247. Believe it, Or Else! (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 246.

Release date: June 3, 1939.

Series: Merrie Melodies. 

Supervision: Tex Avery.

Producer: Leon Schlesinger.

Starring: Mel Blanc (Hog caller/Buck/Major Bowes/Wishing well voice /Knife thower /ant), and Cliff Narazzo (Narrator). Danny Webb as (Egghead/Old Man in Jail/Chippofoski).

Story: Dave Monahan.

Animation: Virgil Ross.

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.

Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

Synopsis: Spot-gag spoof of the Believe It, or Not! franchise and events experienced by narrator. 

Funny title parody of the famous book franchises Ripley's Believe it Or Not! which is notorious for displaying and dealing with bizarre events that are so unusual readers question them. This cartoon has been censored in television for a particular small sequence where it involves a "berth of a baby". Here in this review is the uncensored version which will be reviewed. (Thanks Andrew Gilmore!).

The cartoon begins with the credits fading out but the title cartoon still standing in front of the curtains. The off-screen narrator (provided by Cliff Narazzo) then begins with a greeting and begins: 'Ladies and gentlemen, Believe It or Else! I bring you right here tonight--odd and interesting facts that I have gathered from my many trips around the world'.

At that point we find Egghead walking around with a sign reading 'I don't believe it'. The comic walk, the music cue and the gag itself is rather amusing. It could probably work as a internet meme itself. The music for the walk (I think) is the Umbrella Man.

The first sighting we find in this spot-gag cartoon is Mr. Cud - a large man that drinks a huge amount of milk, as there are a huge number of empty milk bottles and is known to have drank 50 quarts of milk a day in the past two years. The narrator then asks him, 'Mr. Cud, how do you feel?' he then responds which sounds like a roar in his mouth (not sure if its a dated radio reference - but not funny gag anyway) but still continues drinking milk. Of course - the music cue in the background is You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby. 

The next sequence to be featured is based on the narrator's travels to India where he came upon snake charm music. It turns out we find a serpent who is playing the reed and we see a snake charmer  inside the basket and dances like a snake towards the music. The gag itself is just very corny. 

The narrator moves on to the next event (probably in India) where he describes his hobby building ship models inside bottles. But, the narrator announces the 'believe it or not' part where it is vice versa..the man inside the bottle building a ship. Just very cheap gags where the man is inside the bottle building a ship which isn't even funny. 

The next sequence that is featured shows a native from Arkansas who is notorious for being the world's largest 'hog caller'. He even has the reputation to call all the way from Arkansas all the way to the West Coast in Washington. We find him carving a stick with a pen knife. After the narration is over - he then stands up and makes a really loud call shouting 'Sweet, pe-pe-pe-pe, etc.'. 

He continues those calls really loudly and the signal is animated where it travels through the mid-Western states to Washington which is a nice visual. He view to a pig farm in Washington which is really the knack of Avery's joke - visual puns. The hogs in the mud then respond as he sing together in a barbershop quartet form, and sing Yoo Hoo. The way they even call back is just really strange as they sing with substitute lyrics of their response - but the 'hog caller' pun was certainly very humorous.

The next sequence with the narrator's typical introduction: 'Believe it or else...' where there are birds flying outside a courtyard. The narrator announces of a man who hadn't been outside for 50 years. We pan towards to an old man who discredits himself, 'I'm a bad boy' which would be a Abbott & Costello reference - I think. Gee, 50 years in prison...hope he isn't institutionalised unlike Brooks in Shawshank Redemption.

The next sequence features a basketball player who is a student at the University of California. The narrator announces (believe it or else), 'the first human basketball'. We find the 'human basketball' can bounce his own stomach like a basketball -- and so runs around the sports hall. The human basketball bounces over to the net and scores. Now that was just nuts.

The next sequence features is probably what I would consider a huge step-up in Tex's own personal humour where the film itself enters reality -- which Tex loved doing. The narrator announces of what is displayed is optical illusion, and to prove the audience that the two squares aren't the same size.

Tex and writer Monahan really does have a knack in creating a real sense of humour that is very striking and could even motivate an audience member. The narrator asks for the audience to close their left eye before closing their right.

As the screen is pitch black - one eyelid opens and the narrator buts in, 'Ah-ah-ah..somebody peeked'. Now that must've been a huge revolution of laughter in the cinema..and Tex has really taken personal humour into higher levels. Its so believable it even made me close my eyes. The next sequence we three triangles made from matchsticks. The narrator is to trick the audience that many triangles can be made from just those matchsticks. The narrator moves his hand over to change the matchsticks in different positions until then a whole lot of matchsticks is added and then its just a whole litter of matchsticks in the screen which is the gag since there is hardly a triangle there. The narrator suggests at the end, 'Try it with your friends'.

