64. Bosko's Picture Show (1933)

Release date: August 26th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Jimmy Durante, Dirty Dalton), The Singing Guardsmen (Chorus), Dudley Kuzelle (Dirty Dalton Singing)

Well, here we are! Bosko’s last film at Warner Bros. Harman and Ising would produce one more Merrie Melody (We’re in the Money) and pack up their bags to go to Metro Goldwyn-Meyer. They carried over Bosko with them, using his “inkblot” design for a little while and later actually designing him to look like a real boy where he was voiced by Billie Thomas, also known as Buckwheat from Our Gang/Little Rascals. Here, as the title suggests, Bosko puts on a picture show filled with spot gags, kidnappings, and even a sing along.

The title card fades away, erasing the credits and transposing “Bosko’s Picture Show” and the little flashing bar between credits onto a theater. Very clever transition! We go inside the theater, where a projection reads “Presenting BOSKO at the console of the mighty FURTILIZER organ”. Sure enough, Bosko and his organ rise up from a trap door and he greets the audience.

To start things off, our happy little entertainer encourages a sing along of “We’re in the Money”, an audience singing along with him as he encourages them. A very happy and fitting tune about kicking the depression out the door—it certainly alleviates the mental depression! A very happy, cheery, fun scene that was much needed. Once finished, Bosko pulls a few knobs on the organ in a percussion solo, including a toilet flusher. Pre-code films! 

Curtains peel apart to reveal a news reel: “OUT-OF-TONE NEWS, SEES ALL, HEARS ALL, SMELLS ALL”. 

The first order of business takes place in Geneva, Switzerland: “World figures gather at peace conference”. Cut away to a bunch of guys beating the tar out of each other around a table. Very funny! Predictable, yes, but the timing sells it. The next piece of news is in Malibu, California: “Sunkist bathing beauties enjoy California sunshine”. Transition to the California sunshine, where a lady is running away from incoming waves while snow pours down around her. I love these incongruous gags, they never get old.

Now to Reno, Nevada: “Jack Dumpsey trains for ring come-back”. A frail Jack dempsey caricature boxes away at a punching back, holding onto a cane for aid. The joke is that jack dempsey was a professional boxer whose career spanned from 1914 to 1927, reigning as the heavyweight champ from 1919 to 1926.

We find ourselves in Epsom Salts, England (good pun on Epsom, England): “BLUE BLOOD CANINES IN RACE CLASSIC—‘Tree Sniffer II’ noses out ‘Free Wheeling’ for first place”. Recycled footage from Bosko’s Dog Race gives us a flurry of dogs dashing by. The narrator announces “And here comes the champion!”, which is a Bruno facsimile meandering about and sniffing the ground, taking his time. Great staging and timing! Suddenly, Bruno runs off as an invisible force motivates him to do so. We then see the Marx brothers chasing after the dogs with nets.

We’re now in Pretzel, Germany, where we find a “FAMOUS SCREEN LOVER ON EUROPEAN VACATION”. Cut to a caricature of Hitler chasing a terrified Jimmy Durante, declaring “Am I mortified!”. The implication of this joke didn’t age well at ALL, implying that Jimmy Durante must be Jewish because of his big nose. I found this interesting (aside from cringing) because Hitler had been elected chancellor of Germany in January of 1933. What’s so interesting is that this is the first cartoon out of any studio to feature a caricature of Hitler. The joke ages extremely poorly, but the historical significance is fascinating.

Thus ends the newsreel, the tagline “IT SQUEAKS FOR ITSELF” blazing on the screen. Bosko tells us that this is only the beginning and introduces the next film.

I love this. Our next film is Laurel and Hardy—“HAUREL and LARDY in ‘SPITE OF EVERYTHING’”. Pan to Laurel and Hardy skipping around outside, the dinky music greatly contributing to the absurdity. Laurel points to a pie sitting on an open window sill and takes it. The two suddenly fight over who gets custody of the pastry, and Laurel dumps the pie over Hardy’s head. Hardy whacks Laurel on the head with a tea cup, and laurel snivels and whines to the audience. The “THE END” and the triumphant, fanfaring music after we had just seen Laurel crying makes for a great joke.

