96. Buddy the Dentist (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 95.
Release date: December 15, 1934.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Bernice Hansen (Cookie) and Jack Carr (Buddy).
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Rollin Hamilton and Jack King.

NOW this is the last year of 1934. I wonder why Jack King was demoted briefly to animating - it comes back again on I Haven't Got a Hat in 1935.

Our short begins with Buddy in his kitchen cooking with his frying pan and his dog Bozo is sitting on a chair looking at the food at the pot. It turns out that Buddy is reading through a cookery book on his recipe. He is making a: Candy Makino Fudge - basically he is making fudge. Notice the gag in the recipe that reads "Think of a Number Between 1 and 100" - Okay, I know this meant to be a joke - but a number of what?? Buddy appears to pour in a box of? - cinnamon I imagine but throws the box in (why?). As Buddy pulls out a spoonful of fudge out Bozo is about to sniff it but Buddy says something like "Ah-Ah, burnie, burnie" - and I assume it means that it's very hot.

As Buddy exits the scene to do something; Bozo then starts to lick some of the chocolate fudge in there and then his tongue burns - as he was warned. He rushes to a bucket under the sink to cool his tongue. Buddy walks in to see what happened, but Bozo pretends to be licking water from his bowl. Buddy returned with a squirt tube for him and pours the fudge in their.

Buddy walks into the living room balancing the squirt tube on his finger. He then reaches a baking tray in which he squirts the fudge out into tiny blocks. As Buddy does about half of what he wants - Bozo begs for some fudge - Buddy squirts out two pieces into his mouth. Buddy then finishes off the remaining parts for his tray. He places it neatly on the table and warns Bozo, "That's all you'll get. Besides candy's bad for dog's teeth" - Buddy forgot that candy's bad for EVERYONE'S teeth. Buddy exits the scene in which Bozo talks behind his back and speaks to us audience - something total gibberish!

Bozo walks to the table and sniffs the fudge. Buddy enters back to double check Bozo but catches him, "Hey there, you come here!" he says. Buddy persists Bozo to lye down, and encourages him. While Bozo is lying down Buddy operates the phone to dial Cookie. We see the dial scene - in which we see both lines (and a third of a crow landing on a telephone wire - for some reason. Buddy asks Cookie what he's made; and after she guesses a few times, she gives up. Buddy tells her that he's made some fudge for her. While Buddy is chatting her heavily on the phone - Bozo quickly leaves the scene into the kitchen without Buddy noticing.

 Bozo then reaches the table in which he accidentally bangs the table with all the fudge falling down on the carpet. Bozo then gobbles up the pieces of fudge one by one - uh-oh; trouble. Bozo then ends up with a tooth ache and starts to howl. He reaches the mirror and looks at the tooth to see the problem. He see an amusing shot of his tooth aching of a dog flea with a mallet banging at his tooth making a bell sound. Bozo then starts to yell in pain. Buddy then holds the phone in which he yells at Bozo to "shut up". Cookie thinks that Buddy is telling her to "shut up" in which she responds in a funny message "You can't tell me to shut up" and then she hangs up.

Buddy then hears the painful sounds of Bozo as though it sounds rather serious. He is about to run into the kitchen but is then interrupted. Buddy looks through the kitchen calling out Bozo's name twice before he stands his foot. Buddy then notices Bozo under the table and asks him to "come here". As Bozo refuses, Buddy grabs his collar by force to do that. As he tries, Buddy smacks his head under the table.

Buddy then pulls Bozo on top of the table and tells him off "Now see what you've done", until Bozo's tooth ache returns again. I like these socket effects for the tooth ache on his tooth. Buddy opens Bozo's mouth to see what's the fuss in which he clearly sees the aching tooth. Buddy goes, "See, I knew that candy would hurt your teeth". He brings out some tools from a table draw that includes a hammer, a screwdriver and pliers. Buddy now does the job as being a dentist - and of course he has no qualification to do that skill. He decides to try and pull off Bozo's tooth.

Bozo then starts to squirm and then both of them bang on the wall (why no sound effects for the banging wall). Buddy picks up an avertisement that lands on him that reads, Dr. Mohler (obviously a pun to "molar" which is a part of tooth) Painless Dentist. WE USE GAS. Buddy then tries to get inspired with that idea from "Dr. Mohlar".

Buddy starts off his experiment by placing Bozo on top of an ironing board, and then places a mouthpiece in Bozo's mouth. Buddy turns on the gas for Bozo to see if the experiment does work, his mouth starts to steam but it ends up with his body turning into an inflatible-type balloon. Bozo is then floating on top of the ceiling - with that plan proven to have not worked. Buddy thinks of another plan by using a vaccum cleaner, and stands on top of an ironing board.

He places it through Bozo's mouth in which his body gets smaller, but the vaccum cleaner starts to inflate until it bursts. Buddy was stuck on an ironing board the whole time but goes off flying. Well that proved to be too complicating and not to have worked!! As Buddy has fallen out of the house and back (by laundry wires).  Bozo is still in pain and Buddy still has to at least try to find him. He finds Bozo under Buddy's pillow and takes him out.

Buddy then comes up with another plan but it is going to be painful (and I wouldn't dare to look, but if I don't then how will I review the rest?). Buddy attaches a string to a type of toy bone of Bozo's onto his tooth. He throws the toy for Bozo to fetch but nothing happens. Since the string isn't being pulled and there's no way that it could work. Bozo returns to Buddy with the toy in which Buddy taps his foot with impatience. "Listen Bozo, I'm trying to help you", says Buddy - but he's helping him in a painful matter. Buddy throws the toy for Bozo to fetch but then he crashes into a wall and sniffs to investigate. Bozo returns with some weight lifts in which Buddy asks him to put them down.

