31. Goopy Geer (1932)

Hiya folks - I should point out that I may not be posting much reviews next weekend because I've been led to a possible compulsory choice of staying a school weekend, there are personal reasons to this, that I won't mention, but I'll do my REAL best to post as much as I possibly can.

Warner cartoon no. 30.
Release date: April 16, 1932.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Directed by: Rudolf Ising.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Cast unknown.
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Rollin Hamilton.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

The short starts off inside a bar, with a crowd shouting for an encore, "Bring Goopy Geer!" There is also a gorilla bartender who walks down the pub holding the drinks, and it's REUSED FROM Lady, Play Your Mandolin!! My goodness, I never expected such an obvious reuse from that cartoon, and it really doesn't work to me. Except a little bit of animation of the gorilla was original animation in this short. The whole concept of this shot was reused, though. The hippo screaming in the table was also reused from Lady, Play Your Mandolin! but there is new animation, once he shouts "Bring Goopy Geer!", and then a little mouse pops out of his beer mug and shouts in a falsetto voice, "Bring Goopy Geer!"

 As soon as there is different layers of curtains that are risen, Goopy Gear is shown from a long-shot distance, but the crowd obviously recognize him alright, and then he starts to walk down the stage to his piano. I can obviously tell that he's putting on a pretty lame Jimmy Durante impression, by using the lines, "I have not studied music; I do not know my notes!" Goopy Geer plays some tunes in the piano, and by saying "I do not know my notes", he's obviously playing them right - unless he's trying to create an Andre Previn moment when Andre says to Eric Morcambe on stage "I'm playing the right notes on the piano, but not necessarily in the right order!" My saying, "I haven't studied music," - then he must be a natural.

Goopy Geer appears to be dancing and prancing around the piano, and then playing some funky tunes on the piano, and continues the line "I have not studied music - I do not know my notes!" I thought the piano notes were quite good but the impressions of Jimmy Durante were just pathetic to me, even though it's a parody. It's pretty obvious that it's a parody of Durante when Goopy sings the line, "I play piano, and I play by ear." ToonZone confirms that the song is called "I Have Not Studied Music". For some reason, even before watching the Goopy cartoons, I've always thought that Goopy Geer resembled Goofy in the Disney cartoons, I don't know - I guess it's the name and the design that's similar enough.

There appear to be three cats (reused from Freddy the Freshman) and they are slurping soup, and then Goopy Geer starts to play the piano to Sidewalks of New York in which the slurping turns into music rhythm as well. One cat grabs a piece of bread, the second cat chews the bread, and the third cat swallows it - sounds like an eating pattern is going on as well.

We then go to a shot of a cow eating spaghetti, and he uses the spaghetti as part of a "string" instrument to play to the music as well. He pulls his tail behind him, in which the spaghetti lets go, and he slurps the last part into his mouth.

Goopy laughs at what is going on, and then he starts to use his talent again by playing the piano. It appears to be that Goopy is so talented at the piano, that he can take off his gloves, and play a different part of the piano; while his gloves are playing the piano itself - it seems that Goopy isn't just an entertainer, but a SORCERER. 

Meanwhile, the gorilla walks down the hall of the bar, and into the canteen doors (Gee, also REUSED from Lady, Play Your Mandolin!) The gorilla asks a sleeping chicken inside the kitchen for "one soup", and it appears to be that it's chicken soup that is being ordered. All the chicken has to do is dip inside the soup, swim around in it for a while, get dried and the soup is all ready. Now that appears to be a safe way of putting it that the younger audience doesn't see a bird being cooked alive.

There appears to be an excited fan of Goopy Gear that leaps into the stage, (Wait a minute, it's the same character who was Freddie's girlfriend in Freddy the Freshman - looks like Freddie lost his luck as he was probably dumped, Ha!). The girl screams that she's "got a new baby in our house" - wait a minute, does that scene Freddie's a FATHER?! Goopy asks for her name, but she says that she doesn't know the name. The girl dog then starts to sing I Need Lovin' on stage. 

