70. Sittin' on a Backyard Fence (1933)

Release date: December 16th, 1933

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Earl Duvall

Starring: The Rhythmettes (Chorus), The Varsity Three (Chorus)

The last cartoon of 1933, and what a year it’s been! Bosko’s out, Buddy’s in. 1934 would mark the start of the Merrie Melodies going into color (via the cheaper two strip process, so lots of reds and greens), Friz Freleng would get his first directorial credit (which is actually our next review)... exciting stuff! Here, we end out the year with a Merrie Melody. Two alley cats fight for the affections of another.

A handful of gags involving sleeping inanimate objects opens the cartoon. An alarm clock, a telephone, a book, even dentures in a glass of water all asleep, along with their owner, an old man. We pan over to the window, where the man’s cat is perched on the window sill. She spots another cat, who sings (yowls) “Am I Blue?”, and eagerly she hops over to join him.

She seems to be quite the catch: multiple cats follow her as she trots along the fence in the night. I love the cartooniness of the cats. Surely there will be better cat designs as years go on, but these are a good start. Always refreshing to see something other than little clones of Mickey.

I love this gag! As the cats traipse past the moonlight, the moon acts as an x-ray and the insides of the cats are revealed. I’d hate to animate all those bones! 

Elsewhere, posters of some cows and a bull flirt with each other. Quite the flirtatious atmosphere! Together they launch into the eponymous “Sittin' on a Backyard Fence”. Vocals are lush and catchy and the atmosphere is fun and amusing, full of charisma. As the cows sing, there are some shots of pajamas hanging on laundry lines doing acrobatics.

The rest of the alley cats join in, using various scraps as musical instruments. Very catchy and fun, albeit a standard. Even the cat from the beginning and his sweetie yowl a few bars. The yowling is annoying, but would make for a good laugh, especially watching him play a gridiron as an instrument.

Elsewhere, there’s a scraggly cat lapping up a bottle of alcohol (labeled katnip) and becoming inebriated. I love his design, even though he isn’t too different from the other cats, the eyepatch indicates he knows his way around the alleys. He spots the girl cat on the fence and becomes enthralled. In an attempt to woo her, he places a record on the face of a clock in a scrap pile and saunters his way over.

I love this shot: three different archetypes of characters. The ruffian asks the sweetheart for a dance, and she happily obliges, much to the other cat’s chagrin. There’s an awkwardly long sequence as the cat jumps off the fence and peers into a hole below: it’s not THAT long, but there’s little weight to the animation, and feels as if he’s floating. Just a minor gripe, though. The animation has been improving and I really enjoy this cartoon so far.

A very fun dancing sequence ensues with the girl cat and the ruffian, as well as a group of kittens slapping their tails together to the beat of the music. Spirits are high and the atmosphere is present! There’s also a shot of two cats playing tic tac toe with some paint.

At last, the charmer cat allows his emotions to boil over and throws a brick at the ruffian. Cue a wonderful chase sequence! Well, soon to be wonderful. There are some awkward reuses of animation, one scene almost playing over 3 times in a row, and the cats have that weightless, indecisive feel to them.

Nevertheless, things get good once the two cats land on a mirror that spins them around. They chase each other up a telephone pole, sword fighting with their tails once they reach the top. Someone in one of the nearby buildings puts a stop to the clamor by throwing a rolling pin out the window. The rolling pin knocks the cats over, both of them holding on opposite sides with their tails.

Look at that animation and those camera angles! The perspective is fascinating to watch and keeps you on your toes.

Eventually, they get knocked off and plummet to the ground, where they tussle in a scrap pile. Covered in junk, the chase rages on as they chase each other into a shed.

Unlucky for them, a menacing bull dog was also in the shed. The bull dog bounds after them as enemies turn into teammates. There’s also a neat shot of the girl cat perched on a pole overlooking the scene and turning to the camera in awe.

The cats think they’ve chased the dog away, shutting a fence gate closed. Of course, this means that the dog is right behind him. He gives them a good pummeling and walks off, satisfied with his work.

Suddenly, the girl cat from before peers out from the gate and sees her lovers unconscious, smiling. The reason she’s so happy is that she’s found ANOTHER guy, and together they walk off arm in arm. I love twists like that! You come to expect them, but don’t at the same time. Finally beat, the two feuding felines shake hands once and for all, and we iris out as they flop back to the ground in exhaustion.

Wow, this is one of my favorites! The gags are funny, designs are appealing, sound effects not too obnoxious. The cats have personality, and the SETTING has personality. Very atmospheric. I always love my alley cat cartoons, not sure why. There would be a lot better entries into the alley cat genre—The Hep Cat comes very close to this one in terms of plot—, but it certainly isn’t bad by any means. A nice breath of creativity and imagination. It’s evident that Earl Duvall encourages innovation in his work, such as the rolling pin scene on the power line. I say: watch it! I don’t think it’ll disappoint at all! I really, really enjoyed it. Another favorite added to the pile.

Link!