Buddy thinks of another idea for Bozo to have the tooth of his taken out. Buddy ties the end of the string to a doorknob in which it causes the dog to bark. Buddy ties it to his teeth and tries to assure Bozo that it "doesn't hurt". Meanwhile a cat enters the house - how did that cat get in there?! Surely something must make sense. Bozo then starts to chase after the cat with Buddy's tooth being forced.

The chase is then being led to outside in which Buddy is still being knocked all over the place (make sure that his tooth being pulled isn't the baby tooth). Buddy and Bozo both land in the garden with a sprinkler sprinkling over them making them wet. The cat blows a raspberry at the dog in which Bozo continues the chase. Buddy is still being dragged and lands onto a toy wagon as he's still pulled. They pass through a truck that contains beer (with the sign reading "Burpo Beer"). The cat, Bozo and Buddy then tremble over a man digging.  The chase continues to be wild and also dangerous for Buddy.

They then reach Cookie's garden where she is sitting down relaxing on her hammock until she reaches the choatic chase by the cat, Bozo and Buddy on the toy wagon. Buddy falls onto her hammock and they both pop out of the fallen down hammock. Buddy then finds a tooth and thinks he's got Bozo's tooth. Bozo's tooth is out, but Cookie then finds another tooth and points that Buddy's tooth came out as well - ouch. Hope it wasn't permanment. They both laugh at what happened - and that's all folks.

Well this is the 1934 reviews and I must say this has been a REALLY tough year of reviews. Seriously, all the stories had just been focusing on the same story routines. This cartoon in my opinion wasn't so terrible in my opinion but there were some pretty limb stuff in there or that didn't make sense such as how did that cat enter the house. The dialogue stuff was pretty good and at least I could hear it clearly (probably due to better TV quality). The aching tooth gags were good I have to admit, and I thought that it was a good way to express aches and the feeling of it with that flea using a hammer to make it hurt. Well, that's the 1934 cartoons finished (Thank God). Now next is 1935 and that will be the turning point with Porky Pig and Tex Avery coming soon...

95. Pop Goes Your Heart (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 94.
Release date: December 8, 1934.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Cast unknown.
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Frank Tipper and Sandy Walker.

Our cartoon begins with a beautiful view of a mountain and forest with some lovely snow. A bird flies into the scene and lands on a limb to chirp for the other animals to wake up. We fade in to the next shot of the bird still chirping and all the snow is gone - Ahh, looks like the snow melting away really couldn't be achieved back then. Hummingbirds are outside smelling the scent of beautiful flowers. We see the next shot of this bird couple and the male couple sees that the eggs have been laid and makes a tally on the tree - is that meant to mean how many eggs were laid?

There are a line of bees that are flying past and sucking up the honey with their stinger. Meanwhile, there are a group of grasshoppers and the adult one is teaching them out to chew tobacco and spit. The first child grasshopper tries on his attempt but accidentally burps them out leaving him with soggy tobacco stuck on his mouth - which is rather gross.

A mother turtle and her children then start to dive from the log into the lake. They all dive into the lake; the mother turtle is swimming while the baby turtles are on their backs rowing themselves by using cattails as oars. Meanwhile up in a tree we hear these strange sounds of some type of organ playing in the string section. It turns out to be a pair of spiders who are playing a harp on a spider web. Boy that "harp playing" sure does sound very strange.

From what I've been watching in this cartoon so far, with all those cute animals doing notable things - am I confusing THIS to a early Silly Symphony colorized?! (Not likely). The 2-strip Technicolor stuff isn't very good and the colors just look to reddish to me.

The next scene to be shown is another one of those: "dance routines" and there are these apples with worms doing the job as being the arms and legs. They are doing the dance and my goodness that just looks creepy with those apples dancing. From my own personal views how can these worms really do the job of doing a dance routine like that (acting as arms and legs), they're just going to likely get squashed by an apple - well worms do have bones - but are they really that strong? Look at those tiny eyes that they have - worms don't have eyes. Meanwhile there is then a frog chorus standing on lilypads - Lilypads - Gee, I hope we won't get confused with this!! Well; it turns out that these frogs are singing the title song Pop Goes Your Heart, the "boomp-boomp-da-boomp" sounds from a frog sounds like something that inspired Paul McCartney to be involved in that We All Stand Together frog song - doubt it.

We are then seeing a shot of a swam who is swimming in a river; but dives underwater to find some fish to eat. Once the swan dives back in again for some wish; best I can remember - that gag was reused from One Step Ahead of My Shadow and I almost forgot about that. But still; I can't bear those gags of a fish eating a swan. Sure the audience will find it amusing because it's not possible; but fishes can't eat swans - it's creepy and unnatural. Meanwhile there is a bird who is sitting on a tree in a  bird's nest - and notices a worm inside an apple. The baby bird tries to look through his head into the apple for the worm, but the worm makes an escape and slaps the bird from the apple.

The bird then yelps in pain with the worm laughing. Once again; this worm has a mouth and eyes - which is NOT what they have - but I guess it was used just to show caricature and what we know about the worm. We then see these group of beavers who are having fun in their part of the forest and there are a group of beavers who are playing baseball. I'm just curious but when Friz Freleng was making these cartoons - did he ever use model sheets to make them? I'm a little curious because the designs aren't much and I thought that did the animators just design a beaver from scratch and draw it?

