198. The Penguin Parade (1938)

Words and Music by Byron Gay

Warner cartoon no. 197.

Release date: April 23, 1938.

Series: Merrie Melodies.

Supervision: Tex Avery.

Producer: Leon Schlesinger.

Starring: Tex Avery (Walrus), Cliff Narrazo (Penguin Presenter) and Mel Blanc (Dancing Penguin / Drunk Penguin).

Story: J.B. "Ben" Hardaway.

Animation: Paul Smith.

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.

Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

Synopsis: New penguin nightclub opens with new acts featured.

I recall reading from a Avery interview that Avery at the beginning didn't like having to make cartoons where a song HAD to be included; and already by this point the Warner directors didn't have to make them in the 'Merrie Melodies' and yet, Tex is making this cartoon.

The cartoon begins as we hear in the beginning the song in which the title song of the cartoon called The Penguin Parade is heard in the background. After the credits then fade away - we then find that what could probably be a resemblance to Northern lights but it's just beam lights shining and waving.

We then get to fade into the next scene so we know what is doing on. It turns out that it is a grand opening of a new nightclub for the penguins which is called Club Iceberg where it appears in bright lights as well the words that read 'Grand Opening'. We then find that the beam lights are standing outside the nightclub (made of iceberg) in which it shines and there are a lot of penguins attending the nightclub. As there are penguins entering -- we then find that there are some huskies that are riding along also entering that are being sleighed by these penguins in a carriage and they are carrying with them a fridge. I guess that the gag means that the fridge is meant to be a carriage and the huskies were meant to be like horses. Okay but with a gag like that which feels like it took a while to get the gist of it - I don't see how that's supposed to get laughs. The refrigerator then opens in which the penguin then steps out as he appears to be an important entertainer for the nightclub.

The penguin that walks out of the refrigerator then waddles out of the refrigerator carriage as he walks over to the walrus that is a bartender and works in a part of the bar. The penguin then orders a drink from the walrus bartender. "Give me a scratching' (?) soda and a pinch of lemon". After the penguin places his order - the Walrus then starts to make the penguin his drink.

The walrus then picks up the penguin as he is about to make him the drink in which he orders. He grabs out a glass as he pours champagne in it. He opens the penguin's mouth in which he then starts to guzzle it down his throat. Afterwards the walrus then starts to toss an ice-cube and squeezes lemon inside his mouth. After squeezing them he that starts to squirt some water inside the penguin and shakes the penguin like smoothing it. After the walrus has finished mixing the penguin -- he then places him down the table. The penguin ends up staggering drunk and hiccups as a result. It changes to Irv Spence animation of the penguin hiccuping and Irv knows how to make a stagger walk move in a amusing way. The penguin then starts to cover his mouth in which he then covers it with - after covering his mouth it follows on with just continuous and uncontrollable hiccuping which isn't a good thing for the penguin.

As the penguin then continues to walk on staggering and of course drunk from being mixed from the drink -- there is a walrus that is seated in the nightclub. It turns out that there aren't only penguins - at least two walruses are in the nightclub (one of whom being a bartender). The penguin then staggers over to a table that is seated next to the walrus and Spence continues the animation even there.

The penguin then gets seated at a dinner table in which the walrus appears to be drunk with laughter then starts to attempt to get into conversation with the penguin. "Hey bud, (chuckles) did ya ever hear the story (chuckles) about the poor mules in the army?" The walrus is chuckling in that Tex Avery which must've have been so infectious around the studio which is why we hear it in these cartoons as well. The walrus then continues the joke, "Well one day these two old mules..." he then starts to whisper the joke to the penguin's ear in which he whisper it and we don't even get to hear the punchline of the joke -- unless that it is supposedly a dirty joke it had to be slyly referenced. The penguin then starts to laugh out loud at the joke as well as the walrus and there is that funny little jump that the penguin does after listening to the joke - a funny little jump that Irv planned out when animating. The penguin then comes to conclusion after bursting out laughing, 'I don't get it' which is a rather funny line and also one of the old line-ups after laughing at a joke though not understanding which is vaudeville.

After the sequence with the penguin and the walrus; then we hear the sounds of music heard in the backgrounds in which everybody then turns to watch that will be seen. All of the penguins seated then turn to watch the stage in which a penguin presenter then enters the room. The penguin that we find on stage is in fact supposedly a double-talking emcee who appears to be talking too fast but in fact mentions some parts about the North Pole.