69. Buddy's Show Boat (1933)

Release date: December 9th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Earl Duvall

Starring: Bernard Brown (Buddy), Shirley Reed (Cookie), Charlie Lung (Seal), The Singing Guardsmen (Chorus)

The Mickey Mouse persona is amplified in Steamboat Buddy Buddy’s Show Boat as Buddy operates a ferry turned show boat. However, as always, things don’t always turn out as planned.

Our hero is whistling behind the wheel of the ferry, happily tugging on his whistle to the beat of the music. The whistle blows a sour note, and Buddy grabs a handkerchief so the whistle can blow into it. Good as new. The animation is nice and actually has some weight and bounciness to it.

The link I used didn’t have this scene because it was cut from television (which is what it was ripped from), but there’s a scene with blackface caricatures loading coals into the engine and singing “Swanee Smiles”. That explains why there’s a sudden chorus of voices as we observe various characters on the ship. Two men are holding hotdogs over the wheels, where dogs are turning the wheels to make the ship move, Cookie is peeling potatoes (above), and the jailbird from Buddy’s Beer Garden is peeling his toe nails (yes, it’s as gross as it sounds). I’m glad that the blackface caricatures were cut, but still need acknowledgement.

Buddy’s showboat (which looks much more like a ferry in some shots) allows an actual ferry to pass, both of the boats anthropomorphized. The animation is rubbery and smooth, a plus. The showboat arrives at the docks, greeted by applause and cheering patrons. An anchor wakes up and tosses itself into the water to dock, and falls back asleep.

Man, Buddy must really be a likable figure. He conducts his own parade as the baton twirler in the lead, allowing spot gags to get highlighted such as a particularly rubbery man playing the drums with his feet, a cat holding a music stand for a woman playing a large saxophone, her skirt dropping to reveal that she’s perched on a unicycle, a man playing a drum on a horse, and some ducks marching along.

The main attraction of buddy’s showboat seems to be Cookie, “The Star of Capt. Buddy’s Show Boat”. We then see the star herself in her dressing room, blowing a kiss to the Captain Buddy poster. Elsewhere, the jailbird himself is getting all spruced up, blowing a kiss to a poster of Cookie. The sound effects ARE actually fitting and innovative, a dinky little bell tinkling with cookie’s kiss, a heavy, large bell reverberating at the crook’s kiss.

Another awkward romance scene between Buddy and Cookie. Buddy calls Cookie just to give her a kiss over the phone, which she does the same. The scene is supposed to read as cutesy and funny, but it drags on and reads more as a coy nuisance. However, there is some amusement in the jailbird giving cookie a kiss through the phone, cookie walloping him back.

There’s a nice transition as a sign advertising Cookie and Buddy twirls into an umbrella, sported by Buddy and Cookie. They do a dancing routine to “Under My Umbrella” (NOT Rihanna). It’s mildly entertaining, but a former shadow of great dance routines we’ve seen in the Bosko cartoons, namely Bosko in Person. I see why Buddy is called Bosko in whiteface—the buddy cartoons feel like a shadow of the Bosko cartoons.

There’s also a blackface caricature (ugh) doing a Maurice Chevalier impression. I guess it would be funnier if you were an audience member in 1933 when he was a big name. Still, the blackface, as always, hinders the gag greatly. Pan over to a kangaroo and its joey playing on the piano.

Buddy cartoons really ARE a shadow of Bosko cartoons. The jailbird snags Cookie from backstage and kidnaps her. Buddy hears her shrieks of terror and stops the crook by doing nothing. Actually, that’s not true. The crook decks him and he’s sent flying across the ship. He knocks back into the crook, sending HIM flying into an electricity board and electrocuting him. Once more, as the crook makes his way back to buddy and Cookie, Buddy knocks a spare safety boat into the crook, knocking him back into a walrus’ cage.

The walrus is freed and tackles the crook. It turns out the walrus is also part seal: it balances the crook on its nose like a ball and tosses him into an exposed pit in the ship. Buddy, Cookie, and the walrus celebrate as we iris out.

Another mediocre cartoon, but with some fun animation. It’s certainly improving, which is a relief. Buddy has no discernible personality, just another “you’re supposed to like him and hail him as a hero”. There are some amusing visuals, but nothing too groundbreaking. That umbrella spin was a nice touch, though. This definitely feels like an offbrand Bosko cartoon, trying to reach the same level but something just not clicking. The blackface caricatures, albeit brief (and the ones at the beginning are even cut from this particular recording) still rise discomfort. Nevertheless, nothing too riveting, and wouldn’t hurt you if you skipped it. But, as always, link!

68. Buddy's Beer Garden (1933)

Release date: November 11th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Earl Duvall

Starring: Bernard Brown (Buddy), Jeane Cowan (Mae West), The Singing Guardsmen (Chorus)

Tom Palmer’s been kicked to the curb, and now we have Earl Duvall, Buddy’s creator, directing Buddy's Beer Garden. Exciting to note, this is Frank Tashlin’s first animation credit (as Tish Tash)! He’d get fired from the studio in 1934 because he wouldn’t give Leon Schlesinger a piece of his revenues from the comic strip he ran at the time, Van Boring, a take on his former boss Van Beuren. He’d rejoin Warner Bros. in 1936 and make cartoons until his departure for Disney in 1938, and then ONCE MORE come back in 1942 until a solid departure in 1946.

