22. Bosko's Fox Hunt (1931)

Warner cartoon no. 21.
Release date: December 12, 1931.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko).
Animation: Rollin Hamilton and Norm Blackburn.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

The short starts off with a group of dogs running through a field, and they are hunting for a fox, and it appears to be the chase is being leaded by an elephant. There is even a huge elephant who is riding a horse, and as the horse trots, the elephant almost squashes the horse while it trots, and then the horse's body grows back to normal size afterwards. I even wonder how the horse can hold such an elephant, most likely to have a strong back. After shots of seeing the dogs run, we see Bosko riding his horse whilst whistling. Looks like that Bosko is hunting to himself and not part of the gang.

We see the fox who is running away (a naked version of Foxy, perhaps), and he doesn't seem to be frightened of the hunters, either because he's brave or he can outsmart all the hunters without getting killed. He crosses a lot of rivers and streams from the hunters. The fox jumps from rock to rock in the river, also jumps to logs, jumps off, and swims to land. The whole escape scene of the film was too long, for my tastes, but I guess the cartoon was too short it added time.

Bosko appears to be NOW riding a longer and scrawnier horse, who has a very wobbly body, and only able to jump through bushes, his body is very low to the ground, and so is Bosko. With the body very low to the ground, the body hits bumpy rocks, that also hits Bosko as he bounces and falls back on the horse. Bosko falls off the horse, and he sees a log just by him, and he places it inside the horse's body so it doesn't keep wobbling all the time. Gee, wouldn't that hurt Bosko's buttocks while he's riding - we'll see? So, Bosko continues to ride the horse, until the horse halts when he sees an edge of a cliff that goes across another bridge. The horse spits the ENTIRE log out of his mouth and Bosko continues to ride along looking for the fox.

The fox continues to hide as if there is no danger coming whatsoever, so the elephant riding the horse, halts and uses his trunk as a trumpet to alert that he's located the fox. The fox is in distress, so he ends up hiding in a log, and just seconds of hiding, most of the hunting dogs run through the log without noticing. A dachshund comes by the log, and sniffs for any foxes about, he also kicks his rear end which almost covers the log. If you look very carefully inside the log, you'll see the eyes of the fox. The dachshund walks on not noticing anything, and the fox laughs, as he thinks he's too smart for them.

The fox notices Bosko coming by, and Bosko and his horse (who seems to have a better bodyshape now) is chasing after the fox - was there animation changes on the horses? The fox jumps over a bush, and notices a puddle of mud at the corner of the tracks. The fox pulls the mud onto an area where Bosko and the horse will jump and land - well, this is cartoon-land, and anything can happen. The horse jumps through the bush, and indeed lands into a pile of mud, with a SPLASH over the camera. The horse takes of one of his fur (like a jacket) and then twists it to get the mud stains off, and shakes the jacket, before going off camera probably to put it back on. Gee, it's been a while since I last saw a gag like that similar.

Suddenly, Bosko's dog Bruno (appears for the first time) out of nowhere (probably one of the dogs tracking the fox). Bruno comes up and licks Bosko on the face, but Bosko advices him to go and chase that fox, while Bosko will also try and shoot the fox with his shootgun.

There is now a chase sequence between Bruno and the fox, in which the fox chances directions to where he's running, mostly up and down. The fox also circles himself like a loop (also used in a chase sequence like Ain't Nature Grand). At one  point, Bruno has lost the fox (whilst hiding in the trees), Bruno starts to use his snout to track down the fox, at one point; he sniffs a tree root, but the tree grows legs and kicks Bruno in the face. The fox laughs at Bosko being kicked, so Bruno continues the chase after spotting the fox pop out again.

Bosko is running down chasing after the fox as well, with his shotgun. Bosko starts blasting out some bullets, but his shotgun goes all wonky that he starts mechanically turning and bumping himself at different directions. The fox hides in a foxhole so Bruno looks down to find it, but the fox comes out of a different and notices Bruno's bottom sticking out, and bites him in the bottom, which causes Bruno to scream, scramble and panic about.

Bosko spots the fox with his eyes, but the fox knows that Bosko has a shotgun, so the fox hides in his foxhole. Bosko knows that the fox is inside, and he sticks his shotgun down the foxhole. The fox notices that the gun is pointing at him, so he pulls the gun out into the other hole pointing at Bosko's rear, causing Bosko to fire and the bullets shooting him in the fanny. Bosko screams in agony, and cries "I'll get you!"