The MGM lion makes an appearance, roaring and getting cut off by a burp. It always fascinated me when there’s burping in these pre-code cartoons, for awhile there couldn’t be sounds that implicated burping, which is why you have Mel Blanc literally saying “burp” in Baby Bottleneck when the babies are getting burped.

Our next film is “HE DONE HER DIRT (And ow!)”. Honey makes an appearance, daintily cycling on a bike while the Marx brothers, making yet another appearance, sing “A Bicycle Built for Two”. Cut to Bosko playing the organ, quipping “Ain’t she sweet?” enter the villain: “Dirty Dalton (the cur!)”. He sneaks along with his bike (which lacks any wheels), and we go back to Bosko observing the film, who declares "That dirty mug!"

As standard for a Harman-Ising cartoon, Dirty Dalton snags Honey off her bicycle and kidnaps her. I love the animation of his strange, wheel-less bicycle galloping! He darts over to a cliff, overlooking a nearby train. He jumps onto a boxcar that becomes loose from the train (from Bosko and Bruno) and there’s some nice reused animation of the train hurtling down the tracks.

Honey cries “IS THERE A BOY SCOUT IN THE AUDIENCE?” and Bosko cries “I’ll save you!”. Very creative and a neat little fourth wall break. Bosko dives straight into the screen at Dirty Dalton, and unlike plankton, he doesn’t get smashed into a concrete wall. He pops his head out of the hole and honey admires his bravery. One last Bosko iris out! 

Where to begin? I guess with the actual short. It was really good and highly entertaining! Bosko certainly went out with a bang. It’s now one of my favorites for sure, probably one of the best Bosko cartoons out there. The timing was impeccable, music happy and light, animation crisp and enjoyable. As always, Bosko’s surroundings had more personality than he did, but he was still likable. The Hitler joke is my only major complaint—didn’t age well whatsoever, but interesting scene historically speaking. I would definitely recommend it! 

And now, onto Bosko. I’ve come to really like him. His origins as a blackface caricature still bother me and make it hard to truly appreciate the cartoons, but I’m grateful that Harman and Ising strayed away from negative stereotypes with him for the most part. The Bosko cartoons have come a looooong way! You don’t realize it when you view all of these cartoons one after the other, but looking back at Sinkin’ in the Bathtub and to now, there’s been major growth: in jokes, in writing, in timing, in gags, in voice acting, in backgrounds, in animation... it’s fascinating. And we have such a ways to go! It’ll be very exciting to see the growth of more cartoons. Next is the last Harman and Ising cartoon, We’re in the Money, and after that, a little buddy of ours is going to make an introduction.

Link!

63. Bosko the Musketeer (1933)

Release date: August 12th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), The King's Men (Chorus)

The final Bosko cartoon nears closer and closer! Bosko and Honey fantasize what it would have been like to be a musketeer.

Quite an impressive shot of all those flowers! It’s even more dizzying in motion. Bosko is leaping through a field tossing flower petals (as Bosko does), singing “She loves me, she loves me not”. Very jazzy and cute! It’s hard to feel down while listening to a happy, triumphant song accompanied by Bosko and Bruno dancing around.

Honey is also in the dancing mood, sweeping her valuables with glee—even a fish that she plucks out of its fishbowl! I guess you gotta commend her for keeping things clean. Merrily does she dust a portrait of Bosko, putting the duster on her head and puffing our her chest. She quips “You can be had”, a famous line of Mae West’s.

Bosko bursts into her house, just as she’s dusting a picture of the three musketeers. I know it’s to get the plot moving SOMEHOW, but the thought of having a giant portrait in your house of the three musketeers and appropriately labeled as such as hilarious. She croons to Bosko “Ain’t they grand, Bosko?” 

As always, Bosko tries to upstage any competition, scoffing “Shucks, that’s nothing!” he snags an umbrella out of the umbrella rack and pretends to sword fight with an invisible foe.

