64. Bosko's Picture Show (1933)

Release date: August 26th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Jimmy Durante, Dirty Dalton), The Singing Guardsmen (Chorus), Dudley Kuzelle (Dirty Dalton Singing)

Well, here we are! Bosko’s last film at Warner Bros. Harman and Ising would produce one more Merrie Melody (We’re in the Money) and pack up their bags to go to Metro Goldwyn-Meyer. They carried over Bosko with them, using his “inkblot” design for a little while and later actually designing him to look like a real boy where he was voiced by Billie Thomas, also known as Buckwheat from Our Gang/Little Rascals. Here, as the title suggests, Bosko puts on a picture show filled with spot gags, kidnappings, and even a sing along.

The title card fades away, erasing the credits and transposing “Bosko’s Picture Show” and the little flashing bar between credits onto a theater. Very clever transition! We go inside the theater, where a projection reads “Presenting BOSKO at the console of the mighty FURTILIZER organ”. Sure enough, Bosko and his organ rise up from a trap door and he greets the audience.

To start things off, our happy little entertainer encourages a sing along of “We’re in the Money”, an audience singing along with him as he encourages them. A very happy and fitting tune about kicking the depression out the door—it certainly alleviates the mental depression! A very happy, cheery, fun scene that was much needed. Once finished, Bosko pulls a few knobs on the organ in a percussion solo, including a toilet flusher. Pre-code films! 

Curtains peel apart to reveal a news reel: “OUT-OF-TONE NEWS, SEES ALL, HEARS ALL, SMELLS ALL”. 

The first order of business takes place in Geneva, Switzerland: “World figures gather at peace conference”. Cut away to a bunch of guys beating the tar out of each other around a table. Very funny! Predictable, yes, but the timing sells it. The next piece of news is in Malibu, California: “Sunkist bathing beauties enjoy California sunshine”. Transition to the California sunshine, where a lady is running away from incoming waves while snow pours down around her. I love these incongruous gags, they never get old.

Now to Reno, Nevada: “Jack Dumpsey trains for ring come-back”. A frail Jack dempsey caricature boxes away at a punching back, holding onto a cane for aid. The joke is that jack dempsey was a professional boxer whose career spanned from 1914 to 1927, reigning as the heavyweight champ from 1919 to 1926.

We find ourselves in Epsom Salts, England (good pun on Epsom, England): “BLUE BLOOD CANINES IN RACE CLASSIC—‘Tree Sniffer II’ noses out ‘Free Wheeling’ for first place”. Recycled footage from Bosko’s Dog Race gives us a flurry of dogs dashing by. The narrator announces “And here comes the champion!”, which is a Bruno facsimile meandering about and sniffing the ground, taking his time. Great staging and timing! Suddenly, Bruno runs off as an invisible force motivates him to do so. We then see the Marx brothers chasing after the dogs with nets.

We’re now in Pretzel, Germany, where we find a “FAMOUS SCREEN LOVER ON EUROPEAN VACATION”. Cut to a caricature of Hitler chasing a terrified Jimmy Durante, declaring “Am I mortified!”. The implication of this joke didn’t age well at ALL, implying that Jimmy Durante must be Jewish because of his big nose. I found this interesting (aside from cringing) because Hitler had been elected chancellor of Germany in January of 1933. What’s so interesting is that this is the first cartoon out of any studio to feature a caricature of Hitler. The joke ages extremely poorly, but the historical significance is fascinating.

Thus ends the newsreel, the tagline “IT SQUEAKS FOR ITSELF” blazing on the screen. Bosko tells us that this is only the beginning and introduces the next film.

I love this. Our next film is Laurel and Hardy—“HAUREL and LARDY in ‘SPITE OF EVERYTHING’”. Pan to Laurel and Hardy skipping around outside, the dinky music greatly contributing to the absurdity. Laurel points to a pie sitting on an open window sill and takes it. The two suddenly fight over who gets custody of the pastry, and Laurel dumps the pie over Hardy’s head. Hardy whacks Laurel on the head with a tea cup, and laurel snivels and whines to the audience. The “THE END” and the triumphant, fanfaring music after we had just seen Laurel crying makes for a great joke.

The MGM lion makes an appearance, roaring and getting cut off by a burp. It always fascinated me when there’s burping in these pre-code cartoons, for awhile there couldn’t be sounds that implicated burping, which is why you have Mel Blanc literally saying “burp” in Baby Bottleneck when the babies are getting burped.

Our next film is “HE DONE HER DIRT (And ow!)”. Honey makes an appearance, daintily cycling on a bike while the Marx brothers, making yet another appearance, sing “A Bicycle Built for Two”. Cut to Bosko playing the organ, quipping “Ain’t she sweet?” enter the villain: “Dirty Dalton (the cur!)”. He sneaks along with his bike (which lacks any wheels), and we go back to Bosko observing the film, who declares "That dirty mug!"

As standard for a Harman-Ising cartoon, Dirty Dalton snags Honey off her bicycle and kidnaps her. I love the animation of his strange, wheel-less bicycle galloping! He darts over to a cliff, overlooking a nearby train. He jumps onto a boxcar that becomes loose from the train (from Bosko and Bruno) and there’s some nice reused animation of the train hurtling down the tracks.

Honey cries “IS THERE A BOY SCOUT IN THE AUDIENCE?” and Bosko cries “I’ll save you!”. Very creative and a neat little fourth wall break. Bosko dives straight into the screen at Dirty Dalton, and unlike plankton, he doesn’t get smashed into a concrete wall. He pops his head out of the hole and honey admires his bravery. One last Bosko iris out! 

Where to begin? I guess with the actual short. It was really good and highly entertaining! Bosko certainly went out with a bang. It’s now one of my favorites for sure, probably one of the best Bosko cartoons out there. The timing was impeccable, music happy and light, animation crisp and enjoyable. As always, Bosko’s surroundings had more personality than he did, but he was still likable. The Hitler joke is my only major complaint—didn’t age well whatsoever, but interesting scene historically speaking. I would definitely recommend it! 

And now, onto Bosko. I’ve come to really like him. His origins as a blackface caricature still bother me and make it hard to truly appreciate the cartoons, but I’m grateful that Harman and Ising strayed away from negative stereotypes with him for the most part. The Bosko cartoons have come a looooong way! You don’t realize it when you view all of these cartoons one after the other, but looking back at Sinkin’ in the Bathtub and to now, there’s been major growth: in jokes, in writing, in timing, in gags, in voice acting, in backgrounds, in animation... it’s fascinating. And we have such a ways to go! It’ll be very exciting to see the growth of more cartoons. Next is the last Harman and Ising cartoon, We’re in the Money, and after that, a little buddy of ours is going to make an introduction.

Link!