There is dancing going on, while there appears to be a young puppy with a party hat on, and blowing a balloon. Until he lets go of the balloon and chases after it. The balloon goes through between the hippo's legs in which it tickles - the hippo appears to slap the boy thinking he had been involved in some sexual innuendo or something.

So, Goopy Geer and the girl dog start dancing, until a turkey in the bar starts performing ballet, and two hatstands that come to life (Huh, the hatstands were also reused from...Lady, Play Your Mandolin!). What's up with the whole reusing from Lady, Play Your Mandolin cartoon - did Rudolf Ising need inspiration or something, was he using too much money?

There is now a drunken horse (*sighs* reused from Lady, Play Your Mandolin!) and starts drinking a bottle of booze, in which he breathes flames out from the taste. The horse starts to hallucinate with monster images from the mirror, and also an image of Gandhi. Oh my God, they actually had to reuse that!! The horse spits on the piano that Goopy is playing on, but the piano explodes, with only the piano strings and keyboards surviving, Goopy too - and that's all folks!

I thought that this cartoon was awful, because of so many of the crummy reuses that were used for this cartoon. They had to reuse a lot of it from Lady, Play Your Mandolin or Freddie the Freshman. True, this saved money, but I don't care; I still find this cartoon terrible, even if no-one else agrees. Not only do the reusing kill me, but I always thought the Jimmy Durante impressions were quite pathetic. Overall, it's a strange cartoon, and I didn't like it.

30. Bosko's Party (1932)

Warner cartoon no. 29.
Release date: April 2, 1932.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Johnny Murray?
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Larry Martin.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

 The short starts off with Bosko in the rain with his umbrella on and he appears to be holding a gift for his sweetheart, Honey. While Bosko is crossing the road, he uses his umbrella to paddle through the heavy rain as it is flooding. That of course, doesn't make sense to me, because he's crossing the road, and yet he uses his umbrella to cross it, but the pavement doesn't look flooded!

Meanwhile, Honey is at home as it's her birthday and is probably dressing up for later, while she's mascaraing her eyelashes, with her spit. She decides to get back changed into her normal dress, and she doesn't realize that the audience is looking at her about to get changed. She stands behind a transom where she privately gets changed, but not realizing that there is a mirror, and that we can see her undress. Hah, I think that's kind of a funny gag, in terms of humiliation.

 Bosko walks to Honey's house, and the rain has already appeared to stop (with a puddle on the pavement to Honey's house). Bosko opens the door where there is a pig guest, who tells Bosko to be quiet as a surprise party for Honey - organized by Bosko and her friends. As soon as Bosko enters the door, Honey's dog comes by and constantly licks Bosko, until all the guests tell her to be quiet. Honey begins to slowly go down the stairs humming to London Bridge is Falling Down.

 

Bosko remarks to everyone, "It's Honey, quick hide! Scram!", so everyone else scrambles away from the front room, and hide throughout the first floor rooms. Bosko slams the door, but Honey's dog yelps as his tail is caught stuck on the door, Bosko nearly panics and quickly opens the door so the dog can run off and stop barking. There is even a pig who tries to hide under a bed, but since he can't even fit under the bed, Bosko walks along and brings out a pin to burst the fat pig, until he's slim enough to fit under the bed.

Meanwhile, Honey's spoilt cat Wilbur is trying to find other places to hide, but all the other closet doors were taken, and the draws. Wilbur is running in circles thinking where to hide, until Bosko pops along and empties a flower pot, and places Wilbur inside.

As Honey gets closer in walking down the stairs, everyone else in the living room hide in every nook and cranny. Bosko tells the message on everyone to "duck" as Honey is about to enter the living room. As soon as Honey enters the living room, she's greeted with a surprise from all of her birthday guests (except Bosko). They all go around in a circle, with Honey in the middle - and they go around and sing "Happy Birthday to you!" Oh, I should point out that there also shots of Wilbur inside the flower pot throughout the rest of the short, as he shouts "Lemme out!"

