189. My Little Buckaroo (1938)

Release date: January 29th, 1938

Series: Merrie melodies

Director: Friz Freleng

Starring: Frederick Lindsley (Narrator), Charlie Lung (The Terror), Tex Avery (Andy Devine, Referee), Mel Blanc (Horse)

Erroneously titled My Little Buckeroo upon the short’s Blue Ribbon re-release, this cartoon is the third last cartoon directed by Friz Freleng in his first stint at WB. He headed off to MGM in 1937 to reconnect with former colleagues Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, only to return to WB back in 1939.

Here, the notorious Terror has been tormenting the town of Boiled Beef, Texas. It’s up to a shrill-voiced, wimpy, Andy Devine caricatured pig and his trusty steed to put a stop to the evildoers doings.

The cartoon begins with a montage: a monotone droll “Calling all sheriffs, calling all sheriffs--be on the lookout for The Terror. That is all,” narrates the action as we spot said terror riding into town on his horse and mercilessly robbing a bank, shooting guns wildly as he exits. 

Overlaid footage of the terror riding his trusty steed and leering into the camera attempt to elevate the theatrics of the sequence. The montage is short and lacks substance--while it does a fine job of exposing the plot, it’s not nearly as masterful nor careful than the montages present in Frank Tashlin’s cartoons.

My Little Buckaroo, left, and Gold Diggers of '49, right.

Fade out and in to the town of Boiled Beef, Texas, 1872. A keen eye will notice that the pan of the village, from trucking into the calendar hanging in a covered wagon to sweeping over the town itself, is directly ripped from Tex Avery’s Gold Diggers of ‘49 back in 1935, merely repainted and lacking the snarky commentary brought on by Tex’s subtitles (”the time”, “the place”, etc.). 

According to the narrator, the town has been terrorized by “a notorious desperado known as ‘The Terror’”. Focus on a wanted poster of said Terror, not without its own witty commentary: A crossfade and pan out reveal The Terror himself perched against a cactus brandishing the wanted poster. 

Mel Blanc (of course) voices The Terror in a thick, stereotypical accent: “That’s me--the great Jose Cuervo Santa Barbara La Cucaracha Smith.” [EDIT: Charlie Lung is the voice of The Terror.] He hardly breaks eye contact as he rolls himself a cigarette. “I put anybody on the spot for seven-fifty and a quarter a day.” He chuckles, then adds after a pause, “…mother in law, two-fifty.” The animation is hilariously nonchalant, full of character while almost feeling too natural at the same time.

Once more, fade out and back in to the 4th national bank, protected by the keen eye of a guard dog… who’s fast asleep on the rickety wooden porch, a sash peddling him as the “burglar alarm” wrapped around his stomach. With the suddenness of a rattlesnake (narrator’s description, not mine), The Terror gallops into town, firing his pistols and screeching to a halt in front of the gate. The guard dog awakens, all too happy to see some company. As the terror raids the bank of its good, the dog excitedly wags its tail, to which the burglar alarm (a cowbell) rings. Definitely a clever bait-and-switch.

The Terror rushes out of the bank with his goods, before heading back in again. He slides in to collect a spare coin sitting in the payphone, eyeballing it eagerly before darting off again on his horse. The inside of the bank is a refreshing change of scenery, if only for a bit--the layouts seldom change of the terror going to and fro. 

Finally, the citizens of Boiled Beef, Texas poke their heads out of the buildings and opt to take action, charging together to get their horses. Suddenly, they screech to a halt--the horses glare on as they lounge inside their pen, all touting picket signs (”we’re on a sit down strike”, “we balk–you walk”, “we’re sitting because we can’t stand for it!”, “no feed–no steed!”, etc). Carl Stalling’s sardonic score of “The Old Gray Mare” is a nice touch.

According to the narrator, The Terror has now fled the border and seeks refuge in his hideout. His hideout is merely a gambling ring--The Terror himself loads up one of the slot machines with his goods.

 However, he halts. A close-up painting reveals a slug coin (a counterfeit coin), much to the outrage of the terror, who rants and raves, throwing his hat on the ground in defeat. Yet another fade-out--the pacing of the cartoon feels rather disjointed with all of the fade ins and outs. 

Friz’s artistic sensibilities start to eke their way out as we cut to nighttime, a lone rider silhouetted against the dark night sky and the moon. The Terror pops out in front of the rider, snarling “STICK ‘EM UP!” A gorgeous head-on shot of The Terror--the lit cigarette is a small but lovely detail, especially juxtaposed against the deep blue sky. The rider screeches to a halt, and all of his horses stack on top of each other, one by one, balancing on top of the rider’s wagon.

An iris wipe showcase the sheriff and his posse “close on the marauder’s trail”, a bunch of spherically designed cowboys riding on their horses (has the strike ended already?). Nevertheless, The Terror and his horse share snide grins as they take off into the night. 

