130. Westward Whoa (1936)

Warner cartoon no. 129.

Release date: April 25, 1936.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Jack King.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Bernice Hansen (Ham and Ex), Joe Dougherty (Porky Pig).
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Paul Smith and Ben Clopton.
Synopsis: Beans and his gang set out for west; until Ham and Ex tease the pioneers disguising themselves as Native Indians; until actual Indians arrive.

This is the final appearance of Beans, Little Kitty, Ham and Ex from the Beans gang; as it appears to be that only Porky is left (although the Oliver  Owl type character appears in "Shanghaied Shipmates").

The cartoon begins with a group of wagons walking west where Beans and his gang are pioneers in this cartoon looking for land to form settlements, community, etc. Beans and Little Kitty are sitting on the front wagon while Little Kitty has a banjo and Beans has an accordion. They are singing the folk song Covered Wagon Days. The singing isn't particularly great; although the cattle's mooing isn't at least bad. I imagine they're moving west when the Colonial U.S. was declared as independent in 1776 by the British Empire.

There are a group of pioneers that are joining them; like Porky Pig for instance. As well as a drunken one drinking a bottle of liquor while riding a mule. The chorus are then singing the traditional song "Oh Susanna!" that pioneers sung.

The cattles then halt as Beans likes a "steady" type-noise as they halt. Little Kitty then turns over to Beans shouting: "Look; this is a good place to stop right by those big trees!" which probably means they're taking a break from their big travel or calling this part the new settlement.

As they've found the place; they've gone to have enjoyed settlement here as it's the right accommodation for them. There is square dancing going on with "Oh Susanna!" played in the backgrounds. At least the animation of the square dance is rather simple and not the type of squared-dance scenes that would be reused a lot in Disney animation in the 1940's like "The Martins and the Coys" where Jack Kinney and Wilfred Jackson reused them.

Ham and Ex walk to Beans and they are wearing "Davy Crockett" hats - now I won't be able to tell which one's which? Ham and Ex then tell Beans on where their whereabouts will be:

Ham & Ex: We're going to play "Indians".
Beans: Be careful the Indians don't get you.

Ham and Ex laugh at it as though they accept it as poppycock. They both then are about to play as they believe to see the feathers of an Indian hat behind a rock. They approach to the rock to see what the feathers are but it just happens to be the feathers of a turkey that is pecking on the ground for crumbs in the floor. Ham and Ex then use the turkey as a trick in which they whisper to each others ears as they are going to trick the pioneers. They run out shouting "Indians" loudly as though they're in danger.

Beans is seen carrying a pile of wood in which he drops them after hearing Ham and Ex shout "Indians" and Beans has been conned. Beans grabs out a shotgun in which he continues to fire as he thinks he sees Indians. Beans then runs to the rock that Ham and Ex were at earlier in which he finds the feathers of a turkey; but not from his point of view. He fires at the turkey in which the turkey dashes out of the scene clucking madly.

Beans is furious as he hears the sounds of Ham and Ex giggling at the prank Beans was pulled at.

Ham and Ex continue to giggle until Beans walks up to them as he is going to give them a telling off. "Some say an Indian will get ya; and (pantomimes cut throat) off goes your head!" As he is walking away; he walks up to one of the twins (is it Ham or Ex?) as he shouts "And you too!"

As they watch Beans leave the scene Ham and Ex continue to have naughty ideas as one of them then asks the other by whispering in the ear of more tricks to fool the others. They both then start to put on Native Indian tribal calls as Beans has already been conned by this - twice. Beans performs a 360 hat-take and I probably don't need to explain why anymore. The voice of Beans shouting "Indians" is a different voice actor here performed with a lower voice shouting "Indians!".

A dog settler then starts to jump inside the pond as he shoots while underwater but then shoots back while trying to fire at an Indian. Another settler jumps until the bones of a cattle for his base as he shoots under firing with the cattle skull mouth opening as he open fires.

Ham and Ex have got the giggles once again (they won't be once they've FOUND an actual Native Indian). Ham and Ex then run into the woods as Beans tries to find them but gives up instead as he walks out to pick up more firewood.

Ham and Ex are hiding in the forest and they continue to attempt pranks on people with the Indian tribe ball...until an "actual" Native Indian pops by and scares them. So this is how it's supposed to appear - Native Indians are shown with Negro stereotypes.

The truth is that they are now being chased by Indians in which they shout for it. After being conned twice; who is going to believe it this time? They hide under the log in which the Indian follows them down as the Indian's rear end gets caught up. Ham and Ex then start to smack them with a paddle with one of them smacking the Indian on the rear end while the other twin then smacks the Indian on the head.

