49. Bosko in Dutch (1933)

Release date: January 14th, 1933

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng

Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko, Goopy), 

Some milestones here! First off, this is my 50th review (counting Bosko, the Talk-ink Kid)! Already hard to believe. And yet we’re only 5% of the way through! I hope you’ve enjoyed these as much as I have! Also worth noting, this is Friz Freleng’s first credit as director! Granted, he’s co-directing with Hugh Harman—his first directorial short alone would be Buddy the Gob, released nearly a year exactly after this one on January 13th, 1934. Here, we observe Bosko and Honey in Holland.

Open to a wintry scene in Holland, where everyone is ice skating, including Bosko and Bruno. A little detail I love in this short is that almost all of the characters are donning clogs. Bosko is ice skating, with skates attached to his clogs. Even Bruno has clogs.

There’s an extended scene of Bosko skating and finessing his way on the ice with little tricks, Bruno carrying a cart full of milk containers, and even Goopy Geer doing his dance from Goopy Geer on the ice. The entire scene runs a bit too long for my taste, almost taking up exactly half of the cartoon, but there are some good gags.

Gags include Goopy twisting himself up while skating and untwisting himself, a wiener dog with a single skate under its torso, a family of ducks sitting in clogs while the mother skates on—one of the ducks pauses to go use the out-house and come back, ready to continue. Gotta love that bathroom humor! And here I was thinking about how Looney Tunes typically strayed away from that stuff—Bruno spilling a can of milk, prompting a bunch of literal catfish to jump out of a hole and lap it up, and a family of fleas escaping Bruno’s back, all wearing clogs with great sound synchronization.

Bosko approaches a building and rings the doorbell. Said building turns out to be a windmill! Even more amusingly perplexing, Honey lives in the windmill. She greets Bosko from an open window above, and Bosko grabs a hold of the windmill’s propellers (if you will), riding up to greet her.

Bosko asks “Ain’t we got fun?”, and before you know it, the lovebirds are singing and clogging their way through a fun rendition of “It’s Tulip Time in Holland”. I love all the clogs in this cartoon. Even every single little flea on Bruno had clogs—I would’ve loved to see them pitching that as an idea.

While they sing, two cats (identical to Wilbur) are ice skating to the beat of the music. They narrowly avoid crashing into an open gap in the ice, but after a jump cut of Bosko and Honey dancing and a repeat of the same footage of the two cats, the second time they actually DO fall in.

Festivities are interrupted when Bosko and Honey hear their cries for help. If they couldn’t hear them, a helpful text of “HELP” slides in from the window, even pointing outside. Gotta love it! Honey begs for Bosko to save them.

Heroic Bosko jumps out the window and lands in a pair of pajamas on a clothesline. He pulls himself over to where the drowning cats are and plucks them out of the water, signaling for honey to pull him back in. I love the music during this scene! So jazzy and alert! 

Just as Bosko’s about to return the cats to safety, the pajamas buckle under the weight and break, sending all three of them tumbling to the ground. The two cats crack the ice while Bosko lands on the cement, and the cats are stranded on a piece of ice as they head down some rapids (parallel to Honey's situation in Yodeling Yokels).

Bosko chases after them hurriedly, but he’s too late. The two cats get sucked into a drain under a bridge. Bosko runs to the nearest water pump and pumps his heart out until the two cats pop out, safe and sound. Bosko and honey pick each of the cats up, who shake hands together. Iris out.

This cartoon reminded me of the earlier Bosko cartoons, particularly from early 1931. Possibly because of the similar setup to Yodeling Yokels? It wasn’t the best Bosko cartoon, especially with what we’ve been seeing, but also isn’t the worst either. I loved the detail of everyone wearing clogs, and Friz Freleng’s love of musical timing is evident. The gag with the catfish was great too! Unfortunately, the whole skating scene dragged on too long for my tastes, but not enough for me to not enjoy it. Decent cartoon, nothing groundbreaking, but nothing horrible. It wouldn’t hurt you or amaze you to check it out, if anything, watch for its historical significance and see how much cartoons have evolved since then!

Link!

35. The Queen Was in the Parlor (1932)

Release date: July 9th, 1932

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Rudolf Ising

Starring: Johnny Murray (Goopy), Ken Darby (King), The King's Men (Chorus)

Another cartoon with Goopy Geer! As the title suggests, the king returns to his castle to find his queen in the parlor, refusing to see anyone else.

As all good cartoons do, this one opens with a swaggering king atop his mule, greeted to thunderous applause as he steps off and marches down the aisle, eating up the attention.

Quickly he grows tired of the “Long live the king!” chants, snarling “But where’s the queen?” A group of knights whisper “The queen!” to each other down the line (imagine “Hermie doesn’t want to make toys” from the Rudolph special. It’s basically that), including a stereotypical Jewish king at the end of the line. That certainly didn’t age well and makes me cringe as I watch it, but I digress.

