277. Busy Bakers (1940)

Warner cartoon no. 276.
Release date: February 10, 1940.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Eldery Elf/Cross-Eyed Elf).
Story: Jack Miller.
Animation: Richard Bickenbach.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A baker is already near bankrupt and is facing closure, although with the help of elves, the bakery is back to business.


Last cartoon which was directed by Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, prior Freleng's return in April 1939, who took over their unit, and the pair given demotions: Cal Dalton returning to animation, and Ben Hardaway given the Head of Story Department position, although didn't hold that position for very long.

Cartoon begins with a local village set at night. Ironically, not one light seems to be off in every window that shows the village from the Art Loomer backgrounds. The shot features some brief sign gags contributed from Ben Hardaway, which appears to be a trait of his--with one sign that shows the bakery is facing closure: 'We Can't Complain About Business--There Ain't None!!'.


Meanwhile inside the bakery; the main baker: The baker, Swenson is pacing around the shop. He appears to take out a measurement for the barrels, where the camera trucks in to already indicate to the audience, through communication it's empty.

He walks over towards the cashier to check for any profits the bakery has made. To make it appear gag-wise; a tin of canned tomatoes indicate his 'profits' aren't shown as real money (i.e. bottle cap, button, etc), which is a dark for a gag, since Melancholy Mood is  the music cue. Meanwhile; a elderly blind man walks into a store, where the baker believes he has a customer. He asks for any dimes to spare; although the baker could only offer him a doughnut. After almost a whole minute of just drama with no gags, we get a rather odd blessing from the blind man, as he leaves.

Meanwhile, the supposed elderly blind man then leaves the store, as he rushes back towards his headquarters. He dashes all the way towards a windmill, where he changes out of his disguise, and warns the other elves, sleeping in bed--one of the elves is a Henry Binder caricature. He starts off with the basic warning, that is store is facing closure.

Jack Miller, probably directed from Hardaway/Dalton is engaged with some rhyming couplets, that feel Disney-ish. An example is shown where the main elf warns: 'The store is empty, he hasn't a crust / we must work fast, or he'll go bust!'.

All the other elves then scamper out of their beds to get changes as they are to head over towards Swenson's Bakery. One of the elderly elves then looks over towards a sleepy Swenson where he is lying on his desk, which means the coast is clear.

As Swenson is asleep and they enter inside the bakery shop; the elderly elf reminds the others: 'Must work fast before he wakes / and fill his store with pies and cakes!'. The elves then begin with the bakery, and as if the cartoon could get any worse--the elves start to sing the song The Happy, Slappy Little Baker Man. The chorus singers are terribly irritating to listen to, its insufferable, and painfully unentertaining.

During the song sequence; the voices from the elves singing (as well as making the recipes) really do not entertain the sequences, and the baking gags are certainly not funny. The cross-eyed baker where he has his head by a frying pan is only just obnoxious, though I believe that's Blanc's voice really sped up there, and the comic timing is very sloppy in these Hardaway-Dalton cartoons.


Not too sure who is providing much of the voices of the other elves, although it sounds like much of them were sped up, especially the Colonna elf; whose voice impersonation just sounds off-key. The elderly elf is also seen a shot where he puts all the ingredients together to help bake the recipe.

After the sequence, it's all just gag-after-gag; where you will find virtually no surprises coming up whatsoever, and it all just runs down together. A Harpo Marx-type elf runs into the scene, dropping the cake; and flips the other side. To add to a really corny gag, he pins a sign on top reading 'Upside down cake'. The gag itself has no charm, and just unfocused.

Meanwhile, there is a elf baker who pulls out a can which contains the pumpkin. Whilst the gag is similar to that of Avery's Cinderella Meets Fella where the Fairy Godmother pulls out a pumpkin from a can, you still just got to admire the sound effects by Treg Brown, who just knew how to add weight to a physical gag, even if it was very gag.

Obvious to the fact he has pulled out an enormous, rounded pumpkin; it takes him a while to know the pumpkin isn't flat or squished to be prepared for a pumpkin pie. To solve the problem, he grabs a mallet where the pumpkin splats and also splatters on his clothes and face.

