77. Those Were Wonderful Days (1934)

Release date: April 28th, 1934

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Bernard Brown

Starring: The Singing Guardsmen (Chorus), Bernard Brown (Lillian Bustle, Villain)

The Merrie Melodies are back to black and white momentarily as they make the switch from two strip Cinecolor to two strip technicolor, Those Beautiful Dames being the first cartoon to use such. If I’m correct, this is Bernard Brown’s last directorial credit. Friz would continue to crank out shorts, and Ben Hardaway and Jack King not far behind in joining. Here, we reflect on those wonderful days of 1898, including the wonderous days of kidnappings. Joy! 

It’s Merrie Melodies tradition! The cartoon opens with four men in a bar singing “Those Were Wonderful Days”, the song catchy and beautiful as standard. I always like to see when exactly they launch into the song sequence in these Merrie Melodies. Sometimes it’s at the beginning, sometimes it’s elsewhere. This song would also be parodied in Love and Curses and Prehistoric Porky. A lady by the name of Lillian Bussle (as indicated by the poster she resides in) contributes to vocals in a big, brassy voice.

A man behind the cash register plays “Chopsticks” on his register, whereas beer steins on top of a player piano sing along. A portrait of two boxers, Jake Kilrain and John Sullivan begin to box. The boxing match turns into a heartfelt waltz, topped off by some good ol' smacking around. Kilrain and Sullivan were famed boxers in the 1880s, duking it out in an 1889 fight.

Meanwhile, a man enters the bar, and it’s not long until he’s enticed by a buffet and a sign that reads “FREE LUNCH”. The logical solution, of course, is to grab the table cloth, wrap up the entire buffet, and go out the door. It said free lunch! He places the luncheon on top of a rather curvaceous woman’s hat and dines in to her oblivion. Quite amusing! There’s also a guy cutting a man’s single strand of hair in the barber shop, splitting the strand into two. Ah, the good old days! 

A squad of cops patrol the streets, stopping to read a sign as they bounce their nightsticks off of their hats in rhythm. The sign reads “GALA PICNIC and CELEBRATION at the FAIR GROUNDS — July 4th, 1898”. I wondered if 1898 was a significant year, Bernard Brown’s birth year? I looked it up and sure enough it is! July 24th, 1898. Nice choice! 

We arrive to the picnic, the happy peoples riding their bicycles and chugging their free beer. The unseen chorus sings more of “Those Were Wonderful Days” as we have many a gag of people jumping off a diving board. A man hits his head, a woman’s skirt opens like a parachute as she gracefully floats down to the water, a man’s pants slip off and reattach themselves to him. You know, the usual. There’s also a gag of a woman swinging above a sleeping man, narrowly avoiding his chest.

Enter the villain! I see why this trope is so tired now. Though it feels like a parody within itself in this one, which is good. The Dover Boys at Pimento University will REALLY nail the self awareness of the trope and then some. The villain spots a beautiful woman seesawing with her boyfriend, and decides that she should be his. He motions for the tree to follow him (genius!) as he sneaks along. To get her off the seesaw, he tosses a stick of dynamite. It explodes beneath the man, the man flying off along with his sweetheart. The girl lands in the villains arms as the man lands on the ground.

The villain takes the girl to a hot air balloon—I noticed she wasn’t making any noise, which was odd. Usually all you hear in the kidnapping sequences is blood curdling screams. However, this may be intentional as we see later on—and rides away with her in it. The boyfriend, out of options, loads himself into a cannon and rockets towards the balloon like a human cannonball.

Nice overhead shot! I’ve noticed that brown likes his overhead shots and angles, always a good thing to have. The hero lands on top of the balloon and the villain joins him as they duke it out, the shanghaied sweetheart in the basket below. The hero is knocked off of the balloon, landing against a flagpole (another great overhead shot) that bends beneath him and propels him back. Elsewhere, the villain cuts the ropes connecting the balloon and the basket. NOW we get our bloodcurdling screams as the girl plummets to certain doom.