Even Leon Schlesinger gets a mention from the penguin presenter which would've been a nice surprise for Leon and the staff. Even Ray Katz also gets a mention from the penguin as they were both the bosses of the Schlesinger studio (and along with Henry Binder) then the blabbing penguin presenter then continues to mention a few media associations and even mentions Warner Bros. After mentioning a couple of references and such - although in talking in quite a fast voice and how would be supposed to figure it out? I believe that the penguin presenter is in fact a reference to a radio celebrity or such in that double-talking voice but I'm not too sure who that would be referencing. After mentioning some references the penguin is then about to introduce an act at the grand opening of the nightclub. After just doing nothing but talk, talk which gets rather tedious for me - the penguin presenter then passes it onto the show.

As the presenter then leaves the scene - we then find that there are a group of soldiers which they have trumpets and they blow in it to begin with their introduction. After the blowing from the trumpet - it looks like that walking down the staircase is, evidently - the Penguin Parade. They then start to waddle down the stairs as normal penguins would do and the animation movement that is formed here gives it a decent effect. In a bird's eye view shot we find that the penguins are forming a separate line from each part of the stairs.

With the orchestra still playing the music - the group of penguins then begin their act in which they all walk straight to each other when forming the line. The gag shows that the penguins are walking to each other but they end up walking on air when they touch each other's feet whilst walking as this a march of the penguins act. I like how they just walk up there and only holding onto each other by using their feet. That type of gag would be reused later on in Porky's Preview. The result then turns out that as they successfully manage to march upwards in air - they suddenly then fall down to the ground bundling each other. They then stand back up in which they then greet the audience as they bow and the curtains close after the act has finished. As the curtains then close - it turns out that they have so many curtains to close which makes it slightly amusing since how many curtains are they gonna want to need?

The penguin audience still applaud at the act as the penguin commentator then returns again as he uses his hand postures to quieten the audience. After the penguin presenter then finishes the sound of applause -- he then goes to introduce the next fact. The next act then features the act of a popular crooner (called Bong Crisby). And of course they're going to have to have Bing Crosby's name sort of swapped around since I guess its for jokes and probably to stop Bing was trying to file lawsuits on ol'Leon.

He then starts to brag on a bit longer in which he appears to be making a joke about Bing Crosby's horse racing (as I heard him say 'races' or 'horses') and that was parodied since Bing Crosby loved betting on horses but it turned out that in fact he never had luck at it for his love for horse racing. I don't know what the gag he is saying but I have at least an idea what he could be saying but that it all - considering that the penguin character is a double-talknig emcee - I really hate that character if you ask me - I mean even I don't find that funny for Avery; it feels really weak. He then conlcudes the gag in which he then passes on the Bong Crisby penguin act over to the penguin crooner who is standing with the microphone as part of the radio station "KFWB" and that was a popular radio station even at the time.

As we view the crooner penguin holding onto the microphone - everybody applauds when he is standing on the stage. He then starts to fix his bow-tie as he announces to the audience that the song that he is going to sing is the popular 1930s song When My Dreamboat Comes Home. He then asks the guys in the orchestra to "Take it, boys" which is a popular Crosby reference as well as the soft voice he had.

The electric guitar then starts to make a rising sound as the Bing Crosby crooning penguin then begins his song. As he starts off by singing the first verse of the song, 'When my dream boat comes home---' we then hear the trumpets being played by the other penguins as they go into theme of the song. As he continues to sing the song - we then start to PAN towards this vocal group that then go into a more upbeat version of the song. As they continue to sing their version of the song - for fun they then go in a freeze frame where they make silly faces before going back into song. As the song is being sung we then watch that there is a penguin guest at the table slurping very sloppily on the phone as he's also causing stains in his own bib - I guess I don't what the coherence of the gag is supposed to mean but I guess it has to go with the song or something. Oh, and it turns out that after that gag the penguin realises the mess he's made in which he uses a windscreen to wipe his bib -- well, WHY didn't they just have that in one shot then? It appears whilst singing the song they went into a medley by singing 'The Penguin Parade'. The sequence then finishes as the vocal group then leave. Well, THAT was just a pointless sequence in my opinion - it had a crooner penguin and I would've been amused by watching gags of any lady penguins being swooned but instead I just see these vocal groups singing this very boring jazzed version?!

After the sequence with the vocal groups finishing - the amount of curtains then starts to rise one at a time in which then there is now a penguin orchestra band that then continue to play some music for the nightclub. There is a pretty wacky scene where it involves a penguin playing the piano and I believe that Irv also did that shot as well.