Whilst it could work as a gag, the comic timing for that part is just flat. More baking scenes appear where there is a baker making some doughnuts and uses a pumper to pump up the flattened doughnuts, and another elf just sprays chocolate icing over the doughnuts. Seriously, these gag sequences are just extremely weak. In fact, even 8 years olds have a better understanding on how a good gag work, and would even criticise such poor pacing in this cartoon.

The next sequence does so happens to be one of those slow-paced pointless gags where a character comes in a sticky situation, and attempt to figure out how to solve the problem, but still come to failure. This results where a cross-eyed baker is rolling the dough with his rolling pin..the rolling pin ends up stuck on the dough.

The rolling pin is very sticky, and he attempts to pull it out physically, although the weight is trapped inside the dough that it is too strong to pull off. However, this does work except he falls off the table with the rolling pin clashing on top of his head.

It gets extremely even more pointless where the baker just attempts to whack the dole; and yet the dough retaliates. For such a crappy cartoon, this sort of exaggeration just doesn't work in that environment. The dough then forms into a hand and prods the baker in the eye, and then they battle one another on top of the table. Virtually humourless, and also known as padding in that cartoon.

With Little Dutch Plate played in the background; the baker then folds the piece of dough as he has already swept it with jelly. He then folds it up like folding a piece of carpet. However, the carpet then unrolls itself, once he has reached the top and then ends up being flattened from the jam roll. Just by watching that scene, these are gags that Disney would even laugh at.

After just an entire string of gags, that I couldn't take any longer, Swenson finally wakes up from the rumpus, thank God, as he walks over to investigate the activity occurring in his kitchen. The elves discover he has approached the kitchen and then rush out of the scene.

Swenson is completely baffled from all the activity occurring his kitchen, but moments later, a doorbell rings where the entire village see all different kinds of bakery in display which persuades to purchase the food.

In a conversative looking crowd shot, the whole crowd are waving their money in the shop, desperate to purchase some of the bakes. Hardaway and Dalton, whose never been very daring in their film techniques, use the following shots as a montage success for Swenson; which is relevant at best for the sequence, despite the atrocity the directors have already given us.

After a series of montage from the success of Swenson on that night, he finds the amount of cash that have poured on his desk and he piles up the money with glee. Meanwhile the same elderly blind man (disguised as the elderly elf) walks into the bakery store, and asks: 'Could you spare a poor, hungry man a few crumbs of bread?'. He hands over the pie towards the elderly man where he thanks him.


Just as the elderly man walks out of the bakery store, closes the door and then walks away. Swenson then steps out of his own store, where he shouts out towards the elderly man: "Hey, mister! I forgot to tell you there's a five-cent deposit on the pie tin!".

Love the fact that he is trying to use his hand for the 'five-cents' gesture, when in the cartoon world: he only has four fingers. Doesn't see work out too well when it comes to personality animation. The pie is then tossed straight towards his face, where he finishes with the closing line "That's gratitude for ya!", as the cartoon ends.

Overall comments: Which much of my comments mentioned throughout the review, this is a particular cartoon from the era prior Friz Freleng's return to the studio that I love to hate. The gags are just extremely flat, and the bakery sequences extremely run together badly. This short is a great example for poor structure as well as pacing. It has a terrible build up, where we find in the opening--the baker is bankrupt, and then the elves make a attempt to save the store: which follows by a lame sequence of baking the food; then success for the baker: and concludes with that ridiculous one-liner gag at the end. Shows how the cartoon, itself, wasn't worth it. Being the final Hardaway/Dalton cartoon, I suppose that the two directors weren't expecting it to be their by the time Friz Freleng returned to the Studio in April 1939.

As already mentioned, Dalton was still working in the same unit, but as a animator; and according to the 'Exposure Sheet' issue 5--it was a position he already loved...whilst Ben Hardaway took the demotion pretty hardly, at least according to Martha Sigall. He was, however, given the position as Head of the Story department, where he would work on a few shorts, before his departure in January 1940 for Lantz. Nevertheless, it was evidently all for the greater good. With Freleng's return to the Studio, the cartoons released from the previous year finally pick up the pace again, and the Studio desperately needed Friz Freleng back to help reform the WB cartoons, in terms of comic timing, as well as humour...which Freleng does.