As the "Indians" screaming continues; Beans and Little Kitty were working with the washing cleaning their laundry mangle but as the Indian screams are being shouted - Beans continues to work on his laundry faster as Little Kitty asks what are they up to?

Porky Pig makes his appearance in this cartoon as he's cutting potatoes. He hears the screams; works faster and stutters to the audience, "It's just kids trying to fool you again!" The spanking scenes of the Indian under the log continue until the Indian flies out of the log from a reaction to the paddle and hits onto a tree.

Ham and Ex then continue to scream for "Indians" until they are spotted by MORE Indians which means they're definitely in trouble in which their Davy Crockett hats flip. Both Indian chiefs then start to grab one of the twins but they managed to get away - just barely.

Porky is still peeling potatoes as Ham and Ex shout outside "Indians!" in which he shrugs as though his attitude is telling us "Oh well". Both Ham and Ex then run to the chest board with one of them entering it and the other being slammed as it closes. Porky stutters, "Those kids must think we're pretty dumb!", but Porky must have felt "dumb-mannered" as a arrow shoots at the potato he's peeling since he makes a take as the Indians have found the settlement. Porky then runs around the wagons in which he trips over one as he finds a whole mass of Indians invading the site. Porky then shouts "The Indians" as an arrow shoots at his rear end and he yelps in pain.

A pioneer then drinks a bottle of moonshine as an arrow shoots past the moonshine as he grabs out his shotgun. His body then holds itself backwards as he lands in the river again.

The Indians have then surrounded a circuit of wagons as the settlers and pioneers are trapped inside their wagons or in the circle. Beans is being chased by an Indian in the circle around the laundry mangle but gets caught. Little Kitty then turns the handle around as it whacks the Indian in the face. Beans continues to shoot at the Indians until his hat is caught in a bow and arrow. Beans then grabs a pipe in which the arrows shoot out from the barrel and trapping the Indian almost stabbing him.

A dog pioneer is being chased by another Indian tribe in which he grabs out some type of wrapper; or old hat (whatever that looks like) in which the Indian grabs out the hat and makes the tribal call again.

Meanwhile another Indian inside a wagon is trying to shoot straight at another settler until the arrow curves around shooting straight at the Indian's rear end again which causes him to yelp. More shooting continues from an Indian (!) - why would an Indian use a gun instead of the spears or bow&arrows? Did they manage to get the gun off somebody? Anyway - Beans creeps up behind the Indian with a baseball bat. However there is another Indian holding a dagger creeping up to Beans; Beans manages to hit both of them on the head as they collapse in time.

Porky is then shooting after the Indians but an arrow  strikes at his suspender straps in which his pants fall down with his buttocks showing. Porky continuously pulls them up even though they keep on falling. An arrow then flies in in which the flaps are attached again.

Ham and Ex are being chased at by an Indian (no surprise) as they hide in a chest of draws and whack the Indian. The Indian then cuts the chest of draws in half in which he grabs Ham and Ex. Beans then finds a bear trap in which helps set up a trap for the Indian.

Beans then starts to untie the bear trap in which he spins it for it to aim at the Indian's rear end. The twin pups Ham and Ex then watch the Indian leave since it probably means that most of the Indians have left the settlers.

Beans then creeps up behind Ham and Ex in which he starts to fake Indian tribal calls to trick them as they've finally got conned. They both then jump inside the chest of draw to hide from an "Indian". They peep their eyes out to check.

Overall comments: This cartoon is sort of like another retelling of the famous story The Boy Who Cried Wolf but instead it involves Native Indians; and Ham and Ex. So far "Ham and Ex" appear to be a popular choice by Jack King as they've been the main stars in three shorts. Sorry if the quality of the video I used wasn't so good -although I believe this cartoon is in the public domain. I find it a little odd on why Native American Indians are portrayed as black-face characters which isn't what they're meant to look like at all. The Indian sequence isn't harmful to watch at all as there was no stereotypical references featured here -unlike in Disney's "Peter Pan". The overall cartoon wasn't very exciting including the dull action scenes - only Tex in this period could probably only make it funny.