Back to the cartoon: prohibition was on its way out the door, officially ending less than a month after the cartoon was made—beer had been legalized in march of that year. Beer gardens were popping up everywhere, and Buddy’s own beer garden is no exception. We follow the antics of Buddy, Cookie, and his dog (who looks different than Happy) in a beer garden.

Buddy’s gotten a total redesign, which would stay permanent until another redesign later in his career. As poor as Tom Palmer’s cartoon was, I wish they kept his design from Buddy’s Day Out. He looks a lot more unlikeable, but that’s just my opinion. Buddy is strolling around, swinging some beer on his platter and singing “Auf Wiederseh’n”. A wiener dog trots along behind him, pretzels stacked up on its tail.

He places the beer down on a table (beer flying out of the glasses in pure cartoon fashion) and whips out the table cloth from beneath the mugs with no problem, snapping it and placing it back under with ease. The sound effects are an improvement from Buddy’s Day Out, but still feel rather present instead of integrated into the cartoon. The animation is a lot better, too. Maybe a little less so than the Bosko cartoons.

Any beer garden has a live German band, right? There are an array of spot gags involving the band, including a clarinet player popping his head out of a tuba and playing a very catchy melody. There’s another scene where the bartender pours beer into the mugs in synchronization with the music, and a trombone player sliding the glasses down the counter with each slide (accompanied by the music). This actually made me realize that there was no musical timing in Buddy’s Day Out—well, all of the timing there was wrong and discombobulated, but it’s strange to think about when, at this era, music was always a priority.

Cookie makes an appearance, making pretzels by knitting the dough. Buddy’s dog salts the pretzels with a salt shaker in his tail. Another standard gag, but creative and amusing. At this point, I’m always glad to see creativity and some imagination. I won’t take it for granted any time soon.

Another gag I love, tongue sandwiches with actual tongues singing and licking up mustard.

Elsewhere, there’s a man who looks like he’s an escaped convict, booming “Where’s my beer!?” A tiny little waiter dashes over to him with a beer. Not waiting for any further invitation, the brute picks up the waiter and tosses back the beer into his mouth. The music they used is really jarring: when he drinks the beer, it sounds like a murder mystery cue?? Like the dramatic chipmunk video. It feels out of place and hinders a potentially funny gag.

Meanwhile, more musical antics ensue as a gang of drunks sing “It’s Time to Sing ‘Sweet Adeline’ Again”. A man gets beer foam thrown on top of his bald head, which he uses a comb to comb out, another man plays spaghetti like a harp, and Buddy plays beer steins like chimes. Also a good gag of the beer mugs kissing (above) when they clink together.

Cookie has gone from dough-knitter to cigarette/cigar seller. The ex-jailbird from before flirts with her, tossing a coin into her box and snagging a cigar, cutting the tip with his stein. The animation is nice and fluid, almost jarringly so, like there’s no weight. Nevertheless, I’ll take it over the jankiness of Palmer’s cartoons. An amusing gag ensues as the brute uses a flamethrower to light his cigar.

Back to the German band, the man popping out of the tuba sporting maracas this time instead of a clarinet. Seemingly out of nowhere, cookie saunters out into the middle of the garden and does a “sexy” dance (not really sexy at all). The setup would be amusing, just randomly popping out of nowhere and doing some sort of a flamenco dance after German oompah music has been blaring in your ears, but it comes off as too slow and careful, too deliberate. Nevertheless, the power of her dance intrigues her patrons. A goat on a poster blows its horns, the dog bounces the pretzels on its tail, a very cartoony piano comes to life and imitates Cookie’s dance, as well as the brute from before. Buddy is also tossing the beer in the mugs he’s holding, whereas the brute now chews up some olives and spits the pits into a nearby spittoon.

Once more to Buddy. His surroundings get more screentime than he does! Suffering from Bosko syndrome, I suppose. He slices up bread and cheese, shuffling the two piles together like a deck of cards. Elsewhere, the man inside the tuba now comes out with a piano. The gag is funny, but relied on too heavily.

Buddy slides the tray of food off his back and tosses sandwiches onto a table, the man paying him back accordingly. Buddy places the tray on his head (I guess another one of those “He can do anything!” indicators) and the beer steins slide and clink together as he walks. One of the steins comes to life and protests “Hey, you mug!”, prompting the other to growl “Don’t call me a mug, you mug!” I actually enjoyed that, a little bit of cleverness for a change.

This is great gag with great visuals. Two men are literally playing their pipes, the smoke anthropomorphized as dancers who sway along to the jaunty rhythm.

Suddenly, Buddy squeezes himself into the spotlight and says “Hold it, folks! A big surprise! This will open up your eyes! Introducing someone grand—give the gal a great big hand!” his voice sounds drastically different from Buddy’s Day Out, almost exactly like Johnny Murray’s Bosko. Still trying to fill mickey mouse’s shoes, I guess? The animation is jarring, too. Melty and blobby, no weight, no spacing, just constantly moving and changing.