267. Porky the Giant Killer (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 266.
Release date: November 18, 1939.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig / Knight) and Billy Bletcher (Giant).
Story: Melvin Millar.
Animation: Gil Turner.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Porky goes into giant-killing expedition, and once he's in the castle; he's trapped and harassed by a baby giant.

The cartoon starts off after we view the title card, as we pan down vertically as the castle's door opens with the typical gag disclaimer about 'giants being fictitious'...from watching the cartoons just chronologically, this just becomes a terrible eyesore from reading this, almost cartoon after cartoon.

The cartoon then starts off properly as we see a giant-exploring expedition. By judging on the designs of the streets--we can already tell this is set in Medieval times.

Porky looks out of his window and he rushes down the stairs of his house to follow the crowd. Porky follows the crowd who are walking over to the giant's castle. He knocks on a knight; and the knight's real head pops out of the helmet and asks, 'Well?'. Porky asks: 'Where are we going?'. The knight responds: 'We're going to get the giant'. Porky stops and realises he would need some weaponry to help batter the giant. He finds an abandoned table, and pulls off the leg of the table which he disguises as a club. We can only know how bad the cartoon will go once he's uses a useless weapon to attack the giant.

Meanwhile inside the castle we find the giant inside as he is inside his baby's room singing his son a lullaby. He is singing Rock-a-Bye Baby and also combines the song with some useless made-up lyrics. Whilst the giant sings the song mid-way; the baby jumps up and scats; before going back to sleep. Didn't particularly see the whole point in that...which is just uncharming for a cartoon baby doing that.


Afterwards; the giant sings off the last part with other ridiculous and unfunny lyrics. After singing, he stretches his arms and yawns from tiredness. Meanwhile outside, the giant-killing expedition lead to the castle's entrance as they are standing outside.

One of the giant-killers walks over to the door, and then manages to open up the door. Well, why the hell isn't that door locked? They just walked in and sneaked in so easily. Also, look at how the heights of the background and proportions are worked out. This doesn't look like a giant's castle, and the characters all look about the same height and the backgrounds are at a much smaller scale. Appalling.

Meanwhile, the giant is seen taking a nap as he is snoring in and out. As he is snoring; he is breathing in and out near the picture frame of a yacht that the yacht then moves in and out of the frame. Okay, I guess in a cartoon reality it makes sense, but it's not a particularly funny gag. Look at the scale of the bear-rug on the floor. It's tiny and poorly measured.

The giant hears the sounds of people walking inside the castle, and mutters: 'Who's there?'. In a long-shot sequence: the giant-killers listen out to the giant's voice shouting 'Anybody here?'. They all rush out of the scene to save their skins. Once they rush out of the doors - leaving the castle, Porky follows.

As Porky follows; the door slams in front of him and he struggles to open the door. The giant continues to ask 'Anybody here?'. In another long-shot, the giant looks out to see if anyone's around -- but Porky is hiding under the balcony.

Gee, even in that long-shot; the castle looks too small for the giant...the designs are just ugly. In the rear shot itself; we see too many continuity goofs where the giant looks too small as he shouts 'Yoo hoo!'. The giant pulls a confused expression on his hands walks away from the hallway. Porky realises the coast is clear and so he walks up the stairs. Inside an empty room he walks into, there is nothing in there other than a fireplace. The kettle, sitting on the fireplace boils on Porky's rear which gives him a take and he rushes into the baby's room. Gee, I sure wonder how Porky managed to resist himself from screaming?

Porky covers himself underneath the baby giant's blanket on his bed. After a few moments where the baby is in a 'What the hell' expression, Porky turns to look at the baby and makes a 'take' at the baby's size, and he dives under his bed. At least, Porky is drawn on a scale much smaller than the body, but the proportions are a little sloppy.

Whilst Porky is secluding himself under the baby's bed. The baby giant's hand reaches out under the bed to grab hold of Porky. As a result, Porky responds in a really out-of-character mode by biting the baby's finger.