Bosko whispers Honey to come on over, as he has a birthday present for her, "I've got a present for you Honey?" says Bosko, and Honey goes into excitement, "Ohh, what is it Bosko?" Bosko opens the present and it already reveals Honey's dog inside her present. Ladies and gentlemen, this is another moment of DOGS RUINING THE SHOW. Bosko is furious of the dog, and starts to chase after him.

Honey's dog is running away, until he slides on a rug that leads him onto an armchair and flies into a fish tank, and is stuck under there. The dog doesn't seem to be drowning at the moment, but someone should REALLY do something to that dog, so it doesn't drown. As the dog barks, there are bubbles coming out, and as the bubbles touch the surface of the water, it has the sounds of the dog barking. Bosko finally grabs the dog out of the fish tank with everyone watching; the dog rinses himself off and walks away disgusted from Bosko.

Bosko finally returns to Honey, and he gives her the present that she wanted, "Here you go, Honey!", and it's a ukulele which is just what Honey wanted. Bosko asks her birthday girl for a song to sing for her birthday, and she appears to be singing her version of "Sugar" in a ukulele version. Bosko and Honey start their singing duet in the song. Gee, for a long time I thought the singing and dancing in Bosko stopped, but I was wrong. 

Honey's cat, Wilbur is still stuck in the flowerpot, constantly yelling "Lemme out", and the fact that no-one is listening to him. While Bosko and Honey continue singing in Honey's new ukulele, Wilbur is in danger; not only can he not see where he's going but he's standing right near a mouse trap. Wilbur finally knocks the flower pot on the ground, and Wilbur is free. Suddenly, his tail is caught on a mousetrap, and he runs around screaming in pain.

Ever since I saw Wilbur in Bosko's Soda Fountain and I thought that Wilbur was such a brat, and I didn't like him. I felt that this is what he deserves after the way he treated Bosko in Bosko's Soda Fountain.

As the singing has finished, Bosko starts to bring out Honey's birthday cake to Honey, and lights the candles. Bosko places the cake on top of a stool so that Honey can blow the candles. Meanwhile, Wilbur is hanging on top of the stair banister with his tail stuck on the mousetrap. His tail is finally loose, he falls down on top of the cake, some of the cake splats on Bosko, and Wilbur pops out of the cake in a "Ta-da" attitude. Bosko smiles, until he blows the candle out - and that's all folks.

Now to my personal opinions: I must say, that I actually thought that cartoon was not very bad at all, compared to the regular standards of Harman-Ising cartoons. There was a good tight plot, in which Wilbur trapped in a flowerpot, and the audience wouldn't think it would be a major part of the story. The character personalities in there were quite good, and I always quite like it when the dogs ruin the show, because it's so true.

I must say that I always quite like reviewing the Bosko cartoons because they're easier to review, and I prefer them to the Merrie Melodies cartoons that were made in that era.

29. Crosby, Columbo and Vallee (1932)

Warner cartoon no. 28.
Release date: March 19, 1932.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Directed by: Rudolf Ising.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger.
Animation: Rollin Hamilton and Carmen "Max" Maxwell.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

The cartoon starts off which appears to be set in the Native American era, with an Indian tribe doing a war dance around the Chief, worshiping their chief and also singing the title song, Crosby, Columbo and Vallee  - in which is about "paleface enemies whose crooning have stolen their hearts (from Toonzone)", and they are Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo and Rudy Vallee, which were popular entertainers at the time. The title is pretty much a spoof of the short. I must say that I really like Frank Marsales score here, even though I don't often care about his music scores, but his adaptation here is very good, which really sounds Native American to me. Even the totem poles sing the title song, too.

 After a fade out of the singing totem poles, we see an Indian boy (probably Hiawatha) in his canoe paddling in a lake. As the canoe goes through a small log (that goes underwater), the Indian boy jumps on top of the log and bounces from tulip to tulip, then he jumps onto another log in which the canoe returns, and the boy continues to paddle. The Indian boy slides down the river, which shows rocks sticking out and choppy water.