The fox hides in the cave (and that's the last we see of the fox), Bosko enters the cave himself looking for the fox. Bosko pulls a tail, thinking it's from the fox, but after pulling the entire creature out it turns out to be a huge warthog living in his cage, he goes ballistic about Bosko and Bruno and starts to chase after them.

Bosko and Bruno hide in panic, as they make a hide inside another cave but the warthog follows them inside. For a few seconds, we hear a lot of violence from coming inside, and we can tell because there are special effects like dust and stars coming from the cave, and bashing. Bruno is knocked out of the cave, but he tries to step back in to fight back, but a hand comes out and punches Bruno out of the cave. We continue to hear violence, as Bruno steps behind a rock and hold a club. The violence has stopped, Bosko steps out of the cave and sorted out the fighting going in. Bruno, stupidly whacks Bosko in the head with a club thinking it's a warthog. Bruno licks Bosko in the fact, Bosko finds himself conscious again, then they both shake hands - and that's all folks!

I didn't really think too much of this cartoon, except I felt that the cartoon wasn't really about much about the first three minutes of it, until when the Bosko finally starts hunting the fox. It feels that the beginning felt slow because maybe Hugh Harman wanted to add more time, as it probably was an overall short cartoon while presented.

I find it very interesting that in years later, there would be two cartoons that would be similar: Porky's Duck Hunt and Porky's Hare Hunt, but those characters in there being "hunted" would later become very famous Looney Tunes characters - Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Considering this cartoon was called Bosko's Fox Hunt we didn't see a "Fred Fox", or "Foxy the Fox" afterwards - probably because Harman-Ising didn't want new characters.

21. Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land (1931)

This is the first Warner Bros. cartoons that have been part of a category called the Censored Eleven, because the cartoon stereotyped a character there named Uncle Tom, we'll find out more on this review. Also, the last appearance of Piggy and Fluffy.

Warner cartoon no. 20.
Release date: November 28, 1931.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Directed by: Rudolf Ising.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Cast unknown. 
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Paul Smith.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

The short starts out with a riverboat saying through a river, and it appears to be similar to the riverboat that you see in Steamboat Willie, with the funnels blowing from one funnel to the other. The riverboat goes down some slopy waterfalls, in which the boat makes a shape while sailing down. There are also passengers on deck singing the title song, Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land.  With the main guy playing the banjo, and another with chopsticks, and another with some type of harmonica. There are also huge whistles onto the riverboat, and even a hut that's attached or tuged onto the riverboat that does a small whistle.

 Meanwhile there is ol'Uncle Tom who is on a carriage riding a mule, and it appears to he his niece Fluffy is riding with him, comparing with the outfit she's wearing - this cartoon must have been set in the 19th century in the South part of America. They appear to be singing a bit of music I can't understand (Update: Yowp points out that the song they are singing is Camptown Races which was a famous song that used to be a sung a lot in the South part of the United States, and also popular to blacks back in the 19th century), and it seems that Uncle Tom keeps bumping on his seat, and his mule that whinnies. Fluffy would scream when she sees the riverboat, "Oh there's the boat, Uncle Tom", and he would whip the donkey that makes the donkey sounds.

In the meantime, here is Piggy, who is steering the ship - and the scene where he's steering the wheel is just like another shot of Mickey Mouse steering from Steamboat Willie. Gee, Rudolf Ising sure liked to reuse old Disney cartoons made around their time back then. Piggy pulls the ship's whistles, and the biggest one has a crow that sticks out and makes a "coo-coo" sound from the whistle.

The ship finally docks to the harbor, and there are passengers waiting to board the ship that are cheering, Fluffy is one of them that boards the ship to get ready, and as she gets on, she says "Goodbye," to Uncle Tom. In the meantime, as the ship sails - there is a band that plays on the deck - again.

 It appears to be that Piggy and Fluffy are dancing on the aft side of the ship, then Piggy accidentally falls off the ship, and he hurts himself from the paddle wheel, and he lands onto the water, and climbs onto what appears to be a "rock" from Piggy's mind. Nope, the rock turns out to be an aligator from the river, who swims after Piggy, and now Piggy is in trouble. He swims onto a log, and he uses his tail like a propeller to speed away from the aligator and back onto the riverboat.