Next, the baby cries in the most aggravating, unrealistic baby cry you could hear. The animation where the baby attempts to shake Porky off is also very unrealistic as it lacks weight. After shaking Porky out; the baby's finger (which Porky bit) throbs.

After the baby's reaction to his thumb being bitten. He ends up in a playful mode as he is bouncing the bed which causes Porky to bounce unsafely. 'Aww, so you want to play do ya' Porky reckoned. He then attempts to get the baby's attention by playing 'peas, porridge, hot'. After a few hand-slaps in the game: the baby slaps him out of the scene. The baby continues to act playful, but Porky walks over to him indignantly: 'If you weren't such a big baby, I'd bust ya right in the nose'. The baby grabs hold of his nose where he lets go, and Porky crashes into the same area, twice, where the baby's toys are.

This whole sequence with the baby and Porky, is most definitely padded, as the pacing of the story is like molasses in January. The irritating giggles of the baby are certainly no joy to put up with, that I just hope someone has injected morphine in his milk bottle. Porky throws a ball at the baby giant's face and ends up bawling.

Porky walks over to feed the baby a milk bottle to quieten him down. Holy cow, after all the hassle going on in the nursery; the giant is still fast asleep. Anyway, the baby then gets fed with a milk bottle which contains 5 gallons of milk...and by looking at the size of the milk bottle--does that look like it contains 5 gallons to you?

According to Mike Kazaleh, the milk feeding scenes were animated by Rod Scribner; and some of the posing (like on Porky) is a subtle giveaway. After the baby has quietened down from the milk: Porky then attempts to entertain the baby a little longer by showing some really pointless, stupid trick what he could do with a teat. He pushes the teat down to the bottleneck (where the baby bottle, again, looks small in size)...and then the teat pops back up. With all that really had timing and padding--Hardaway and Dalton really HAD to use a pointless sequence like this?? Anyway; the teat hits him in the eye, because he stares at it with curiosity.

Yes, the sequence with Porky and the baby: HAS to go even longer when he ends up dealing with the baby in an attempt to put him asleep because of his loud cries. He hushes him up and stutters: 'Will you be a good boy and go to sleep if I sing you a song?'. The baby nods with eagerness.

Porky walks over to the novelty piano. He then begins to play the 'ABCs' towards the baby giant. I'll admit Porky's stuttering on the letter 'G' is very funny in terms of his impediment.

It turns out that the giant, already up, is watching Porky sing the 'ABCs' to the baby and comments: 'Isn't that the cutest thing?'. He walks over and sits listening to Porky's singing. Porky turns and finds the giant is standing right him. He makes a take and he hides behind the baby giant's toys. The giant then wriggles his finger to get Porky to come on over. Porky, not realising the giant is a softie, shakes his head 'with' a no. This then turns into a chase sequence between Porky and the giant. Finally, about two and a half minutes of absolute waste; the climax already takes place.

During the chase sequence; the giant reaches out with his hand in an attempt to catch Porky but Porky squeezes himself out. Instead of just running through, Porky runs down the steps on one right and runs up the steps on the other side, whilst the giant runs with heavy steps. I'm not gonna bother talking about the height of the castle anymore, as you'd all get the gist by now.

Porky finds himself running out of the castle windows, but this almost causes him to fall to his death. He runs back to the window sill of the castle.

Between two windows; the giant grabs out one hand but misses; then the other and misses again. He snaps his finger with a 'darn it' attitude. Then, Porky ends up being cornered as the giant uses his finger to walk towards Porky and grab him.

Porky slips from the giant's teachers as he falls down the tower of the castle; but luckily lands in a moat. At the bottom of the moat; Porky struggles to swim for his life; but the giant crawls form under the bridge and he slurps up the moat in order to retrieve Porky. in shot; which I wonder if you've noticed--why the hell does the giant look like a ghost in that scene?

I guess it was a mistake to use 50% shades on him? After the giant slurps up the entire moat: he captures Porky, and Porky walks inside the castle; possibly to be killed.