Beats me how Buddy somehow got a caricature of Mae West to perform at his beer garden, but nevertheless she struts out and belts her stuff. There’s a shot of a conductor whose lapels roll up and down, but it mainly disrupts the flow of the song, especially with the slide whistle sound effects.

The jailbird finds her to be hot stuff and flirts with her, asking “Hello, baby! Give me one big kiss!” The brute is perched under a table, his butt sticking out the other end. The goat on the poster from before headbutts him, causing him to barrel straight into Mae. She flies into a tree, whereas the brute flies into a mirror (complete with an OW sound effect with no lip movement). Mae falls back to the ground.

The reason Buddy got Mae West to perform is because HE was her all along. Our first drag joke, I think? Well, it did one thing effectively: it caught me by surprise. The surprise was slightly ruined, though: when Buddy was in the tree (still as Mae) you could see him adjusting himself, the wig slipping off slightly. I think it would’ve been better to just wait until he fell back down and crashed, THEN revealing the surprise. The parrot in the cage he used as a makeshift butt turns into a Jimmy Durante caricature and scoffs “Am I mortified!”, iris out.

This was a much better effort than Buddy’s Day Out and I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song for sure. The animation was an improvement, gags were an improvement, sound effects were an improvement, and so on. It still felt rather bland and unmemorable, though. Not terrible! But once again, we know little about Buddy and are assumed to just know everything about him. It wouldn’t hurt to skip this one, but it wouldn’t kill you to watch it, either.

Link!

67. I've Got to Sing a Torch Song (1933)

Release date: September 23rd, 1933

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Tom Palmer

Starring: Selmer Jackson (Announcer), Noreen Gamill (Zasu Pitts, Mae West, Greta Garbo), Bud Duncan (Cop), The Rhythmettes (Chorus)

Tom Palmer’s second and final effort at Warner Bros. This fares better than the disastrous Buddy’s Day Out, but only slightly. I also forgot to mention, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies have both adopted new theme songs. Looney Tunes’ 1933-1934 theme song is "Beauty and the Beast", which would become a Merrie Melody directed by Friz Freleng a year later, but it would be used all the way until “Porky Signature” replaced it for the 1936-1937 season. Merry Melodies adopts “I Think You’re Ducky”, which would be replaced by “Merrily We Roll Along” in 1936 and stay that way until 1964. Back to the synopsis: celebrities and personalities are abound as everyone tunes into the radio station to overhear their wacky antics.

A little light of creativity is finally shown with the opening sequence, various shots of people tuning into their radio sets with bated breath. What follows next is a sequence of gags, all revolving around the same radio show: an exercise program, the announcer dictating “One, two, one two, breathe deeply, one, two”. A family is shown bending at the waist, a man tightening his wife’s girdle, a father rocking his quadruplets, a man pulling tickets from a machine, and even a caricature of Benito Mussolini riding a mechanical horse in his bedroom. Bernard Shaw is also shown boxing at a globe. The animation and delivery suffers like it did in Buddy’s Day Out. Everyone is wobbly and janky and feels unstable, insecure—a reflection of tom palmer’s insecurity and indecisiveness as a director.

A caricature of Ed Wynn rides a horse on a stick, pulling a whistle on his trademark firemen’s cap and waving a bell. He yells into a microphone, “When you hear the gong, it’ll be 8:00 whether you like it or not!" Clocks in a clock shop come to life and grunt “You’re tellin’ us!” Tom Palmer utilizes a lot of fades. Fade between each scene. Face between the clock faces and the clocks actually having anthropomorphized faces. There’s nothing to break up the monotony, and likewise things feel like they blend together and become predictable.

Now, this did give me a good laugh (and not at Palmer’s expense), so good on him. Cros Bingsby Bing Crosby is in his bathtub, singing into a microphone treading the waters. Fade to a gaggle of gals gathered around a radio, listening to their favorite crooner. Another woman cradles her radio and kisses it affectionately. Back to Bing, who had previously been shown covered in bubbles. He turns on the shower head and rinses himself off, and we’re greeted with a rather disappointing Bing Crosby caricature. He looks too normal and indistinct, too smooth. A good descriptor would be mannequin-esque. Thankfully, the future holds many an entertaining Bing Crosby caricature for us to ogle at.

Another clever trick that is standard at the same time. We see two pairs of legs tap dancing, a mystery as to who they belong to. Pan up to reveal caricatures of James Cagney and Joan Blondell with their hands in their shoes. The animation is awkward and floaty as ever when Cagney playfully punches Blondell, who merely glides away. It’s a lack of spacing. There’s no spacing in the animation, no accents, no impacts, nothing. As a result, everything glides and feels loose and wobbly.

Back to Ed Wynn, who’s shooting a pistol and yelling “Hello, 8:00!” elsewhere, we turn to Ben Bernie conducting an orchestra, which turns out to be a record player. Not much to say on these gags, they feel very straightforward and present.