The gag where Piggy spots what looks like a rock is similar to the one in Bosko Shipwrecked.

Meanwhile, Uncle Tom is sleeping on his carriage while riding on the mule, he keeps getting whipped on the face from the donkey's tail, so he puts a rock and ties it on his tale, so he doesn't get whipped. Apparently, the tail is so wrong, that the rock smashes Uncle Tom off the carriage and into a cemetery. Uncle Tom looks at the horrors inside and shouts "Holy mackerel!" Uncle Tom walks along the graveyard, and a tombstone opens with bats swarming out.

 In fact, I haven't even mentioned about Uncle Tom yet and why it's part of the Censored Eleven. The main reason why it's part of the censored eleven, partly because the character is called Uncle Tom and stereotyping folklore on black people, and Uncle Tom was a  fictional character who was black. I've always thought that Uncle Tom looked like Uncle Remus, a bit.

The skeletons start to appear, and haunt the daylights out of Uncle Tom. The skeletons are singing off Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land and there is also a skeleton dog that comes out of the tombstone that barks. Uncle Tom then starts to panic and tries to run out of the cemetery, and there are skeletons chasing after him, and scaring him at different places of the graveyard. I must say that the whole skeleton sequence is very similar to The Skeleton Dance another Disney production made in 1929.

Uncle Tom jumps out of the cemetery through the broken pieces of the walls, and he finds a canoe and he jumps into the river with the rowboat, swims for his life and then drowns. Piggy sees that Uncle Tom is in trouble, and even he stands up and bravely announces, "I'll save Uncle Tom", and he's about to dive into the water, and his pants fall out in air, so he dives back, puts his pants back on and then he dives back. He manages to grab Uncle Tom who is drowning. What's interesting is that in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, it was said that Uncle Tom sold "down the river", and probably meant he drowned, and I assumed that it was used for this cartoon.

As Fluffy watches Piggy save Uncle Tom from the river, there is some type of villain with a curly moustache who takes Fluffy away from Piggy. Piggy rescues Uncle Tom from the river, and hears Fluffy's screams from the riverboat shouting for help. Piggy runs along to a "cargo hook" and he helps rescue Fluffy by attaching the villain's jacket onto the hook, and Fluffy steps off and joins Piggy on top of the hook. Fluffy looses the hook and the villain is being jabbed in the bottom by a buzzing saw, Piggy and Fluffy laugh at what is happening - and that's all folks!

That's the end of my review in this cartoon, when I saw this cartoon (already knowing it was part of the Censored 11) I didn't think the cartoon was VERY racist at all, but I guess the reason why it was in that group because it's stereotyping Uncle Tom who is a black stereotypes, and Uncle Tom was a character created by Harriet Beecher Stowe. I also thought the design for Uncle Tom didn't look very noticeable as a black person when I saw it, I thought it looked like another "ink" person, but with the mention of "Uncle Tom", it did give it away.

This was quite a crazy cartoon, and also quite an adventure, with the skeletons, and villains. They reused a lot of footage from Disney cartoons like in Steamboat Willie or The Skeleton Dance, which was largely noticeable

20. Bosko's Soda Fountain (1931)

Warner cartoon no. 19.
Release date: November 14, 1931.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko, Hippo, Wilbur, Mouse).
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Rollin Hamilton.
Musical Score: Frank Marsales.

I believe that this cartoon is the first appearance of Honey's cat, Wilbur - I think so, correct me if I'm mistaken.

The short starts off with Bosko who appears to be in a bar making sodas and milkshakes, or smoothies. He's mixing them for his ice-cream recipe and also whistling on the job, too. He is adding scoops of different flavored ice creams one different ends of the bar table. He runs up, through the plank of wood on the floor like a xylophone, scoops an ice-cream; and then he slides back down to scoop another ice cream flavor.

Bosko finishes making the ice-cream soda and then he slides it down at the end of the bar table, and even the soda ice-cream bumps onto unused soda glasses, and they make chiming sounds as the glasses get smaller, one-by-one. The soda is served to a mouse customer who is too small to reach the straw on the ice cream. He spins the stool upwards to reach the straw and tastes it. The mouse enjoys it very much, and then slurps so much that he gains weight.