Honey sings “You would be a soldier”, which serves as a transition into an imagination sequence with Bosko sword fighting--the animation is very good. Lots of things happening at once, swords flying everywhere. Bosko runs to a keg and turns the nozzle, spraying beer in the face of his enemies.

Content with his feat, Bosko swaggers into a bar, and as we close in on his mouth a card pops up advertising “The three musketeers”.

Sure enough, the three musketeers are gathered in front of a fireplace, singing. Bosko introduces them as “Athos, Amos, and Andy”, Amos and and referring to the minstrel radio show of the same name. I love that they kept “Athos” though, who was actually one of the three musketeers.

Bosko declares “All for one, and one for all”, prompting the three musketeers to launch into another chorus. Elsewhere, Bosko uses his sword as a bottle opener and uncorks a bottle of alcohol labeled “New Deal, 3.2%”, an obvious reference to prohibition being outlawed in Roosevelt’s new deal. Bosko pours the beer into the first musketeer’s mouth, the second one swallowing, the third one doing some sort of silent burp. Funny gag, but reused so many times it doesn’t take me by surprise.

The bar crowd cheer on the musketeers’ singing, including a guy honking his roast chicken like a horn.

Of course, there’s always that one guy. A grizzly brute scoffs and swallows his turkey in one bite, so you know he means business. He also uses a bystander’s teeth to open a bottle of beer, taking a few hearty swings.

Remember Honey ? She receives a grand fanfare as the door opens to reveal her standing there. She seems awfully full of herself, crooning “Here I am, you lucky people!” 

She does a very endearing, fun to watch and upbeat tap dance routine. Bosko’s getting a kick out of it too, asking an old man next to him “Boy! Ain’t she keen?” he then proceeds to slap him on the back, knocking out the guy’s dentures.

The turkey swallower enjoys it, too. He rubs his hands together and jeers before picking honey up and planning to kidnap her. Shocker, I tell you! Honey cries and begs Bosko to come to her aid.

A simple “HEY!” from Bosko allows Honey to run off scot free as Bosko confronts the kidnapper. He calls him a viper, and together a sword fight is prompted. I love the above gag of the swords shaking hands before the duel! 

Cue an extended sword fight scene. Bosko snaps the kidnapper’s sword in half, and he summons a caddy to get him a new one, using his beard to sharpen it up. Genius! Bosko, on the other hand, resorts to a pencil sharpener.

With the fight back on, the kidnapper uses a bow to fire his sword, which snags a woman’s skirt. It’s no hoop skirt at all but literal chicken wire beneath her—little chicks running around her with a chicken at guard. I wasn’t expecting that, good gag.

As they near a lit fireplace, Bosko slams his foot down on the handle of a shovel, sending hot coals flying directly into the villain’s pants. He runs for the hills and honey claps for her savior, the background dissolving back into honey’s house. Even after Bosko is so triumphantly posing with his umbrella, Honey laughs “Oh, Bosko, I don’t believe that!” smugly, Bosko answers “Vas you dere, Charlie?”, a reference to vaudeville performer Jack Pearl and his character Baron Munchausen. Iris out.

For the second to last Bosko cartoon at WB, I’m a little disappointed! This felt like an entry from early 1932. It was just a bit boring and easily forgettable. The gags that were good were good, music delightful like always, animation impressive, but it just felt a bit stale and transparent. The kidnapper barely even has Honey in his clutches when Bosko swoops in, and she just goes missing for the next 2 minutes as they fight. Nevertheless, it has its ups and downs. I’ll provide a link as always, but don’t feel obligated to watch it this time around.

Link!

61. Bosko's Mechanical Man (1933)

Release date: July 29th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko, Singing Robot), Marcellite Garner (Honey), Rudy Ising (Robot, Ben Bernie), Lee Millar (Bruno)

Only 3 more Bosko cartoons left! How time flies! Here, Bosko builds a robot so he can get out of doing chores, but a malfunction assets he may just be better off scrubbing the dishes.

For a change, the cartoon opens with Honey. She’s happily scrubbing away at her window, and as she reaches on her tiptoes, we get an up-skirt shot of her. She notices the audience and shoves her skirt down and continues her work. Very amusing gag.

