78. Buddy's Trolley Troubles (1934)

Release date: May 5th, 1934

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Friz Freleng

Starring: Bernard Brown (Buddy), Shirley Reed (Cookie), Stanley Fields (Cop)

Another cartoon about a trolley! Love that it’s called Buddy’s Trolley Troubles, a not so subtle take on Disney’s short Trolley Troubles. As you guessed, Buddy runs a trolley, but a runaway inmate brews up trouble.

Everyday is a good day for our pal Buddy. The cartoon opens to him he strutting out of his house, whistling and dancing along the way. He approaches his garage, and snags the wooden picket fence to lay down on the ground. Into the garage he goes, out he comes with a trolley! Man, he’s efficient at storage. I love the picket fence railroad gag, too. He sings a little song, exclaiming “I make little money but I have a lotta fun, that’s the reason why I’m on this run!” As bland as he is, I admire his optimism! There are a few gags of the advertisements in the trolley coming to life (parallel to Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!) 

Buddy’s first stop of the day is to pick up a friendly woman he knows. Because of her weight (they liked their weight and trolley gags going hand in hand, didn’t they?) she struggles to get on. Buddy grabs a stool and situates her on it, spinning the stool so it rises up and she can board safely.

Away they go, yet a straggler chases the trolley and urges them to stop. He grabs the string pulling the bell for support, his butt dragging along the tracks as the trolley treks onward. Nevertheless, he prevails and boards the trolley. There’s even a slot machine inside the trolley! No wonder Buddy doesn’t have much money, he’s making his trolley into a damn casino! The straggler scores a jackpot and collects his funds. The gag is very out of place, but also amusing for that reason alone.

Buddy’s motives are revealed as he makes a stop at Cookie’s apartment. Good perspective and overhead view! Buddy pulls a crank on the trolley and it rises up to the top floor where Cookie is. They flirt through the window, enamored with each other. Traffic isn’t as enamored as they are. Behind the trolley extends a line of angry, noisy cars, and Buddy quickly descends his trolley with Cookie on board.

A surly traffic cop marches over to buddy and interrogates the terrified driver. He struggles to explain, chuckling “Well, you see, I... uh...” The cop wastes no time in barking “SHUT UP!” in response. Good timing as always, I love those gags! Cookie insists that he can’t talk to Buddy like that. The cop says “I can’t, eh?” and decks Buddy right in the face. Jesus! The cop grunts “Move on, move on, move on!”, a squeaky “Yessir! Yessir! Yessir!” from Buddy in response. They drive off, but make sure to give the cop a taste of his own medicine. A wooden hand sticks out of the trolley and knocks the cop over.

Satisfied with their feat, Buddy and Cookie exchange thrilled giggles as they continue on their route. Not for long, of course. A train whistle signals its presence, and sure enough a locomotive is barreling towards Buddy. He picks up the pace and the trolley flies across the tracks: I love that they slanted the trolley like that to make it more dynamic! I know that’s just a basic, but after seeing some of these old shorts, I won’t take little details like that for granted again.

Thankfully, there’s a bridge that runs over the railroad. Buddy’s dinkey trolley rides the bridge as the train barrels beneath him, the trolley sloping back down to safety.

Jailbirds seem to be a popular archetype in the Buddy cartoons, not just villains. A prisoner is trying to break the chain of his ball and chain with a rock, but to no avail. However, the future looks bright as he spots Buddy’s trolley. With some difficulty he tosses the ball and chain to the other side of the tracks above him, and sure enough Buddy’s trolley snaps over the chain and breaks it in half.

The tires suffer from the event, and Buddy breaks to a halt in order to inspect any difficulties. This allows the prisoner time to walk up to the trolley and take a good gander. I bet you can’t guess where this is going: he spots Cookie and crawls on board, to Buddy’s oblivion. Cookie spots the jailbird and screams, and Buddy is left to confront the prisoner. The confrontation ends smoothly, the prisoner decking Buddy right in the face and driving off, cookie his shanghaied passenger.

Luckily for Buddy, a railway cart is nearby. He hops on the cart and chases the villain. Nice visuals of the trolley riding two diverging tracks at once, stretching out to fit both and shrinking back to normal. More fun visuals ensue as buddy bounces on top of the handles on his cart.

Again: great visuals! A figure eight in the railroad prompts the chase to rage on like a go kart race. After their fun, Buddy manages to catch up to the trolley, holding onto the cable and kicking the prisoner in the face a few times before swooping in to bring Cookie to his cart on a diverging track.

All alone, the prisoner is left on the trolley, which is conveniently headed straight for a truck loaded with dynamite. They collide, the man cranking his motor now smoldering as he turns a crank to nothing. The prisoner lands near a fence, everything landing around him (including the stripes on his uniform). Buddy uses parts of a fence to put the jailbird behind (wooden) bars. Iris out as the prisoner is in his makeshift gallows, dazed and confused.

As far as Buddy cartoons go, this was certainly one of the better ones, perhaps the best! It felt on par with the better Bosko cartoons. Buddy, albeit flat, was likable enough. Cookie, on the other hand, was more of a plot device than anything. The prisoner was amusing as always. The musical score enhanced the cartoon greatly, especially for the chase scene. In fact, the chase scene didn’t at all feel too long or trite! You get used to seeing them, one after the other, but this one felt significantly shorter and less drawn out, the way it should be. Shorter chase scenes are better. Conveys a stronger sense of urgency. Visual gags were amusing to watch and mostly felt relevant to the plot (that slot machine gag is... very random). Ultimately, it’s worth a look! Upbeat and high energy, hard to go wrong with that.

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