A group of squires launch into a call and response rendition of “The Queen Was in the Parlor”, the king providing various interjections throughout. Love the barbershop harmonies as always! Gags including a mouse popping out of a knight’s helmet to interject a verse, and a dog (an actual dog) clad in armor itches itself through the armor and lets out a bunch of fleas that have been hiding.

Look at the personality in that walk! You know me, I’m all about my walk cycles and how they’re great indicators of personality when executed properly. Great example of a prideful, no-nonsense and ultimately hard-to-take-seriously walk! The king marches into the castle to see what the fuss is about.

It turns out the queen WAS in the parlor! Who would’ve guessed? She’s knitting away at a sock, while the poodle from the Goopy Geer cartoons (and Freddy the Freshman) is riveting away at a suit of armor. The king enters as his throne takes a life of its own and scuttles up to him, ready to be sat on in an act of servitude.

The king summons his jester, who is none other than Goopy Geer. Again, another great walk cycle! Unfortunately, it doesn’t say too much about his personality: it seems he adapts to whatever setting he’s in, whether he’s a lounge piano player, a redneck, or a jester. Gotta give him credit on his versatility, though! 

Goopy provides a few bars about the king (Old King Cole), who “called for his crooners three!” the dog on his jester stick(?) says “Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee!”, which prompts the Rudy Vallee caricature from Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee to pop out of a jack in the box and sing “For You”. I love my caricatures, so I find this particularly amusing, especially when Old King Cole hits Rudy on the head and gripes “I’D RATHER HEAR AMOS N’ ANDY!”, a reference to the popular radio comedy show hosted by Freeman Gosden (Amos) and Charles Corell (Andy). Unfortunately, as you can probably guess, the comedy show was a minstrel show—but it was adapted to television in 1951 where actual black actors took the stage. You learn something everyday! Even though I was oblivious to what Amos ‘n Andy was until a google search later, the delivery is spot on and the joke hits just as well. I’m loving this bastard of a king—finally, personality! 

After a brief impression of Amos ‘n Andy (again, this aged poorly), goopy skips down through the parlor, pressing his ear to a door. A dog, doing an impression of Tony Wons, asks “Are ya listenin’?” he raises his fist and asks “HMMM?” to which Goopy stammers “Yeah, I’m Walter Winchell”, referring to newspaper columnist and radio commentator Walter Winchell, known for trading gossip around. A few alcohol bottles explode and Goopy runs towards the camera, yelling “OKAY, CHICAGO!”, another reference to Winchell. Even though these icons aren’t at all relevant or known today, these jokes still fascinate me and I can only imagine how funny they were to a relevant audience! 

We have our standard Merrie Melodies dancing interlude, with Goopy dancing around and bouncing his feet off of a few spittoons. Fun synchronization as always! There’s also a shot of a cat (the one from It’s Got MeAgain!) hunting a mouse, but getting scared off once the mouse emerges from its hole, clad in armor.

Once more, the villain enters! He slams the door in the face of the fan-faring trumpeter, who blows out a few notes (sounding like a car horn) on his crinkled horn. The trademark “Harman-Ising flameball spit” comes into play once the villain spits on a suit of armor, reducing it to nothing but bones.

The poodle girl who was riveting a suit of armor is singing, and the villain advances on her, ready to kidnap. He runs off with her captive, but Goopy swoops in to save the day.

Spittoons, flaming spit, villains, damsels in distress, all of the essentials to a Harman-Ising produced cartoon all in one! Sword fights can also be added to that list as goopy and the kidnapper engage in combat. Goopy momentarily gets thrown into a cabinet, the crash forming a suit of armor made of pots and pans. Goopy charges are the villain, who swings at him. Now, a stuffed goat’s head falls on Goopy.

In the manner of a goat, Goopy rams into the villain, forcing his armor to break. The villain is exposed in his long underwear, and in some delightful, melty, rubber hose goodness, he mixes the shrapnel in a cocktail shaker (just like Bosko in Ups ‘n Downs) and pours himself a brand new suit of armor, iris out as he runs for the hills.

As for as Merrie Melodies go, this one wasn’t half bad! The highlight of the short was definitely Old King Cole. I love him! I wish he had a bigger role in the short, he’s oozing with personality and all sorts of great possibilities. No offense to Goopy, but he doesn’t do much for me. He’s pretty bland and lacking in personality, maybe even more so than Foxy and Piggy. He comes off as more of a plot vehicle than a standalone character. I enjoyed the celebrity references—I learned some interesting new information today (though Goopy talking in a minstrel dialect doesn’t age well at all, even for a quick joke, and the Jewish knight joke is in extremely poor taste). There are better Merrie Melodies out there, but there are worse ones, too. I’d give it a watch, just because the king amuses me so much, but it wouldn’t be a crime if you skipped it this time.