The boys duke it out on the balloon in the air. The animation is nice of the balloon rolling around! Full of depth. Meanwhile, the girl slips out of the basket as it turns in the air: right into the little hoop by the ropes, fashioning it into a homemade balloon. I love it! Cartoon physics, can’t go wrong.

Our buff hero sets the balloon on fire (or at the very least lights a fuse) and jumps off, using a cape to fly like a flying squirrel. Superman the flying squirrel! The balloon explodes and the villain flops to the ground, whereas superman rescues his sweetheart as she hitched a ride on his back.

All of them land on the ground, even the villain. The hero grabs a nearby mallet and pummels the villain’s head in for good measure. So does the girl—hitting the HERO’s head! He’s knocked out of the picture as the girl KISSES the kidnapper! Man, what a twist! Iris out on the two unlikely lovebirds.

Good god, I loved that ending! I never saw it coming. It occurs so nonchalantly—the timing and the pacing is great. This cartoon wasn’t the most thrilling, but it certainly picked up in the second half. The villain, albeit archetypal, was enjoyable to watch. I like that this was set in 1898—especially because the director was BORN in 1898, so there’s no way he would have been able to recall what it was like. One of those things that gets funnier as the years go on. Anyway: the animation wasn’t groundbreaking, but there were some nice aerial shots and the rotating balloon was a plus. The music contributed to the enjoyment of the short as always. I’d give it a watch, not the most thrilling cartoon you’ll ever see but not the worst, either.

Link!

72. Pettin' in the Park (1934)

Release date: January 27th, 1934

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Bernard Brown

Starring: The Rythmettes (Chorus), The Varsity Three (Chorus), Bernard Brown (Bird)

Sound designer Bernard Brown’s first directorial credit, and Bob Clampett’s first formal animation credit! Ironically, Clampett's Porky's Naughty Nephew would recycle a bulk of animation from this short a mere 4 years later. Here, we observe romance in a park, as well as a swimming race between a plethora of birds.

Two lovebirds (literally) are perched in a tree, flirting with each other. One bird attempts to snuggle up to his sweetheart, who pushes him away. To truly judge her love, the bird plucks a flower from the tree and plucks the petals, a silent rendition of “She Loves Me” occurring as he grins, grimaces, grins, grimaces, grins, grimaces... grins! Confident that she loves him, the bird embraces her once more to no protest. I love the acting without any dialogue, the unspoken message of “She loves me, she loves me not” clear as day. Elsewhere, a woodpecker drills a heart into a tree for its significant other and they kiss.

A police officer and a maid (what an odd couple!) are perched on a bench. The officer caves in and pecks her on the cheek, and there’s some great animation of the officer holding onto the bench, pushing himself up and down in unadulterated glee as the maid flushes. I’m probably saying this just because his name’s in the credits, but that definitely feels like some Bob Clampett animation to me, validated with of an upcoming scene with the two.

Birds perched on a branch launch into “Pettin' in the Park”, sung also by a baby in a stroller in a fitting bass voice. A fountain also gargles along to the song.

I’m enthralled with how out of place this is. Maybe on purpose? I hope? A penguin is chasing a butterfly through the park, snapping its beak and diving after it. The butterfly lands on the maid’s butt, which the penguin bites.

Here is where my Clampett hypothesis is justified. The maid thinks the cop was coming onto her and she smacks him—Clampett loved his innuendos! I don’t even know if this was him for certain, but it’s certainly on par with his sense of humor. The maid stalks off with her baby, leaving the cop in the dust. Even the baby blows a raspberry at the officer, albeit into its milk bottle.

A man in a car spots the maid and tips his hat to her. She eagerly crawls into his car (not a good idea!) and they hold hands while swaying along to the music. There’s a silhouette shot of them pecking a kiss.

We’ve some more animal lovebirds that make noise along to the song. Some owls, some kissing birds, even an ostrich and a bird.