Meanwhile there is a grizzly bear who is sniffing through the forest probably to find animals to eat. The bear then growls but sprays perfume in his mouth (oddly enough for some reason). The bear then continues to walk on and sniff for some animals to eat. The bear then starts to walk behind the turtle sniffing it's shell. The turtle starts to speed up slightly, but the turtle then changes position of its shell and bites the bear on the nose. Well, that certainly showed that bear.

The bear starts to walk to the next part of the forest where he then plans to eat some beavers for supper. It's working well since the beavers are running for their lives as the bear chases after them. The beavers start to run away and they hide inside the trees in which the bear tries to dig through to try and eat the beavers up. But he doesn't quite make it yet since his head is stuck. A beaver comes out and smacks the bear's derriere.

The beavers then reach the top of the tree through the role in which they are carrying a bee hive with them. Is it me or is that shot of the beavers laughing just weird to watch - it just seems unsettling to me, but I can't explain why? They drop the bee hive in which honey lands on top of the bear's behind and there are a swarm of bees flying around him. The bear is covered with honey all over - and I admit the animation of the bear being chased by bees is just really weird because there is hardly any inbetweens on there, and the animation is not very good because you can't see him move properly - just bad inbetweening.

The bear then starts to crash through a gate by accident and rolls down a field will of hay in which it sticks into the honey attached to his back. As he rolls down - he's turned into a haystack. Meanwhile, there is a farmer working on his "Hay bailer" machine. The bear rolls down and looks like another haystack to the farmer. The farmer uses his pitchfork to pick up the bear and dumps it into the machine. The haystack comes out all sorted into a block. The bear's head, and legs pop out. Much to the bear's surprise - he is shocked and runs out of the scene. The farmer looks at the haystack bear running, rather puzzled - and that's all folks.

This is another cartoon in which shows some creepy 2-strip Technicolor. The colors look really reddish/pinkish to me and it doesn't suit it well; but I guess that to it was to keep budgets low. Michael Barrier confirms that when Technicolor was brought to Merrie Melodies - it was raised to around $9'000 when the Schlesinger budgets used to be $7'500. Some of the scenes in there don't look very much like color to me and that it feels as though it wasn't painted. The short is something that reminds me of a early Silly Symphonies cartoon in black-and-white when there were plants and forest creatures dancing. Some of the animation didn't look so splendid - particularly the bear scenes. Well, with 1934 almost complete - 1935 will hopefully be better (at least towards the end).

94. Buddy's Adventures (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 93.
Release date: November 17, 1934.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Cast: Jackie Morrow (Buddy), Billy Bletcher (Old Man). Cookie voice unknown.
Musical Score: Bernard Brown.
Animation: Bob McKimson and Don Williams.

Our cartoon begins with Buddy and Cookie standing at a hot-air balloon. Buddy is dropping a few pieces of equipment and why?! I don't know - probably to stop the hot-air balloon from being heavy, I guess. Buddy appears to be the captain of this balloon and Cookie is rather afraid of being up there as she is afraid of heights. (I can't tell what the dialogue is telling us, but I can imagine that's what she means - from the looks of her emotions).

All I can hear of Cookie saying properly is "I'm afraid" - I can't make out the words before that. As there is a thunder bolt that flashes near the balloon - Buddy falls. Buddy gets that up and excuses himself "Must've been what I ate", Cookie assures that something terrible will happen but Buddy denies it. But she is right when there are these clouds and thunderbolts that are beating the hot-air balloon up.

The hot-air balloon is being blown away from these cloud faces - and one of the clouds then flick them; with the hot-air balloon starting to spin around numerous times. The same cloud then does a John L. Sullivan pose by thumping the cloud many times. The hot-air balloon then starts to move slowly - but there is a swirling camera effect that takes us to a different land - I assume. Buddy and Cookie are both frightened on the balloon, and they notice a rattling-snake cloud. The rattling-snake cloud uses it's tongue as a thunder bolt. The thunder bolt strikes at the ropes that carry the hot-air balloon. Until both of them go falling, falling...

Buddy and Cookie then start to slide down the long fall as they slide through the mountains and then in the field with that rather funny looking bird. Heh, not quite Porky in Wackyland - isn't it? The burst balloon then rolls (with the lifebelt as the wheel) and they each an inanimate castle in which the bridge opens (the mouth). It seems that Buddy and Cookie have arrived at a very bizarre land. Very interesting. Buddy and Cookie crash inside a protected town and Buddy thinks that this is the destination until...

...Buddy and Cookie notice a sign that reads THIS IS SOURTOWN. Oh dear, this doesn't sound like a pleasant place to go if everyone is "sour". The sign continues to read: The following rules must be obeyed - NO LAUGHING, NO SINGING, NO DANCING, NO JAZZ MUSIC. Followed by some tiny bit of writing I can't read - thanks a lot! Well this is really bad news for Buddy and Cookie - but if I lived there I wouldn't mind except on one condition - the "no laughing" part would have to be removed. ;-)

Buddy laughs at that sign as nonsense, but Cookie persuades him it's serious. We see Laurel and Hardy who are imprisoned in stocks - Hardy's sign reads "In Ye Stocks for Laughing" while Oliver Laurel's says "For Smiling". Buddy and Cookie then walk around the streets, but they notice these rather sour looking guard walking past them. The guards then walk to a barrel and line up. They all take a squirt of vinegar (to make them more sour I guess?). They then turn to the camera and they do a type of song on why they're sour. What the hell?! I thought the rules in this town was "no singing" and they're going in rhythm in which is still a form of singing! Bloody hell.