Bosko passes by her window on the outside. Like the casanova he is, he writes “I love you” in the glass. I’m always glad to see him have some sort of charisma or personality. He walks out of sight, and Honey comes back to the window. She pooh-poohs it, thinking some random stranger came by, but Bosko surprises her and she rescinds her earlier grudge.

Bosko, accompanied by Bruno, meets her at the front door, wooing her with some flowers that he stole last minute from her flower box. Happily she takes him by the hand and leads him inside, telling him how happy she is to have some help in washing the dishes.

The flowers aren’t the only thing that wilt as they droop out of Bosko’s grip—a great little gag and effective way at displaying emotions. Bosko frowns and suddenly laughs, saying “Who, me? Washing dishes? Not me, not me!” we fade out on him laughing...

...possibly the most entertaining transition we’ve had so far. Honey merrily sings “Ain’t We Got Fun” while Bosko begrudgingly scrubs away at the dishes. The little frilly apron is an added bonus for his humiliation. How terribly mortifying, right? 

However, Bosko’s optimism pokes through as he stacks the plates, shuffling them like cards and erecting his own leaning tower of porcelain. His sour mood is left behind as he skips around the house with the plates, Honey warning him to be careful. He doesn’t listen and skips outside to the porch step.

There’s a shot of Honey doing a take while a crash rings in everybody’s ears. Sure enough, Bosko sits on top of a protective coating of broken porcelain in a daze. He spots honey and awkwardly whistles, rocking back and forth, his “innocent as a lamb” approach satirized as he actually turns briefly into a guilty lamb. The timing in this short is impeccable, the jokes really pack a punch! 

A newspaper on the ground distracts Bosko from his guilt. It reads “ROBOTS WILL DO WORK OF HUNDRED MEN SAY TECHNOCRATS”. Ah, yes! The perfect way to never scrub a dish again: make your robot do it! Bosko immediately darts to his garage to perform some handiwork.

With various scraps and pieces (including a heavy wood stove for the torso), Bosko builds his mechanical man. I love the music in the background—it’s honest and happy, like Bosko’s personality. Him struggling to carry the wood stove to the beat of the music is a very nice accent, too. Honey sees Bosko tinkering in his garage through her window and demands that he help her, but he shrugs her off. An engine is the finishing touch, and his robot pal comes to life.

The robot sputters and jerks, but comes to a halt long enough for Bosko to pull a button that says “Free Wheeling”.

“Free Wheeling” is short for “Murder Machine”. The robot chases Bosko around frenetically, and he seeks honey’s Honey for refuge. There’s a great gag of the robot plowing through a number of rooms, the doors adding up in a stack and sandwiching Bosko in the middle. The robot then sets his sights on honey, who squirts perfume in his face.

Fun fact: perfume turns you gay. The robot acts effeminately, throwing sheets of toilet paper around happily while Bosko bangs out a tune on the piano to keep him at bay. All of the sudden, it snaps out of its fugue and turns violent.

With some quick thinking, honey shoves a record of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" inside the belly of the beast. The robot launches into a chorus of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", he, Honey, and Bosko doing the trademark “Bosko dance”. I love that, how one second he’s trying to obliterate them and then the next they’re happily swaying along to some music. Unfortunately for Honey and Bosko, the record has a crack in it. The robot stutters at “white as— white as— white as—“ and once more reverts to a frenzy.

Hand in hand, Bosko and Honey dart out of the house to save their skin. Bruno is still waiting patiently at the porch step, and is happy to see the robot, unaware of his crimes. The robot greets him warmly by using a telephone wire to electrocute him. Jesus! Always gotta have that cartoon violence! 

Bruno joins in the chase away from the sadistic hunk of metal. There’s a radio inside of the robot that signals “You are now in the hands of the dear old maestro”, a reference to Ben Bernie. Bruno is running at a crawl (if possible), but even he has managed to hide in the junk yard that Honey and Bosko are hiding in.

Bosko finds a spare stick of dynamite and tosses it at the killing machine, killing the killer. There’s some great animation of the robot malfunctioning (like the screen on its chest changing dates) as we iris out.