126. Boom Boom (1936)

Warner cartoon no. 125.
Release date: February 29, 1936.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Jack King.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Tommy Bond (Beans) and Joe Dougherty (Porky Pig).
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Cal Dalton and Sandy Walker.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

 Explosions, fireworks and bombs are trying all over the trench fields that is covering up the screen as this short is taking place in World War I. Mmm; looks like another remake of the early Bosko cartoons (Bosko the Doughboy and Ups and Downs). A lot of soldiers are running through the fields in which there is a soldier with the trumpet about to make a call but it's too late since a bomb explodes on him. The whole trench is ruined in which the trumpeter makes death music before dying - that's...dark!

More shooting then comes out from the soldiers such as a soldier shooting down on a broken down chimney shooting with a machine gun. A cannon then starts to point at the enemy on the chimney with a soldier inside the hammer slamming in the mallet. One of them safe gags that works without explosions or killing anyone.

The next sequence involves a cow soldier running away by the swarm of bullets chasing after him. There is a slow-paced gag that shows a bullet that rips up his rucksack and uniform in half until the bullet then tries to snuggle inside the helmet. The bullet shoots up to the sky in which the helmet drops back onto his head where we can feel the cow's pain - that's some pretty neat timing.

The cow is now stuck with the helmet down to his waste as he can't seem to escape as there are bullets flying past shooting straight at him. The cow then starts to hide in a secret building that is mostly ruined by the explosions and bombs.

The cow hides inside the old building in which he slams the doors. Bullets shoot through ahead as a swarm of loopy bullets are flying all over the place not keeping itself at a straight angle to shoot the soldier. There are all these gags of these bullets that Jack King's used an abundance of so far in these cartoons that are just one of the "impossible things" that don't work well in cartoons.

Since there are no more bullets flying around trying to attack the cow. The cow soldier then starts to bring out a type of xylophone in which he plays music. It appears that his luck is juts out as a bomb explodes on him. Mmm; one of them timing gags. The soldier's fate is that he's already up in heaven as an angel playing the harp. Well; at least we know that the soldier is in a happy place even though it's probably a dark presentation.

There is a dog soldier who has his gun out but it turns out to be a novelty gun with the cork whacking him back on the head. Mmm; good thing is that it's not an ACTUAL bullet that strikes him.

Another dog is all shaken from the machine gun movements in which his whole body has shaken as though he's got some seizure or something. The dog with the novelty shotgun blasts again but blocks with face with the helmet to not  get hit again. Too impatient as he lifts his helmet back up to check but the cork whacks him in the read again. There is another gag that pops up with a dog holding the hand grenade but forgets to throw it (only throwing away the top part) until he explodes. I swear that this was probably the first cartoon to use these famous explosion gags that we see in the 1940s and 1950s cartoons (I may be wrong) but probably the first of the funny gags - like that hand grenade one. The dog shoots straight up in the air until an ambulance speed up where he is dumped; so he can arrive to the hospital camp.

After about roughly two minutes of bomb gags all chucked into the cartoon; Porky Pig finally makes his part of the cartoon as this is probably the first time he's been one of the main characters in Jack King's cartoons - since earlier on he only made cameos. Porky blows the whistle for a dive bomb coming ahead at them. They dive inside the trench as the bomb dives in and BOOM. No wonder the cartoon is called "Boom Boom" - since there are so many explosions here.

Porky is holding onto his bayonet crawling quietly on the ground. Porky is very timid about the sounds of the explosions in which he does a 360 hat take. Porky is about to take a couple of new steps until he finally ZOOMS back to the trenches hiding there; and stands back up in the correct position. Now that looks like Jack King used inspiration from Avery's earliest cartoons already with that speed used.

Porky then starts to dive out the way as he dives inside a trench under a bunk bed with fear. I love the arc for Porky's dive. At least he isn't shivering like a humping dog down there (just like in Disney's "Three Little Pigs). Beans grabs Porky out of the bunk bed in which he tries to calm Porky down.

Beans: Take it easy there, Porky boy.
Porky (stuttering): I wish I stayed on a farm.
Cow Soldier: Is Mamma's little boy afraid?

The quotes stop until more firing continues but Porky then starts to hide under the table afraid of being in war. A group of soldiers sleeping then start to sing to Porky "You're in the Army Now". Porky is under the table stuttering scared. Beans asks Porky to come out of the table and to "snap out of it". Beans then grabs out a plate and a tin of (well ironically - it's beans) as he starts to eat a tin of them; that's what soldier's did back in the war.

A messenger bird is then flying out in the sky trying to dodge all the bombs and weapons flying all over the place in the air. The bird then does a dive bomber until it lands in the trenches all puffed out and exhausted.

Porky and Beans are at the table eating beans until the messenger bird arrives and gives them the letter before passing out. Beans picks up the letter and it reads:  Am Being Held Prisoner by Enemy in Old Farmhouse - Send Help. Gen. Hardtack.