The police officer is still pissed about being left in the dust, and marches over to the car where the maid is located, his penguin buddy waddling behind for support. The cop’s walk cycle is full of pep and character: a stereotypical flouncy, motivated march—very fun to watch. The cop pokes his head in the window of the car, and we see a silhouette of the other man in the car walloping him in the face before driving off.

Thus begins the second segment of the cartoon: the race segment. Various species of birds are crowded around a sign that advertises “ANNUAL WATER CARNIVAL, DIVING AND SWIMMING CONTEST, OPEN TO ALL CONTESTANTS”. I suppose “all contestants” means “all types of birds”—not a human in sight! A parrot is perched in a tree as the host as we view our lineup.

Various birds cheer on a swan, a family of ducks, what seems to be a crane, and an ostrich as they jump off the high dive, the crane landing in a trashcan and the ostrich landing in mud. Boy, we switched atmospheres and settings awfully fast, didn’t we? It’s kinda jarring. I wish we could have seen more of the cop, the charmer, and the maid. Sounds like a murder mystery, doesn’t it? I would’ve liked to see the cop chase after the car, maybe some more park related gags... I encourage unconventionality, and this second half is unconventional, but it feels rather random and out of place.

This is a great perspective. The parrot prepares to launch the starting cannon, while the penguin from the beginning dives off the top of the flagpole. He lands on top of the parrot, causing him to pull the string of the cannon and opening the ceremonies.

Some of these old cartoons come off as a string of gags instead of a spot gag cartoon—not one is truly spotlighted on for too long. This is one of those stringed together sequences. A pelican blows water from its beak, an ostrich running underwater, a rooster and its rowing team of chickens, a duck riding a bicycle underwater, the pelican from before using its beak as a motorboat, and so on. The animation isn’t bad at all, and the gags are mildly amusing within themselves, but nothing more. It feels very on par with the Bosko cartoons of 1931 and early 1932.

It seems the parrot and penguin are working together as a team, using a bathtub as a boat and an air pump as a motor. The penguin pumps while the parrot keeps watch.

They pass the chicken rowing team, who ride straight into a log, chances of winning squandered. Elsewhere, the duck on the bicycle is having trouble pedaling up and down those underwater hills and valleys. It sinks into an unknown abyss, rising to the surface in a bubble.

The penguin pumping the pump, causing fish to spew everywhere is a nice touch, especially with the pelican eating up all of the fish. A clock is also expelled into the air and into the pelican’s mouth, the clock bouncing around in the pouch. The animation isn’t as stretchy or exaggerated as it could be, but again, this is the depression and budgets are strict. An ostrich trips, getting stuck in a pair of drawers underwater. It comes out of nowhere, but not necessarily in a funny way. It feels too deliberate and not deliberate at all. The animation IS nice though as the drawers rise to the surface, ostrich struggling to kick its feet.

Our parrot penguin duo reach a mud spot, where the bathtub gets stuck. There are three goose behind them who get sprayed with mud as they pump: along with other everyday objects, such as a grid house, a girdle, and a boot.

Enraged, the ducks chase after the penguin. They run through a revolving gate and get their feathers cut—as well as their necks tied. Iris out as the penguin smiles with triumph.

I fell this cartoon had a lot of potential it didn’t live up to. I don’t think Bernard Brown directed many cartoons at all, if only a handful. I wonder why he directed this in the first place, seeing as he was a sound director? Not that he couldn’t do both jobs, but that’s something you don’t see everyday. The first half was much more entertaining than the second half, which felt like a transparent string of tired gags. They were amusing, sure, but nothing laugh out loud worthy. Instead of one cartoon, this feels like two jammed together in one to make up for lost time or ideas. It’s probably safe to skip it this time. I’ll still place the link though! 

Link! (Note: This review was originally written in January 2020. As of May 2021, a number of the cartoons I've covered have since been restored. As a result, the images in the review may be lower quality, whereas the link will cover the recently restored print. Not an issue, of course, but a little clarification never did any harm. Enjoy!)