Palmer’s view fails to come forth once more as we get a shot of a bunch of little globes floating in space and spinning. It’s supposed to symbolize that everyone around the globe is tuned in, not just us locals in America, but instead it reads as jarring and confusing.

I also suppose I was pretty foolish to think that now that Harman and Ising were gone, the casual racism of the '30s would be put on the back burner—especially foolish since I’ve seen many shorts that are equally unsavory, if not more so than the ones made by Harman and Ising. We have ethnic stereotypes nonstop. Cut to China, where a man is pulling a cart labeled “Shanghai police”, all of the police asleep. The phonograph they’re listening to disturbs their slumber, and they tie it in a knot and go back to sleep. Elsewhere, we fall back to the “African cannibal” stereotype, a blackface caricature of a cannibal listening to a cooking show whilst mixing up a big pot of comedy duo Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey. The gag is trite and uninspired, little imagination present. Cut to the arctic, where an Inuit man is ice fishing. He reels in a big catch—a whale, diving away as the whale eats the iceberg he’s sitting on. The whale salvages the radio and dances to some tunes. Once more, the animation is alien and off putting, and the voice of the man screaming seems merely pasted on instead of a deliberate choice.

Animation of a harem dancer is especially poor, without a basic understanding of anatomy. Her limbs seem rubbery and almost broken. Though it is the era of rubber hose, it’s clear that wasn’t what they were going for. The sultan observing her is just as unimpressed, turning the station to listen to minstrel show Amos ‘n Andy.

After some redundant attempts at some gags, we finally launch into our title song “I've Got to Sing a Torch Song ”, sung by loose caricatures of the Boswell sisters. The harmonies are lovely as always and a joy to listen to. Probably the most bearable part of the cartoon.

Other characters chime in, including a man robbing a safe with a torch, and two men playing a jigsaw puzzle in a hole (signs labeled MEN AT WORK).

More caricatures sing the song, such as Greta Garbo, Zasu Pitts, and Mae West. Once again, the animation is lost and confused, caricatures underwhelming, and any chances of a laugh dropped. What’s also confusing is that Zasu Pitts is clearly in another setting: the curtain behind her (she’s the one in the middle) is a totally different color. Yet in the shot above, they’re all on the same stage. Palmer’s view is muddled in his own lack of confidence. There’s also a random cutaway to a Jimmy Durante statue of liberty, likely a last minute attempt to throw in a celebrity.

Finally, back to Ed Wynn and the tired 8:00 gags. He shoots a cannon, which launches himself into the air and straight through his own ceiling, where his wife and children (all donning firemen hats) all cry “SOOOOO?”, a catchphrase of Wynn’s as he laughs awkwardly. Iris out.

Though this cartoon was, well, bad, it fared slightly better by Buddy’s Day Out, but not by much. Tom Palmer’s lack of cohesion, clarity, and confidence reflect into almost every aspect of the cartoon. The animation is vague. The story is vague. The caricatures are vague. It’s all vague. I’m really disappointed about the caricatures, they feel way too toned down and normal, not at all funny. Being born in 2001, I’m not going to know who people born in 1900 are or what they look like (well, I mean I will, but the point is I don’t recognize every caricature I see. I spend a lot of time researching and frantically digging through the web as I type each review), but I can still appreciate them and laugh if they’re drawn, look, and act funny, and here there’s none of that. I do feel bad for Tom Palmer, though. Being plucked from Disney as an animator and put into a director’s position at a competing studio would definitely be shocking, especially with no prior directing experience. So I’m glad that he did what he did, managing to pull through, somehow. I wouldn’t recommend this cartoon: it isn’t even funny enough to hate watch. It just bears little significance overall. But, as always, I provide a link just in case!

Link!

66. Buddy's Day Out (1933)

Release date: September 9th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Tom Palmer

Starring: Bernard Brown (Buddy, Cookie, Elmer)

To quote a frequent catchphrase in the Harman and Ising cartoons: Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I’ve been eagerly waiting for this moment. Many a thought is racing in my mind as I type this, I don’t know where to begin! I suppose with some history: so, Harman and Ising have left Leon Schlesinger in the dust. He has a contract to fulfill and no characters to show for it. He set up his own studio at Sunset Boulevard and searched for some people to add onto his crew, primarily from Disney (Jack King, Earl Duvall, who made Buddy’s character, Ben Hardaway...) and a few leftover from Harman and Ising’s unit, most notably Friz Freleng.

Tom Palmer, another picked from the Disney pile, directs this short, and when I was originally putting together the cartoon info I was really confused. Who was this dude? I’ve heard of Jack King and Ben Hardaway from watching their Porky cartoons, and of course Friz Freleng, but never Tom Palmer. It turns out I hadn’t heard of him because after this cartoon and the next one, I’ve Got to Sing a Torch Song, he was fired. That should tell you right off the bat what we’re going to see. This cartoon also had to be reworked. According to Bernard Brown and Bob Clampett, the first draft was even less funny than the final version. To give you an idea of Palmer’s sense of humor, he’s cited as calling a visual gag a “funny piece of business”. Well, technically, this short IS a funny piece of business. Business practices.