The next sequence we find an observatory at night in California, where the narrator mentions how science has really advanced a great deal..with a 200-inch telescope which can show you millions of miles of space and even life on Mars.

Of course, being a bit of a dated gag itself..the observatory have discovered that there is life on Mars. Of course..the 'Life on Mars' theory has been pondered for centuries but hard evidence hasn't been discovered until the late 20th century.

The special effects animation of space is rather serviceable but since the cartoons were low-budget..it did the job. As we close in on a fiery looking Mars..spaceships fly straight into the scene to show the evidence. A 'Buck Dodgers' spaceship docks on top of the red planet and we find the fictional comic book character Buck Rogers step out of his spaceship...with the parody name Buck Dodgers. Being a famous characters for spaceships, he steps out with an ignorant, dumb voice 'Hello, folks. Don't miss me in Next Sunday's funny paper. Boy, its a killer thriller' and the spaceship flies off. That was a funny voice Blanc pulled off. Afterwards - a spaceship flies in with an opinionated Egghead shouting, 'Err..I don't believe it!' which happens throughout the cartoon until it reaches its conclusion at the end of the cartoon. Danny Webb certainly does make a funny, realistic Egghead voice.

Afterwards - the telescope moves over to the moon as its been proven (believe it or else) no life resides there. However, on a long-shot of the craters we find civilians walking on the moon. The narrator is stumped, and asks; 'What are you doing here on the moon?'..it turns out they are caricatures of regular contestants on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour.

One of the contestants identifies him as one of the Major Bowes Unit 73, and asks to find a way to Cleveland, Ohio. The narrator remarks, 'You're on the wrong programme - but as long as you're here. Let's here your number'. The Major Bowes trio then break into a barbershop song where they sing Sweet Genevieve.

After singing for roughly 15 seconds - the narrator breaks up the act and announces, 'Hey boys - you'll have to hurry up. We're losing time'. They accept and speed up the song in a much quicker pace. Interesting when how cartoons were slow-paced at the time, and yet it feels some sort of an experiment here. Afterwards they leave. Definitely rather groundbreaking for Tex's humour in terms of breaking the forth wall - where it went to different extremes. Of course - at the time The Major Bowes Amateur Hour was a very popular talent show of the 1930s, sort of the Britain's Got Talent or the X Factor of its time...which explains the reference here, which must've been pretty hyped up when the cartoon was in theatres.

Moving over to Egypt -- the narrator explains a 'believe it or else' segment where it relates to the wishing well. Legend has it, that a wish is sure to be granted under the wishing well. An Egyptian citizen walks over to the wishing well, and bows for his wish. 'Oh wishing well! Oh wishing well. I wish I had a million dollars!'. There is a echo voice underneath the wishing well that responds: 'So do I'.

Now that is just hilarious, as it implies the wishing well can grant any wish is just a hoax...even Egghead supports that statement as he walks over in the middle of the picture with a sign reading It's a Fake.

The next sequence features a lumberjack by the name of Chippofoski who is seen cutting down a tree...who is credited as the world's fastest woodchopper. Remember this is way before the Guinness Book of Records. We find him chopping down the tree trunk extremely quick and the detail in the animation timing is really worth studying as you can certainly feel the force and weight added into. Chippofoksi leaves off a edge where the tree is about to tilt, and then shouts out 'TIMBER'. The gag is he has only cut off a real small amount that the camera trucks back to find its barely cut but the animation timing is very good. A great sequence to study animation timing which make the gag work.

Afterwards - the narrator moves on to a man who is known for being the world's most accurate knife thrower. He already has a target where he plans on throwing the knife on the subject's hat who is a beefy and dumb looking character. The tip hat is rather funny timing.  Afterwards; the knife thrower prepares to aim at his target and does so.

Afterwards the knife thrower breaks out into a wild hat take that erects. This is a great early prototype example of Tex's wild takes. The knife thrower turns to the audience, breaking the forth wall: "Is there a doctor in the house". A very dark gag but its really funny.

The next sequence which is suppressed in many TV prints (but not here) is where the narrator announces 'the berth of the baby' to be seen on screen. We find some black stewards that open up the curtains where we find a baby in a basket in the berth section of the train. Of course, it would've been cut for stereotypical reasons as 'berth' is a stereotypical African-African dialect of pronouncing 'birth'.