 Buddy then walks to the guards and tells them that they're sung "all wrong" and that the way to sing a song is to be more cheerful. Buddy then grabs out a guitar and starts to sing a song (the song is a mystery to me - I can't find anything on Internet Movie Database). The song has caused a bird in it's cage from an apartment window sill to sing it but a sour woman enters the scene and shuts the bird's beak by tying it with a cloth. The same woman then places a pot over the flowers to stop them from singing the song too. The policeman then enters the scene as he sees that Buddy is breaking the law that reads in a note "No singing". The police officer then tells Buddy and Cookie are under arrest and then off they go! They are placed in a cart as the officer drives them.

Buddy here in this film sounds very different here. He sounds like a child doing a voice for him and I wouldn't imagine that Jack Carr did the voice for Buddy. Cookie's voice still remains anonymous to me. Bletcher seems to be the only known actor here voicing the policeman and the King of Sour town. Anyone able to help me out? Other than that, this cartoon so far shows some great character personalities and there is EVEN a story here. The whole Sourtown idea works very well, about the laws of no singing, laughing, etc. It reminds me of what Roald Dahl would write about.

 Buddy and Cookie are then placed in the King of Sourtown's headquarters. He is sitting in the throne rather sour as there is a squire who is giving him some lemons for him to juice with a lemon mixer. He pours in some lemon into a bowl for him to drink which makes him feel even more sour and better. Mmm, it's like as though it's as enjoyable when taking a visit to the toilet. A police officer then enters the scene in which he grabs Buddy and Cookie. The King then goes into dialogue:

King: You've broken the rules of Sourtown. Now you'll be sentenced to the spanking hand.

We see the next shot of a "spanking machine" in which is Buddy and Cookie's penalty. Cookie, rather worried asks Buddy "What'll we do?"; Buddy's reply "Leave it to me". Buddy grabs out a harmonica in which he plays it that damages the King's ears. Poor King. At times - the harmonica playing doesn't sound like a harmonica - unless this is just bad TV quality.

Cookie  is then doing a type of dance which is going to annoy the King and the guards even more. Buddy is playing the harmonica so loudly that even the candle waxes are so sour that they're melting. That's a lot of sourness. Buddy goes along to a picture frame of these bearded men and he plays the "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Te-Doh" musical scale. There is some fighting going on between a group of knights (why are they being involved)? Oh hang on, it turns out that a knight is taking off another knight's foot in which he starts to play it like a saxophone - which the "no jazz" law is being broken. The music is starting to turn very chaotic that even the sour King starts to dance, which is pretty mildly amusing.

The guards are then going into song - and it turns out that the WHOLE TOWN is dancing to music and Buddy & Cookie are heroes for turning them from being sour into cheerful. A group of guys at a table raising their drinks then go into the "Do-Re-Mi" musical scale - hitting a guy in the head who is sleeping and not going into rhythm. The King then takes over the spotlight by dancing, but he slips on that rug in which he falls into the spanking machine and is getting spanked; but is laughing. Buddy and Cookie then take over the throne and are declared as leaders. They hug each other - and that's all folks.

This was a delightful cartoon to watch and it even has a strong plot compared to all the other plots we had. What a great imagination that Ben Hardaway used for his "Sourtown" concept. I love the character personalities and the idea that everyone is sour here. I certainly do like the redesign of Cookie here (which we saw in Viva Buddy). Of course what really puzzled me and it was beyond my grasp was that they were going into rhythm (which still counts as singing) and the rules were "no singing" - why didn't they get arrested. Well, since this cartoon is called Buddy's Adventures it's fair to say that this cartoon certainly was an adventure. The cast of the actors appears to be unknown to me (and probably the first time where I realized that Buddy's voice actually sounds different). But I think that Buddy had two different voices - one of whom is anonymous.

93. Those Beautiful Dames (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 92.
Release date: November 11, 1934.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Cast unknown.
Musical Score: Bernard Brown.
Animation: Paul Smith and Charles "Chuck" Jones.

The first cartoon in which the Merrie Melodies "color" scheme goes permanent. Hopefully that the quality in those will make me understand the cartoons better.

The cartoon begins with a little orphan girl who is standing outside looking rather miserable in a blizzard. The girl looks at all the lovely toys that she would love to get if only she could afford it and had parents. She walks forward away from the shop in which the blizzard gets stronger and she struggles to walk forward. As she is caught in the strong wind, her pants are stretched open and a bit of snow from the roof lands on it in which she squeals. Haw-haw-haw, a orphan girl gets snow stuck in her pants that's, that's - bad treatment. I guess that what is being expressed here shows how unlucky she is being an orphan and that we ought to feel sorry for her.

She walks into the shed where she stays for shelter. There is hardly anything in that shed. Except for a mouse in there who looks very skinny and is likely to starve to death. The mouse tries to see if there's any bread in the bread box - but nothing in it. The little girl is trying to keep her hands warm in that useless stove. Hang on a minute, I'm trying to remember; the orphan girl standing outside that snow looking at the toyshop = a boy standing outside in the snow, looking at toy-shop and finds shelter - I'm remembering it clear as day. Oh my does that SOUND familiar?!