The next scenes then start to focus with one of them being a penguin player just playing the clarinet and this certainly feels like something very tedious from Tex Avery as I know he could come up with something better than that. As much as the animation of the penguin playing the clarinet may be interesting - still, it's just boring. Finally there appears to be a gag that finally turns up where the penguin orchestra are still playing but without any breaks until they start to slow down their playing and start pant for breathe as well as the drummer, too. The drummer penguin then starts to pick up the beat again playing a playful drumming sound as the penguin band then continue to pick up the pace too by playing again. As the penguin conductor is still conducting he then turns around to find that he is seeing something which isn't going very well and walks over to an orchestra member that is off-screen.

It turns out that when the penguin waiter enters the spot there is in fact a walrus (now there's three walruses in the nightclub) but the walrus is playing a cello. The penguin conductor then finds that the cello has done out of tune and the gag is that he opens up the cello where there is a fireplace inside and he dumps some coals in to lighten it up. The walrus then finally starts to play some real music afterwards which is a clever gag by Tex. Irv Spence also did the walrus scene there with the cello.

As the dancing then starts to continue onwards - we then find that there is a dancing penguin couple that dance together but they both go into that dance which I'm not sure what's it's called where they wave their arm but I've seen it referenced in these cartoons elsewhere. Then one of the penguins then starts to break the forth wall in which he comments 'Hey look fellas, I'm dancing, I'm dancing!' I'm not too sure of the reference but I'm sure that it was from an actor in some of them motion pictures before.

The next sequence then focuses on a parody of Fats Waller but instead it features ANOTHER walrus (the forth one I've spot so far in this cartoon) and it's a parody as his name is called "Fats" Walrus. He is seen playing on the piano since that's what Fats Waller is well-known for. As he is playing the piano - it looks like as though the piano is going to melt and it ends up falling as it appears but then Fats Walrus picks it up and forms it into a normal piano and plays it.

The fifth walrus that I've gone to spot so far in this picture then turns out to be a lady walrus who looks large at the back and it looks like she's dancing with somebody who might be large as her. It turns out as she turns around that the walrus she's dancing are three penguins who are dancing with her as it takes up to three to get them to dance with her. I believe that it is a 'Laurel and Hardy' reference there. Irv Spence then gets an animated scene as it shows that a penguin is playing the saxophone in a real loosey style. Then we find that there are a band of marching penguins in which they are playing woodwind instruments to 'The Merry Go Round Broke Down'. These trumpeting penguins then also join in with the beat as they play the part where it's often the whistling sounds of the song.

More music playing then continues from the penguin bands as we find a crazy penguin drummer, a penguin drummer, etc. The trumpet playing is heard so intense that even the musical notes in the bar sheets then start to show the musical notes burning up and melting which is a pretty cool effect probably by Ace Gamer. The finale then arrives as the penguins are just playing like crazy to the songs that they play as they are using an awful lot of energy. The music then finishes as the audience applaud for their performance. The penguins then walk over to the audience with the final line of the cartoon, 'If you people out there in the audience think we're gonna keep this up all night. You're screwy! And we DO mean YOU!' The last time '...and I DO mean YOU!' is a reference to a line that columnist and movie critic Jimmy Fiedler used to say.

Overall comments: Despite only a few moments that this cartoon had with some Avery gags -- I have to say that I find Tex's effort here one of his forgettable cartoons. I mean it's just like a musical type cartoon and I'm already through with that but I thought Tex had enough of those pictures but yet he's still making those cartoons? Has it REALLY affected his film making and it just doesn't make too sense to me. I found that this cartoon was a bore most of the time as it also has too many references and I really disliked the double-talking emcee penguin even though he makes a funny reference mentioning Leon Schlesinger and Ray Katz. I didn't find that finale of the cartoon to be very special in fact since it feels like that it was just a bunch of tedious orchestra playing but with a few gags too short but the finale with the final quote was a pretty fun way to end the cartoon as they know they had enough of the music, too.

There were only a few gags that were presented here which I thought were only worth those few fine moments of the cartoon which was the walrus laughing (in Avery's infectious laugh) as well as the walrus playing the cello, also the finale but off the top of my head that would be it for me. The cartoon definitely could've been much better -- even around the crooner penguin sequence where I felt it was just wasted with either little or no gags there which I feel is out of Avery's league since he was the master of cartoon gags - the King of Cartoons. Well anyways, we can't expect every good director to turn out every single cartoon to be outstanding or classified as "good". Even at the end of the day; Avery just didn't make a very good or funny cartoon but hey - nobody's perfect.

197. Porky's Five and Ten (1938)

Warner cartoon no. 196.
Release date: April 16, 1938.
Series: Looney Tunes.
Supervision: Bob Clampett.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig / Radio Announcer).
Animation: Chuck Jones and John Carey.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Porky plans to open five and ten cent sore on a tropic isle but gets delayed by fishes.

