52. Young and Healthy (1933)

Release date: March 4th, 1933

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Rudolf Ising

Starring: Rudy Ising (King, Old Man, Durante), Ken Darby (King Singing), Shirley Reed (Queen), The Rhythmettes (Chorus)

This has been the first Merrie Melody in quite awhile not to have the main character posing in the title card! King Louis wants to escape his lavish lifestyle and play like a kid again, but the queen demands he focus on the royal ball.

There’s a great opening shot of a painting hung on a wall: a beautiful fountain in front of a set of stairs. We zoom in to see the action taking place on the stairs: some squires trumpeting a fanfare as they descend, some more squires rolling a carpet down the stairs (a little squire losing his balance and spinning between the other two), a wiener dog sweeping the carpet, a man coating the stairs in flower petals, and some knights lumbering their way down, holding a giant crown. The shot of the stairs is great, and dizzying to watch! 

Finally, the long awaited mystery guest comes into view: this grotesque, insanely amusing caricature of King Louis (well, one of 'em!) lumbering down the stairs. Good God, that walk cycle is fantastic! Definitely gotta watch it. It’s so full of pompous personality. The crowd cheers him on, but he’s unaffected by it.

He makes his way towards his throne and pops a squat, shooing his guards away with a simple “Scram!” Like any other figure of authority, he gets bored and falls asleep in his throne.

Look at that queen! I love the character designs in this one. She sings the titular song “Young and Healthy”. The man carrying her train also sings a few verses—ironic, since he’s being pushed in a wheelchair.

The king wakes up at the sound of his wife and scoffs. To get some real entertainment, he consults his Jimmy Durante in a box (can’t say I blame him). He has a hearty laugh—I love his personality! A king who hates to be king—which is cut short as his wife continues to sing.

Thus arrives the crux of the situation. The queen asks a group of knights if the king is ready for the royal ball. Certainly he is! He’s taking a nap in a throne and laughing at a toy Jimmy Durante. One by one, the knights whisper “The ball!” in hushed voices. Even Jimmy Durante says “The ball!”, which wakes up the king again as he confines Jimmy to his box.

Narcolepsy or laziness, the king’s got it as the queen sings to him (but not before yelling “LOOUUUIS!” and kicking him, her tone exactly like that of “SOOEY!” Love it!). The king, in turn, sings back “Let’s Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep”. Even Jimmy joins in, greeted by a warm slap to the face. He, of course, cries “Am I mortified! Am I MORTIFIED!” 

The Jimmy in the box dies as a result of blunt force smacking to the face, and we get this fantastic scene of the king sniveling and whining as he sadly lumbers over to the balcony, eventually bursting into sobs. I can’t get enough of this king, that whole sobbing sequence is fantastic! The expression, the walk cycle... it’s great.

Lucky for the king, his sobbing subsides once he notices a large group of children playing outside. Immediately he turns giddy, shouting “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” and slides down the cement banister of the outdoor stairs to greet them. Again, I love this guy. I’d do the same thing if I were him! Who wants to sit in a throne all day? I’d get bored and restless within 2 minutes and resign.

Like the bastards they are, the kids grab a tub of water for the king to land in. A group of kids take off part of the cement banister (cartoon physics, we love ya), causing the support beams to hit him in the crotch as he lands in the tub.

I call the kids bastards because even though it was nice of them to break his fall with water instead, they all point fingers and ridicule him. Thankfully, the king’s a good sport, and he joins in on their laughter, scooping the kids up and singing a cheery rendition of “Young and Healthy”.

Viewing the king’s warmth and love of the kids as an invitation for the kids to do anything they want, a group of kids heckle the queen and swing around on her skirt, much to her horror. Any hope of preserving her husband’s dignity (and her own) is lost as she runs towards the camera crying.

The king finds it hilarious and doubled over laughing, now on the top of the stairs. Not for long, anyway. A stream of kids run beneath his legs and send him rolling down the staircase. Great shot with the stairs moving as he rolls forward! Stairs are horrible to animate, let alone draw, so I commend them.

His interminable tumble is over as the king lands smack dab in the middle of a fountain. He rises to the surface, spitting out a plume of water and some fish. Zoom out on the painting of the fountain from the beginning of the cartoon, with only a slight difference: the king is now in the painting in the same pose above, forever to be ridiculed. Iris out.

I really enjoyed this one! The amount of personality in it was great, always refreshing to see. The king was hilarious, in voice, in design, in mannerisms—but you can’t help but sympathize with him, too. Don’t we all want to slide down a banister and into a tub of water? The voice acting was more tolerable than usual, and there were some great visuals like all of the scenes involving the stairs. Very entertaining cartoon! I’d give it a watch!

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