The girl is putting in some effort in trying to warm up the stove. She sees a tiny flame inside that stove and she tries blowing at it so that it could warm up. As the flame slowly gets moving, an icicle inside that stove drops and the flame extinguishes. The little girl then falls asleep on the chair feeling rather cold. Once the little girl is fast asleep; all the toys come inside the shed. Where did they come from? from that toy shop I guess. How? God knows.

 Of course, since she's in a heavy sleep - the toys then secretly creep near her as though they're going to give her a surprise. All the toys run quickly through the sleepy orphan girl - including that little toy duck. What doesn't make the quality look great in this cartoon is that the color is in 2-strip Technicolor where the colors are pretty dark and not so visible, but hey; back then this was a treat for the audience and Friz Freleng must've been happy to get his cartoons into color.

The toys start to decorate the wooden shack by getting out some wallpaper. As time flies on; to midnight. All the toys crowd together to wake up the orphan girl for a happy surprise. She wakes up with such amazement, astonishment, self-satisfied, delighted - okay, I think I've over-did the adjectives but they are fun. The dolls then start to sing the title song Those Beautiful Dames. All of the other toys start to sing the choruses to the song (well, I don't mind the dolls singing voices at all). True, this is also another rip-off from The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives but the difference is - no Santa Claus.

The elephant who was standing on top of the armchair then turns off the lights. Hang on a minute, where did that armchair come on and since when did the orphan girl have light-switches - did the toys just somehow construct and decorate the house in all that night? Anyway, the elephant then turns on the light from a lamp and moves the lamp as a stage light. The beam then shows to these set of curtains and we see these two jack-in-the-boxes and they do a type of entertaining dance in which they are just moving their body's up which are accordion-like.

While the dance is still going on (how long will it last) we see a type of bulldoze toy that uses it's crate to eat some of the chocolate cake layed on the table. What? He's not going to let the orphan girl have its share. But as that truck continues to eat the cake - a doll enters the scene tapping her feet not impressed. The truck walks off in a shameful mood. Well, at least that's that gone.

The little orphan girl then walks to the gramophone and tunes up some music and starts to dance (notice the black lipstick - where did that come from?!). The gramophone (in closeup) is apparently called a "Kiddie Phone". Inside the gramophone are these illustrated bears that are singing their version of the Dames song. The orphan girl then starts to dance to the song herself, and yet the animation is pretty bad for it - you really can't feel her body moving to the music and feels rather stiff. Meanwhile there are these two soldiers who play the trumpet and they almost turn very skinny - they then exit...

The girl is then brought to a big and happy surprise when all the toys have arranged a type of midnight feast for her where there is a huge chocolate cake made for her layed in the middle of the table. She walks past the chairs where all the toys are seated at and are waving and cheering for her. Since she is wearing a crown - she sits at the "queen's chair" at the far back in the front. She then encourages her guests to start eating. All the others then start to eat - even with a bulldozer who is picking up crates of food to place into the other toy's mouths.

The girl is delighted to see that everybody is in fact having a fun time, but as she is about to take a scoop of her jelly - the trap was that there was a jack in the box in there the whole time. All of the other toys start to giggle at the practical joke that was made and so does the little orphan girl who has a sense of humor - and that's all folks.

This cartoon was just another take of The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives but actually since both cartoons are pretty unknown and forgotten - who's going to care?! When a member of the audience sat down and watched that cartoon in 1934 when it was released; he/she aren't going to think that "Hey, I've seen this from a cartoon before", and actually - who's going to care? I thought the opening of the cartoon of the orphan girl was quite a good setup - the musical score by Bernard Brown was lovely. We got to see her struggles, and of course when the toys arrived the cartoon was just weaker. From my Shanty review  - I actually wrote down that my feelings were that the toys arriving made the cartoon tedious and boring. But this cartoon was just made to cheer the audience up - nothing harmful was supposed to be made. Of course, it was the first color in Merrie Melodies to stay permanent - and only the colors made the cartoon look rich - but the designs and characters are still as bland as ever.

92. Buddy the Woodsman (1934)

Title card courtesy of Dave Mackey.

Warner cartoon no. 91.
Release date: October 20, 1934.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Jack King
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Jack Carr (Buddy) and (Cookie) (?).
Animation: Paul Smith and Don Williams.
Music: Bernard Brown.

Our cartoon begins with that lovely animation of a tree trunk falling - which a great camera shot. There are several lumberjacks that are cutting that trunk with their axes. But there are are two lumberjacks using a two-man saw. We PAN through to see a tough guy who is cutting off big chunks of the bark of the tree on the side. On his right is a rather lanky fellow who is only cutting useless parts off and slacking his job. He secretly prances away and chops off a small part of a tree - which must mean he's either a weakling or a slacker? You pick. Vote now.
(Ringtone music)
Thank you for voting - the popular vote was "weakling". Of course he is a weakling - he could barely cut off that small stick of that tiny, skinny tree - but as he only manages to cut it off they fly about and then they drop on top of his head that makes it look like he's wearing antlers.

We see a few gags of sawing the tree such as two lumberjacks sitting on each side of the two-man saw and they are sleeping but still cutting. Another guy is just using a blade to chop the pieces of wood carefully that looks like he's forming some type of circled-shape. Another guy is on his tractor but is also sawing the trees which are by his side. He, of course saws off the tower where a warden is sitting without noticing.