First animation credit for animator John Carey.

The cartoon begins as we find a silhouetted scenario of a ship sailing by in the choppy oceans which is what is seen in the background of the cartoon title credits. The newspaper appears in which it then has the front headline as it reads: PORKY TO OPEN 5 & 10 c STORE ON TROPIC ISLE.

After we see the newspaper headline which writes about Porky opening a store abroad in a tropical island - we then find that Porky Pig is in his sailing boat as he is going to sail the seas. As he has every equipment ready for sailing. He then starts to let go of the rope that is attached to the pole in which he sails away as he greets goodbye - I guess to those watching him though we can't see it and he also says goodbye in which he says other ways for a farewell like "too-da-loo...goodbye.., etc". Afterwards we then watch him sail away into the distance as there is a sunset out in the distance (well, the only copy I know of that exists around the internet is the damn colorised version) and they consider that a sunset - and just why would they colourise..leave it as it is.

After about almost two weeks of being sailing out at sea -- there is a montage shot that appears in which we find that Porky Pig has written in the "Ships Log" in which the description reads: 13th day out - and nearing land soon". After he then starts to write that down in a letter - he then immediately quickly writes down:

 I hope
I hope
I hope

What Porky is writing is of course a reference to (and I've said this many times) referencing the Al Pearce Show from the character Elmer Blurt and I knew that something around that period explains the popularity of the show back then with the writers - must've been a huge hit that it's influenced them greatly. In that montage we find that Porky's ship that he is sailing on is travelling up some choppy waves as there are seagulls that also fly past, too. Meanwhile out in the sea we then discover what appears to be a shark's fin circulating around but discover that there is Porky's ship sailing by. The fish then pops up and all I can say is that what the hell is that types of fish? I can't tell whether or not it is meant to be a miniature shark as it doesn't look like a one but it has a shark fin on top? The fish then swims down the depth of the ocean to warm the fish creatures about a ship that is on top of there. All of the other fish critters then start to hear the news as they then start to swim all the way up to the top in which they go near the ship where it looks rather unusual to them in their view.

As they reach to the top of the ship in which they then start to investigate what is it. There is a swordfish at the top who is rather curious as to what is there in which he then starts to saw a part of the ship in which he opens up the door he formed in which a huge amount of items then fall. After the amount of items then fall down - Porky then ends up falling down but they then start to throw him back up inside the ship and close the door.

Okay, but I have to say this but that's JUST impossible for the ship to just stay afloat if still floating and opening the door. If the door opened the ship - the water would suck straight into it since the pressure of being underwater is quite so from my standard - how did that ship not sink even though opening it would've at least filled up the compartments very quickly. All of the other fish creatures then find that belongings that Porky was supposed to take along with him to the five and ten cents store but all of the other fish leave and takes his items. The swordfish then starts to unwind his own horn in which he gives it to the little black fish to parade the ship and stop Porky from probably trying to swim through and collect his stuff. The items then continue to drop lower in which then it starts to form a type of civilisation underwater. What we see then features a lunchbox and pins falling but it turns out that as they land - the lunchbox forms into a snack bar and the pins are formed into bar stools so the fish creatures can have some food to eat. Okay, I can say that it was a pretty clever idea to form the civilisation.

A gramophone then starts to land to the bottom of the ocean in which these seahorses then start to go over to it and they then start to land on the record in which it starts to play music. Other small fishes then start to jump onto seahorses as they are disguising themselves as the horses that you see in a Merry-Go-Round and then you hear the music to The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down.

A gag that then pops up which I find overall an interesting one but one that actually works itself where there is a fish swimming over to a teapot while the theme of the merry-go-round still goes on in which the fish swallows the teapot and in time; the teapot then whistles which is quite a fun gag since it suits the rhythm of the song, it makes it funnier and the fact that teapots do whistle. More gags then start to appear themselves; after the sequence with the merry-go-rounds its completely different music. It's mostly focusing on gags there is a type of fish that appears in which curiously stares at a clock and then swallows it. The fate of the fish from the gag that after swallowing the clock - the pendulum then starts to swing inside in with his legs as he starts moving sideways. As he turns around and walks away; the pendulum at the back makes it look as though he is shaking his booty which is presented in a comical form. Another fish then arrives at the scene just doing an impression of Hugh Herbert's whooping sounds and has a tag labelled "Foo" attached to it which I guess is a reference to one of Herbert's catchphrases.