The Indian boy was paddling to a tepee in which appears to be that it's the boy's girlfriend's residence, Minniehaha (it was mentioned in an 1855 poem by Longfellow). The Indian boy brings out a radio set, for his girlfriend and himself to dance along to the music. 

 They go beside a waterfall, with rocks to sit on, but there appears to be water squirting at the boy and the girl, so the boy pulls out a tree and uses it as an umbrella. Huh, now that his girlfriend has arrives, through design I'm having a real hard time at identifying who's male or female - they LOOK exactly the same, except the only difference is the falsetto voices!

The Indian boy asks for a spider to operate the radio to play the music and it works. So the singing and dancing start, with the Indian boy starting off the introduction with dancing, then the Indian girl takes over with the singing. I really dislike the falsetto voice for the Indian girl there, it just doesn't suit my needs, but I can tell that it's the same voice actress who voices Roxy in the Foxy cartoons, but is unknown. We also appear to hear Bing Crosby's voice off-screen and from nowhere singing "Many Happy Returns of the Day", as the Indian girl places her hand by her ear. Oh my, NOW I can tell the styles of them - the Indian girl has a skirt on, while the boy wears shorts - DUH! We also have animals that dance to the music, which sort of remind me of the Disney cartoons.

The fans of the two Indians is much appreciated by the animals, and there is also a dog standing on a log that enjoys the music, and he starts his singing, by putting on an impression of Rudy Vallee, and singing the song "This Is My Love Song". I don't even know who Rudy Vallee is until upon research, and was his catchphrase usually "Heigh ho, everybody"?

I have to say that I find this short VERY confusing because it somehow has songs being sung by Crosby and Vallee, but I don't really get the whole idea of this story.

 Meanwhile, as the singing and dancing for the Indian couple continue; there is a campfire that seems to be dancing to the music as well, as the music appears to be "infectious". Little flames are multiplied and they do a war dance around a huge flame. The flames are now spreading, as they are walking and they burn a tree with all the leaves gone - which causes an embarrassed face of the tree, that runs off to hide in a pond.

So, let me try and explain this, the music is very infectious that the flames start dancing, and yet it starts a whole idea. That doesn't even make sense, you can't get a fire going from infectious music (well, none that's even possible to happen). Yes, yes - I know that this is a 1932 cartoon, but the short is so far very confusing and I can't understand it, except that there is a plot going on with the flames spreading.

The flames now start to spread up a tall tree that has a bird's nest, in which there are three helpless birds stuck up there. One bird at a time, the birds shout, "Help", "fire", and "save me". The whole tribe of Indians and animals hear the birds crying for help, and now the Indian boy is trying to save the three birds up in the burning tree.

So, the boy starts to call for help, by ringing a tulip like a bell. There are a couple of bees that come out to help the boy to rescue the three birds, by taking out a spider web to rescue the birds, with the web that they will jump on. While the boy and the spider web run along, the flames catch them up and one of them burn the boy's rear end, and then another flames burns him again trying to avoid him from rescuing the birds.

The birds have found themselves luck when the bees holding a spider web arrive for the birds to have a happy landing. The birds finally leap out of their nests to land on the spider web. But the flames follow on, and burns the birds and they look roasted, since all their feathers are out. Oh man, that's a good way for a story, the birds are rescued and yet they get burnt. The Indian boy extinguished the last bit of flame on the ground, by spitting it out - and that's all folks.

One word that I have to describe about this cartoon is in fact "confusing". Yes, seriously - I couldn't really understand the whole cartoon (before the flames start to spread), and the title for the short vaguely reminds me of a spoof for Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo and Rudy Vallee. I just couldn't understand it very well, because of the fact that the short couldn't be about the celebrities, and yet set in Native America. So, I found this one quite difficult to review it through. I just can't understand about the flames spreading because the music was "infectious".

28. Big-Hearted Bosko (1932)

Hey, sorry if it's been too long since I posted, but I board during the week, and there isn't a chance to post, even if I had time, but at least it's the weekend, and here is Big-Hearted Bosko.