We then next see Buddy who is about to chop a tree - and as he takes a whack at the tree - we see these lines that swirl up to the top of the tree with it's bird's nest on top. Ahh, this was the era before speed-lines would've been greatly achieved, and not just "lines". The speedlines do look horrible but don't forget that this was before they had that beautiful swish brush effects. Buddy finishes chopping down that tree, in which he dances on top of the tree stump. He then starts to walk off and whistle cheerfully. He jumps on top of a chopped-down tree by getting a lawn mower and mowing the barks of the tree off - a strange idea but it's a good gag. What he was doing was in fact mowing the tree which would turn into tooth picks as he is placing them in a manufacturer vehicle.

Buddy then walks to the next part of his job as he is springs from a saw and jumps on top of a tree. He uses his two-man saw and jumps with it like playing skiprope. As he is doing that - there are big lumps of tree stomps being chopped off. Another gag that Buddy pulls out of his sleeve is when he comes across a tree trunk that is pretty high from the ground and his job is to cut it in half. He walks up to the goat and kicks it. He runs away, and jumps on top of the trunk patting his rear end encouraging the goat's anger. The goat then cuts the wood in half with his horns.

We see a random shot of a totem pole being chopped (what was the reason?). Buddy walks down to the part of the woods carrying his pile of wood. He accidentally trips on a stone in which all of the sticks then bundle up together very neatly. Buddy walks rather annoyed as though he has to pick them all up - but is happy to find that it's all been stacked together. He grabs out two axes and starts to play the piece of wood like a xylophone (Oh god, how much gags do WE need?!). The totem pole starts to dance but they all collide and appear to be Indians who are doing a Indian dance. The designs are pretty conservative in my opinion as they're just exactly the same but with different colors.

The call for "lunch" is ready and every woodsman rush to that hut for something to eat. Every worker has their head rinsed in some type of washing tool to wash their faces. They dry their wet faces by using a conveyor belt (Notice how that there is a dog inside there who is running like a guinea pig). Everybody is in the room all chanting "I Open the Old Northwest". They appear to be demanding for their lunch to arrive. Meanwhile, Buddy and Cookie are singing together while Buddy is playing the piano.

Wait a second, Cookie is back to being blonde again - but actually; I doesn't matter to me because this must've been from an earlier production number but it was somehow released late. Cookie walks in as she is tossing the fellows some spaghetti on their plates, and they immediately begin and are eating like pigs (what are they going to do with the spaghetti in the middle)?

Meanwhile, there is a bear sitting on top of a branch. Hang on a minute; what would a BEAR be doing up a tree? Do they even do that?! If so, since when??? The bear can smell the lovely scent of spaghetti and slides down the chimney and starts to sniff for some food. As the men at the table are singing delightedly, the bear then finds the spaghetti on the table. The bear stands on the table and eats the spaghetti leaving this complex gag of the men falling inside the wood planks that is TOO complicating to explain.

Cookie notices the bear trying to lick the food and asks the bear to "shoo, get out of here". From the voice I'm hearing of - it definitely doesn't sound like Bernice Hansen doing the voice AT all - another unknown actress. Buddy then walks to that bear and punches him in the face. The bear falls off the table and lands near the fireplace with a pipe stuck on his nose.

Buddy gets out a "Red Hot Pepper" shaker and starts to throw it at the pipe stuck on the bear's nose. The bear is about to sneeze but does so in which all the plates are stacked up in their shelves neatly. Another fine gag that works. We see some more gags to be shown of the sneezing bear chasing after Buddy - and Buddy is sneezed off his pants (that also runs). My goodness, this cartoon is just packing itself with gags, all these type of gags they do just get tiring throughout the cartoon, and you've got to admit that.

Cookie grabs out a shotgun in which she fires directly at the bear's anus. The bear then starts to sneeze ever so violently that the pipe then falls out of his nose, and lands onto a moose head sculpture's nose. The moose then starts to violently sneeze, but the stovepipe falls back into the right position of the fireplace.

The bear starts to chase after Cookie in which she cries for Buddy. Buddy grabs out a piano stool in which he throws it at the bear. The seat starts to heighten up and spin in which the bear falls out of the roof (but breaks it). Buddy and Cookie both play the piano as they watch the bear run out afraid - and that's all folks.

My overall output of this cartoon was that it appears to be that Jack King was just too desperate for gags in this cartoon. Although the gags do work well in those cartoons but they just suffer with too much in the cartoon that tires the audience from watching too many. No, Cookie hasn't gone back to a redesign - just made earlier than Viva Buddy (with the modern Cookie). The speed-lines on that tree swirling up earlier in the film are just bad to look it comparing today's standards with great speed-lines but maybe somebody in a 1934 audience might have liked it. I didn't mind the gags in there and all of them were pretty good, but as I said - NOT TOO MUCH in one cartoon that tires me out. Oh, and I should point out that there was a censored scene cut when a Chinese guy shouted "dinner", but we only saw a quick shot of him ringing the bell.

91. Rhythm in the Bow (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 90.
Release date: October 20, 1934.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Cast unknown.
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Rollin Hamilton and Ben Clopton.

Instead of Friz Freleng who directs all the Merrie Melodies - Ben Hardaway appears to cover briefly. Hang on - he hadn't directed since Buddy of the Apes which was already released about five months earlier, what happened to him? Different production order?! This is the last Merrie Melodies to be in black-and-white and then it turns into color permanently. Looney Tunes would have to wait until 1942's The Hep Cat.