 In the meantime, there is a hippo customer who enters (ToonZone confirms that the fat hippo was used in Foxy cartoons such as Smile, Darn Ya, Smile and One More Time), and now she's with Bosko? Well, she enters the saloon and Bosko looks back and recognizes her, and comments, "Well, if it ain't my old school teacher", and she greets with "Hello Bosko." Wait a minute, she was nearly fined by Foxy in One More Time, and now she is a teacher??? Since she has a huge bum, it takes up three stools, and she crushes them. She orders her fancy and then Bosko starts to make it. She also turns on the fan and feels the breeze.

 

Bosko is now making his old teacher a smoothie, and then he seems to be doing the job well, until his mixer suddenly breaks. The mouse customer at the far end laughs at the broken mixer. Instead of Bosko being insulted by the mouse, he has an idea to USE the mouse as a mixer. Aww, Gee Bosko - that's not a way to treat a customer. He then finishes making the sundae.

The hippo still has the fan on, and then Bosko serves her the sundae, but the fan blows the ice cream onto her face, and it was largely her fault because she had the fan on in the first place, and she complains and walks out of the door, Bosko laughs in an attitude like "What a fool", and laughing when someone complains to him appears to be one of his characteristics.

He continues to be making music through glasses, stepping onto the wood like a xylophone, etc. Suddenly, a sausage dog (dachshund) enters the saloon who seems to be going in there for no particular reason, rather nosy. He sees a plate full of sandwiches stacked up, and he eats them all up, and the inside of his bodies show the sandwiches sticking out. Bosko sees the dog, then he plays with the dog's stomach (with the sandwiches still sticking out) and plays it like a chordian.

Meanwhile, Bosko's girlfriend Honey is at home with her cat Wilbur teaching him a piano lesson. Every time that Wilbur plays the wrong notes in the piano, she makes a fuss about it. Wilbur is very bored of the piano lesson and cries, "I want an ice cream cone!" Honey promises an ice cream cone unless his behaves well, and to get on with the piano lesson. Wilbur is still bored of the lessons and demands an ice cream cone. Gee, that Wilbur sounds like a brat, who wants things (sort of childlike), and yet I found his voice very annoying and pathetic by Murray.

Bosko and the dog are still dancing, but Wilbur still wants an ice cream cone, and Honey promises one unless he'll be "a good little boy" and Wilbur gives in and replies, "Yeah". Honey reaches to the phone to contact Bosko at his soda bar. The phone rings, so Bosko picks up the phone and answers it. Bosko realizes that it's Honey and she orders an ice-cream cone for Wilbur "on the way", and Bosko accepts the order. He goes out and makes an ice-cream cone for Wilbur and steps out.

Bosko slides out of his window and then he goes onto his bicycle to ride to Honey's house to deliver Wilbur's ice cream cone. Whilst on the way, Bosko keeps on bumping onto lumps of wood through the planks in which the ice cream scoop flies up into the air and Bosko has to place his cone in a direction on which the ice cream will land.

Wilbur is still demanding for his ice cream, and his temper shows that he has very little patience. In time, Bosko knocks on the door; and Honey answers the door "Come in", and then he delivers the ice-cream to Honey not realizing it was for Wilbur, and Wilbur storms in and shouts "Hey that's mine!", he takes a lick of the ice-cream and he bursts with a tantrum by shrieking at Bosko, "I don't like vanilla!", and blows ice-cream on Bosko. Wilbur runs off as Bosko starts to chase after him.

There is a bit of action going on in this finale, where Bosko chases Wilbur up the stairs; and then Wilbur swings onto a pendulum and kicks Bosko in the face, that almost knocks him out. Wilbur slides down the handrail and removes it, while Bosko slides down and he hits a lot of the posts in the crotch. He then slides onto a "cart", and then he ends up flying out the window, and a safe landing by landing onto a pile of long underwear, hanging by the washing line. Oh no, Wilbur comes in and pulls the washing line forwards, and removes the rear hatch from the underwear in which Bosko falls onto a tub with soapy water, Bosko looks at the camera confused with undies stuck on his head - and that's all folks!

That's the end of the review, my views on this cartoon: well, I didn't really think much of it. It has a story, and I guess that it is a good thing, there isn't too many reused gags (probably except the gag in Hold Anything where Bosko plays the goat as bagpipes), but the dog used as a chordian was better developed. I also really don't like the character Wilbur because he's such a brat and short tempered, I guess that children were like that back in the early 1930's, but I'm not that old to know that.