Warner cartoon no. 27.
Release date: 5 March 1932.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko).
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Rollin Hamilton.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

Sorry, if the framegrabs are going to be rather dodgy, but what can I do about it - I don't have a restoration team of my own, and that's the only copy I could find suitable, with this quality, and it will have to do.

 The short starts off with Bosko and his dog, Bruno ice-skating on a snowy day on a frozen lake. It appears to be that Bosko and his dog are dancing, while ice-skating at the same time. The ice appears to look safe, and solid. It appears that Bosko swings from a small tree, that turns him back to where he skated, in which the dog (that has no skates) slides backwards to follow back Bosko, at least there is some weight in the animation. Bosko jumps on a log, in which he skids the snow off the log with his skates, and as soon as the dog runs out of the log, he is covered in snow like a snowman.

After that, there is exactly two minutes with just dancing and skating in this short, which tires me off; but at least the plot eventually gets moving. It shows all the tricks that Bosko does while skating (well, not really tricks) but he jumps from ice patches through ice water with xylophone music. He also skates in which he removes the icicles, which makes a sound like playing the xylophone all the way down.

After about a minute and a half of nothing really going on, something finally happens when Bruno tries to skid away from a small pond of icy water, in which he nearly drowns, and cries for help. Well, that's nothing to look forward to, really. Bosko comes by the icy pond and cries "Bruno! Bruno!" Bosko runs around in a panic attack screaming, "What'll I do, what'll I do?" Bosko breaks down crying - I must say that the acting of Bosko crying isn't very realistic at all because Bosko's just a happy-chappy who likes singing and dancing, and can't make a good performance of sobbing. Yes, yes; I know that this was in 1932, before a time when animation had "realism" but I still don't like it much, even if it was good for it's time.

Bruno climbs out of a log, standing on ice, and shouts "Yoo-hoo" at Bosko, since it was obviously all a trick to Bosko. Bosko doesn't like the way Bruno tricked him, so he breaks a stick from a branch and tries to throw it at Bruno but misses, which causes Bruno to run after the stick, like a normal pet running after a ball, stick, etc.

The stick lies down on a side of the riverbank, by a tree and also a basket. Bruno runs for the stick, (by going through piles of snow in the middle of the ice), and he notices a baby crying inside the basket. Bruno gets a better look at the basket to take a sniff; whilst he sniffs, the baby starts crying in which Bruno reacts to the movement and he runs off barking to Bosko for help. It appears to be that Bosko is skating to Bruno off-screen while Bruno follows on - Bruno knocks himself into a tree in which piles of snow fall on him, and he gets back on his track; in which Bosko and Bruno find the basket.

Bosko and Bruno make a plot to open the basket, but they are unsure about opening it. As the basket is opened, it turns out to be obviously a baby crying there after all. Bosko and Bruno try to look after the baby, but the baby plays with Bruno by squeezing his nose like a horn, in which Bosko laughs. The baby continues to cry, so Bosko and Bruno decide to take him home and become foster parents. Bosko and Bruno skate back with the baby continuously crying, and Bosko sings Rock-a-Bye Baby and the poses of Bosko there are quite unusual in terms of animation.

Back at home, the baby is all tucked up in a cradle by the fireplace, with Bruno rocking the cradle gently and Bosko playing the violin. The baby appears to be continuously crying every time Bosko stops playing the violin, the baby crying there is a great example for frustration towards Bruno and Bosko trying their best to look after the baby. 

As Bruno suddenly gives up looking after the baby because of continuous crying, he decides to sit down in a stove, because he doesn't realize that he's sitting down on a very hot one. Suddenly, his rear end is burning with flames, and Bruno yells for help. Bruno grabs a bucket of water, in which the flames extinguish just like putting the fire out of a stove or fireplace, now that gag is one I quite like.