Bernard Brown also returns to the vocal front to provide the earliest voice of Buddy, as well as Cookie and Elmer. Jackie Morrow, an actual child, would later assume the role; Keith Scott speculates fellow child actor Tommy Bond potentially lent his voice as well.

Anyway, enough history. Buddy, his dog Happy, his girlfriend Cookie, and her baby brother Elmer all venture out for a picnic that goes awry.

Much in the style of movie trailers in the '30s, where the characters have their names emblazoned on the screen and a little description, we are introduced to our cast. Buddy, “Our Hero”, Cookie, “Buddy’s Sweetheart”, Elmer, “Cookie’s Baby Brother”, and Happy, “Buddy’s Pal”. The scene is corny within itself, but the awkward, janky animation—especially with Buddy mechanically turning around and wobbling as if inebriated—make it even more awkward and discombobulated. It’s a different approach to introduce a cast of characters, sure, but its potential isn’t realized and falls flat.

Cookie and Elmer are the first to be formally introduced. Cookie is bathing Elmer, who reaches out of the tub to grab a sponge. Cookie continues to spank him back into the tub, and once he finally grabs a hold of the sponge he squeezes it in his face. Unprecedentedly, accentuated by bad timing and awkward sound effects (as well as animation), Elmer splashes about in the tub, the sponge flying out of his grip and smacking Cookie in the face. He realizes what he’s done, holds his nose, and seeks refuge in the bath water as Cookie approaches him. She scrubs the top of his head... which is actually his butt, his head poking out at the opposite end. Undoubtedly added in after. Cookie dries him and tosses him in the air, catching him with the towel that makes a horribly discombobulated bell sound.

There’s a lot wrong with this scene. Little to no creativity or any stretch of the imagination whatsoever. The sound effects are not timed well, carrying over into different shots. One minute Cookie is frowning, the next she’s smiling. It’s impossible to make out what any sort of emotion the characters are feeling, and it comes off as very robotic and unnatural.

Now to buddy, “Our Hero”, who’s washing down his car (that’s labeled ASTHMA on the side?) with a hose as Happy observes. Dissatisfied with the meek steam of water the hose is producing, he turns the nozzle to get more water out. Happy barks at the aimless hose and bites it.

Happy is sent into the air as the hose writhes and thrashes about. The force of the water sprays off any accessories on buddy’s car, and there’s a brief moment where buddy pumps his fists in frustration, but quickly returns to his smiling self and turns the water off. Again with the incomprehensible emotion: expressing no concern for his dog’s safety and blankly observing. There is a nice little gag—probably the funniest part of the cartoon, aside from the cartoon’s existence itself—as the car itself shakes off any water like a dog. I’d be happy if the cartoon went for overused gags like those. It’d still be boring, yes, but fun to watch. Instead, everything just feels very straight forward.

Cookie is getting herself dolled up, even blowing a kiss at a picture of buddy on her vanity. I guess they wanted her to come off as a Betty Boop type? That’s how she reads to me. She pops her head out of the window and cries “Yoo-hoo, buddy! I’m ready!” As riveting as ever, Buddy answers “I’ll be right over, Cookie!” I still have little to no idea of how he’s supposed to be portrayed. I suppose a loyal, dutiful “boy scout” type. He’s introduced coyly as “Our Hero”, but has yet to display any heroic qualities. However, because he’s labeled a hero, we’re automatically supposed to like him, even with little to no indicator of his personality.

Buddy gives his car a few cranks, but it’s in reverse: the car tears backwards through the fence. Immediately after, there’s a shot of a bunch of dogs and cats and a clothesline stacked up in the car (again probably added in), and the car tears through a greenhouse. Much obnoxious crashing later, the car is decorated head to toe with flowers as it crashes into the side of Cookie’s house.

Evidently, buddy is supposed to come off as a charmer, because Cookie finds it beautiful. Buddy opens the door for her and salutes, another indicator of the boy scout persona? Also, look at how terribly the house and the car clash with all those flowers. This cartoon lacks physical lighting value—it could very well be the particular restoration, but everything feels very light and white and washed out.

Buddy packs up a stroller and a picnic basket and climbs into the car. The car’s engine sputters, and the flower gag becomes even more redundant once all of the flowers are shaken off. Nevertheless, they go on their merry way.

It seems Buddy bought his car in Europe. Maybe that’ll explain for the jarring view of the mirror. I know it’s so you can see Elmer and Buddy at the same time, but couldn’t they have chosen another angle? Or, at the very least, tilted the mirror and Elmer slightly? It’s very jarring and out of place—just like the sound effect of falling rocks that cues when Elmer hits buddy over the head with a bottle.

As they crawl up a steep hill, the engine sputters and expresses difficulty at climbing the hill, but soon enough it’s back to normal. A very wasted gag—the same gag is in Porky and Gabby and is much more entertaining, with Porky and Gabby chasing after their car and trying not to get flattened.

The car whirls around some twists and turns, accompanied by a fire engine to convey urgency. Another potential gag wasted. Instead, it comes off as annoying and cutesy, like “Haha, look at what a hurry they’re in!” Nevertheless, they arrive at their destination, Buddy toting the picnic basket and stroller while whistling.

