bone is hurled right back up out of the hole. Jones’ timing varies wonderfully–the dog is slow to put his bone back in the hole, but once he does he jumps to cover it up quickly, resulting in some intriguing psuedo-smears. The animation of the dog twitching his eye on one’s is another great touch.
The gopher returns to bonk the dog on the head with the bone, which segues into a series of magic tricks (scored fittingly with “She Was an Acrobat’s Daughter”.) The gopher shrinks the bone into his hand, reducing it to nothingness, much to the befuddlement of the pooch. Tried and true, the gopher brings the bone out from behind the dog’s ear, pointing at it excitedly as the pup can only stare in bewilderment. Gopher buries the bone, signaling for the dog to dig it back up. Delighted, Fido digs for his beloved bone, and is greeted with a spurt of oil right in the face. To top it off, the gopher brings the bone out from the recesses of the dog’s mouth, ending the show by retreating back in his hole.
Heartbroken, the pup begins to cry mournfully, pounding his fists against the ground and kicking his legs. In all, the scene is a very nice one. Not very snappy, but Chuck’s timing is full of momentum and personality, and his drawings are very appearing. There are some angles of the dog’s head that just SCREAM Chuck Jones–they look like something straight out of one of his cartoons. Some aspects of these magic tricks, such as the gopher shrinking the bone to nothingness, would be used in Chuck’s own cartoon, Prest-O Change-O, a mere two years later in 1939. The gopher itself IS very Bugs Bunny-esque in execution.
Transition back to our piggy protagonist, hacking away at the ground with a pick-axe. He hits a sweet spot, excitedly reaching for his bucket as oil spurts out of the ground. Just as he’s able to collect a few drops, we cut to our favorite huckster John, who snickers as he turns the hose valve off, thus eliminating the geyser. Porky digs again, this time striking one of the sprinkler systems connected to the hose. We get a closeup, where Porky is squirted straight in the eye by the hose.
Honest John himself opts to scope things out. “What’s the matter, sonny boy? You aren’t discouraged, are you?”
Porky displays his childlike innocence (a property that would carry on to his adult years as well, but is especially strong here since he is a kid in this picture) as he wipes away his tears. “You’re je-je-je-just a crook, and I want my muh-me-muh-me-muh-me-money back!” John, ever the haggler, proposes that Porky return the deed in return for a $1 bill.
 |
| Hathcock animation left, McCabe animation right. |
Norm McCabe takes over from Jerry Hathcock, whose animation is muddied by noticeably poor inking. Pan to the ground, where we see a black slick hiding under the soil, the words “OIL!” bubbling up to make its appearance obvious, with Gabby drilling dangerously close to it. Pan back up to more Norm McCabe animation, a switch–Clampett LOVED to switch his animators around. So much so that identifying his later cartoons can be infuriatingly difficult because he would switch his animators in the middle of a scene out of seemingly nowhere. He wasn’t the only director to do this, but he certainly did it often.
Nevertheless, we pan back to Porky and John. Porky trepidatiously prepares to hand John the deed, who greets it with outstretched hands. Just as gloves prepare to make contact with paper, Gabby strikes the “SAME OIL!”, the typography playfully melting into a true oil geyser as goat, weasel, and pig are all catapulted into the air by a real, genuine gusher, scored by (what else?) “We’re in the Money”. The layout of the oil geyser raining down upon the camera is at a nice up-angle, very Tashlin-esque and intricate, if only for a second or two.
Gabby still drills aimlessly around on the geyser as Porky holding onto the deed with John, remarks “A guh-gusher! I’m r-ri–I’m w-we-weal–i’m a buh-be-buh-be-buh-billionaire!”
Suddenly, Porky realizes he’s still holding onto the deed with John, and thus sparking a tug of war between the two as he stutters threats (”I’ll tell my be-be-big brother on you!”) to the huckster.
Thankfully, Gabby, who has been drilling aimlessly for the past few minutes, saves the day by accidentally drilling into the back of John’s pants. Earle Hodgins’ screams are hilarious (and sound almost genuine), as is Bill Hammer’s animation of the weasel being held hostage by the drill running around in the back of his pants.
The deed is now in Porky’s clutches, who grabs Gabby and pulls the both of them to the ground. Hammer’s drawings of Porky especially in this last shot of them preparing to fall down are very, VERY appealing and cute.
Both kids on the ground, Porky holds up the white, elongated object in his hand, gleefully declaring he got the deed… or so he thinks. Jerry Hathcock does Porky’s closeup as he realizes the precious deed he holds in his hand is, in fact, a bone.
Dejected, the kids are left to mope, until a little bump in the ground comes to solve all of their problems. Chuck Jones animates the final scene of the Magic Gopher coming in to save the day: Porky hands him the bone, and, much to his head-shaking surprise, is met with the deed right in the gopher’s hands after just a flick of the wrists. Porky reaches out for the deed, prompting the gopher to shake his finger–always a catch.
“Partners? 50-50, even Steven?” Porky nods. With the deal made, the gopher helpfully rips the deed in half, giving Porky the bottom half. Iris out on the gopher winking, holding up the top half of the deed (emblazoned as such) in victory.
While this isn’t the most rousing Clampett entry of them all, it’s certainly one that I revisit quite often and am rather fond of. It has plenty of fun and intriguing animation–John Carey’s scene of the boys signing the deed is just fantastic. His animation is very grounded and smooth.
While the psuedo-Pluto scenes aren’t the most exciting pieces of work around, the Chuck Jones sequence with the gopher and dog are especially impressive, highlighting just how strong Jones’ draftmanship was. Clampett’s cartoons became much more wild and loose after Jones left the unit (just look at Porky in Wackyland), and Chuck certainly seemed to ground Clampett, but at the same time, the lack of Jones’ draftsmanship was rather apparent upon his exit. He’s a very strong force, and that sequence with the dog is no exception.
Earle Hodgins does a great job as Honest John, as well as voicing salesmen in general–he was also the salesman in Tex Avery’s Porky the Rain-Maker a year earlier. I love Mel Blanc to death and have nothing but praises to shower him in, but it is always fun to have other people like Earle Hodgins to come up and voice characters alongside him. Cal Howard does a fine job as Gabby, too.
Speaking of Gabby, as I mentioned earlier, this is his final cartoon. I have this odd fascination with Gabby. These Clampett cartoons I’m going to be reviewing are some of the first LT cartoons I watched as an adult, and therefore have a fonder place in my heart than others. So, watching the Iwerks cartoons that Clampett was heavily involved in, Gabby was introduced to me VERY early on and I’ve been fascinated with him since.
Out of his three entries, he became more and more watered down: his fury and anger is practically nonexistent here in comparison to how bitter he was in Porky and Gabby. While I find him interesting, I don’t shed too many tears over his absence–Daffy will always be Porky’s best sidekick, and I’m not saying that because i’m biased! Nevertheless, Gabby is an interesting enigma, serving as WB’s failed attempt at a Donald Duck for Porky‘s Mickey (who, I argue, is much more than that.)
Gabby WAS slated to return in Porky’s Party, alongside Petunia, but was instead scrapped for a penguin character instead. Thus, Gabby would take a near 80 year absence, being revived in 2018 in Wabbit/New Looney Tunes, voiced by Bob Bergen.
So, overall, I recommend this cartoon! I view it more fondly than it probably needs to be viewed, but it’s a fun, early entry that makes for a good, leisurely watch.
Link!
No comments:
Post a Comment