Our cartoon begins with a couple of hobos who spend their lives living in the train. One of them is pretending as though he's riding in a racing car - steering the wheel and touching the horn - but it's revealed that it's a pretend as he's on top of a box car with a duck quacking on top of the steering wheel. The "515" steam train is steaming very fast - and there is a tramp who lives under the train - who is sharpening his knife with the wheels - and it's showing the life of a homeless person. The tramp also gets to do some cooking.

We see many of these weird gags of what the homeless do on the trains. One of them has a string attached to a bucket and tosses it into a river to fill up some water, and then pulls it back up the train. He uses the bucket of water to clean his face. After finishing off his face; he then starts to bring out a violin and bow to play some sweet violin music - actually, I wouldn't say "sweet" would be the word - not sure what to describe his violin music.

The hobos then start to go into song as they are going to sing the title song Rhythm in the Bow. We see this tramp who is sitting on a sidecar by the train that also is singing the song - why is he on the side car for? Couldn't he not climb those steps to join the rest of the hobos? Whistles are then being blown on the train, and there's another hobo skating on the tracks (wonder why he isn't electrocuted) as standing on rails is dangerous. We see more of these homeless people who are still singing and they pop their heads out of pipes. The smoke from the steam train then covers their faces, and then revealed as black faces. Ahh, racist tendencies. ;-)

Meanwhile there appears to be a man (can't tell if he works in the train or is another tramp) but he jumps into a box car and kicks out a homeless person for playing the violin. He is then kicked out of the box car and lands into a small pond where ducks were happily seated. Much of the water is then splashed out - but a little bit is remained for the ducks to swim in. The tramp then walks out of the pond and walks out of that part of countryside. He sees some birds on the tree that is singing happily. He continues to walk down the path singing merrily. WOW! This cartoon is so boring to watch and review - and I really don't feel like reviewing the rest of it. I'm off.

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Well, it turns out that as I've tried to run out that door, I've been dragged back in by the locals who are demanding me to finish this review! Aw nuts!

Anyway, back to the review. There is a dog by the gate who is barking at the tramp as he is halted. The tramp with the violin then plays some music.Why? I don't know - maybe to quieten down the dog or something. The tramp's violin playing doesn't seem to tone the dog down, so he thinks of another idea to play some sad, devastating music. It makes the dog cry and howl. My, that timing and syncing of the dog crying is just awful. Although the animation is pretty good. The tramp then slams the gate in which the dog's neck is stuck - so that he can continue playing the music he loves to play. Now, that is just cruel to do that to the dog - sure it may be grizzly but it doesn't deserve to be suffocating.

The tramp then approaches a type of village for homeless people in which it's crammed with homeless people. There is a local singing the song Singing in the Bathtub. There is more tramps to be seen; such as one who appears to be sleeping and doing hitchhiking movements. I'm completely lost of those gags - and even in the signs they're barely show the entire sign - and it's just pointless. Although there is a "Free Library" sign which is visible, and there's a fly that flies into the scene trying to pull the tramp's toes - but his other foot flicks the fly away.

The whole part appears to be a tramp's paradise for the homeless person as he slides down the railing and bounces onto the homeless people's stomachs one at a time. Well, finally this cartoon is starting to get moving as it's been tedious so far. He sits by a the lake, and appears to be relaxing his feet by unrolling the back parts like unrolling a can of sardines. He dips his feet into the river and starts to play some lively music that he did in the boxcar earlier on. All the other tramps start to sing the song he's singing - whatever the song is called. There is these tramps that are doing singing and dancing. Oh come on, even if they caricatured Charlie Chaplin to do the dancing for this cartoon then it would've probably been a bit more entertaining. But, I don't mind saying that their dance routine isn't so bad, I guess.

The dog's neck is still stuck on the gate and there is a thought bubble that pops out with the hobo playing the violin. The dog manages to break the gate open - but bumps into a tree. The dog then starts on the run to find that hobo. The dog goes around trying to sniff the tracks for the homeless person (again, with that thought bubble coming up - I've no problem with the bubble). The dog reaches the edge of the cliff but then jumps down in a river and starts to swim like a human would swim. Why? Dogs don't swim like that - they do a doggy swim - it's just creepy and unnatural if they swim the human way. The dog then reaches that fishing pier and growls at the homeless - uh oh, trouble - so then a chase starts.

The dog starts to chase the poor tramp around and then on top of the high railways. They then pause to see an incoming steam train - and it turns out to be the SAME steam train from earlier on - how did the tramp arrive there in such speed? It IS a steam train - it has a "515" number on it - and if it's meant to be a reuse of a different train - then it's presented badly. They both start to turn around from the tracks, but the dog's leash is caught on the rails in which it starts to yelp for help. The tramp wants to save the dog's life so he gives up his violin, kisses it and tosses it away. The tramp grabs out a knife and cuts out the rope - they both jump down the river when the train passes by. The dog returns the tramp's violin in which he's happy - they both become friends, the dog licks his face - and that's all folks.

This cartoon was just nothing but boredom to me, and yes - Ben Hardaway directed some very bad cartoons from that period (1934-1935), but he did come back later to direct some better cartoons and was great for writing Woody Woodpecker cartoons. This cartoon had such boring animation, character designs and the story itself. I know that an audience wouldn't mind watching it considering they probably wouldn't have to analyze - but this is painful for ME. Well, since this is the last black-and-white Merrie Melody - good riddance. Although I know that color will bring some appeal at least - but I won't immediately change the stories.