19. You Don't Know What You're Doin' (1931)

A new Merrie Melodies cartoon that hasn't got Foxy in it, this time it's another brief character, Piggy.

Warner cartoon no. 18.
Release date: October 21, 1931.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Directed by: Rudolf Ising.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Starring: Orlando Martins (car).
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Norm Blackburn.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

 The cartoon starts off at a music hall where there is a lion conducting music and there appears to be a jazz session going on (there is even a rabbit who taps the conductors' butt cheeks for drum rhythm), and then the music continues. There is a huge crowd gathering in the theater. Meanwhile, Piggy (our new character) is riding on a type type of motorbike is driving to his girlfriend's house, Fluffy.

As soon as Piggy parks outside Fluffy's house, the fumes almost explode and Piggy jumps. We see Fluffy in silhouette powdering, putting makeup on, and humming to music. There is a gargoyle on a fountain that Piggy is standing near, and he pushes it's belly button and then the gargoyle comes to life playing horns (which could be another type of doorbell??). Fluffy is ready for the date out and then they go on the motorcycle.

 As soon as Piggy and Fluffy arrive outside the theater with crowds in the background, the motorbike has a bumpy stop and the usher laughs at the motorcycle and at Piggy and Fluffy, too. The usher realized that it was rude to laugh and covers his mouth, and then allows Piggy and Fluffy to go through. They both ignore the usher and then the car ignores him and walks under his leg and then dust comes out of his exhaust pipe (like a fart?) and then the dust from the motorbike covers the usher in black, and it's a black face stereotyped, and he shouts to the audience "MAMMY", they used the repeated gag that was used in earlier Bosko cartoons - AGAIN?? Ok, this is getting tiring the whole "Mammy" concept.

Notice that the crowd in the background at the start of the scene are cheering and waving their arms around, for a while there is ahuge freeze frame that lasts seconds, and until the usher cries "Mammy" the crowd start laughing. In my opinion, this is a very bad freeze frame, I guess that the crowd had to be quiet and not too much, and that animation wasn't go great in 1931, but not a freeze frame that matches so badly. I also noticed that the scenes of the crowds cheering feels like that there were no "inbetweens" placed on the key drawings.

 As soon as Piggy and Fluffy enter the music hall, they come to the front where they see a hippo playing a trumpet (part of the orchestra). He pulls his bib and then it rolls up and hits the hippo on the neck. The hippo is complaining (this is speaking in a different language backwards?), and then Piggy and Fluffy laugh.

On that picture above, there is something that bugs me, and it's the dancing cats doing the can-can. What puts he off is the colour used ion the stage, I mean - what are they? Are they ghosts? The colours don't match very well, and it makes me think what type of ink did the inkers use?

As soon as the music finishes, everyone in the hall applaud and enjoyed the music. All, except Piggy who razzies at them and comments about them, "you don't know what you're doin'", and I guess what he means is that they have no taste of music, and don't even know what bad music he thought they were playing. Fluffy seemed annoyed by Piggy taunting them, as you can see in the facial expressions.

There is a trumpeter in the orchestra, who seemed offended by Piggy, and communicates to him by playing the trumpet with the sound going "Oh yeah?", and then it seems that Piggy and the trumpeter communicate towards each other through the woodwind instruments, Piggy using the saxophone, and the other with his trumpet.

Meanwhile, there are three drunken dogs on top of a balcony, who appear to be making annoying sounds and laughing, and then one of the drunks sing a verse on You Don't Know What You're Doin' and the other drunks join in. Piggy starts to sing the tune too, and they are singing the song through argument. Huh, I don't know the lyrics too well, but the title song would work for an argument.

After the drunks have finished singing, there is a round of applause from the audience who liked their singing, and they throw objects up as part of the cheering. One of the drunks jump off the balcony and lands on stage with Piggy. The dog takes a drink out of his booze and then shows his breath on Piggy's face, and causing Piggy to go dizzy. The breath causes Piggy to go drunk, I never really thought of breath of alcohol can get you drunk, mind you I've never drank alcohol so I don't know. There is some good acting here, and the fact that when the dog shows his stinky breath, it really looks like it smells bad.