Beans has finished reading the letter in which is face has turned extremely shocked; "Gee Whiz - oh my"; he grabs Porky in the wrist as they both run out the trench to save General Hardtack. They both run out of the trenches in which Beans drives in an old sidecar but forgets Porky. Porky is eventually picked up by Beans as he drives all the way to find General Hardtack.

Porky appears to have a problem as he is holding onto his helmet since it almost flies out of the way. Meanwhile there is a passing by bullet that immediately notices Porky and Beans on the vehicle trying to save their general. It appears that the bullet is an automatic one that is out to try and capture Porky and Beans.

The bullet flies down as Porky and Beans notice it in which they have to speed up as quick as they could. There is now a chase sequence going on where the sidecar Beans and Porky are riding on are trying to escape from the automatic bullet.

They almost crash into the tree until the side part that Porky is sitting on splits apart in which the sidecar is unattached. They are going at a good speed. The speed of the animation is showing some improvement in this Jack King cartoon but it's nothing like the one in Gold Diggers. As they continue to ride very fast; the sidecar then trips them and they land in another part of a trench.

The bullet is still shooting straight them going, going, going and BOOM. Beans and Porky were already safe as they jumped into a hole for safety. They both pop their heads out only to find out they're in different holes!

Beans and Porky slide back to the hole they originally were in which they carry it to move it to the next part. Yes; this may be work in cartoons like by great cartoon directors; but for something slow-paced with few exaggerated movements it doesn't work too well. It's just my taste  - I'm entitled to that. They keep moving the hole until they hear a dive bomber and they jump under the hole to find the explosion next to their hole. This repeats itself one more time as they then escape out of the hole. As they run off.

They continue to run until they find the location of where General Hardtack is located at. They stop to find that the general is tied up in knots by the enemies (voiced by Billy Bletcher) who question him "So, you won't talk eh?" Another  enemy then starts to threaten the general by lighting a match and placing it on his foot (making it similar to a hotfoot). Beans looks over there and tells Porky "That's General Hardtack". Well, duh.

Beans then comes up with a plan in which he starts to plan a way to get the general free by setting up these group of rockets. The rockets start to fly inside the ruined building in which the wire ties up one of the guards in a loop. The rocket also does the same to the other guard by tying it up. Porky and Beans then knock down the guards onto the floor and plan to take the general out of here.

The general is free as he is leaving with Beans and Porky. They both spot a plane that is left outside as they plan to fly away with it. As they are on air flying up high - their planes are almost shot down by these cannons; machine guns in which it causes their plane to go half damaged. Yep "Boom Boom" - the title explains it all, once again.

Their plane is going down, down down until it crashes to the ground. Well; the timing of the plane crash isn't so great - but if you compare it to the plane crashing Hitler in Russian Rhapsody it's a bigger improvement by comparison; and it was achieved about 8 years later after this cartoon.

If any of those watching the cartoons were worried about the fates of the characters; well they're now in hospital. They are sharing the same beds (is this in a crowded hospital - I thought Florence Nightengale already improved hospital conditions by giving patients space on their beds by that point)? Poor Porky has the most bandages on his face - looks like a horrible injury as suffered to him; or even marks.

General Hardtack is then giving Beans an award for bravery - I imagine. Of course that leaves Porky with nothing. Beans rips off half of the badge in which Porky gets his share. Beans, Porky and General Hardtack laugh together joyful as they're still alive.

Overall comments: Next time if someone tells me about this cartoon (Boom Boom) I'm just going to think about - "Oh yes; a lot of explosions and bombs in here" - as it appeared so much in this cartoon that there wasn't much of the synopsis with Beans and Porky. Okay; I'm probably exaggerating here but if you think about it -it is the main focus on the cartoon. It was nice to see that Jack King showed some quite improvement in that cartoon with the speed and the use of gags. The animation appeared to have improved but it showed his trades that he liked to use such as arcs, three-quarter shots, etc. King still used one of them "impossible things" gags that don't work too well in his cartoons.

124. The Phantom Ship (1936)

Title card courtesy of Dave Mackey.

Warner cartoon no. 123.
Release date: February 2, 1936.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Jack King.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Bernice Hansen (Ham and Ex) and Tommy Bond (Beans).
Musical Score: Bernard Brown.
Animation: Paul Smith and Don Williams.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

Ham and Ex are inside the living room as they are reading a newspaper article with the front headline reading:

BEANS TO HUNT FOR HAUNTED TREASURESHIP IN NORTH.