Oh no, he's very much alive but he is captured just to get the giant and the baby back to sleep by singing the 'ABCs'. Porky, finding himself trapped, watches them asleep and attempts to make an escape (whilst singing the ABCs). However, the giant halts him from escaping and Porky reluctantly walks back to the piano singing the rest and also remarks in song: 'Everything keeps happening to me'. As he attempts to stutter 'G' again, he rests his hand on the piano, 'Shucks!'.

Overall comments: This is a cartoon by Hardaway-Dalton that I despise the most. Seriously. From what I've said in the comments, above is enough for me to explain the bad point of it, but I'll go through it again. This cartoon lacks the amount of charm, and even in Porky. The baby and Porky scenes are a complete dull, and holds absolutely no merits. Porky is really boring throughout the cartoon, and the baby is enough to kill the cartoon with his aggravating cries and spastic playfulness. This cartoon even holds up no charms that even made Clampett's worst Porky cartoons appear more suitable...which is saying a lot. Then again, this isn't really a funny cartoon at all; where the gags are just flat, the comic timing of the baby is unfunny and that whole sequence really slowed the cartoon down. In fact, the cartoon's pacing is another problem; which probably explains why it's clocked up to 8 minutes long. In fact, it doesn't even feel like they're padding like Disney or Chuck Jones would--it feels like a parody of a slow-paced Disney sequence...considering how it is ridiculously long, but of course--its not a parody.

The only part of the whole cartoon which I may say has a little bit of 'charm' is ONLY when Porky is stuttering on the letter 'g' when singing the ABCs to the baby. The giant of the cartoon is also another character, who isn't worthy--and his soft personality is certainly not at all charming. As I have already mentioned, the scales and size of the castle throughout the cartoon varies from shot-to-shot...but its a flop here...as the castle accommodation looks too small for the giant to even live in it. Porky even changes size most of the time in certain shots, where at times he looks as big as the baby, and other times--much smaller. I suppose, that it would've cost a lot of time to go through size in such accurate detail, but then again..I suppose we'll never know the exact reason. What's probably worth to note, is and at least Hardaway-Dalton managed to make Porky a star throughout the entire cartoon, without having such a minor role throughout 1939, but they just didn't make Porky work well in this short. Also worth to note, this is Hardaway-Dalton's last black-and-white cartoon they directed.

266. Fagin's Freshman (1939)

Warner cartoon no. 265.
Release date: November 18, 1939.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Ted Pierce (? as Fagin), Mel Blanc ('Okay, Professor' cat), Sportsman Quartet (Chorus singers) and William Days (Cagney singer).
Story: Jack Miller.
Animation: Rod Scribner.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Blackie, the odd one out of his family, aspires to be a gangster, and dreams of going to gangster school.

Very little is known about the cast of the cartoon. I have added Ted Pierce as only a possible voice as Fagin, whose voice is an impersonation of Lionel Stander. As according to Keith Scott, it's been considered he recorded his lines months before the cartoon's release and just before his departure to Florida but there is no certainty to that. The child actor of Blackie as well as the other kits are rarely discussed child actors.

The cartoon starts off with what naturally appears to look like a Disney-esque sequence. A mother kitten is seen playing the pianos while her kits are singing along to the song: Three Little Kittens. The mother then joins in a close up shot: 'What no mittens? You naughty kittens, then you'll shall have no pie'. The kittens meowing is a little bit irritating to listen to.

Meanwhile; you'll find in the corner is Blackie, who is the odd one out of his siblings and doesn't like to take part in singing along with his siblings. No wonder. He's sitting by the family's own radio. He then mutters: 'Sissy stuff!' and he turns on the radio.

Whilst the little kittens continue to sing their cute little song; the radio already turns on and we hear loud gunshots off-screen. The children hide under the piano, frightened, as Blackie killed the family activity. He comments with awe; 'Boy, this is key!'.

The mother walks over to turn off the radio. As you might expect in Disney-esque stories: the mother disapproves of Blackie's bad taste and he pinches him by the ear to lead him to his room. 'Now just for that young man, you can march right up stairs to bed without your supper'. Whilst they're at the top of the stairs, she continues: 'I don't know what's ever to become of you, all you ever think of is guns and shooting. Now you get to get to bed, and stay there until you behave yourself'. I sure wish who the voice of the child actor and the mother; as they certainly sound a little more professional and their voice has some appeal, at least Blackie's anyway. To all the fanboys out there, this is NOT Verna Felton's voice as the mother. She closes the door, but opens again to comment: 'And none of that backtalk either'...and she closes again.