A REALLY good cartoon! Probably one of the best Boskos we’ve seen! Another addition to my favorites list. The pacing was nice and snappy, and the timing on the gags were done to a t. I can’t get enough of the gag where we fade out on Bosko laughing at the idea of doing dishes, and next thing you know he’s furiously scrubbing some porcelain. Bosko had some personality, and Honey even more so. Bosko’s attempts to woo honey at the beginning were endearing and likable. Overall, I certainly recommend this cartoon! It got some good laughs out of me.

Link!

59. Beau Bosko (1933)

Release date: July 1st, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Sergeant)

Two Boskos in a row! Bosko now finds himself as a soldier in the foreign legion, ready to capture the notorious scourge Ali Oop.

The sergeant in charge of the barracks blows the wake up reveille call. Predictably, no one wakes up as we have an array of amusing sight gags. Fed up with his lack of a response, the sarge storms into the barracks and shouts “HEY!” he’s greeted with a highly amusing, cheeky chorus of “Good Morning to You” by the soldiers. One particularly burly soldier sings “Good morning, dear sergeant, we’re glad to see you!” and makes a cutting motion across his neck. Love the charisma! 

A “SNAP OUT OF IT!” from the sergeant prompts all of the soldiers to dog pile on him and the mound of clothes he’s standing between. After the ruckus is over, there’s a gaping hole in the floor. The sergeant pokes his head out from the hole in a daze.

Ever the straggler, Bosko is still asleep. His soldier uniform takes a life of its own and tries to wake him up to no avail. The uniform opts to placing a horn to Bosko’s mouth, where he blares “Reveille” and wakes up. The uniform motions for him to make it snappy, and join the rest of the crew. Bosko snags his hat and chases after his clothes, diving into them last minute as he lines up at attention.

The gags are one after the other in this one! Bosko unzips the soldier’s backpack in front of him, where there’s a little faucet and mini bathtub inside—the essentials. Bosko turns the faucet and fills up the tub, splashing the water in his face and using the flap of the backpack to dry his face.

His routine is interrupted when a pompous man marches out to greet his soldiers. He calls Bosko at attention (“Attençion!” because he’s French), who marches up to greet him.

The general shoves a paper in Bosko’s hand and orders him to “Get this man!” Bosko opens the paper, where he gasps at a picture of “ALI OOP, THE DESERT SCOURGE”. I do like the pun names they give for the enemies in these shorts, such as Rice-Puddin’. Loyal soldier Bosko marches off and calls for the aid of a camel, and he slides on as they go to capture the scourge.

There’s a nice little gag of the camel approaching a tiny little puddle of water and drinking it up. A fish flops at the bottom of the now dry puddle, chattering unknown curses at the camel. Generously, the camel spits out a little bit of water, and the fish gives a thankful salute before diving into its own little oasis.

Bosko and his trusty steed approach a bustling village. There’s a snake charmer playing his pipe for the snake, who halts its dance to do a Jimmy Durante “HA CHA CHA CHA!” as you can expect, the villagers are caricatured and stereotyped.

Of course, Honey just so happens to be in that very village. She saunters over to Bosko, wearing a rather promiscuous see through harem outfit. That’s pre-code for ya! Bosko and Honey greet bashfully with a peck on the lips.

Because this is a Bosko cartoon, and bad things must always happen to him, he can’t rest for too long as Ali Oop and his men come charging towards them. Ali Oop throws a bunch of knives at the two, which stick into the side of a building. Bosko and Honey then (creatively) use the knives as a staircase, climbing to higher ground for safety. Bosko peers out of a window to see if they’re safe. A bullet that lands in his hat instead of his head gives him the definitive answer of no.

There’s an array of gags that are nicely paced and happen one after the other: a guy shooting bullets from his rifle, one of the bullets getting stuck and him pushing it through, Bosko finding a pistol and shooting it like a machine gun, the bullets knocking a jar onto the riflemen’s head and knocking him backwards with a domino effect of various pottery that hits ANOTHER guy, the interminable domino effect ensuing. It’s hard to describe—it all happens at once, and there’s so much going on, which makes it better.