Piggy and the dog both step outside int he streets, Piggy is holding out a bottle of alcohol and pours it in his tank like gasoline, and then the car starts to breathe (voiced by Orlando Martins), and then the car starts to run like crazy. Piggy starts to chase after the dog, with a crazy animated background, and the whole part is mind of mad, and what you would see if you took drugs. The roads are even animated when there is a big hill and then when there is a small hill, it's sort of like a real acid trip, this sequence. The crazy music even adds the finishing touch. Also, the drunk also walks along wasted following the car.

While Piggy is finally in the car, he seems to have some hallucination where there is towers and buildings that are dancing too, although I don't know if this is being shown as a hallucination. The hills are being animated for no reason, that once it goes high up, the dog slides backwards. The dog sees some type of monster (ToonZone confirms it as a sewer drain) and the dog screams right at the camera. Piggy mysteriously falls out of his motorbike and falls down and lands in a car with the drunk dog, and then the car stops at an edge of a cliff, drops them in trash bins, and then they finish the finale - and that's all folks!

This was an interesting cartoon to watch. I thought that the beginning parts were sort of bland and a typical Harman-Ising cartoon, while the second part was like an acid-trip with the crazy animation of Piggy and the dog drunk, and the crazy backgrounds. This wasn't a bad cartoon to watch, I'd say - even though it was crazy.

I must admit, I've never really was fussed about the idea of two pig characters and that they look cute. Personally, I find pigs kind of ugly - and I prefer the concept with coupled characters like foxes, mice, cats, etc. A male pig and a female pig just doesn't suit me in my taste.

18. Bosko the Doughboy (1931)

Warner cartoon no. 17.
Release date: October 17, 1931.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Cast unknown.
Animation: Rollin Hamilton and Carmen "Max" Maxwell.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

It's been a while since I last posted a review (about a week), and I'm back to posting more reviews for you all to watch. I've heard from others about Bosko the Doughboy recently and asked me what I thought about it. Wikipedia mentions that this cartoon is one of the best "Bosko" cartoons Looney Tunes cartoons in that Harman-Ising era.

 The cartoon starts off with machine guns firing and a lot of shooting is going on. The layout settings look like the cartoon is set in World War One (similar to Dumb Patrol). There is a shooter who appears to be the enemy that is shooting, and also shoots at the camera. There is a shot of a cannon shooting bombs one a time, and then a bomb flies from an off-screen cannon and explodes the cannon, and there is a gag on which the cannon quivers and twitches, until finally dying. That must have been some good acting  back in the early 1930's, even with weight.

There appears to be some type of ostrich that comes out of the parapet, and the bird has a bayonet and is about to attack, and then a bomb comes out of nowhere and explodes on the bird with a huge hole on his stomach, and he salutes before dying and landing onto a pond. There is even a band walking past the trenches playing music before getting exploded - gee, why would they be making a parade during a war going on?

 In the meantime, Bosko is under the parapet who seems to be enjoying his breakfast and eating some baked beans. He's enjoying his meal and he opens his mouth while eating, which appears to be a characteristic habit of Bosko. So, another bomb comes out of nowhere and appears to aim directly at Bosko's breakfast, and his food has vanished. All there is left for Bosko to eat was a tiny bit of cheese in a mousetrap, and I just wonder how he didn't snap his fingers by taking the bit of cheese on.

After Bosko's breakfast destroyed appears to be a tragic to him, he sits down under the parapet miserably, and then he pulls out a picture of his girlfriend Honey, and starts to kiss the picture. Another bomb comes out of nowhere and destroys Honey's picture and Bosko threatens revenge by shouting "I'll get you!" He starts to climb out of the foxhole with a bayonet, but a lot of bullets are fired at Bosko's helmet, and his helmet hits him back on the head and he falls off the ladder.

It's kind of strange for me to notice that a lot of gags appear to show bombs aiming directly at objects, and blowing up the objects and Bosko not being injured at all.

 Bosko falls back down looking very dizzy, while there is another cadet member who chuckles, and pats Bosko firmly on the back and says "Cheer up, buddy", he seems to be a light-hearted character who doesn't seem to worry much about revenge and war. He gets out his harmonica, so he and Bosko start to dance into music played from the harmonica. They walk along the planks like a xylophone.