The next 'believe it or else' event then appears where we find an ant next where ants are crawling around...and there is an invention of a 'super-sensitive microphone' where you can hear the sounds of ants for the first time. On close up we find a particular ant that is looking around and the audience are waiting for the ant to make a sound. The ant shouts out really loudly 'Hey Mabel!'.


The sound and tone is a very funny effect which explains about the super-sensitive microphone. After the iris-out we focus on another 'believe it or else' event where a magician is about to perform the usual saw-in-half routine. Egghead walks into the scene and rudely interrupts, 'It's done with mirrors. I don't believe it'.

The narrator then responds, 'Alright man, if you don't believe it, just step inside the box there'. Egghead enters the box and the magician closes the door. He then saws the lower part of the crate, and opens up afterwards. Afterwards Egghead still responds rudely, 'Hah-hah. I STILL don't believe it'. Afterwards; his legs walk out of the scene on itself with Egghead's upper half still standing. Egghead makes a take as he realises and chases after his lower half with the magician still standing. The curtain closes as the cartoon ends.

Overall comments: Very funny parody title of the 'Believe It or Not' franchise as I've already mentioned. What I like about it is here the parody title its demanding you to believe it, whilst the original title gives you a choice of what you believe. It may be seen as just a typical spot-gag cartoon - but watching the cartoon, as a whole..it does feel like Tex Avery is taking completely different steps in terms of gags. We've all seen him go through levels of humour in cartoons: from breaking the forth wall to silhouetted audiences - or even theatre managements title cards. Here he is trying to keep the audience motivated through he cartoon - particularly in the sequence where the narrator asks for everyone to close their eyelids for a trick; which is a really useful gag. Some of the gags of the overall cartoon though did have its weaknesses, particularly early on in the cartoon with just corny and basic gags; but most of the time he is attempting to pull off new gag ideas which are essential to this cartoon.

The Egghead scenes that pop in from time-to-time in the cartoon are a way to interrupt the continuous sequences so it probably wouldn't bore an audience member of spot-gag after spot-gag. Even though the cartoon did have its good and even fine moments; the cartoon does clock in too long: at 8 minutes at 40 seconds; where Tex slightly overdid himself in the cartoon. Egghead is rather fun in the cartoon as he is the butt of the cartoon, who doesn't believe in these events and is used for satire and even in-and-out scenes in Tex's cartoons (examples like Isle of Pingo Pongo, Little Red Walking Hood and A Day at the Zoo). If anything; Tex sure knew how to make a dark sequence or dark setting even feel rather humorous with his humorous takes as well as corny catchphrases. Tex's main 1930s style is still visible throughout much of the cartoon, but at some elements or scenes; it feels more realistic looking before he finally converted into a different style later on in 1939.

236. A Day at the Zoo (1939)

Sorry I didn't write a post to conclude the blog's year of 2012...too busy partying and having fun! But anyway, I hope you all have a good new year and hope you all continue to follow the blog in the new year -- 2013. Last year (2012) I have reviewed a rough total of 154 reviews (155 - if you want to include my special review) -- with many days of no . Could I do more reviews this year - we will see. But this year I have estimated that by the end of 2013 - I will already be reviewing 1943 cartoons - which means all the bad and weak days of the studios would be by us. So, definitely keep tuned! Much more to look forward to.

Warner cartoon no. 235.
Release date: March 11, 1939.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Egghead/Elk Named Bill/Monkey/Stool Pigeon/Mother Ostrich/Joe Jumbo/Wildcat), Gil Warren (Narrator) and Danny Webb (Second elk/Owl/Parrot/Second Panther/Jailbird).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Rollin Hamilton.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Spot-gag cartoon of the different animals at the zoo. Egghead is annoying a lion throughout intervals of the cartoon.

This is the first animator credit for Rollin Hamilton since Hollywood Capers (1935) which was released almost four years earlier. Of course - Rollin Hamilton was famous for animating for the very early Disney cartoons (the Oswald an 'Alice' cartoons) as well as animating the WB cartoons in the Harman-Ising era. He remained at WB until 1935.

After Rollin left WB in 1935 - he went over briefly to animate back at Disney again at around 1935/36 (as according to his relatives - Walt forgave him for walking out on Walt in the 20s and let him continue working until he could). Rollin Hamilton provided animation for the cartoon Toby Tortoise Returns which he is credited for in the animator draft. But then he left Disney - then he went over to animate for Harman-Ising at MGM in 1936 to 1938; but he did return to Warners briefly in 1938 where he landed over to the Avery unit where he had two credits: A Day at the Zoo and Detouring America before he left and his animation career supposedly ended there. Rollin died around 1951 or 1952 of a heart attack.