Link!

33. Moonlight for Two (1932)

Release date: June 11th, 1932

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Rudolf Ising

Starring: Johnny Murray (Goopy), Rudy Ising (Stove), The King's Men (Chorus), Marcellite Garner (Girl)

Our old pal Goopy returns! As you may have noticed, each of the 1932 cartoons has alternated between Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies consecutively, until now! Two Merrie Melodies in a row. Moonlight for Two has the dog and his girlfriend going to a dance, but, as always, trouble brews.

Look at that beautiful background! Already getting a beautifully atmospheric start. The little poodle from Freddy the Freshman and Goopy Geer meets this lanky goopy doppelgänger, who’s leaning against a tree and playing the harmonica while the poodle hums “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain”. Smitten, the dog greets her with a “Howdy, y’all!” and doing a little dance reused from Goopy Geer. Some birds atop a tree branch twitter and tweet, indicating there’s a flame between the two. Lovebirds.

Since it’s a Merrie Melody, the happy couple launch into the song “Moonlight for Two”. As is standard, the vocals aren’t the greatest, but the music is catchy regardless. There’s also a scene where they skip and frolic to an interlude of “Spring Song”, complete with the bird’s chirping in the background. What a creative little interlude! It certainly reminds me of carl stalling’s scores (he comes into the scene with Porky’s Poultry Plant in 1936, which is also Frank Tashlin’s first directorial credit).

Just because, the two of them hop on a cart that goes barreling down a hill towards a log cabin. They crash into the cabin but remain unharmed, the cabin logs neatly stacking up one by one to reassemble, good as new. A cartoon staple! 

Another obstacle blocks them in their path, this time a tree. They crash, and the cart turns into a wheelbarrow, with the lanky dog pushing his sweetheart around. They go over a bridge (that sags into the water, borrowed from Hittin’ the Trail for Hallelujah Land).

Cut to a good ol’ fashioned barn dance. We have some shots of two dogs square dancing (above), a goat using his foot as fiddle strings (strange substitute), and two mules with their tails tied together, forming a jump rope for a little cat to jump with.

Nighttime shots with a giant moon and the appropriate lighting like here make me so happy. They’re so beautiful! I love how rustic the setting is here, very nostalgic and cozy. The lovebirds arrive to the dance and crash the party.

Cue the dance sequence! The lovebirds do their thing, and in early 30s fashion, a wood stove takes a life of its own and shows off a jig of its own. These inanimate objects coming to live gags amuse me to no end, just because of how corny and trite they are. The background vocals for this scene are divine! Good music is so important to me in a cartoon. It can totally make or break a short. A bad cartoon can be saved with a good music score, but even the best of cartoons suffer if the music score is poor.

A wiener dog couple is happily dancing together, when one of the dogs chugs some alcohol (moonshine?). The alcohol is potent, and literally burns his abdomen, making him short and squat instead of tall and skinny like his girlfriend. No matter, they continue to dance. Disparity in height also makes for a good source of comedy, and here we see it work. Highlights also include a goat using his banjo as a spittoon and the goopy doppelgänger dancing rhythmically with the stove.

Is it a Harman and Ising cartoon without a villain? Of course not! Enter this rifle sporting villain, who immediately flirts the lanky dog’s girlfriend. The lanky dog cries “Stand back, villain!” and receives gunshots in response.

Lanky dog tries his best to dodge the array of bullets coming at him hot. As shown above, he lands in some spittoons in the midst of his panicked scramble, and dashed away, spittoon clad and all. He kicks them off, decking the villain squarely in the face.

Enraged, the villain throws himself on top of the dog, and the two of them tussle (complete with some blinding flashing action going on in the background).

Anthropomorphized wood stoves come in handy! The stove leans over and burns the villain twice, threatening to spit fire in his face. The wood stove corners the villain and blocks the dog from any harm, turning to the side to expose a crank. The dog turns the crank and hot coals shoot out of the stove at the villain like a machine gun, sending him running.

Thus, our story ends with the stove and the dog shaking hands. Iris out! 

This cartoon is relatively average as far as Harman and Ising cartoons go. The pacing is a little slow at times, primarily towards the beginning, but it picks up as time goes on. The backgrounds were stunning! They were very moody and beautiful, so that’s always a plus. The underscore was gorgeous, and the harmonized voices during the dance sequence with the wood stove were captivating. Unfortunately, a lack of distinct personality in the characters (and the female counterpart disappearing for half the short once more—seriously, it feels like every cartoon the woman just disappears!) does bring down the rating of this short, but there’s more personality in it now than there was a year ago or two years ago. Slow and steady! So, average cartoon, not terrible, but nothing outstanding either.

