110. Buddy Steps Out (1935)

Warner cartoon no. 109.
Release date: July 20, 1935.
Series: Looney Tunes
Supervision: Jack King.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Jackie Morrow (Buddy) and Bernice Hansen (Cookie).
Musical Score: Bernard Brown.
Animation: Chas. "Chuck" Jones and Bob Clampett.

We iris in to see Cookie's house as Cookie is posing in the mirror ready for her date out with Buddy. Cookie hears her pet canary in her cage chirp in which she lets it out to rest on her finger. They are both singing the song (well the bird is chirping to) About a Quarter to Nine. Goodness me, whenever I try to get a bird to rest on my finger; they'll just scatter off. As Cookie and the canary sing the brief song she hears the doorbell ring. Cookie approaches to the door - and who else could it be? Our hero and favourite character, Buddy. *Ahem*, pardon me - apologies! I meant - our "bland" hero Buddy. Buddy greets Buddy as Cookie does the same and she lets him in. They both put their jackets on and leave the house.

The canary inside the cage then flies out to see if Buddy and Cookie have disappeared. The canary then starts to fly out of the house and starts to chirp to some merry songs in the cold air. Brrr. There appears to be some type of snowstorm going on outside in which it the canary doesn't have enough strength to fly past and ends up being snowed back into the house. Poor canary.

Meanwhile inside the house; there is a picture frame of Buddy that comes to life. Buddy is holding onto the picture frame itself so that he doesn't blow away that easily. Buddy steps out of the picture frame which is why the title is called Buddy Steps Out. Buddy then opens up the hardback cover of a book for him to step over to the window sill. He jumps to climb on top of a window opener in which he wants to close it shut. The blizzard makes Buddy struggle in which he asks for "help". Mmm, I've always noticed in these cartoons; so many characters cry "help" in situations and want help. Meanwhile there is a ceramic figure of a body builder holding a globe who probably resembles Atlas in mythology.

The muscly ceramic figure then approaches the scene in which Buddy struggles. He drops Buddy off the window opener and onto the book. The muscly figure then closes the window. Wait a minute; what about the canary - that bird has to get back in somehow. The muscly figure then pulls Buddy out of the bookcase in which he thanks the figure as he returns back into the picture frame. Meanwhile the canary is sitting on top of a roof but then flies back to the house. OH so the canary wasn't forgotten then - good. The bird is sitting on top of a windowsill in the freezing snow. Bless. The canary then starts to use it's backside to wipe the window and pecks on it trying to get anyone to help open the window.

Buddy inside the picture-frame then listens to the sounds of the bird tapping the window and he steps out trying to help out. Buddy walks to the book again in which he opens the hardback cover to the window sill and tries to open the window himself but doesn't have the strength. Buddy then calls for muscly figure who is called Atlas, he shouts "Atlas! Atlas! Give me a hand, Atlas ol'boy". Altas then approaches to the window sill and opens up the window easily as Buddy asks him to help out. The canary is standing very stiff and frozen due to the exposure outside. Buddy pulls the bird off the snow and takes it inside.

Buddy starts to wipe off some of the snow that has landed onto the canary. Buddy thinks and scratches his head on what he will do to help out Cookie's canary. Buddy then thinks of an idea and carries the frozen canary "Poor birdy", Buddy says. Buddy walks down to the blinds in which he slides down the window blind with the string. He then manages to get up another part of a window blind and he turns on a luminaire. Okay; so what's the plan gonna be?

Buddy then places the canary on top of a small dish carried by a statuette from the lamp. Buddy then walks to get a lighter and lights fire at the bottom of the small dish in order for the pigeon to thaw. The canary starts to thaw but then he sneezes in which the ice-cubed had already been melt into water and sneezes water onto Buddy. Buddy walks to the canary to give him a hanker-chief as he sneezes. Buddy giggles and says "Blow your nosey", and it appears that the canary seems to blow onto the hanker-chief like hearing a horn sound.

Buddy ties the cloth around the bird's head in which the canary feels much better. Buddy gets a kiss on the cheek for that. The canary then starts to fly to a radio in which he is about to turn onto a button. The canary then starts to fly back to a box as it looks like and sings in a very chirpy attitude. With the cloth around the canary's head that Buddy did - would this count the canary as being a female then?

Buddy is therefore on the spotlight as he is dancing on the floor. At least the animation of Buddy dancing on the spotlight is in fact pretty good animation. There is another ceramic figure who already has "stepped out" and he is controlling the lights by using the lamp. He lowers down the lamp for Buddy to continue his dance movement. Finally; some dance movement that is in fact really interesting to look at. The tap dances are in fact pretty good. It's rather a mystery of course on who animated that and I'm not gonna bet who animated that scene since you can make mistakes in animation IDs easily.

Meanwhile there is a joker inside a card that also steps out by doing the similar dance routine that Buddy is doing. As a matter of fact; the dance that the joker is doing is a little more loose in my opinion since he moves a bit more. he lands on a small pot with a similar type of chest draw and comes out with a cigar in his mouth. Meanwhile there is a group of blonde girls inside a can of soup called Gamble's which is of course a spoof to the company Campbell's. Bernice Hansen did the Gamble's soup girls singing. The next part shows a pig inside another merchandise company that associates with ham.

The next sequence then shows a fly that is rowing and also singing Avalon. There is a soldier inside a can of insect spray. The soldier then steps out and sprays on the bug. The slug then starts to swim to a box of suds in which it all falls down. The insect sings I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles. The gag is that the insect DOES in fact blow bubbles while  in the sink.

Meanwhile the inanimate clock then looks out the window which is a sign that the real-life Buddy and Cookie are returning home. Buddy and Cookie are walking back to Cookie's house in which they have to fight through a terrible storm. Cookie shouts "Thank God (?) we're nearly home", and Buddy replies "So am I, Cookie". The clock then starts to ring it's alarm as part of the battle stations system. All of the inanimate creates that stepped out to real life then go back into their normal positions, and so does Buddy.

Buddy's hand has a key in which he unlocks the door for Cookie to get back into her room. Cookie bids Buddy "Good night Buddy", in which Buddy kisses Cookie's hand like a gentleman and bids her a goodnight back. Cookie then walks up to the picture frame of Buddy in which she remarks "Isn't he a dearie?" she kisses Buddy on the picture frame quite a number of times with the final comment "You darling". Wow! It seems maybe Buddy must've done something that meant Cookie's got it bad for him. The picture frame of Buddy winks to the audience (probably because he got the best luck with kiss marks on his face) and that's all folks.

At least this cartoon had a good story that didn't have the real life Buddy around all the time, but the picture-framed Buddy was the star of that cartoon. I like the designs of Cookie here of course as she looks prettier than the other cartoons - in my opinion - and that's all I'll say. The animation and staging of Buddy tap dancing was actually pretty good I have to say. Jack King has proven to be better than Bugs Hardaway of course. Yipee; I have completed this Buddy and I only have ONE more Buddy cartoon left to review and it'll be over! Yes; the Buddy cartoons (well, reviewing them) has gone by really quickly and I'll get to the Porky cartoons soon enough, and Beans the cat (well there are some great Beans cartoons though like A Cartoonist's Nightmare.