Ali Oop is perched around a tree, shooting and the impact spinning him around the tree trunk. Bosko knocks a coconut above him with his bullet, which sends the coconut hurtling down onto Ali Oop’s head.

He falls onto a cart, and Bosko tosses a handful of spears that form a makeshift jail cell. Bosko and Honey make it out safely, Bosko calling for his camel. They hop on the camel, who ties his tail around the cart, and together they go back to the foreign legion with their capture. Iris out.

As always, the stereotypes were off putting (though Ali Oop is an amusing name), but this was a pretty good Bosko short. The gags were nonstop, one after the other, and the pacing was just right! It wasn’t one of those “Oh, a showcase of gags. Ha, that one’s funny... and then we have this one... and this one...”, which is how I felt watching Bosko the Sheep-Herder. I especially loved the beginning sequence where all of the soldiers sing “good morning to you” with such a disingenuous and sardonic tone. Bosko, like always, didn’t have much personality—his settings did. Music was good and animation was smooth. I’d maybe recommend it, just because the gags are interesting to watch, but as always express caution at the stereotypes.

Link!

58. Bosko the Sheep-Herder (1933)

Release date: June 14th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko, Sheep), The King's Men (Chorus, Bee), Rudy Ising (Grasshopper)

We’re entering the final 5 Bosko cartoons! Weird to think about, huh? He’s come a long way! Here, as the title suggests, Bosko herds sheep, but a wolf may brew some trouble.

Pied piper Bosko is playing away at his pipe, to the joy of the sheep bounding around him. He even grabs a sheep’s tail and pulls, causing the bell on its neck to ring.

There’s an extended shot of a sheep frolicking to the happy, flighty music of Bosko’s pipe. Good synchronization with the clopping sounds of its hooves and the pipe.

Hungry, the lamb eats a few flowers, each causing the same bee to fly into the air and run across the stem to avoid getting eaten. The bee mocks the lamb and slides across a blade of grass into a hole. Curious, the lamb peers its head into the hole, unaware that the bee has snuck up behind it. The bee grabs a burr and smacks it into the lamb’s ass, who gallops around in pain.

Cue a grasshopper, flitting from flower to flower. The lamb takes a bite out of the flower the grasshopper was in and swallows. Instantly, the insides of the lamb begin to bounce around as the grasshopper tries to find an escape. Standard gag (of course), but amusing nonetheless.

The lamb opens its mouth to grant the grasshopper an exit. The grasshopper hops onto a leaf, and takes out a block of tobacco. Guess he needed something to chill him out after his near death experience. He spits into a tulip like a spittoon and angrily hops away.

We’re reminded that Bosko is still there, playing on his pipe. He pets the inquisitive, worldly little lamb and plays some more on his pipe, leading the lamb in a march.

Only Bosko would be unintimidated by a beehive. He snags the beehive and jams some branches in it and squeezes, a swarm of bees pouring out of the branches with each squeeze, their buzzing similar to that of bagpipes. Bosko pipes along on his pipe, squeezing his makeshift bagpipes filled with bees. Very creative! Probably one of the highlights of this short.

Bruno is also in Bosko’s company, somewhat. He’s sleeping in front of a log filled with holes. Little animals pop out from the holes and jump up and down, Bruno’s snoring fashioning the wood into a flute.

Bosko puts a pause to his musical parade as he stops to heckle a squirrel, asking “Hey! What’ve you got there?” The squirrel politely sneers “NUTS!” and continues to gnaw. Bosko pulls the squirrel’s tail, opening its mouth wide open. He places the nut inside the squirrel’s mouth and pulls the tail down, cracking the nut (I wouldn’t recommend you do this, unless you want to get clawed in the face by a squirrel). The squirrel is delighted instead of angry and feasts away, Bosko giving a happy salute.

A neat visual is a group of sheep tearing a large block of grass to shreds like lawnmowers. They pause once to swallow, and continue to graze their way through. I especially like the leftover grass close to the fence, it helps the gag translate much better.