A refreshing change of pace as The Terror and his horse slide across the border line, a baseball umpire popping out of nowhere to declare “SAAAAFE!” With that, The Terror sticks is tongue out to the sheriff’s posse, Orlando Martin trombone gobble sound effect and all. 

While the cartoon has been largely unremarkable thus far, the introduction of a new character, a silhouette riding his horse against the sunrise, provides some much needed lightheartedness. Tedd Pierce switches from narrator to character as the silhouette screeches sings an obnoxious rendition of the title song.

A close-up reveals a pig caricature of Andy Devine, ‘30s western star often satirized time and time again for his shrill vocals. The blank expression on the pig’s face juxtaposed with the grimaces of disgust on his horse as the pig wails to his heart’s content is nothing short of priceless. The vocals are so shrill and obnoxious that it’s impossible NOT to laugh. One can only imagine what an uproar this would have brought to the movie theater in 1938, when Devine was a much more well known figure. 

Thankfully for the audience’s ears, the pig’s shrill singing is interrupted by the telltale sound of gunfire--The Terror is at it again. He darts right past the pig on his horse, cueing a hilarious gear-up run from the pig and his horse as they chase hot on his trail. 

A gag reprised from Freleng’s Sweet Si*ux (among other cartoons), each time the pig fires his gun, he’s sent flying backwards on his horse, stars and other grawlixes taking his place. Even though the ricochet gag is a tired gag, the insertion of the grawlixes add a nice touch of two-dimensional design and cartooniness to the equation.

After having his hat shot off a few times, the terror retaliates. In another gag similar to one in Tex’s Gold Diggers of ‘49, The Terror’s gun is revealed to have a built-in slot machine, reflecting his love of gambling. 

The slots spin: two peaches, two shots. He eventually hits the jackpot, firing a (n admittedly underwhelming) barrage of bullets towards his foe. He repeats the “hat getting shot off” gag with the pig, who replaces his hat with a top hat, a boater hat, etc. 

Conveniently for the terror, he stumbles upon an escalator built into a nearby canyon, complete with WATCH YOUR STEP signs. He and his horse board the escalator no problem, followed by the pig and his own. A funny gag, but the lack of urgency does little to punch it up to its full potential. The chase sequence feels like a game of monkey see, monkey do: The Terror rounds some sharp curves with his horse, momentarily defying gravity as he turns the bend on the canyon. The pig rider does the exact same thing with his own horse, the speed of both anticlimactic and slow.

Nevertheless, a bright spot--The Terror and his horse slide down a steep slope, followed by the pig and his horse. Ken Harris does some hilarious animation of the horse as he grins into the camera, trademark Ken Harris excitement marks decorating the scene as he jumps up and down, whinnying and clapping his hooves together in jubilation. He gallops up the slope to a jaunty, broken score of “The Merry-Go-Round broke down”, turning around and sliding back down on his butt, hooves in the air in excitement. 

The fun doesn’t stop there. The Andy Devine pig scolds the horse for wasting his time, prompting the horse to give a full on tantrum. “AWWW, GEE! I NEVER HAVE ANY FUN! OTHER HORSES HAVE FUN! I NEVER GET TO DO ANYTHING!” 

Finally, the pig gives in. “Aww, ALL RIGHT!” With that, the horse runs off to repeat his exercises offscreen--and we never see him again. 

In yet another reprisal of Gold Diggers of ‘49, the pig, horse-less, captures the terror by shooting a makeshift gun/fishing pole. A lasso shoots from the barrel of the rifle, tying around the abdomen of the confused marauder. The pig, with a few struggles, finally reels in his prey, who flops around on the ground like a fish. 

A happy resolution: the pig proudly whistles the eponymous song as he leans back in his chair in his office. Pan along the wall to find a row of mounted animals: a boar, a moose, some fish… and The Terror. The camera pans out to reveal the terror behind bars, his head wedged in a mount as he struggles to break free. Fade out.

While not one of Friz’s best efforts, this cartoon still has bits and pieces to appreciate. The pig’s introduction and the horse’s ecstasy at riding down the slope are the definite highlights to the cartoon. Tedd Pierce does a fine job as both the pig and the narrator, especially the former. Ken Harris’ animation is lovely, too. 

However, this isn’t as indicative of Friz’s talents as other shorts. While trying to feel like a Tex Avery cartoon (down to recycling gags and layouts), the short instead comes off as a disjointed segment of gags. The pacing is staggered and slow--the chase sequence during the second half of the cartoon lags and lacks any real sense of urgency. While there are bright spots, this feels more like a quota filler than anything. Friz is a wonderfully talented director and criminally underrated in my opinion, but this isn’t a knockout from him.

So, with that said, I would skip this cartoon. With that said, it wouldn’t be a total waste of time to watch it, either.

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