95. Buddy the Dentist (1934)

Release date: December 15th, 1934

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Ben Hardaway

Starring: Berneice Hansell (Cookie)

The last cartoon of 1934! I can’t say it was an exciting year—probably the least memorable year yet. The Merrie Melodies started to go into color, though, which is exciting! 1935 will be a big year. Porky makes his debut, as does Tex Avery. Termite Terrace would be born, and the world has never known peace since! Also interesting to note—Jack King gets an animator's credit, despite helming his own directorial unit at the time. I wonder how that happened. For now, we focus on Buddy, who plays dentist after his dog suffers a toothache from eating too much fudge.

Someone’s in the kitchen with Buddy, someone’s in the kitchen I know. Someone’s in the kitchen with Buddy, it’s his pup, Bozo. Buddy’s whipping up a batch of fudge, with enthralling and rigorous instructions such as “Think of a number from 1 to 100” and “Stir until exhausted”.

Bozo sniffs the fudge, to which buddy scolds “Ah ah! Burny burny!” I think that’s the LEAST of your concerns if your dog is that close to chocolate. Nevertheless, Buddy gives his dog one last knowing glance as he strolls off, the fudge unattended. Bozo takes this as an opportunity to lick the boiling death trap, yelping in pain at the burn. Very amusing to watch him sucking up water desperately to playfully lapping it once buddy comes back in, shrugging.

Quite the masterful baker as buddy pours the contents of the pan into a syringe, flipping the pan back on the shelf and balancing the syringe on his finger. He shoots squares of fudge onto a cookie sheet, and one into Bozo’s mouth to pacify him. Bozo instigates, wanting more, but Buddy reprimands him, scolding “That’s all you get. And besides, candy’s bad for dogs’ teeth.” Begrudgingly does bozo mock Buddy once he leaves the picture. Of course, Buddy catches him sniffing the pan of fudge and orders him to come near him.

Buddy rings up cookie while Bozo sulks next to him. I love the detail of the bird listening in on the conversation. Buddy teases Cookie, promoting her to guess what he has for her. He entices her with a promise of some fudge, while Bozo, seeing that Buddy is effectively distracted, seeks out the pan of fudge. It topples to the ground, and his mission is accomplished as he eagerly indulges in a few hearty helpings.

All of the sudden, Bozo yelps in pain as a bell chimes forebodingly. A visit to the mirror confirms he has a toothache, represented by a little figure hammering away at his tooth. Bozo cries in pain, which prompts Buddy to break his goody two shoes persona and shout “Hey, shut up! Shut up!” Ah, misunderstanding, another great comedy point. Cookie believes Buddy is telling HER to shut up and hangs up on him, scoffing that he can’t tell her to shut up. Damn right! 

Aggravated, Buddy runs into the kitchen (first time holding the ear piece and accidentally getting yanked back into the living room) to see what the fuss is about. He drags Bozo by the collar and props him up on the table, exclaiming “Now see what you’ve done!” Bozo is too distracted by the pain to be properly guilt tripped, and Buddy  inspects the situation. Instead of angry, he cracks a grin as he tells bozo “See, I told you candy would hurt your teeth!” Considerate as always! Buddy reaches into the drawer and brings out an arsenal of intimidating tools: a hammer, a screwdriver, some pliers... the works.

Buddy painfully struggles to pull the offending tooth, but to no avail. They both fly backwards into a wall, a calendar/advertisement fluttering into the clutches of buddy. It advertises “DR MOHLER — painless dentist, WE USE GAS”. I love the detail of “Octember”, a gag reused in Porky’s Double Trouble. Ah, gas, of course! Buddy is enticed by the concept of drugging his dog. He places a funnel over Bozo’s mouth and turns a gas valve. Jesus, buddy! Of course, this isn’t supposed to be dark. The dog falls asleep and swells up like a balloon.

With some quick thinking, Buddy uses a vacuum to suck his dog back down. Nothing can ever go right for either of them—the vacuum bag explodes, sending Buddy flying against an ironing board and propelling him outside, where he‘s propelled back inside thanks to a clothesline. Buddy hears Bozo crying (now conscious), and finds him hiding under Buddy’s pillow in his bedroom.

The “heavy object tied to a string tied to a tooth” trope, tried and true. By heavy object, I usually mean door. But, for some reason, Buddy has dumbbells in his bedroom and ties the string to Bozo's tooth and around a dumbbell. He tosses the dumbbell, and Bozo merely chases it and returns it to him. Strong dog! They try again, this time with the same results, Bozo sporting a top hat and an even BIGGER dumbbell.

Finally, Buddy  realizes tying the string to the doorknob is the way to go. Of course, Bozo begs no, and Buddy then ties the string to his OWN tooth to prove it isn’t so bad and that it won’t hurt.

Just in time for a random cat to wander into Buddy’s home! Bozo chases the cat, and Buddy is forced along in the chase as he’s tied to his fervent pooch. A wild goose chase ensues, Buddy and Bozo landing in a sprinkler outside as the cat mocks them. Bozo chases after the cat once more, poor Buddy shanghaied as he struggles to keep up. He lands in a wagon and is dragged along the street, nearly run over by a car. A cat knocks over a man digging in a trench, who serves as the perfect bridge as bozo and buddy cross the trench, the oblivious man scratching his head.

The chase carries on into Cookie’s yard, where she’s lounging in a hammock, reading a book. Buddy and Bozo fly over cookie, running into her and knocking the hammock to the ground. Buddy finds Bozo’s tooth, showing it off triumphantly. Cookie finds her own prize—Buddy’s tooth. Iris out as we all laugh it off.

Not the most entertaining cartoon to watch, but it did keep me engaged. The chase scene was nice, lots of pep and energy. I don’t have any major gripes with the short, maybe a bit boring in some parts but it was ultimately slightly amusing. Buddy didn’t have too much personality (like always), but it was refreshing to hear him have some dialogue. I think that’s one of the biggest problems—some of the Buddy cartoons have such minimal dialogue. Not that you can’t have silent cartoons. A cartoon that can convey its message well without dialogue is a very strong one indeed, and there are lots of great cartoons like that. But usually music, animation, ACTING, and of course PERSONALITY carry those cartoons. The Buddy cartoons aren’t there yet, they’re still rather primitive. Not crude, but still in the baby steps. A lot of progress has been made though! This may be worth a watch, just because it’s so absurd.

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