 Ham and Ex are jumping about inside the living room excited that their "Uncle Beans" is about to do a mission that probably hasn't been done before - at least in this story. Ham and Ex then rush outside to their garden where Beans is already setting his plane up by squirting the wheels with an oil can. It's one of them cartoon planes that have a face on it.
Beans then jumps onto the plane in which the plane takes off and his flight to the north for his ambitious trip begins.

 Beans flight to the North sequence shows up in the air speeding pretty fast. The meter in the plane that tells where Beans is standing was originally from New York; and there appears to be cut as it's sliding to the location; and Beans stands upon his plane doing the Hopak dance; so we can assume he's in Russia as it says in the meter. I wonder why it was cut?

The meter then changes position from Russia to Iceland. Boy; if that's where he REALLY is then he's obviously travelling very fast in such speed. Looks like he's probably the first to travel from New York to Iceland (travelling past West Coast, Asia, Europe, etc.) and yet it's taken him quickly. Beans must be just like Charles Lindbergh except it took him 33 hours. The thermometer stat when it reaches Iceland drops so rapidly that the thermometer explodes. Yes; I've seen thermometers explodes but I don't about that in cold weathers. Beans has already arrived at Iceland with icicles in his land (so; it's just going to assume that it's all ice just because it's called Iceland). Of course; when you see Greenland - you expect green - but that's basically all ice. Very ironic.

Beans then gets out his binoculars in which he looks out the window to find the ship abandoned in the middle of an ice field. Beans shouts "Hooray" as he's found it - in what; a couple of minutes? I really like that gag that shows the smoke coming out the plane and already evolving into ice.

The plane then starts to land at Iceland where it loops around as it's landing. Beans looks up at the ship where it's called "The Phantom" but the words are just printed on a bat that flies out of the scene. Beans steps out of his plane in which the boot opens with Ham and Ex shouting "Surprise, surprise!" with Beans doing a 360 degree hat take. Well; it appears that Ham and Ex were in the boot all along. Beans looks at both Ham and Ex wondering what he's going to do with both of them but makes his mind up as though he might as well have them for the trip.

Both Ham and Ex are giggling very childishly in which Beans is still confused as they both both onto his hands to drag him along. Beans then notices that a stair case drops to the ground where you enter the phantom ship. Beans leads Ham and Ex to follow him.

The stairs then start to move backwards where they struggle to walk up the stairs but a type of hands smacks them up and they are on top of the ship. Now we can already see that the ship is evidently haunted. It's a little creepy to see that the flags happen to have hands. As there is one hand that starts to grab Beans in which Beans turns terrified and tries to dodge the hand. The hand of the flag  then grabs Beans' tail in which Beans can't  run any further. The hand flag then tosses Beans in the air with another flag pole with a hand that tosses Beans in the air, too but drops him to the ground.

The ship is proved to be haunted as Beans hands on a folded up piece of rope and an anchor comes to life by punching Beans down the basement of the ship. Beans then starts to position himself in a John Sullivan pose and trying to start a fight, "He can't do that to me, etc." A lamp attached to the ceiling then comes to life by swinging and then hitting Beans on the head.

Ham and Ex are calling for "Uncle Beans" asking for his whereabouts. A skeleton pirate them pops out of the blankets of a lifeboat to shout "Pipe down!" Ham and Ex turn around to figure out who said that but both slam into each other in the face. Both Ham and Ex then hide under the blankets on the port side of the ship but get knocked by a lifebelt that drops on top of them. They both then try to run off but don't realise they're under a blanket.

Ham and Ex are therefore in blankets and of course they look like ghosts. As a matter of fact; since it's nothing but a blanket over the twins - it even scares the skeleton pirates. It causes a pirate to disappear by hiding; and another skeleton to jump overboard. The admiral skeleton then steps out of the lifeboat. Ham and Ex then crash into a pole, but the blankets stretch like a slingshot and wraps around the admiral skeleton.

The blanket then crashes into the door in which the door evolves into a tongue by licking Ham and Ex inside the cabin. So many creepy stuff in this cartoon and of course; this probably isn't a very exciting cartoon but the ideas are very interesting in which is haunted. The gags so far are fun - so this seems to be a fine production to me.

Ham and Ex roll inside the cabin in which Beans gets run over until Ham and Ex are out of the blanket and Beans is under there. Both Ham and Ex look at "the figure" under the blankets and mistaken it for a haunted creature, skeleton or a ghost. They both then start to grab out the paddles.

