Release date: October 20th, 1934
Series: Looney Tunes
Director: Jack King
Starring: Bernard Brown (Buddy)
A sequel to Bosko the Lumberjack? As the title suggests, Buddy is a woodsman, hacking away at various trees. His woodsman skills are put to the test when a pesky bear intervenes with his routine.
Facetiously do I claim this as a sequel to Bosko the Lumberjack, as both openings of the cartoon are rather clever. The title card enlarges and a large tree falls to the ground, a swarm of lumberjacks appearing out of thin air as they hack away like moths drawn to a flame.
As always, we’ve a variety of gags: two men are swinging away at another tree, one of them opting for a tiny, scrawny tree. A whack of the axe sends the tree limbs flying on top of his head, situated like antlers. Another gag displays two men asleep on either side of a saw, literally sawing logs as they dissect into the bark. A Jimmy Durante facsimile cuts away at a log like a slice of bologna, whereas a tractor slices trees down with ease thanks to a saw attached to the tractor. Nothing too spectacular or original, though the gag of the tractor obliviously cutting down a lookout tower is a plus.
Meanwhile, our favorite lumberjack Buddy does some sawing of his own. He smacks an axe into the tree, the tree shaking and reverberating to the top, two birds in a nest quivering from the effect. The gag itself is rather primitive in its animation, even for 1934. Still relatively amusing nonetheless. The birds’ parents scoop the nest off to safety as the tree topples to the ground.
Buddy does a little, misplaced jig before utilizing a lawnmower on ANOTHER fallen log, the clippings dumped into a box labeled TOOTHPICKS. His next line of duty entails using a saw as a jump rope, cutting off sections of logs in hops. The animation is amusing, as is the sound synchronization. This entire cartoon is a slew of rather unmemorable gags, but this one stood out to me.
An intriguing plot point (used ever so loosely) includes Buddy taunting innocent animals... twice! First he uses a goat, swiftly kicking its butt and running away. Buddy hope on a few logs suspended by ropes, the goat’s horns snapping the ropes as it charges underneath the log. Wow, talk about exploitation!
A confusing melting pot of cultures (or stereotypes). Two men hack away at a totem pole whilst buddy trips, sending the logs he’s carrying flying... landing conveniently in the shape of a xylophone. He plays his makeshift xylophone with the axe, the music sounding... Asian? I put a question mark there as the totem poles dance to the music, engaging in gross, poorly aged Native American stereotypes as they do war cries. I suppose it’s supposed to sound like Native American music, but it doesn’t come off that way at all—especially since there’s a cut scene of a Chinese man (stereotyped, of course). The scene feels rather hollow and unnecessary, more annoying and cringeworthy than cute or funny.
Anyway, yeah. This particular copy I watched had the scene censored, but evidently there’s a scene where a caricatures Chinese man rings a dinner bell (which is partly shown) and yells “dinner!” at once the hungry lumberjacks flock to the mess hall. The men wash their faces off and dry them on a towel conveyer belt, run by a tiny little pup on the inside.
Our hungry lumberjacks sing “I Open the Old Northwest”, vocals contributed by Cookie and Buddy. Oh yeah, Cookie’s in this. She inexplicably shows up, dancing next to Buddy who tickles away at the ivory. There’s a rather strange transition as Cookie goes from dancing next to Buddy to walking in an opposite side of the room, carrying plates of food. Cookie’s random appearance is jarring enough as is, and this makes it even more discombobulated. Nevertheless, she slides plates of food to the lumberjacks who devour it with ease.
The lumberjack aren’t the only ones that are hungry: a bear on the roof (?) crawls into the chimney, licking the briefly cut stereotyped Chinese man from earlier as he pops out of the oven. The hungry bear jumps on the picnic table, the lumberjacks so surprised they just fall to the ground and disappear under the floor as the panels flip beneath them. Makes sense!
Cookie notices the bear and shoos it away. What a friendly bear, who licks her in return. Part dog? Nevertheless, Cookie enlists Buddy’s aid, who, like the genius he is, slams his fist down on the table. Plates ride into the air, one of them hitting him in the head. Nevertheless, the bear remains friendly as ever... until Buddy punches it and sends it flying across the room. Jesus! What an idiot! What not to do to a seemingly harmless creature. I suppose it’s all for climax purposes, but still. Amusingly bewildering.
Rightfully so, the bear becomes enraged. Matters seldom improve as a stovepipe gets stuck on the bear’s nuzzle. To fend it off, buddy tosses hot pepper flakes at the bear. Some woodsman! The bear and buddy engage in a chase sequence, the bear sneezing and propelling buddy forward, even out of his pants and back into them. Elsewhere, Cookie shoots at the bear, shaving its rear fur off.
The poor bear sneezes the stovepipe off, which lands on a moose head. Nice animation of the moose shaking the pipe off and sneezing, very volumetric and smooth. The pipe lands back on the stove, who gives thanks to his moose companion.
Cookie is now the victim of the bear, urging for Buddy’s help as she runs away. Buddy tosses a piano stool at the bear, the stool spinning upwards and propelling the bear out of the cabin. A strange jump cut as the cartoon ends with cookie and Buddy singing “The Bear Went Over the Mountain”, happily watching the victimized bear run for the hills as we iris out.
Hmmm... I definitely felt I was harsh on this one, but it was boring and unmemorable. 1934 wasn’t a very good year for Warner Bros.—all of the cartoons blend together and feel very trite, boring, and bland, but better things are to come! Some of the gags were amusing, such as Buddy using a saw like a jump rope or the tractor sawing down a fire tower. Honestly not much to say with this one, because there isn’t much to talk about in the first place. A slew of gags and plot devices. Buddy and Cookie had transparent personalities, and that poor bear! Native American and Chinese stereotypes further the cringeworthy status of the cartoon. One you can safely skip, you’re not missing much at all. Sorry, Jack!
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