82. How Do I Know It's Sunday (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 81.
Release date: June 9, 1934.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Cast unknown.
Animation: Frank Tipper and Don Williams.
Music: Bernard Brown.

Our cartoon begins on a Sunday morning with the sounds of church bells playing from the church as there are Christians entering the church in which they go to worship just like normal ones on a Sunday. The general store is closed on a Sunday (as most shops do), and it's one of them shops that are not open on Sundays. Anyway, the shop is rather empty and quiet. Inside this glass counter we see a packet of  anchor sardines that open and we see these sardines that are singing the title song, How Do I Know It's Sunday with a stuffed pig's head singing in a low tone.

We get these very dull scenes of these fish in a barrel that says "Pickled Herring". Even these ladies in the entertainment part also enjoy the song with the advertisement of the company called PINK RIBBON MALT with the motto America's Greatest Seller. We then get to see a gag, which I guess is pretty funny in which there is a lady potato singing, but is crying while she is standing next to an onion, but one question is - why does that potato have so many eyes, in fact - why do they even have eyes? We see a stereotypical gag with a box called Aunt Eliza (a reference to Aunt Jemina) singing a verse. Alright, I'm already getting sick of all these annoying songs that every Merrie Melodies had to have in the mid 1930's. I sure can't wait to surpass them.

All the other food and market items cheer on the song, and now these sausages inside a box called "Mexican Tamales", all stand up with one of them using a pitchfork as a guitar and they go into a melody (they don't sound much Mexican to me), but instead we see these oysters that clap with their mouths for rhythm. Then we see this annoying cartoony lobster dance. The legs and arms look very much like a balloon where it shines and really bubbly. Well, don't think you'll see him again because he is gonna be around a while in these 1934-1935 pictures. There is then a dance routine by these maids that came from a can called "Old Maid Cleanser", and they look rather Dutch with their clogs and all. We see a gag used with a "Searchlight" can that has a lighthouse with the light being placed on the maids dancing which is their spotlight.

We then hear these funny carnival sounds in which there are champagne bottles in which the corks fly out. We see the items from the market (like on illustrated cans) sitting on top of the fan. Then we see another can that has a waterfall in it, but then there is a little girl in a can holding an umbrella in which it stops the rain (and  somehow the waterfall turns into rain??). Man this cartoon doesn't make any sense to me. Then we see an Eskimo inside a can who is ice fishing inside a can that has ice cubes in it I presume. The fish that he caught then lands onto a cup of tea, and swims. One of the men illustrations from a cracker box runs to the girls inside a separate can each - enter inside and they sing the title song themselves. I guess I should say that the girls in there look cute, right?

The Eskimo then steps out of the product that resides, and goes on a bit of a journey where he uses toilet paper to slide down and runs to a house box that reads "Toyland Cookies" in which a gingerbread girl steps outside. They both go outside on some type of "date" together by skipping through the counter with other boxes, packages, up in display. Meanwhile there is a type of fly that looks at a type of meat, he then gets all the other flies to come by and they eat all the meat leaving the bones.

They fly around and then they nibble on a loaf of bread with a sticker that reads, "Russian Rye" the gag then turns into these flies dancing the Trepak (Russian dance). Well - is that meant to be the gag? Just that bit of Russian dance - it certainly isn't a funny enough gag just because it said "Russian" on it, but does that assume that after eating it they just suddenly start Russian dancing?

The gingerbread lady and the Eskimo are riding each other on a knife (using it as a seesaw), then the flies notice each other. One of the flies then shouts "Hey" as in (look at her), they can fly to capture the girlfriend - and I guess they count as the villain, so they fly after her and capture her.

This time I'm showing a complete attitude as though I really can't be bothered - although I should've added an "s" in villain since the antagonists are the flies. Anyway the flies then capture the girl, which means the Eskimo then tries to stop her. The eskimo then runs up these cans of sardines (formed like a mountain) and as he reaches the top, he bangs his chest and does a Tarzan impression which is the exact same as what Buddy did in Buddy of the Apes. WHAT WAS THAT I HEARD??? Friz Freleng actually USED IT TOO? Holy hell!

The Eskimo then grabs onto a piece of rope in which he flies onto one side in which he kicks all of the flies off the gingerbread girl that hold her hand, and then the Eskimo swings backwards and kicks off the other flies, in which it sends the gingerbread girl falling. They both get back up but run away from the incoming flies.

Then these flies start to try and attack the whole marketing characters, by using these type of safety pins and toothpicks, and firing at them like using a bow and arrow. One of the flies is then attacked by another package in which his head is struck by a mallet. The flies then start to light match and surround the entire market in which they threaten to burn the place, and they do. We see these items that then use champagne bottles to put the fire out which is a peanut that does that. Okay, truth to tell you I have no idea what to call these characters, because they're just characters from commercial art - and making them come to life just doesn't, doesn't even make it at all clear to me - I wish Friz Freleng will stop this "Harman-Ising" crap.

One of the characters then sucks up some syrup and squirts them at the flies with a squirt gun, and all the syrup lands on the flies and they all turn very sticky. Popcorn is then fired at the flies covered in syrup and they appear to be turned into one big popcorn. They then land into one of the boxes that reads "Popcorn Balls" very gently.

The Eskimo then shouts out "Hey" at the flies, but all the flies then turn to face him and they chase after him. He then jumps and hides into a mixer, but then pops out and traps them inside the mixer. He turns the machine on and all the flies shoot out and land inside a glass bottle. The Eskimo puts a cork into into the bottle, saves the shop and the commercial art characters - and that's all folks.

What a dreadful, dull, unoriginal cartoon. In fact this was the years when the directors had no coherence in their cartoons at all. It's such a shame that this has to be a part of history to us. It's been very hard to review this cartoon for me, and once this review is published and made available - I will forget this cartoon almost immediately. At best I'm ambivalent to some Friz Freleng cartoons in that era (and other shorts too like Jack King's) but most of them I actively dislike. For no other reason than their poorly drawn animation, recycled stories or bad pacing; or their irritating voice overs, songs, and overall shorts. If all you sentimental people think I'm joking - I'm not. Well, this was a pretty bad start to 2012, but I know that this will be a better year because we will eventually reach to the good stuff once Avery comes.