The small incident that happened to Bruno amuses the baby, but as nothing happens, the baby starts to cry again.So, Bosko starts to get his flute out and play traditional American music like The Girl I Left Behind Me with Bruno playing the drums with him. The baby continues to cry, so Bosko asks him "What's the matter?" in which the baby screams "I'm crying for the carolines", in which the baby is in reference to the popular song at the time Cryin' for the Carolines.

Bruno steps out of the door, all reluctant to look after the baby - and he slams the door so he won't hear another baby scream. Bosko starts to think of another idea to tone down the baby's volume by playing the piano. Bosko uses his hands as tricks in which a shadow shows that looks like a duck and into a duckling, which are shadow puppets. He also does shadow puppets for goats, pigs and donkeys.

Bruno steps out to listen to the music, and he grabs a lamp shade like a hula dress, and starts to dance. The baby is entertained by Bruno, and so is Bosko. Bosko slides on a rug that slides him to a stove, in which Bosko opens the stove in which a goose is in there that quacks. Bosko closes the stove and continues to dance back by sliding back to the living room. Bosko continues to dance with Bruno and the baby, until a goldfish bowl falls on his head because he's standing near it. The goldfish bowl lands on his head, with Bruno and the baby laughing - and that's all folks.

This short was pretty much a hit-and-miss cartoon in many ways, it had some story, but it was all mostly singing-and-dancing. The ice-skating sequence wasn't all particularly exciting, but it did keep the cartoon going. What I mostly liked about the cartoon is sort of the baby cries, as it's just realistic. The acting in that animation wasn't brilliant, even though the animators were probably trying their best. It's one of those many Bosko cartoons that I don't particularly bother with, but at least there's some goodness that comes to it.

VITAL Note to Followers

Tomorrow (September 5th) I return back to school, and I board there. Due to the fact that Blogger websites is blocked on school computers on student users, it means that I can't post until Friday, and I can really only post until Friday to Sunday. I will try and publish a post or review during the week, but I can only post it once and no more until weekends (Friday and Sundays). In the meantime, the other reviews I've done will have to do for now. But I'm at my FINAL year at school, and my leaver's day is on July 4th 2012, and I'll be finished with school, and plan to go to college hopefully.

27. Freddy the Freshman (1932)

Warner cartoon no. 26.
Release date: February 20, 1932.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Rudolf Ising.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Cast unknown.
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Paul Smith.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

This one is a popular Harman-Ising cartoon, but it's one that I'm not very keen on - much like the other cartoons.

The short starts off with Freddy's car driving down (the title cards from the car), and a lot of high school folks are on different sides of the road, they all seem to worship Freddy, who is a freshman at high school. Freddy is driving down the road to his school, and according to a YouTube video here, it mentions the lyrics that Freddy is singing, "Rah! Rah! Ra-cha-cha! That's our college yell / Baggy pants, crazy dance. It's Freddy, can't you tell?" Freddy also honks his horn at the back of the car, and he bangs on the engine at the front. His engine almost explodes, that ends up extended before the car goes back to it's normal shape.

Meanwhile, at high school; Freddy's sweetheart who is unnamed is having a dance at the school halls, with all the other high-school animals joining in. There appears to be a little bird conducting music with these dogs as the orchestra. The bird is also conducting their vocal chords by lowering the volume and raising their voices. We also appear to see these two cow couples dancing that look like Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar, who are part of the Disney regime, I wonder if Harman-Ising bought the rights to use them, or if Disney even sued them because they reused a lot of Disney.

Freddy the Freshman continues to drive along the road until there is a stone, that knocks him out into the sky, with his car broken into pieces and they all go back into pieces with Freddy landing back in his car. Freddy enters inside the hall to greet his supporters "Hi-ho everybody, hi-ho!", and he's welcomed by so many of his friends and admirers. I have to admit; I find it very strange that he's a freshman and yet he's one of the most popular students in school, unless he's a very popular outcast - I don't know.