Blackie, is in his room as he sits on top of his bed, moaning: "Aww, I never get to do nuthin'". He mimics the kittens and the mother singing The Three Little Kittens, and criticises it as 'kindergarten stuff!'. Afterwards, Blackie falls asleep. His spirit then steps out as its obvious he's stepped into a dream, as we know his dream is to experience what life would be like as a gangster.

He walks through the streets in his dream, and he finds a poster outside a shack reading: 'Boy Wanted'. Mmm, looks like the posters give out very fresh opportunities you would never get.

The slides of the door then open where we find a stranger looking through, as well as the bottom of the door before he lets Blackie inside. He opens the door as Blackie explains: 'I saw your sign there and...'. The stranger accepts his curiosity: 'Sure thing, come in'. Blackie enters and the strangers introduces himself as 'Fagin'.

He then explains his real name but narrows it down to his nickname: 'Blackie'. A particularly juicy line as it's more unique and intriguing other than just saying his name is 'Blackie'. By the way, can anyone get an earshot of what his real name is being said: (?) Wilbur Scaff...Fagin continues 'Okay, Blackie...come in and meet the boys'. Whoever the voice actor is, if it isn't Ted Pierce, is impersonating Lionel Stander, who was a well-known American actor of his time. It's a really solid impression...but I also like Fagin's warming personality towards Blackie in the opening scene. The music cue in their introduction is Melancholy Mood.

It turns out that this is a school where you can learn to be a gangster, and inside the classroom the boys are seen shooting craps before Fagin whistles for their attention. Fagin explains: 'This is recess, and the boys like to relax'. He then introduces the students to Blackie as a new recruit. They all greet Blackie.


Blackie then turns astonished: 'Do I have to go to school?'. Fagin explains softly: 'Sure, you can't get no places nowadays without no education...why just look at some of our graduates, they're in demand everywhere'.

In a point-of-view shot, it turns out that his graduates have turned into criminals...which is what Fagin's occupation is. During the pan through the posters, we find a 'Fat Burns' who is wanted for Arson...scanning through the posters; there is also a Class of 1920, who are seen behind bars. Notice the Fibber McGee gag reference where the criminal is called 'Fibber McKee'.

Blackie, then turns with astonishment and asks: 'You mean you teach your boys to be criminals'. Fagin explains again: 'Aww, you shouldn't have said that...all I do is teach them the basic principals, and they go out as educated gentlemen. Then, well, gold is where you find it'. Note the 'Gold is Where You Find It' is a reference to the 1938 film of the same name. Fagin then advises the boys to go through the theme song so Blackie 'can get the general idea'.

The piano conductor then responds warmly: 'Okay, professor' which is Mel Blanc's only voice he has used in this cartoon. He then starts to play the piano: and a cat chorus go into song of the great popular song: We're Working Our Way Through College. A student acts out in the song of a rich dummy tied to a hatstand. He rushes in to steal and wear the clothes.


Another student acts as a thief with boxes all masqueraded as a street and the students walks into a fake bank and is to open up a safe. A hand from the safe then reaches out with a mallet and whacks the student on the head, pretending he is arrested...and then the result is jail for him. The song then concludes as they sing a brief 'Do, rep, me..' tune and then finish.


After the song concludes, a police officer's hand knocks on their door. Fagin walks over to check who's by the door, and makes a take. He shouts, 'It's the cops!'. Blackie asks with enthusiasm: 'Are they really enthusiasm'. Fagin responds with a funny line: 'Well, if they ain't they're unreasonable facsimile'. That scene I suspect is by Rod Scribner, as Blackie's posing reminds me of what he did for Clampett. Outside Fagin's headquarters, the police officers blow their whistles as other constables attempt to crash the door open with a tree  trunk. They all crash together, but a whole group of constables crash together at the door. Some very funny comic timing there, I must say. Of course, Erlkonig is the music cue throughout much of the fighting sequence.