90. Shake Your Powder Puff (1934)

Warner cartoon no. 89.
Release date: September 29, 1934.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Cast unknown.
Animation: Bob McKimson and Bob Clampett.
Music: Bernard Brown.

The cartoon begins with a barn with animals enterting it that has Broadway lights reading: BIG SHOW TONIGHT. Everybody else is in the audience sitting down waiting for the show to begin. You can hear the sounds of the orchestra tuning. As the orchestra have finished tuning - a pig then plays the trumpet to welcome the orchestra conductor. The orchestra conductor steps out of a slip-door piano (oddly enough for some reason). He walks to the stage sophisticated and the audience applaud for his appearance.

All of the audience who are about to watch him then start to hush the audience so that they can hear the music. The conductor is rather distracted with those "shush" sounds, and turns around rather annoyed. He taps his conducting stick so that everyone has his full attention. They play the quiet, peaceful William Tell Overture. Everyone else is playing rather peacefully and it's all going well. The animation is rather pleasant to look (even though not subtle). Maybe Bob McKimson did those opening scenes? Okay, but I'm going to be doing these "games" on "I bet McKimson did that" - anyone want to join in?

The turtle starts to bang his shell like a drum. The conductor then starts to conduct rather more fiercely by playing Poet and Pleasant Overture.The conductor starts to jump up and down numerous times for the beats, but the planks on the stool break apart and he falls. After that very entertaining and very good gag, we see more fun gags such as a duck quacking the music - and the mice playing on the xylophone. Some cymbals then crash on the drums. The next fun part we see is a sleepy audience who jumps at each beat in the overture. What really fine and worthy gags displayed here.

In fact, this is even before The Band Concert. The conductor then finishes the last part of the music with serious conducting. After the audience applaud for that part (it REALLY goes deserve it), the orchestra leader bows to the audience. He looks at the orchestra as he still hears orchestra playing, but then they stop meekly. The audience still clap - I think that shot of the audience clapping was reused in Into Your Dance - will wouldn't be released until 1935.

The "Asbestos" sign then rises and we then see another part of show which these three bunnies singing the title song Shake Your Powder Puff. We see those bunnies "shaking their powder puff" and the song is in fact pretty good. We see the behind-the-scenes crew moving some type of scenery for a sea effect. We then see these ducks in a tub - as they are pretending to sail in it which makes it look real. I know that I get really frustrated with "abundances of singing and dancing" but I actually really do not mind this part of the cartoon overall. It's pretty fun. The ducks then sing their line for the title song, then they walk off with the bunny ladies and the curtains close.

The next show which is about to be shown is these two goats who look like their dressed as lumberjacks - it's hard to tell when looking at poor TV quality. Considering that they have a bit of weed sticking out of their mouths - rednecks perhaps? Anyway, they do a rather funny dance - which is sort of ridiculous at the same time - but I guess that the characters they're stereotyping is meant to be for fun - or it still works well at the same time. I'm really glad to see that there are some really fun "singing and dancing" to go along and it appeared that they had some fresh inspiration and ideas here - while the other shorts where they sing and dance are rather dull with no fresh ideas in their mind.

All of the audience applaud at their performance, but there is a rather drunk looking dog that "boos" at the performance who is also holding a bottle of alcohol. While he's still booing at the audience, the usher of the show then throws him out of the barn for his unnecessary behaviour. He storms back into the barn - but then we see nothing on the screen but gets kicked out, which is still mere entertainment.

After being kicked out, there is another performance inside being played which are these pigs also singing Shake Your Powder Puff and the gag of this show is meant to show these three pig singers and both have different heights and range themselves in a number of size (shortest to tallest). Meanwhile, the dog tries to disguise himself by calling himself "Jones" but he's still get kicked out of the audience, that proves the usher is not a fool.

The dog then spots a bellows and stuffs pepper in it to try and make the usher sneeze so that he can get back inside - I assume. Nope, he doesn't - what he is actually doing is that he is climbing on top of the barn - and looks through the window on the roof. He see a lovely point-of-view shot of the chickens that are dancing. Instead, the drunken dog wants to cause trouble. He then pumps the bellows in which pepper sprays and lands at the spiritual audience. The audience are then about to sneeze and they do, blowing off all the feathers onto the naked chicken. See, this is some really fine stuff in this cartoons - Friz Freleng (again) make a really good cartoon to watch. I can see a turning point on some of his cartoons (even though it's possible that it could be just luck).

The dog up that window then does the funny chuckle - see Friz has gave him some character; so there really is some effort in this cartoon. The dog falls down that window and lands onto the stage. The audience are angered by his shenanigans and they start to toss fruit, vegetables and other foods to the dog. The asbestos curtain has to be drawn down to block the dog from being attacked again. The curtain rises again - with the dog shouting out Ted Lewis' line "Is everybody happy" ending with a tomato splat on his face - and that's all folks.

I must say that this is really good entertainment, I like this much more than The Miller's Daughter - I don't really have a genuine problem with this cartoon at all. There were some very fun gags to look at, character personalities - I like the orchestra leader a lot. The drunken dog was also pretty entertaining too. I thought the opening was presented out probably the best - I love the gags used for the Poets and Pleasant Overture. Of course, the story may have changed completely when the drunken dog just "booed" but it halts the amount of singing and dancing that presents this cartoon a very good balance. So yes, Bravo to this cartoon. I'm glad that something really good has turned in the 1934 reviews. Don't agree with me - no need to argue. I like this cartoon so end of review.