Another shot of Bosko parading around with his pipe, and then a shot of a hungry wolf who spots the lamb. It dives into a tree trunk, waiting for Bosko and his buddy to pass, then sauntering along with the tree roots as legs.

Hugh Harman must have thought Bosko awkwardly chewing on a sandwich from Bosko’s Holiday was the funniest thing, because we once more get a glimpse at Bosko’s insatiable appetite. The gag is gross yet funny, but loses its value after repeated use. Now it’s just like “This again?”, though strict budgets in the depression tend to do that, I suppose. Nevertheless, Bosko’s buddy leaps off and the wolf follows it closely.

To wash down his sandwich, Bosko prepares to chug some good old fashioned milk, but a herd of his sheep come bounding towards him instead. This is a good gag. Bosko takes off his glove and fits it around the top of the bottle and pours it upside down, each lamb getting a finger to suckle on.

Elsewhere, Bosko’s buddy eats another flower (this time salting it beforehand) while the wolf sneaks around in the background. Good change in music, from the happy go lucky nature of the sheep to the suspicious oboe/bassoon of the wolf.

The wolf spots a sheep pelt hanging on a cabin and takes it down, putting it on himself. A wolf in sheep’s clothing! The sheep and the wolf play call and response, the wolf imitating a sheep’s bay. The clueless little sheep hops up to his new friend, but quickly regrets that decision once the wolf tears off his sheepskin and growls at it, scooping it up and running away.

Bosko overhears his pal’s cries for help and summons Bruno to come to his aid. They dart to the cave where the wolf has taken the sheep hostage, and there’s a flurry of stars and lights and flashing as the brawl occurs offscreen (much like Bosko’s Fox Hunt).

Bosko carries the sheep out to safety, but Bruno and the wolf are nowhere to be found. Bosko frowns as the wolf saunters out from the cage, Bruno absent. He mourns the death of his faithful companion, when suddenly Bruno pulls back the wolf’s head on top of him. A dog in wolf’s clothing. Everything is resolved, iris out as Bruno and the sheep lick Bosko’s face affectionately.

This is one of those cartoons where it feels like it should’ve been an earlier entry, like early 1932 or late 1931. It wasn’t terrible, but certainly wasn’t as good as Bosko in Person or Bosko the Speed King, or even Bosko’s Knight-Mare. It felt like a budget had been gone over at some point, as the number of recycled bits of animation increased slightly in this one. The music was inventive and fun like always—I enjoyed listening to Bosko’s solo on his pipe. The bagpipe gag was very creative and amusing. Bosko’s personality fell flat, however. Even Bruno has more personality than him here. It was decent but rather slow, I don’t think it’d hurt to skip this one but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a whirl, either.

Link!

56. Bosko's Knight-Mare (1933)

Release date: June 8th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko), Rudy Ising (Black Knight), Delos Jewkes (Bass)

I wonder what this cartoon could possibly be about. As the title suggests, Bosko dreams that he’s a knight in medieval times, but quickly realizes it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Bosko is reading a book by the fire, lounging in his rocking chair, whereas Bruno is asleep, waking up to scratch at a flea.

Bosko excitedly tells Bruno the story he’s reading about knights, but Bruno is asleep. Undeterred, Bosko continues his read until the radio signals that it’s 8pm. He turns the channel and enjoys “Knights are Bold”, but falls asleep. Listening to a song about knights and reading about knights, I wonder where this could possibly go.

You guessed it. Bosko dreams he’s a knight, perched on a gallant horse. He sings a few bars of “Knights are Bold”, later switching over to “Young and Healthy”. His faithful companion Bruno is right behind him, also iron clad.

Bosko approaches a castle, guarded by a moat. He does a yell and the drawbridge drops down for him. A Looney Tunes staple as various doors open to reveal the inside of the castle—and a trio of squires trumpeting a fanfare. Their helmets snap shut in the middle of their blaring noise, and thusly cutting their trumpets in half. Great gag of the squires playing on their broken trumpets, the sound tinny and high pitched.