Oh wait, he doesn't sound like an outcast to me, because he's walking around the hall with his "people" standing on sides to let him walk past, he also seems very boastful and cocky by shouting "Who gets all the girlies chasing him around"?, his crowd chant "Freddy the Freshman!" - wow, since he's a freshman he's all cocky and hard?? Does this make him cool, that he wears raccoons as coats? We learn about the immodest Freddy that he plays the ukulele and saxophone. Goodness, I really don't like that Freddy much only because he sounds very cocky.

Freddie's sweetheart even comments, that all the "pretty babies won't leave him alone" - I know she's referring them as girls, but "babies" makes he think that Freddy "touched" little children. There appears to be a jock standing by Freddie's girl who tries to get her interested by saying that he played for so many American football teams like Harvard or Yale, a little mouse comes out of a spittoon and sings "Freddie the Freshman, the precious kid in town!" Freddie stand up to himself in front of a jock who is his opponent, and challenges a rugby game with him, and thinks he will defeat him. The jock takes his remark as "raspberries".

There is a heading on the screen titled "The Game", in which Freddy and his small team try and defeat the tough, jocks. There are bands playing for the opening, and also cats sitting on a fence, chewing sweets. There appears to be some cheerleaders dancing in a long-shot, why not have a close up of it, or otherwise I'll have to get Daffy Duck from Duck Amuck to shout "A close up you jerk! A CLOSE-UP!" There is a dog referee who pulls the trigger for the game to start, but it's a novelty gun with a mouse blowing a whistle.

The game starts off with the ball being kicked right at the camera, and that shows the game starting. The ball is still in the air, with a pig player trying to catch the ball, but the ball lands inside his stomach, and bounces at different directions in his stomach - the gag is similar and even same sound effects from Battling Bosko - a better cartoon. Freddy manages to kick the ball out of his stomach, by kicking him in the bottom.

Freddy receives help from his defender, who is a dachshund who helps block the players from the other team from trying to get the ball off Freddy, the dachshund forms a "V" shape, until he gets his whole body twisted around a tree. Of course, as I'm British - I know almost nothing about American football except it's sort of similar to a game popular here called Rugby, but with different rules. We call "football" in what Americans call them "soccer", that's our football. If I get the position names wrong, like the defender, correct me. It appears to be that Freddy being the captain, he's trying to get the ostrich with the ball to move, I don't know - I don't know how American football works.

While the football game and antics continue, there are three crows that are also sitting on a fence, and there appears to be a rooster who seems to be stereotyped as a homosexual. With the way the rooster moves his body, and voice attitude, by shouting "Goody, goody, goody! Hold the line!" I'm not surprised to see this, as this was before the Production Code of 1934, but I still think it wasn't suitable. I wonder if Harman-Ising were homophobic.

 As Freddie has got the ball, with all his rivalry team chasing after him, Freddie builds a type of hamster-cage made out of a front yard fence, and he uses it to knock out his rivals trying to grab the ball off him. Hey, wouldn't that be cheating? He also lands onto a pile of clean laundry from the washing line, and he slides up to the very end of the washing line until he places his ball at the goal, so Freddie wins the game - and that's all folks!

 This cartoon is one that I didn't particularly enjoy at all, mostly because of the character Freddie himself, and he wasn't very well developed in terms of character peronality. He's a freshman, and he seems to be one of the most popular boys at school, considering he's a freshman. I find it hard to believe that he scores most of the girls when actually from the designs he looks very "geeky", and not very tough, like the other jocks. He's a cocky character with worshipers who admire him.

26. Battling Bosko (1932)

Warner cartoon no. 25.
Release date: February 6, 1932.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Hugh Harman.
Producers: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Leon Schlesinger (associate).
Starring: Johnny Murray (Bosko).
Animation: Isadore "Friz" Freleng and Paul Smith.
Musical Score by: Frank Marsales.

A new cartoon here, and this is one that I do like out of the Bosko and Harman-Ising cartoons I've seen recently.

 The cartoon starts off with a silhouette of Bosko boxing on a punching bag, and we see Bosko actually practicing his boxing at home. Bosko is preparing for a fight with another strong boxer, he also practices for his John L. Sullivan poses. Very good introduction showing a silhouette of Bosko (unseen) boxing, and then we reveal as the camera shows us Bosko boxing.