The fighting starts as one of the students begin to fire at the police officers. During the fighting sequence; there is one police officer who is holding a toy gun with a bottle cork attached to it. As he shoots, the typical gag is the cork hits him straight in the eye. As more of the fighting continues, Fagin is hiding from under the window firing at the officers.

The bullet then shoots off Fagin's hat, and Blackie asks eagerly: 'Are those real bullets?'. Fagin then responds humorously, 'That wasn't done by no moth'. The police officer (with the fake gun) once again fails which h ends up with two black eyes.

 Blackie turns afraid and then starts to shake Fagin's arm begging to go home, as he has finally realised he's too scared and cowardly to be a gangster and to be fighting the police officers. Fagin pushes Blackie away, too busy to fight with the police officers, and of course--being a criminal. 'Quit shaken' me, it interferes with my aim'. The constable then fires again, with his dummy gun, lowers his hat but finds the cork hits him right back in the nose. Okay, what was the real point of the gag anyhow? Knowing he is going to be hit three times--why would that be funny in this crime situation...unless, he's just an ignorant officer not giving a toss about the crime?

The next sequences features some Avery-esque where Fagin is still fighting, but the phone rings. He answers the phone, but struggles to here due to the gun fighting from outside. He shouts outside, 'Hey youse guys, pipe down, somebody's on the phone!'. He then asks 'What was it, lady? Yeah...yeah...yeah', and then hangs up. He shouts outside: 'Which one of you guys is Hogan?'


One of the officers identifies himself as Hogan. Could this is be a staff reference to Rich Hogan? He then asks: 'You're wife asks you to bring home a pound of butter'. Mmm, we wouldn't ask for a pound anymore--at least today.

Blackie then finds himself in a scary situation as the firing bullets start to follow him. He tries to escape through a door but the bullets then shoot the words 'NO NO!'. He manages to escape, but only by falling out of the curtains and falls into mid-air. Oh no, it turns out that he is not falling in reality; that's him moving around under the duvets. He then hears the sounds of the mother cat and his siblings singing The Three Little Kittens--he immediately decides to turn over a new leaf, as he rushes downstairs to join in with the rest of his brothers and sisters, and sing. At the ending shot, he joins in with his cats by 'meowing'. During the iris-out there's a cute shot where a halo is on top of his head, and he blinks with goodness. A rather Disney-esque ending, but I feel its a good enough ending as it is.

Overall comments: Not being facetious, whatsoever, one of my particular favourite Hardaway-Dalton cartoons. I know you probably think its just another cheap-skate entry from the two directors...considering how some folks feel its like a knock-off of Disney's The Robber Kitten--but, this is a cartoon which (I feel) has guts. Okay, I'll admit I'm not a particular fan of the opening and closing scenes as I will indeed consider that a bit Disney-esque. But what really speaks to me is mostly the introduction scenes of Fagin and Blackie (prior their song sequence). What I like is how Fagin's character personality is displayed. From the start, we all consider him a gentleman--(though we already know he's secretly a criminal) but already turns the opposite during the shooting scenes. In some aspects, even if this is me saying a lot - I like this cartoon a tad more than say, The Robber Kitten.

Of course, I like the cartoon to, but I suppose 'Robber' is too whimsical for my liking, and too nostalgic (being set in medieval times)...whilst this cartoon sets the idea where Blackie wants to be a gangster or a bad guy successfully shooting police officers. In some ways, it's a more modernised approach as gangsters were very popular in terms of entertainment in the 1930s. The voice acting here, is some really good acting. The voice for Fagin is really top-notch, even though we're not certain who is the director...though we've only speculated it could be Pierce, as he's the only possible actor through educated guesses. It's a shame we don't know who the child actor for Blackie is, as I find his voice for the kitten is rich in terms of cockiness and attitude. Maybe, one day there will be documentation. Overall, I like the cartoon, mostly due to the gangster appeal as well as the personality of Fagin. I'll admit the rest of the cartoon, like the fighting and song sequence were not strong merits which Hardaway and Dalton didn't usually have.