Both Ham and Ex use their paddles to whack "the creature" under the blanket. They both open up the sheet to see who was under there and it was none other but Beans. Ham and Ex gasp shouting "Uncle Beans" and both feel bad for hitting their uncle. They help Beans up in which Beans stands back up grumbling "Bah" and walks off. Beans opens a door in which to his amazement we finds gold; treasure chests inside the room which was his top target to search for in his expedition. Beans steps inside to feel the gold.

Ham and Ex then step into the room as they're also amazed to see a lot of gold in the room as they also want to help Beans to take it all with him. Both Ham and Ex then find the coins as they play a type of "Heads and Tails" game to see who keeps the join - so one of them wins; leaving (probably Ex) disgruntled.

Beans continues to be grabbing out the gold until he finds a group of frozen people sitting down by the stove as there is no fire. Beans scratches his head remarking, "Frozen stiff". Beans removes the chair of one of the lads sitting down; but he seems SO stiff that it wouldn't drop to the ground and that makes it unrealistic. But I guess animating a frozen body drop stiff was probably hard to animate and achieve well back then - unless they could assign it to someone like Bob McKimson.

Beans then throws the table into the stove. Beans then walks to the next frozen person on his right to take the chair off and throw it inside the stove. Beans then strikes a match to keep the stove warm since he's found a part of wood. The stove has now got fire inside in which it should cool up soon. Beans then sneaks out of the scene to let them defrost.

Beans then grabs out the bag of gold as he tosses it out of the window to place on his plane since he's got a lot to collect. The frozen figures then defrost in time as they come to life. The sailor then comes back to life; as well as the captain who defrosts in time. The captain then scratches his head as though he's been frozen for the longest time.

The captain then makes a sudden notice on Beans as he is stealing the treasure. The captain then stands behind Beans preparing to kill him with his sword without him noticing. Beans turns around in time in which he 'takes'. Ham and Ex are also frightened as they jump inside a barrel to hide from the captain.

The chase begins as the Peg  legged pirate has his peg stuck on the hole of the door in which he struggles to get himself off the floor. Ham and Ex look out of the barrel to see what is going on but are noticed by a dog sailor in which he creeps up to the twin pups. The sailor then chases Ham and Ex inside the cabin but the sailor is then knocked out by running into a pole. Stupid dope.

A funny gag then pops up when the captain is still stuck on the floorboard but as he pulls his pegged leg out; he tries to stand still but as he places his foot down the floorboard whacks him in the rear end - which is entertaining. The captain then flies out of the floorboard by whacking himself too hard; and lands on deck almost crushing Beans.

The captain of the ship looks at Beans giving him dirty looks in which Beans tries to hide in a cannon but his timing runs out of luck since the captain notices him inside and tries to pull him out of the cannon. The captain attempts to try and punch Beans through a window but does so successfully but the funny gag is that Beans flies out of the funnel in which hits the captain on the head. In some ways; it doesn't matter if the gag isn't  so coherent but at least it's fun.

Meanwhile Ham and Ex are are peril as he's being chased by the captain's assistant. They are trying to escape by using the ropes; but are left hanging and can't use their strength and start calling for "Uncle Beans". The sailor then starts to cut off the rope in which Ham and Ex are left swinging onto the rope.

They manage to swing safely onto the plane in which Beans is still in trouble by the captain. They start to fly the plane themselves to help save Beans. The captain then finds a barrel full of gunpowder in which he tries to throw it at Beans; but Beans manages to successfully dodge.

The barrel then starts to hit the pole and explodes as Beans manages to dodge it successfully. Some pretty neat explosion animation effects here as it is shown.

Ham and Ex are on the plane and they notice that "Uncle Beans" is seen flying in the air because of the gunpowder reaction. The plane then turns in which Uncle Beans lands safely. Beans is very happy to see Ham and Ex has saved them and kisses them on the forehead in return of gratitude. Beans, Ham and Ex then look down as they are leaving the ship. They have the gold with them in which they fly off into the distance.

Overall comments: I liked the idea on how that the synopsis of this short is about Beans on an expedition to a phantom ship where it's all haunted. It does make a great story; even though the cartoon probably isn't so exciting. This cartoon was thoroughly enjoyable at times; although it puzzles me on how that he could travel from New York to Iceland in like a matter of minutes - it didn't even seem very quick as well; from the speed of the plane and all. I've noticed that the character developments of Ham and Ex is different from than say; The Fire Alarm. They don't seem to be mischievous at all either because their butts being chewed out by Beans made them learn their lesson. I do quite like the haunted gags that have been presented here. Another Jack King short that is thoroughly decent at best. Jack King seems to have enjoyed working on expedition productions as he's written some like Buddy's Lost World or maybe; Westward Whoa - even though he's probably made very much.