30. Goopy Geer (1932)

Release date: April 16th, 1932

Series: Merrie Melodies

Director: Rudolf Ising

Starring: Johnny Murray (Goopy), Rudy Ising (Waiter), Marcellite Garner (Girl), The King's Men (Chorus)

The background scoop on this one is weirdly fascinating. Enter Goopy Geer, a tall, lanky, piano playing dog. Surprising as it is, he WASN’T inspired by Disney’s Goofy, because it wouldn’t be possible.

Goofy made his debut in Mickey’s Revue, which came out over a month later than Goopy Geer on May 25th, 1932. Not to mention, he wasn’t even called Goofy yet. He went by “Dippy Dawg” (which does arguably sound more like Goopy Geer in terms of syllables, but again, a coincidence). The chances of Disney copying Harman and Ising are low, and it’s more than likely just an uncanny coincidence, but it’s really fascinating! Here, our titular canine plays the piano as we observe the antics of the night club around him.

It seems Goopy is quite a star as we open to a crowd chanting “Bring Goopy Geer!” in a nightclub. Exact recycled footage from Lady, Play Your Mandolin! displays a gorilla waiter skipping through the club, as well as reused (but not exactly ripped from the cartoon) animation of the hippo from Lady, Play Your Mandolin! asking of Goopy’s whereabouts.

Fret not! A Looney Tunes staple—a number of curtains rise, one after the other, to reveal a distance shot of our hero Goopy, greeted to a warm reception of confetti and applause.

No time is wasted as Goopy launches into a musical number. He tells us “I have not studied music, I do not know my notes!” before launching into a very impressive piano riff. I love the animation above, it’s so smooth and bouncy and addicting to watch! The music is just as addictive.

He’s briefly interrupted by three cats loudly eating soup. To adapt to the newfound sound, he plays the piano to the beat of their slurps. A gag is reused from Freddy the Freshman where one cat reaches for a piece of bread, the next one in line chews, and the third swallows. There’s also a scene of a cow eating some spaghetti to the beat of the music.

Goopy then launches into the favorite 12th Street Rag, a tune you might recognize. As the song rages on (and Goopy plays with his hands and with his gloves, who are floating next to him) the gorilla waiter asks a chicken sleeping in a pot of water for one chicken soup.

The chicken obliges and swims a few laps, dipping its butt in the broth one last time before hopping out of its own juices and drying off. I love that! I wish all soups were made like that. Maybe I’d be more willing to eat certain chowders and creamier soups.

The dog from Freddy the Freshman excitedly leaps on stage and converses with Goopy. She squeals that she’s got a new baby in “our” house. Wow, what’s been going on behind the scenes? Freddy was certainly left out to dry! Goopy is just as bewildered, for he asks for the baby’s name, and the dog answers she doesn’t know! A perfect segue for her to sing “I Need Lovin’”.

In the middle of her song, there’s a shot of a boy blowing up a balloon. It slips out of his grip and slides away, and hurriedly he chases after it.

Image in all of its crude goodness, the balloon slides beneath the legs of a hippo (from Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!) who GIGGLES excitedly. The hippo turns to see the boy and gives him a good smack in the face! Whew! The innuendo in these cartoons is wonderfully fascinating! Another gag that I wouldn’t be surprised if Bob Clampett had some sort of involvement in.

Pan to Goopy, who’s dancing away to the music. Beautiful animation! Although he doesn’t have any discernible personality, his moves are spot on. I love how rubbery he is! 

A turkey uses its feathers as a skirt and twirls around, while coat hangers (again from Lady, Play Your Mandolin!) dance to the beat of the music. The syncopation between the sound effects and the music is great! Undoubtedly, the music is the highlight of this cartoon.

The intoxicated horse from Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (see a pattern here?) also makes an appearance. It gets drunk and begins to hallucinate, looking into a mirror and seeing various monsters... And Ghandi. Although it is slightly annoying with all of the reuses of animation (but I’ve been binging all of these shorts, so they’re all still fresh in my mind) I think this is hilarious because it just comes TOTALLY out of left field. I wasn’t expecting it at all.

Back to Goopy, who’s tickling the ivory. The horse staggers up to him and spits, which turns into a flame, sparking an explosion.

The show must go on! Iris out as Goopy plays some bars of Nagasaki on his charred piano.

As far as Merrie Melodies go, this one was decent. There was a LOT of recycled footage, which, if you’re me and watching all of these at once, becomes a bit of a distraction, but it WAS The Depression. Inarguably, the music is the best aspect of the cartoon. It’s infectious! And Goopy, as transparent and lacking in personality as he is, is entertaining to watch with his various rubber hose dances. There have been better cartoons, but there have also been worse. I’d say you check it out just for the music alone.