With that aside - this is where Tex then begins his own breakthrough making his own spot-gag cartoons. Before that - he was just focusing on humorous as well as parodies of famous stories and legends. Now - he starts to focus on his spot-gag cartoons. I guess The Isle of Pingo Pongo - (the first spot-gag Avery cartoon) must have been a success in the cinemas that it encouraged Avery to create much more - even though they lack a lot of the creativity they had. From that point on - Avery's cartoons so show a decline by making these cartoons and would occasionaly turn out some parodies or stories that weren't spot-gags.

The cartoon begins as the narrator for this spot-gag cartoon begins: "Here we are at one of the country's most interesting zoos". The name of the zoo - as identified by the bars read 'Kalama Zoo'. The camera then pans forward as Tex Avery gives us a sign gag. The sign reads FEEDING TIME and the time for that takes place at 12 to 1pm for one hour. Then we see more of the sign where there is a special 'Blue Plate Lunch' for 35 cents. The 'blue plate' part is a little dated as it refers to low-priced meals that you would expect at diners.

So - the sequence of spot-gags then begin as the narrator begins to look through the different types of animals featured at the zoo. The narrator begins with as we find a wolf 'in its natural setting'. The wolf is standing outside freezing and there is a locked door. I don't quite get the gag but I guess it involves of wolves trying to get into houses and they live in northwest.

Then we go on to find a pack of camels in the zoo - and the camels are smoking. This is referencing to the cigarette brand Camel which is still in use but was very popular in the 1930s.

Then we pan through to spot the North Ameican Greyhounds - and that is a definite reference to the operating passenger system Greyhound Lines and it even features the distinctive logo. We see a monorail that rides through the road in the theme of California, Here I Come. We follow on we find 'two bucks' as the narrator is just pulling out puns and it is visualised through the sequence. As well as 'five scents' and we see five skunks in that area. Then we spot 'two elks' as they walk along and greet other and are both named Bill. That gag is definitely dated. I don't get it.

The next sequence then begins as we see a group of monkeys in their cages as they are feeding peanuts to the humans - which is a little odd and funny since it should be the other way round. There is a scene where there is a baboon who is standing outside in uniform and a real baboon in the cage as they stare at each other eye-to-eye. I guess that was is they are trading places.

Then the next scene follows with the baboon in a suit inside the cage and the baboon is set free. I don't fully get the gag - but I guess it means they're both lookalike I suppose.  In the following scene as we horizontally pan - we then find an elderly lady who looks at a monkey in the cage. The sign below clearly reads, 'Do Not Feed the Monkeys'.

She looks around for anyone around and then brings out a packet of monkey nuts out of her purse to give to the monkey. The monkey then rejects and tosses them straight to her face as he shouts, 'Listen, sister! Can't ya read?!' Now that is a very funny scene that is just wonderfully executed and even a gag that you would not expect to happen when watching the first time. Avery would reuse that gag again when making Cross Country Detours.

The next sequence then features a groundhog who lives in its cage - and it turns out that his shadow is in a separate as they are also pacing about. That gag I definitely do not get - and I wouldn't know much about groundhogs - but its a terrible gag anyway. (Update: Don't mind me for being ignorant of not knowing of 'Groundhog Day' - just isn't celebrated in the UK - thats why I'm not aware of it).

We are then interrupted as the narrator spots Egghead who is teasing a lion as he is laughing. The sign clearly reads, 'Do Not Tease the Lion - Dangerous'. The narrator then interrupts the scene and tells off Egghead, 'Hey, don't annoy that lion. It's dangerous.  Can't you read that sign? You better take my advice and leave him alone! Shame, shame! You're a bad boy'. Egghead then walks out of the scene in shame. The remark 'you're a bad boy' is rather funny as you would least expect to hear that from a narrator. The interrupting sequences are rather fun as its Tex making the cartoon a bit more exciting than just a string of spot-gag sequences.


The next sequence follows as the visitors are standing a few metres away from the cage where there is a skunk that lives there. We view the skunk inside who is reading Dale Carnegie's best-seller of the 1930s: How to Win Friends and Influence People. Now that is a funny gag which displays of how much of an outcast the skunk is because of their hygiene - and that book may be dated but it certainly works.

The next sequence then features where the zookeeper is feeding the giraffe. The gag then continues where it looks like the zookeeper is feeding him corn. The corn is already visible through the inside of the neck where it makes a fall down the neck before bouncing down to the giraffe's stomach. That gag is really not that funny but the comic timing works.