Meanwhile, Honey is at home, she's reading a newspaper with Bosko on the front cover with the headline, "Bosko to Fight Champion", she remarks "What a man," to Bosko. She turns on the radio to hear about the boxing. An announcer who is hosting the boxing bets that Bosko is going to get defeated by the champion he's fighting who is favourite to win. She turns off the channel, to kiss a picture frame she has of her boyfriend, Bosko - still hoping he would win. Bosko's fighting rival, apparently named "Gas House Harry" is practicing fighting, and he has more fans than Bosko.

Bosko continues to practice his fighting, until the punching bag punches Bosko out of his stool, and moments later the phone rings - he picks it up and it's Honey speaking. Honey mentions that she bet on Bosko to win, and hopes that he won't get hurt while boxing. So, in the meantime Bosko starts to sing a song about his boxing, with Honey playing on the piano.

Today is finally the big day for Bosko, that is the boxing match that starts. There is a newspaper boy who barks about the fight today, even even throwing papers around so that the public can read about the big fight and place their bets. A lot of animals from different places are traveling from trolleys just to see the big fight. As the trolley stops, a bunch of animals rush out of the trolley, that the trolley falls flat like a burst football.

 

Honey is at home playing the piano, and she is also listening to the radio about the boxing. "Gas House Harry" walks down the arena, and he is appreciated by a lot of his fans, as he is a heavyweight champion. Bosko then walks down the arena with a song to his fans, "I'm a hot-shot guy called Bosko, come and watch me do my stuff!" ToonZone confirms that's what Bosko said. Bosko climbs onto the canvas and prepares to fight!

 We then see Harry and Bosko on the canvas, just before the fight begins, the referee makes an announcement before the fight begins, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have here Gas House Harry--" there is shot showing Honey and her dog's point of view through the radio, and they "boo" towards Gas House. The referee continues on with "---and our new member, Battling Bosko!" and the crowd cheer. I like how this was staged, with a long-shot showing the referee making an announcement, it fits well to the cartoon.

The fight officially begins, with Bosko about to prepare to fight, but Gas House Harry just stands there, and knocks Bosko with one punch, which makes Bosko bounces on each side of the canvas. Bosko hits the bell with his head, so he becomes knocked out for a new seconds, when his coach helps wake him up, and get him prepared for the second round. The coach helps him spray water in his face to stop the sweat, and also sprays his private parts in which Bosko giggles - I bet that was censored.

Bosko gets ready for the second round, with Bosko all energetic and punches Gas Harry right in the chest, and his tattoo with a ship sinks, now that's a great gag. There appears to be a hippo in the audience in shots shouting "Go Bosko" and supporting him. As Bosko and Gas Harry continue to try fighting, the ostrich referee grabs their hands, and they skip along the canvas, and they finish the friendly skip by punching the referee out of the arena, and onto the floor. 

The radio commentary announces that Bosko has been defeated by Gas House Harry, who constantly keeps boxing Harry, and also punches him like a punching bag, until he's finally boxed, he tumble-turns and he stops by lying back knocked-out. The referee starts the count to get Bosko up. Honey hears this, and she's willing to get Bosko to win. She does this by stepping out of the house and rushing through to the arena and help wake Bosko up. She finally sees Bosko and tries to wake up, but it ends with Bosko in a sleepy mood, and he uses the canvas floor as a duvet to sleep - and that's all folks! It seems that Bosko has the fighting ability of Rembrandt - he's always on the canvas ;-).

So far of the Bosko cartoons and Harman-Ising cartoons I've seen, I actually really liked that one. Yes, it had a good tight-story, that showed Bosko's rival who is favourite to win, and it is proven that Bosko loses. The gags in there were very well put, and that's what I do like. It's also great to see that the cartoon is hardly reused at all - I don't think there is any reuses in there. Overall, this cartoon really works and that's one of the 1932 cartoons I really enjoyed watching.