123. Alpine Antics (1936)

Warner cartoon no. 122.
Release date: January 18, 1936.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Jack King.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Billy Bletcher (Bully) and Bernice Hansen (Little Kitty).
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Riley Thompson and Jack Carr.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

Our cartoon begins in the Alps where it is all snow that is beautiful. There is an off-screen vocal group singing in the rhythm of She Was an Acrobat's Daughter but the parody song is called She Was an Ice Skater's Daughter. There is a cow skater who is skating in the middle of the frozen lake. If you think about it - I wonder if King got the cow idea from Clarabelle Cow by Disney? They certainly resemble each other via character design.

The cow is performing us some tricks on the ice rink in which she uses her tail to spin around the frozen lake. The animation of the cow dancing on the frozen lake is pretty good animation. It turns out the the off-screen chorus singers were a group of snowmen that are singing and dancing. The weird part is when the snowmen have legs to move - won't they wobble?! They appear to be ignorant since they walk past a campfire (why would there be a campfire in the snow? To keep people warm I guess?) The snowmen the sing off the last part of the song in which they melt in time.

There is a dog creature that is all wrapped up in a warm, furry coat. He snuggles up his face under the coat to keep warm. He appears to be keeping warm by a steaming teapot to try and keep his hands up as he is in fact shivering.

The teapot then starts to boil which shows that it's ready. The dog then carries the teapot with him to a cracked part of the frozen lake where it is a small pond.The dog pours the steaming water into the lake in which he takes off his coat to dive as though he's relaxing in a hot-tub or something. As the dog dives; he is covered inside an ice cube in which the water has proved not to be warm enough with just a small boiling teapot. Hah; no wonder there was a "Danger" sign next to it.

There are a group of cows that appear to he wearing a pair of ice skates with 3 skating shoes in one - there is also a little pup that skates beneath their legs. The music in the background is still "Acrobat's Daughter" and the animation of the skaters is good animation.

 We see some shots of more skaters dancing such as a turtle that is dancing in ice skates. You can see the reflection of the turtle underneath the ice in which the reflection comes to life. The reflection turtle then seems to notice that he's under the ice in which the turtle does a hat-take because of that gag.

Meanwhile Beans and Little Kitty are sitting on a sledge riding but Beans skids the sledge as he notices a notice poster that is hanging on a shed. Beans then approaches the poster as he wants to read what's going on in the Alps? The poster reads:

NOTICE Annual SKI-RACE Starts 1PM TODAY. $100,000,000 in Prizes or a Cool $2.00 cash to the winner!

Of course; $100'000'000 was a mega a lot of money back then (and how would those sponsoring the competition even afford that money)? You'd probably be thinking since this is set in the Alps and yet they're using American dollars. I'd say it's suitable to use it since we don't  want to complicate things further by telling us they're real currency at the time with the currency symbol.

Beans turns over to Little Kitty and tells her, "Big race today, Kitty". He walks to pick up his skiing board and declares "Oh boy. Watch me win this race". We then PAN onto the bully of the Alps walks up to Beans and Little Kitty. The bully looks like Peg Legged Pete here (Disney). Boy; I wonder if King was influenced with Disney characters for this short since he's clearly used some.

The bully then approaches Beans as he slides him off the ski board and flicks him out of the way. The bully then breaks the ski boards in half by snapping it. The bully shouts "Ha!" and then walks off. Beans now has a competitive, arrogant bully to deal with. Beans is very annoyed of the bully in which he really wants to pound him as he demonstrates on how to do it. He tells Little Kitty, "I'll show that big stiff!" Beans removes the sledge off the board in which he starts to use them as skii boards.

The race is to begin and Beans arrives at the start line on time. Beans just happens to be standing next to the bully who broke his ski boards earlier on. Beans then chuckles nervously. The bully then grabs out a firework since he's most likely got a trick for Beans. The bully then pulls Beans' hat down as he struggles to put his hat back up (it must be really tight then).

The bully then places the firework in Beans' ski board in which he tightens the firework with a watch so it won't  fly off. The bully then strikes a match in which Beans goes off..ZOOM!

Beans goes flying over the place as he zooms around an empty shed - crashing the roofs occasionally. That scene is pretty amazing and in such speed. It's only roughly three seconds when back then it would take longer and the timing would've been slower and unfunny. Beans hits the ground feeling rather weary.