Afterwards - we then spot Egghead is teasing the dangerous lion once again as he was just told by the narrator to not do that. As Egghead continues to have fun laughing historically - the narrator warns again - once more. "Listen fella, this is the second time I've to speak to you. Leave that lion alone, and I'm warning ya!" Egghead then looks at the camera with a sad expression and criticises himself, "I'm a BAD boy!" and he walks out of the scene. I suspect that line "I'm a BAD boy" was a reference to Abbott and Costello even though they weren't popular until after the cartoon was made.

We move on to the next group as we find a group of white rabbits hopping around in their rabbit hutch. The narrator explains about how rabbits are very quick at multiplying - which is just play-on words as we then horizontally pan to the group of rabbits that are using the calculating machine which is a little amusing.


The next sequence over at the bird sanctuary we find many small birds that already reside there. One in particular is a wise old owl who is standing on the branch of a tree.

The owl then interrupts and asks, "Who?" The narrator responds, "You". Then its through dialogue that is a line exchange from The Night Watchman. "Me?" - "Yes", "Ohhh" responds the owl - who has a rather stupid voice which is  a little amusing, too. The narrator moves on towards a South African talking parrot. He starts off with the typical line to get a parrot talking - 'Polly want a cracker?' - the parrot is obstinate to speak - he responds in a rather shirty way, 'Nahh - give me a short beer!' With that line - I would've expected that time since the facial expressions read it already, and you would know Tex was going to build around a gag like that.

The next animal who is introduced in the bird sanctuary is the Alcatraz jailbird. The play-on words are rather fun as we see the jailbird pacing up and down until he then impersonates Edward G. Robinson. He walks around pacing and shouting, "I didn't do I tell ya -- I was framed, see? Ya--I'm innocent".

Then he starts to shake the bars as he continues to beg. Cute reference to Eddie G's gangster films. "I wanna see the D.A. They can't do this to me, see? They can't hang this on me. I didn't do it, I tell ya! I didn't do it I tell ya!" Then we pan forward where the next bird is a stool pigeon who snitches and reveals he had 'done it'. Now that is just very funny and I call that a wonderful pun - since 'stool pigeons' were names on what you would call people who would snitch. Mel Blanc's acting and voice of the stool pigeon certainly delivers some charisma on the pigeon.

The next sequence that we spot is a mother ostrich who is sitting on her next hatching an ostrich egg. The ostrich then steps out and oddly and creepily enough - clucks like a chicken. Since when do ostriches cluck my chickens? Yes, it's just for a joke I suppose -- but I just find that creepy.

As the ostrich walks out with her giant egg - she accidentally trips on the bucket and the ostrich trips. She lets go of the eggs by accident and it then falls and cracks. The ostrich egg reveals another egg box that carries a dozen eggs.

That is a little funny as its judging on the size of an ostrich egg since they are so huge - that it probably could carry a box that is worth a dozen eggs. Meanwhile Egghead is still teasing the lion as the lion's anger is only getting worse. The narrator tells him off once more: "For the last time - you better stop annoying that lion if you know what's good for ya!" Egghead hides behind the tree and walk backwards and quotes, "I'm a BAD boy once more".

Meanwhile - the narrator announces a new animal has arrived at the zoo is the elephant. The elephant is on the phone to some mail clerks to return his 'trunk' which is all the way from Africa. He then turns to the audience and we see he has no trunk on his face. Arrgh - how creepy to look! He remarks, 'Y'know - these guys had had my trunk for a week!"

We pan forward as we find another cage where we see pink elephants floating around. The narrator jokes about folks experiencing him in a New Years party. Mmm, I've been in a few states (even at New Years) no pink elephants yet! Well, of course - its a term that is used for whenever  a person hallucinates or go in an acid trip. Probably the best use of 'pink elephants' on film is Dumbo.

The next sequence we see two panthers who are walking up and down their cage as they are continuously restlessly pacing and appear to have an argument or a bicker over who mentions 'bread and butter' first - which is just a superstition which is mentioned towards people to see who gets bad luck first.

The next scene then focuses on what appears to be a ringmaster who is reading the newspaper - named J. Wellington Buttonhook. The narrator describes him as he used to be a lion tamer at the circus and was known to have thrilled thousands who attended his circus acts.