A very awkward romantic scene. Cookie situates herself down on a hammock and strums a guitar, singing. Buddy, ever the charmer, comes up behind her and pushes her, singing in complete gibberish. To make it even more awkward, he asks “Woojie woojie woojie?”, prompting Cookie to respond “No, woojie woojie woojie!” a pass at an innuendo, maybe? If so, it fails to come across as such, instead reading as annoying and coy.

Various critters repeat the same dreaded dialogue. Some caterpillars, some bees, and some frogs. I suppose out of all of them, the frogs are the most amusing, with the woman frog smacking her courter and hitting him over the head with a cattail. I’m curious as to whether Bob Clampett was in charge of that gag, it feels like a shadow of his own gags in cartoons.

Buddy and Cookie have an awkward embrace as we cut to Elmer and Happy. I feel like Elmer has the most screentime in this cartoon—really everyone except Buddy. I suppose his “our hero” line was supposed to do all of the personality building for him. That, or Tom Palmer had no idea what to do with him. My senses point to the latter.

Elmer is eating (Sucking? Does he have teeth?) on a hotdog link, pushing a curious happy away. Happy whines continuously, and to shut him up, Elmer pacifies him with the pork. 

Still whining, Happy prompts Elmer to throw a cake in his face. Happy runs around aimlessly while Elmer laughs obnoxiously. Happy runs into a tree trunk, and the cake flies off of his head onto Elmer’s. Conveniently, Cookie walks by Elmer, sees the mess, and scolds him. Very janky, awkward animation as Elmer shuffles away, sniffling. There’s a jarring transition as Elmer and Happy approach the car. They don’t get in it, they approach. The next thing you know, in the next shot, they’re already in the car.

This shot is wonky on a number of reasons, but mainly spacing and lack of depth. Happy shouldn’t be able to squeeze behind the gas pedal and fit there so easily. Following his body, it doesn’t look like his butt is sitting on the floor, just his front paws. The wheel is at an equally awkward angle—I know so Elmer can fit, and animation is all about presentation, not practicality, but still. Elmer takes his aggression out by stomping on the gas pedal. Surely you can see where this is going.

Elmer and Happy have hijacked the car, which drives away with them in it. Buddy and Cookie chase after them, Buddy pushing cookie in the stroller and later hopping in himself. Another shot of Elmer and Happy, and then the same shot of Buddy and Cookie, complete with Buddy jumping in the stroller AGAIN. The sound design, as always, is very misplaced.

Buddy and Cookie follow Elmer and Happy on the winding route they took, the background just flipped horizontally, which, of course, doesn’t make sense—it should just be the animation that’s flipped, but I digress. The whole thing with this climax is that there’s no urgency. No super fast speeds, no intricate camera angles, no dynamics. It’s just a baby and a dog in a car that just so happens to be moving.

There are a few gags, but they’re very trite and predictable. Elmer and Happy drive through some haystacks and thusly have straw bears. They crash into a hotdog sign, which lands on top of Buddy and Cookie. They drive past a rotating laundry line, which flies up and attaches to Cookie and Buddy’s baby carriage. The laundry line and the hotdog sign make a makeshift helicopter. Clever, I suppose, but it isn’t executed to show off any cleverness. There’s a very jarring violin slide effect as the laundry line falls down and attaches itself to the stroller. I hate to trash on Bernard Brown, the sound effects guy, but the sound design is distractingly bad in this cartoon. I’m guessing (and hoping) it improves, but the innovation later sound designer Treg Brown would use with his sound effects is totally lacking. The sound effects are just there.

Suddenly, Elmer and Happy find themselves on train tracks. I bet you’ll never guess what’s coming from the opposite direction. A TRAIN!!! Crazy, right?? There IS a good shot of Buddy and Cookie looking down at the train tracks below, probably the most creativity this cartoon possesses (above).

Buddy and Cookie land on a roof and use a ladder to divert the train. The train goes the other way and all is well, pushing the shack that Cookie and Buddy landed on with it. And then, guess what? The consecutive shot the train is BACK ON THE TRACKS. The delivery comes across as haphazard and sloppy.

Reunited at last, Buddy woojie woojies Elmer, who squirts him in the fact with his milk bottle. Iris out.

Whew. Where to begin. Well, obviously, I’m not a fan of this cartoon. It’s sloppy, vague, and awkward. Tom Palmer’s direction is directionless, and the quality of the cartoon is poor, even for 1933’s standards. The sound design is jarring and discombobulated, and none of the characters are memorable, especially Buddy. This cartoon should’ve been called Elmer’s Day Out instead.

However, I don’t like to completely bash things. I’m an optimist and always try to look on the bright side. The backgrounds were painted nicely, and the music was good. Buddy’s design is VERY cute here. He looks his best in this cartoon. His 1935 design is okay, better than the next design we’ll be seeing. Though Tom Palmer’s direction is sloppy, it WAS his first directorial job. I’m sure he was a much better animator at Disney than he was director here. Also, Leon Schlesinger opened up his studio on Sunset Boulevard. 2 years later, Termite Terrace would be born, and the world would never know peace since. So, in a weird way, Buddy led to Bugs, to Daffy, to Porky... especially since Buddy's lack of success led to I Haven’t Got a Hat, which introduced a pool of new characters to be used in upcoming in shorts, including a little stuttering pig I happen to know. So Buddy has caused good! But in a rather bad way.