Beans then gets back onto his feet in which as the bully laughs at his humiliated incident. The turtle  on top of a tree then starts to begin the race with is gun but as he blasts - the turtle's shell starts to spin around numerous times. The race then begins in which all the other contestants start the race but the dog delays itself as he's riding on some type of bike to go through the snow that does take effort to go through.The turtle's shell continues to spin but lands on the snow before the turtle's legs, arms and heads pop out as he is rather dizzy. Well; turtle gags are fun - no question.

Beans then starts to begin the race but the bully is already in the lead ahead of Beans.

There are other competitors that are in the race; such as the dog cycling; and (probably) a cameo appearance of Porky Pig riding on a rocking horse with snow flying on his face from the competitor in front of him. There are all kinds of strange competitors that are using a raft (plus a bellows for wind resistance), and also a duck riding a dachshund. Beans is skiing down the hill but does try to be careful. The bully looks back at to see Beans and laughs at him. The bully then slides down a hill which goes pretty fast (I like the animation of the background going forward even though it's just a cycle). The bully then skiis off the edge of the cliff and lands safely in a parachute.

The bully then skiis down to a tree to hide in. We know that he's probably "too competitive" and doesn't like losing. He has another trick up his sleeve. He finds a way of cheating by grabbing out a piece of rope and ties it to a ski pole. After that the bully then the bully aims his pole to another tree as he throws it like a spear. It causes trouble for the contestant as he trips over and lands backwards in the snow; still peddling. The next contestant is the pig on a rocking horse.

The bully continues to prank on many of the contestants as they still trip over the rope and a funny gag shows with three pigs landing on thick snow but their pig tails made bell sounds. The bully then sees Beans skiing through and laughs to think that he is going to be next.

Beans skiis past but only lands on the pole in which the ski pole is unattached to the tree and the ropes swirl around the bully leaving him tied up. It was a fine gag; but it's still one of the "impossible things" in which it doesn't work too well but it can be accepted. The bully gets angered as he steams up; his body builds up as the ropes snap - now that does work; as cartoons use it all the time except the timing is slow.

 The bully then starts to pick up the pace as he tries to overtake Beans' position. Beans is jumping from one cliff to another but his ski boards land on the edge of the cliff leaving him wobbling; and stuck. Probably the first cartoon to use one of Treg Brown's "boing" Jew's harp effect.

Beans is still stuck in the position as the bully has now overtaken his position. Luck comes by as a duck and a dachshund are still in the race; and they slide down the cliff and back up. Beans is no longer stuck on the cliff as the dachshund forms a loop with the duck running inside; like a hamster.

The duck and dachshund are close to overtaking the bully's position in which the bully blocks then from trying to past. The dachshund then changes standing position to trip the bully out of the way. Now the duck and dachshund are leading - until they crash into the tree with the dachshund standing in the wrong position; with the dog all tied to the tree. Beans overtakes the bully by sliding past his knocked down ski boards. The bully stands back up in which there is a sequence of Beans going over lumpy hills that leads him flying and the bully overtaking.

The bully is still overtaking Beans; and Beans doing his attempt as well. They are eventually both standing on each other (with the bully standing on Beans' head). They almost crash into a house but the bully skiis on top of the roof while Beans just goes through. Huh; no crash - was the door just open? The bully then trips on a branch but spins the branch around. Then; it spins back leaving him flying and overtaking Beans again.

The crowd are still cheering on the winning contestant to win but the bully finds itself hitting on thin ice in which the ice block turns over with Beans skiing past it and finally wins the race. The bully's head pops out of the ice underwater in which Beans trips and lands onto thin ice. It turned out that the bully had that last trick up his sleeve despite losing.

Overall comments: Beans has been used pretty often in the cartoons (well; he is the leader of the Beans gang - of course). There were some fine gags in this cartoon that did work and deserved to be accepted. Of course; this cartoon feels like watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon made from around 1932-1934 with the influences that show Peg Legged Pete; or Clarabelle Cow. Jack King must've had influence somewhere. I really like the use of sound effects here that appears to be used more often in this cartoon that worked well; well done Treg Brown. The animation was pretty good in this cartoon; particularly the beginning with the skaters. The speed is starting to improve; although the timing is still slow on the skiing race sequence. I thought it showed improvement of when Beans has the rocket in his ski board. Little Kitty has a minor role in this cartoon (as well as others); and hasn't had her own cartoon yet - but probably doesn't need one.