51. Bosko in Person (1933)

Release date: February 11th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Ted Lewis, Jimmy Durante, FDR), Ken Darby (Bass)

It’s back to Bosko in Bosko in Person! It’s a plotless cartoon, with Bosko and Honey giving us boundless entertainment.

The title card curtain peels away to reveal an asbestos curtain, which goes up in flames to reveal Bosko banging out “Whistle and Blow Your Blues Away” on the piano, the current Looney Tunes theme song for the 1932-1933 season. He recognizes us and greets “Howdy, folks!” before going back to tickle the ivory.

Honey makes her entrance, snapping and dancing along to the music as the two banter. Immediately, they launch into a complicated, cute, and endearing dance routine, making a regular Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of themselves. Though the Bosko dance scenes are everywhere, I really enjoy this one! It feels more complex than usual. I’m sure Friz’s co-directorial credit has something to do with it.

A “Gee Bosko, you’re swell!” from Honey turns Bosko bashful, and he dedicates a song to her, “I Love Her, She Loves Me”. His ridiculous falsetto really making it a lot funnier. Honey joins him in the dance number, the two of them awkwardly dancing and scatting before waltzing off stage together.

Bosko plays some more upbeat bars on the piano, throwing his glove off which slides down the keys and runs back to him, the process repeating. Eventually, the glove hops on his knee. Bosko urges it on, asking “Well, what can ya do?” (parallel to his first appearance in Bosko, the Talk-ink Kid. How the tables have turned!) The glove’s voice is drop dead hilarious. It’s a squeaky violin that sounds almost like a kazoo—no words are being said, but the inflection is perfectly understood, the glove insisting “I dunno/I don’t wanna!”. Finally, Bosko suggests that it sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and it does, giggling and leaping back on his hand. Bosko finishes out the skit with a few chords of “Shave and a Haircut”.

Next, Bosko decides to do a tapping routine, looking at the audience instead of his feet. Gotta applaud him for trying! He loses his balance and falls, and the audience laughs at him. He limps back over to his previous spot and gives it another go, with the same results. Gotta admire his perserverance. I’m curious as to who animated this. Bob McKimson perhaps? I think was after his car crash.

That sounds strange, but it’s true! Bob McKimson got in a car crash sometime in the early '30s. He was (thankfully) fine. He was actually more than fine. Before the crash, Bob would come into work and take a nap before lunch (which, according to Bob Clampett, Rudolf Ising did the same thing too, which is probably how he got away with it). After lunch, he’d churn out a TON of animation, more than what the other animators who worked all full hours did. After the car crash, something must’ve happened to his brain. He didn’t sleep anymore, his animation was extremely professional and calculating, he didn’t even have to do rough sketches first, he was just that good. Point is, the animation looks great! 

Cut to Honey, who sings “Was That the Human Thing to Do?” in a big, belty, raspy voice and later doing a hilarious impression of Greta Garbo. I love her saunter! Greta Garbo would also be parodied in a few cartoons, her catchphrase “I want to be alone” parodied in The Daffy Duckaroo as “I want to be a lone... ranger.” 

Bosko finishes of “Whistle and Blow Your Blues Away” by doing an impression of Maurice Chevalier. I love love love all these celebrity references! Even if you don’t understand them, they’re funny just to watch. They’re drawn to be funny and sound funny—pales in comparison to what we’ll be seeing when Mel Blanc comes aboard and the animation becomes more refined, but very entertaining.

Jimmy Durante strikes again! Bosko blows up a balloon to use as his bulbous nose and even remarks “Schnozzle! HAAAAAA!” I can’t get enough of that drawing! The uglier and weirder it is, the more I love it! The best caricatures (not of racial stereotypes) are the ones that get a gut reaction out of you. One of my favorite lines from a Bosko cartoon that sums this up perfectly is what he says next: “I know I’m not good looking, folks, but that’s one opinion against a million!” Bosko Durante receives boos from the audience (and a single cheer from me). He declares “Am I mortified! Am I mortified!!” Honey cheers him on in the wings and motions for the audience to do the same.

Switching from Jimmy Durante, Bosko now opts to do an impression of Ted Lewis, asking “Is everybody happy?” and playing some wonderful jazz through his clarinet. The animation is great! I especially love the detail of him playing the drums with his feet (above). I’m always glad to see the animators having fun with their work. Eventually, he loses and balance and falls through the drum. All the instruments are rattled with the impact, but fall back into place as Bosko bursts through the drum, once again clad in his terrifying yet funny Jimmy Durante face.

Bosko climbs back on stage and switches from clarinet to drum, complete with a Franklin D. Roosevelt caricature on the side swinging a pint of beer. It’s actually contested whether that’s FDR or Ted Lewis, who Bosko imitated earlier. My odds are on FDR, as Honey comes out of the wings waving an American flag, and he’s swinging a pint of beer, aligning with his anti-prohibition status. However, he got inaugurated on March 4th—this cartoon is said to have come out on February 11th according to a few sources, but one lists the release date as April 10th (which would make sense). Confusions aside, it’s interesting to note. Fade out as Bosko goes into the wings.

I adore this cartoon! Definitely one of my favorites. Even though it has no plot, the gags all hit hard. Understanding of the celebrity references or not, they’re fascinating to watch and listen to regardless. The music is upbeat and beautifully jazzy, and Bosko and Honey are rather endearing as they play off each other. The animation is absolutely beautiful, more intricate than usual. It’s worth a watch! It’s such a feel good cartoon, and the ending with the FDR reference could pose as a symbol that indicates better things are coming. In the long run, it’s true! 

Link!