 During the song that is playing, there appears to be another doughboy who is sleeping, and there is a flea who flies in and chews the doughboy in his pants. The cadet becomes very itchy and he starts scratching, also scratching outside by the wall. Bosko comes by with a wise idea to take the itching cadet's helmet off and hold it upwards (with bullets coming past shooting the helmet with holes drilled inside it), and the dog uses it as a back-scratcher, and lots of fleas inside fall out, thanks to Bosko. There are a lot of facial expressions for that itching dog.

 There is now a whole assembly line of cannons shooting out, and I have to say that the cannon shooting was wonderfully animated, and it reminds me of animation of World War Two cannons animated. A bird comes out of the trenches and steps up the ladder, so he plays his trumpet for announcement. So, all the troops run up with their bayonets to prepare for battle, and then the bird explodes from a passing by bomb. All the other troops march out and run to battle with their enemies.

 Bosko starts to walk out of the trenches and fight, and there is a good gag on which there is a war with animals: instead of war planes, they use pelicans to fly, with their beaks for bomb dropping. The pilot appears to be a mouse, and all the other big animals are having a battle over TINY MICE? Well, if that's the most craziest war ever, I don't know another bizarre one ;-).

As one of the bombs drop from the pelican, Bosko and the dog hide and scram - and the bomb explodes. The bomb explodes leaving the dog lying on a branch of a tree and Bosko's clothes tatty and ruined. So, as Bosko realizes that the dog is hanging onto a branch, Bosko grabs a bomb, and places it inside the dog's stomach and Bosko pulls his tail and the bomb shoots out of his body like a slingshot. The bomb hits the pelican and the mouse pilot, and then the pelican falls down in flames and it's MAYDAY.

Bosko and the dog laugh at the pelican falling down, but their timing with laughter ran out when a load of bullets are being fired directly at the dog's stomach, and parts of his body is being torn, and then there is nothing left in his stomach and he shrinks to a smaller size, and runs off hiding in a crater.

 

 Bosko goes off with his bayonet and starts to fight his way through the passing by bullets, and he hides under a crater with a hippo cadet from the enemies shooting. The shooters firing at Bosko and the hippo are two baby birds firing with a machine gun in their birds nest. The hippo tries to be brave, and demands "I'll get him, buddy!", he runs out and tries to run through the bullets and he seems to be succeeding.

A cannon shoots out from a crater and a bomb lands into the hippo's entire body, and the bomb bounces at different parts of the body (I love the sound effects that go "boing" during the bomb bouncing), and then the hippo is dying and cries, "They got me Bosko, they got me", and then he falls down unconscious.

Bosko stands out of the crater, and remarks "I'll save you, pal", and then a whole load of bullets start shooting out. So, Bosko has to run through an army of bullets and dodging them. He uses his bayonet and he ties a piece of long underwear and runs out with it. A bomb manages to land in the long pair of underwear, and then the piece of underwear come to life and as the clothing walks to the cannon, the bomb falls out of it's hatch and then the cannon explodes. The war is mostly finished at the end of this cartoon, and Bosko runs up to the dying hippo and saves his life by unzipping his belly and placing the bomb out. Not aware that the bomb was near, Bosko and the hippo celebrate, and the bomb explodes in time, and Bosko was a "blackface" and cries "Mammy" and - that's all folks!

Now that this is the end of the cartoon, I have to admit that since this cartoon was considered one of the best Harman-Ising Warner cartoons, I have to say that that I don't really care about this cartoon much. It's sort of similar to Dumb Patrol but the story is different, except that the theme focuses on war. The gags were quite good, but it's not a cartoon that I care very much about, even watching it again.

Off Camping

Sorry but I'm on another break - AGAIN> I'm going camping for a few days, and I promise I will be back by August 26.

17. One More Time (1931)

The last of the Foxy cartoons - we haven't seen him very much, haven't we?

Warner cartoon no. 16.
Release date: October 3, 1931.
Series: Merrie Melodies
Directed by: Rudolf Ising.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Paul Smith.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

 

The cartoon starts off with Foxy and he appears to be a police officer and is in service on looking after the city streets and he's swinging his baton at the tip of his finger. As things were going well, there are fast cars that are zooming in fast and Foxy brings out his baton as a warning for anyone going over the speed limit, "One more time, just one more time!" Foxy shouts back at the cars, "One more time", again and then a mug from a bin pops up and shoots Bosko's hat into tiny pieces, Foxy gets him back by getting out his gun, in which it extends with a little mouse attached and hits him with a mallet on his head, until he passes out and Foxy closes the bin doors and it sounds like he replies, "No more crime big bully, no more crime."