I wouldn’t recommend this cartoon, but at the same time, I absolutely do recommend it. Watch it for yourself and see how messy it is. It got a few good laughs out of me the first time I watched it, but all from making fun of it.

Link!

65. We're in the Money (1933)

Release date: August 26th, 1933

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Rudolf Ising

Starring: Johnny Murray (Soldier), Marcellite Garner (Girl), The King's Men (Chorus), Ken Darby (Bass)

The final Merrie Melody and final cartoon by Harman and Ising at Warner Bros! I’ve mentioned it before, but they left because of budget disputes with Leon Schlesinger, who was notoriously cheap and the reason why Looney Tunes shorts didn’t go into color until 1942. They headed to Van Beuren studios and produced a few Cubby Bear cartoons, but contract issues rose and they left for MGM. They kept their cartoons and released them in the 40s. They also brought bosko with them over to mgm and made a few cartoons as a part of the Happy Harmonies series, but were let go in 1937 after running over budget. The two would separate in 1942 when Rudolf Ising went into the military, but reunited in 1951 and kept making cartoons up to the '60s. Anyway, not much to describe plot wise here—a bunch of toys come to life at night and sing “We're in the Money”.

It’s night, and the department store is barren as we watch an old man lock up shop and shuffle around. 

This is a great setup, very moody and immersive as we get an inside view of the toys. It’s like we’re one of them, waiting for the watchman to leave. He eventually does, and a toy soldier shouts “WHOOPEE!” with glee as he darts away, climbing up some toy blocks and sliding down a violin, urging the others to join him.

Overjoyed at their brief session of freedom for the night, the toys waste no time in following. A little bead toy repeatedly jumps on a bulb connected to a toy dog, making the dog bark with each jump.

In an unspoken cue, all of the toys assemble around various musical instruments. Here comes the song portion! Sure enough, they launch into an instrumental version of “We're in the Money” while the toy soldier conducts them. Gags featured are a clown playing the keys of an accordion while two dolls push and pull and a toy soldier using an air pump to blow into a trombone while the other soldier slides it.

A doll sings “We're in the Money” in a gratingly high voice, and then there is a funny gag where she sings into a tuba, a deep, rolling bass substituting her falsetto.

All the clothes begin to dance: mannequins, hats, shoes playing jump rope with shoe strings... The toy soldier conductor jumps on the cash register and opens it up, and a few coins sing “We are the money”. Gloves and clothes alike applaud the performance.

Elsewhere, a little doll gets herself all dolled up with some jewelry. She puffs out her chest and places a hat on her head, sauntering over to a mannequin. She croons “Hello there, dark ‘n handsome. Why don’t you come up sometime?” The mannequins applaud her Mae West impression while another bead man toy plays “We're in the Money” on the xylophone.

The Charlie Chaplin-esque mannequin from A Great Big Bunch of You makes another appearance as he dances to the music and wheels down the stairs. Love the animation! Again, stair scenes always have my respect. He leaps off of an armchair and wheels himself over to a three way mirror, where he and his reflective counterparts give a lovely barbershop rendition of “We're in the Money”. There’s a segment where pajamas dance along to the music and tap their butt flaps against hat boxes to the beat of the movement.

After more wheeling around and dancing, the mannequin makes his way over to a piano, or two, or five, or ten. He slides past an array of pianos, playing them all perfectly (only pausing to use a few hat mannequins as drums, including caricatures of Laurel and Hardy). He snags a trombone and plays a brassy, fun solo while the remaining mannequins around him give one last chorus.

Caught up in the spectacle, the mannequin crashes right into a shelf full of hat boxes. He pops his head up from the sea of cardboard, giving a few last wimpy, tired notes on the trombone as we iris out.

Well, that’s that for Harman and Ising! I think it’s very fitting that their last cartoon at WB is about money, especially since they left over budget disputes. It’s like a last goodbye—see ya! We’re off to bigger and better things! This was a very fun Merrie Melody. Not much plot whatsoever, but it was very upbeat, happy, and energetic. The gags didn’t really stand out to me, they just felt more... present than anything. It’s obvious the focus was on the music. Even after all these years of great cartoons, You Don’t Know What You’re Doin! is still my favorite Merrie Melody, and possibly my favorite cartoon in the Harman and Ising period! I really like Young and Healthy, too. It gets stuck in my head constantly. Overall, this cartoon isn’t the cartoon to end all cartoons, there are certainly funnier and more intriguing cartoons made by Harman and Ising, but it’s far from the worst. I think it serves well as a good farewell. I’d recommend it, just because it’s happy to watch and listen to! 

Link! 

My next review will be a biggie: the day Warner Bros. turned on its axis, and why a little buddy of ours is responsible for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, you name it.