 After he finishes reading the newspaper - he then walks out as he is headless. A rather dark and grim gag, I must say. The next scene - we then find a wildcat from the Rocky Mountains. Of course - Tex Avery decides to make it all wacky by making the cat act wild and kooky. Mmm, too bad Tex couldn't have topped it in this era as he was an expert for wild takes. The narrator then asks why the cat is asking wild. He replies, 'What makes me wild? What makes me wild? They called my name out at bank night and I wasn't there!" and he continues to act crazy.

The next scene then comes to its conclusion as we spot the same lion in the cage who is feeling very happy and content. The narrator believes that Egghead had finally went home. "Well, I guess that little fella finally took my advice and went home". The lion then shakes his head slowly with a proud look of his face. He gives it away as he opens his mouth and we listen to Egghead inside the lion's stomach, "I'm a BAD boy". It's a dark and sadistic gag - but at least we know he isn't...dead.

Overall comments: Supposedly (as I have already mentioned) Tex's first spot-gag was a success and felt encouraged to make more of those cartoons - even though they would get much more worse and even declined his cartoon quality. However, this cartoon (as I noticed) clearly shows Tex Avery's strong use of character layouts and drawings that is evident in the cartoons released in 1937-38 and this is just before the animation and designs change where the animation looks more realistic and Tex becomes influenced with the Disney designs - but it is a little evident here. The cartoon had a couple of his funny moments - but as I say too much sequences in his films - and even spot-gag cartoons in general are just pretty weak.

I feel the cartoon where it is just a string of gags that features puns, and jokes that relate to dated catchphrases or references does get a little tiresome and it makes me feel a bit offish when reviewing. Although I think that the scenes with Egghead and the lion were rather cool and at least they were an excuse for interruptions in the cartoon where it wasn't just spot-gag sequences, which would just be boring - but I think we all saw what was coming to Egghead at the end. The couple of the gags which i think were some cool highlights - could be the 'skunk' gag where he reads the book on how to mix just says it all through drawings. The 'jailbird' gag was a rather nice parody of Edward G. Robinson in his typical drama-gangster films. He sure is easy to caricature - even though only his voice is caricatured. But this is just a sequence where it had some good gags and others weak gags - I feel like for almost every spot-gag (but there are some where they aren't funny at all).

231. Hamateur Night (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 230.
Release date: January 28, 1939.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Egghead/Audience with Crushed feet/various contestants), Sara Berner (Flea/Juliet Hen), Phil Kramer (Host) and Tex Avery (Hippo).
Story: Jack Miller.
Animation: Paul Smith.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: It's Hamateur Night playing with several contestants, and Egghead interrupting a few times but who is bound to win?

This is Irv Spence's final animation here (that I've noticed) he has done for Avery at Warner Bros. before he leaves and goes off to M-G-M where his famous career. continues. It appears around this time that Tex was rather eager in using other actors from radio shows to do some characters; here he's using Phil Kramer for the voice of the show who had appeared on the Grouch Club with Arthur Q. Bryan, and Lescoulie. And - he would use Q. Bryan for Dangerous Dan McFoo and later on would voice Elmer Fudd.

The cartoon begins as we see the sign outside a theatre where the name of the theatre is the typical parody name Warmer Bros. Theatre  for these Warner cartoon. As well as a parody with bright lights that read "Four Daughters with Selected Shorts" - as it is supposedly used  as an attraction.

The amateur show then begins as a conductor begins to play the music with the gag showing (instead of an intense opening) it already begins with some jolly music to It Looks Like a Big Night Tonight. Then the conductor and his orchestra grab out trumpets as they play together their own introduction to amateur night. A rather cool introduction with a fine gag on the conductor about to start off with a serious introduction.

The host then steps out and the voice acting is done by Phil Kramer who does a superb job at it. The host certainly has that unenthusiastic look on his face, only taking his role as 'just a job' which I find funny. He starts off with his rather low, humble voice:

"Hello folks, tonight is Hamateur Night - next we have...". As he is about to introduce the next act - Egghead enters the scene spoiling the introduction by singing She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain When She Comes. Some hooks then arrive at the sop and Egghead is quickly dashes out which is some funny, loose animation by Irv Spence there - who animates most of the scenes with the host. A funny little scene which is just out of nowhere of Egghead to come through as it makes the host feel like a host, and I love how he doesn't show any stimulation in himself and the hooks just toss him away.


The host continues as he announces, "Next we have Maestro Palawitsky". The curtains then collapse as we find Maestro Palawitski sitting on his piano on the stool. We notice that he has a flock of hair that covers his face and he unravels it as we see his face. I wonder if the name or even the hair is meant to resemble Leopold Stokowski - even though there is no indication other than the name.