It seems that the gag with a mouse hitting him on the head with a mallet is a type of gag aimed for younger audiences so it's not as violence as seeing bullets shooting out, or other gun shooting violence going on.

Meanwhile on the road, there is a a hippo on the road and it appears to be the same hippo from the previous Foxy cartoon Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! There is a small mouse who complains that the large hippo is in the way and honks the car at her, because the mouse wants to pass by. The hippo ignores what the mouse says, and won't let the small car past through. The fat hippo complains of the mouse driving in front, and the mouse laughs and razes at her. The hippo is furious and then goes at full speed ahead and drives through the mouse's car.

The hippo in her fast car almost runs over Foxy, and then Foxy starts to blow his whistle and blows so hard that his pants all down, and then he pulls them back up and runs to the car, to try and stop her. Foxy warns her that she is fined by saying "One More Fine", and then he writes a ticket of charge, and then the pencil point breaks while writing and sharpens his pencil by using the "hood-ornament" mouse in front of the car. The hippo starts to beg for Foxy not to fine him, and starts bawling and Foxy has had enough of the crying and then puts a bin on top of her head and walks out of the scene. Gee, is this what a cop is supposed to do?

Bosko continues to walk down the streets and swinging his baton, and then his baton falls out and hits him in the head; he steps up and does a John Sullivan pose, and he was watched by his girlfriend, Roxy and his unnamed dog. Foxy stops preparing to fight and then meets Roxy and her dog, and then her dog comes up to him and gives him big juicy licks on the face. Roxy giggles and says "Ain't that cute?", and now that's gone to Merrie Melodies when it was a usual Bosko catch prase.

I have to say that the voice of Roxy just sounds a lot like an early Minnie Mouse, was it Marcellite Garner; the original voice of Minnie who provided the voice for Roxy maybe, or was it Rochelle Hudson used again, or a different actress? I don't who voiced Foxy, does anyone know?

Roxy starts to play the piano and play the keyboards. Roxy's dog is still licking Foxy and then Foxy has enough and then he pulls his dog's tongue and ties it around his mouth so he wouldn't be licking anymore. Foxy uses Roxy's dogs teeth for the piano sheets which is clever, I guess. As for the song, I don't know the title for it.

Meanwhile, there is a bird in a small car with a gun and appears to be shooting at a hippo entrepreneur, and then the hippo ends up facing a wall with nowhere to go. So, the criminal steals his golden watch from his waistcoat and then the hippo starts bawling. The police hear the scene and make their way to watch the criminal and then use an ornament cat as their siren.

Foxy is also chasing after the criminal bird and as the small bar goes under a log, and then the car gets bigger with bigger criminals at the back of the car, and then the car turns and chases after Foxy. Even the car exhaust pipes go off and Foxy is covered in black dust all over with only his eyes visible. One of the thugs spit on Foxy and then he tumbles backwards. Another thug gets out a hand grenade and throws it at the police van and explodes, causing the police to fall into some mud in the middle of the road.

So, Roxy is waiting concerned at the side of the pavement and then the car where the criminals are grab Roxy, and then she is screaming for "Help!", and then it's Foxy's duty to rescue his girlfriend. Foxy uses a "mechanical horse" to chase after the criminals. He manages to grab Roxy safely out of the van by extending the horses' neck, and then the criminals chase after Foxy.

So, Foxy and Roxy ride on the mechanical horse and they go inside a prison cell where the van follows them. As soon as the van follows Foxy and Roxy, Foxy comes out of a manhole and closes the gate quickly and the criminals are locked up. Foxy and Roxy celebrate and the mugs in prison say the last verse of the song, "No more time!", and then the criminal bird comes out of the manhole with a machine gun and shoots at Foxy's bottom and he screams in pain and then - that's all folks!

Well, that was a rather good ending to end Foxy's short career in cartoons - being shot in the buttocks, don't mean to sound like Forrest Gump. I guess that Rudolf Ising didn't know Foxy's fate and maybe the audiences didn't like him in the theatres and his reign on Merrie Melodies was cut too short, and then that was his last cartoon, or maybe Rudolf just wanted to add new characters into every Merrie Melodies short.