Eagerly, Bosko and Bruno cross the bridge, each doing a little dance. Bosko slides out of his suit of armor to the tune of “Shave and a Haircut”, and barges in on the knights of the round table.

Here’s something your math teachers and history textbooks don’t teach you: the knights of the round table were actually the Marx brothers. Huh! Who’da thunk it? I love all of the anachronistic elements here—Bosko’s jazzy dancing and singing and the inclusion of the Marx brothers all in the medieval era. It makes the entire premise a lot funnier. The Marx brothers sing, and there’s a great visual of two knights clinking their beer glasses together, the beer rising up in the air and then catching them with the next clink. There’s a great dancing sequence with “42nd Street” blazing in the background. I love the overlay of Bosko dancing and the knights dancing in the background! The quality of these cartoons has improved drastically, and will continue to do so!

In my last review, I joked about how we were overdue for a kidnapping. I spoke too soon. Enter the villain, a dastardly knight singing “Knights are Bold” on his horse. He wants to woo a certain damsel, who happens to be Honey. She’s having none of it, pooh-poohing him and griping “I don’t like that old meanie!” "Old Meanie" is the last straw for the knight, and he breaks a padlock with his teeth and breaks into her tower.

Honey begs for help, and Bosko stops his shindig to run to the rescue (along with his suit of armor, which he dives into). There’s a great shot of the villain climbing the stairs of the tower, and tiny little Bosko squeezing in beneath his legs and beating him to Honey. I have utmost respect for any animator who has to draw stairs—my condolences! 

Bosko tells the villain “Stop, you mug!”, but to no avail. The villain takes out a cigar and snaps Bosko’s helmet shut on the tip, cutting it off. He then flips Bosko’s helmet open like a lighter and lights it. That’s so creative and funny! Something about cigars makes them inherently funny to me, especially when you have cute characters or babies chuffing on a big fat cigar. They just look funny to me. A higher air of authority than a measly old cigarette. My ability to find humor in everything comes in handy. The villain blows smoke in Bosko’s face and puts him aside with ease.

Once more does Honey cry for help, but it’s too late. The villain snatches her up and jumps out of the window, aiming to land on his horse below. Technically he does, but he drags the horse’s ass with him a few feet in the ground. Nevertheless, the horse charges on, its now stretched out body carrying the kidnapper and his damsel in distress.

Bosko charges after them via donkey, but a lake blocks their path. The donkey bucks him into the water, where his suit of armor turns into a submarine (brilliant!). He follows the villain to his own castle, perched on top of a mountain with a winding, twisting road. The castle, like all things in '30s cartoons, is sentient, using its drawbridge tongue to throw Bosko inside. Another great, dizzying stair shot of Bosko chasing the villain up the stairs to his chamber.

In the safety of his own tower, the villain slams the door shut to keep Bosko out. Then, of course, Bosko pops out from beneath his bed and shoots him! I love unprecedented gags like these. The villain rolls up his sleeve (which is metal—great gag) and socks Bosko right in the face, knocking him unconscious. Honey begs for him to wake up, caressing his face.

Bosko DOES wake up, but to Bruno licking his face instead. Bosko bats him away and sleepily stumbles down the hallway in a fugue, stopped only by a suit of armor he just so happens to own. Not wanting a repeat of his dream, Bosko lets his grudge towards knights known as he uses the battle axe the knight is holding to smash it to pieces. Iris out as he happily jumps into the comfort of his own bed.

When I first read the title of this cartoon, I didn’t have high hopes. I’m not a big medieval damsel in distress hero swoops in to save her kind of gal, but I’m actually pleasantly surprised! Bosko was endearing as ever and the gags were creative and at their best. The animation was beautiful, from all the dancing scenes to chase scenes, and the music score only uplifts it further. I love the anachronisms in this cartoon (such as the Marx brothers), it made it funnier and certainly appealed to the lunacy of Looney Tunes. Overall, worth a watch! These Bosko cartoons have been getting better and better, and I’ll be interested to see how the remaining few turn out (10 more reviews 'til our buddy Buddy makes an appearance... the countdown begins).

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