He then grabs out a coin in his pocket and plays it in the slot of the piano which is a little amusing as we know he is completely talentless and just sits there and as though he is not at all bothered with the piano playing The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.

I love how the piano is presented as some juke box. The judge at the back of the curtain is appalled at the act (knowing what he did) and then slams the bell and his piano falls as well. Afterwards; we find that a member of the audience is already seated with his feet resting on a chair in front of him.

However, a hippo audience member arrives at the spot he is resting his feet and sits on them. The audience member then gets up shouting at the top of his voice, "OUCH! I give up! I give up!" The hippo then gets up and the dog notices his crooked feet and he walks out of the audience weeping like a baby - "Oh look at my feet. They're all crooked and everything!". Now that is certainly amusing; and the jerky animation is cool. The next amateur then focuses on an opera singing raven who sings so loud that it causes him to rise in mid-air. He even starts to sing in a falsetto which is just crazy and Tex is having fun with gags. higher and higher until the bell rings and he falls down upon hearing which is just wacky.

The next scene we find that the hippo audience member is already becoming a pest as he breaks out into Tex Avery's own infectious laughter as he laughs so loudly an audience member in front of him is disturbed. The hippo laughs out, "It's a killer!" at the amateurs that he starts to become unaware of his actions and ends up whacking the audience's derby hat and his hat ends up having his whole body down to his waist.

The timing of him striking the hat to his waist is just really funny and perfect comic timing by Avery. Afterwards - the man walks out of his seat and leaves the theatre in disgust. The curtains rise for the next act with the host standing by the wall:

"Next on the program - the Hindumistic Swanee River and his basket trick" rather amusing he's named after the Swanee River in Florida. We then pan to the Hindumistic who is standing at the center and we hear Hindu music in the background. The close-up of Swanee River is Irv's animation (and I think he did the scene before that).

In the close-up; the Hindumistic demands for his trick, "I must have a subject for the audience". He then calls out for a certain person who he spots. We know it is Egghead is the chosen member of the audience - as you can tell in the silhouette. Egghead arrives on stage, the Hindumistic then points to basket to enter the basket - and he enters. He then sticks his sword into the basket a few times stabbing him inside. The sound effects are very funny. The trick he made then failed as he tries to ask him back into the box; but instead he finds that he is already (and likely dead). He then  hands over the basket to the usher, and asks "Usher. Give the gentlemen his money back".

The host then walks over as he announces the next act to be the "world's smallest entertainer" - who is "Teeny Tiny Tinsy Tinny Tin-Tin". The flea then jumps out of the dog and hops over to the spotlight - which is a cool sound effect used by an electric guitar.

The flea also appears to have the world's highest voice that it almost sounds like it is going to break. This is certainly an ambitious gag for Avery as he would have probably Sara Berner to provide a voice and edited it to a high output. The flea is reciting the poem of Mary Had a Little Lamb and then concludes the first verse, and laughs. The act is rejected and falls down the rejection floor. It turns out to be a really long fall for the flea that there is a terrible crashing sound afterwards which is just very amusing and wacky for Tex...very humorous. Cool shaky effect in the camera which was (probably) done by Smokey Garner.

The next scene the host introduces the next act where it involves a walrus trainer named Fleabag McFoodle who can train his dog with expertise. The walrus then trains his dog the basic tricks like to roll over and the dog rolls over. Then he trains for the dog to play dead - and the pose of the dog playing dead is pretty decent. Fleabag McFoodle then trains for him to sit up, and then to speak...

The music cue for the dog scene is Where, O Where Has My Little Dog Gone? The dog then gets up and starts to speak and repeats the quote of what an actor from a play would say. He starts off with the typical line, "Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking...from the rockbound coast of Maine - to the sunny shores of California". I don''t know if its a reference - but obviously Maine and California are very far apart.

I love how he wriggles his own stomach for that. I suspect it might have been a Virgil Ross scene (only suspect) as it feels like the movement he would use. However, the dog ends up rejected and falls. Afterwards; the hippo then goes into hysterics again when he laughs so loudly he uses his own elbow to barge the other audience member. He barges them so violently that they all line up together and crash out of the building as they have already broken a wall.

The next sequence then focuses on a fox who is an amateur actor who likes to act Shakespeare plays. He then starts off by quoting the notorious line off Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet. He then quotes, "To be - or NOT to be!" and the audience disapprove of Shakespeare (probably) then throw tomatoes at his face. The fox actor then realises that every time he quotes the quote - a tomato comes shooting straight for his face.

Once he realises that it is already becoming a habit - he then quickly quotes the line and covers himself with the tomato not aiming for his face - just freezes. He then steps back and tries to quote the rest of the line, "...that is the ques--" and the tomato splats on his face.

That is some real amusing comic timing there and I love the fluidity of the tomato splats. The host then reaches under the curtains announces the following sequence to be the 'balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet. Afterwards a tomato then aims for the face of the host which is some great timing by Tex - also an Irv scene.

The sequence of Romeo & Juliet begins as we find the hen playing Juliet is up at the balcony as she quotes the famous line: "Romeo, Romeo ... where for art thou Romeo?" as she does her Katherine Hepburn impression. Here those characters from Daffy Duck in Hollywood and its appropriate to use them again. The Romeo actor then approaches, "Here, my love. In the bushes at the bottom of the garden".

He uses a ladder to climb up as they both share a kiss. Beautiful effect on the moon melting which gives it some atmosphere. Juliet then shares another famous line: 'Goodnight, goodnight. Parting is such sweet sorrow' and then impersonates Hepburn, 'Rarely it is'. At that moment the hippo at the back then starts to laugh out so loud at the scene.

The laughing scenes sure do amuse me a lot - as it creates such an awkward moment for classic Shakespeare plays. Afterwards, he continues his lines (which certainly aren't from the play), 'Oh my darling, my only one. I love you more than anything--' the hippo laughs again until the chick actor steps down to shoot the hippo in the audience. Certainly a big move for Tex Avery with these gags as he has gone all the way to sadism - but then again its still very funny, and even many other WB cartoons used that afterwards. Afterwards; he tries to take the play more seriously but it turns out that the infectious laughter was really from her - making the actor a killer - now that is excellent satire! After the curtains close - he shoots her.

The amateur show concludes and the host enters the spot as he is going to find out who the winner of Hamateur Night is. He begins as he comments, "Now folks..." but Egghead comes in to interrupt the show by singing She'll Be Coming Around the Mountains before the hooks reach in and yank him out (also his hat). He walks over with a bib as he announces, 'Let's see who wins the cup!'. He walks over in chronological order.

The penguin opera singer has been rejected by the audience, as well as the Hindumistic and is rather surprised at the feedback. Then walks over to the dog that speaks but still boos, then the fox actor (well he's obviously getting them). Hang on a minute, what happened to the flea that was reciting nursery rhymes? The actor (who is still alive as the Juliet actress has been shot) and I admit its really dark.

Then the bib goes over to the final contestant who is...Egghead. He gets all the praise from the audience as the host is appalled. He looks at him and then the audience. The wacky part turns out that the entire audience are full of multiple Eggheads. All I can say is - what happened to the audience? Did they somehow get mutated or put under a spell and evolve into Eggheads?

Overall comments: Probably one of the more stronger cartoons of this year - and its one of my favourite cartoons that Avery has made at Warner Bros. Tex Avery has already made some parodies of famous stories, or legends but here this cartoon pretty much has a simple story where we see an amateur show that is put on. It follows on with a string of gags and most of them work pretty well. Egghead here is used only a few time - but I don't think him very focused on the cartoon as he only appears a few times in the cartoons - and it would have been funnier or even more broader if he appeared in and out all through the cartoon just singing She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain but the gag part at the end was a bit amusing but would've been funnier if he was used a little more often, even it would become a little obnoxious. The hippo character certainly did steal the show - whenever the gags of the amateur show were getting a little weak, and I think Avery here in this cartoon shows a great deal of him working hard at comic timing. It feels like this cartoon is a practice for his timing which of course he would be the expert of in his MGM years. The timing of the hippo bashing the hat is just really funny as well as the tomato splating.

The cartoon feels like that it is an end of some era for Tex in his WB career. For three years he's mainly been focusing on making cartoons that are humorous for cinema audiences who would want to come in and laugh at his cartoons which would have fine gags and even references. Afterwards, and with Irv Spence's departure - it seems to feel as though Tex then focuses on a new level and it feels he's sending his unit to art school as Avery somehow gets hooked with making travelogue parodies - which he would continue making until his Warner Bros. departure. The voice casting in the cartoon has been chosen very well, and its appropriate casting for Mel Blanc who pretty much voices almost all the contestants, as well as Egghead. You couldn't have chosen a better person (perhaps) than Phil Kramer who was popular in radio, and he definitely sounded the part. After this cartoon, Avery would then start to meteorite in his cartoons for the next two years (although every once in a while he would turn out some decent material) as he would focus on spot-gags, and even his cartoons start to get slow-paced.