Meanwhile inside the ship; we find that Porky is at the bottom part of the ship as much of his belongings appeared to have been taken. He then starts to open up the formed door to see what has happened. Porky opens up the door to see what is at the bottom of the ocean but he discovers that the fish guarding the ship squirts water at Porky's face. Funny as it may be shown but how is it still possible for the water to just stay there and not suck up the ship - it really doesn't make sense that I really doesn't make me comfortable.

After the situation with Porky with his first attempt to try and return his items; more gags then follow as we find a fish then spots a radio floating down the ocean in which he then swallows the radio. He starts to walk on as normal (even though we hear radio switching sounds) in the background as it makes a dodgy sound but the fish then realises that a voice is coming from his voice in which there is a news reporter heard coming from the fish as it starts to puzzle him. For a couple of seconds the fish just keeps on turning around to where he hears the voice until he believes he must be imagining things and then walks on taking no notice whatsoever. The news reporter was in fact commenting about the news about some bombings that have been going on but he believes it's only just voices.

After the fish just walks on trying not to take any notice of the voices - he suddenly then starts to feel some booming effects that is going on inside  his stomach even though its only coming from the radio that he swallowed. It even follows on some very funny animation where the fish reacts badly to the sound of gun shots and bomb sounds that the fish starts to move around rather effectively and the animation is very funny. The animation then continues onwards in which the sounds of a bomb falling then causes the fish to swoop and dig to the ground causing a type of explosion.

The animation of the bomb reactive scenes are just incredible and the way it is fluid is amazing. It's definitely looks like Chuck Jones' own drawings which is why it's a safe bet that Chuck was the animator of that fish in that sequence. More bombing reactions then continue in which we hear the sounds of the shotguns being heard the fish then continues to react in which the radio then finally drops out of his mouth. That was a great sequence I thought where it featured satire and also the fluidity of the animation too. I believe that the radio sequence there was a very long scene that Chuck (if he was the animator) would've animated since it lasts almost approx. 47 seconds long which would be roughly maybe two weeks work since Chuck Jones was the best animator out of the Clampett/Katz unit.

After burping the radio out of the fish - the radio then appears to change channel as there is a song  being sung called Happiness Ahead. There are then more items that then start to float down to the ocean again as the clever part (and even cleverly animated, too) where it features more items but they end up forming hotel saloon rooms, curtains in which then the front building ends up being formed as well as brick blocks that read "HOTEL" also gets formed, too as well as the front part. What I think makes it even clever then features these electric eels as they go over to make the finishing touch. The eels then start to form the form in very fancy-looking handwriting to form the name of the hotel which is called Hollywood Hotel which I feel was made in a very decent effect but I imagine this was also difficult to animate, as well. Then the words 'Hollywood' then starts to brighten up like bright lights. More finishing touches are then made when two fishes then approach as they then add a torches to create a spotlight.

During that sequence after the formation of the hotel in which we then find two flounders swimming along. Suddenly then there are derby hats that then go on top of their heads but as they turn around they are a resemblance to Laurel and Hardy. That should even be worth a chuckle as it's caricaturing on what they would look like being flounders as they swim inside the hotel.

 Another fish then walks into the scene who is a caricature of Greta Garbo as she walks on with a Garbo face pulled on. There are then a pair of boots that then fly down to the surface in which she steps into the shoes and walks on them which look like a giant size but that's how Garbo was stereotyped as. The fish then speaks in  Garbo voice, 'I want to be alone' which is one of her famous catchphrases and in reality was alone.

Another caricatured celebrity that then appears afterwards -- well, first it begins with a fish who finds a pair of lightbulbs together but swallows it and then forms into Mae West who was Hollywood's sex appeal. She then walks over at the stadium where she is going to watch the boxing but then she comments in that Mae West voice, 'Come up and see me sometime'. Inside the stadium we then find that there are a pair of fish standing on a typewriter which is the arena as they are boxing. We then start to view closer in which we then find that they are boxing on the typewriters and there is a piece of paper on top as it's being typed with what they are writing. They then start to sit down after some boxing as they want to catch their breath before they then continue their fight. The animated typewriter then forms the words that are being written whilst fighting which is actually a part of the commentator: He's up, he's down!

The fighting then continues after we see in close-up to the gag as they are typing but after forming the commentaries which may be quite cool but they sure know where they appear to be fighting if they are forming the words and liners very correctly and spelling it perfectly which would be very complicating to probably even think about or to do. Afterwards the dark fish then gets knocked out as the other fish is the winner.

After the boxing match and a view of the sea in the sequences - we then return back to the boat as we find that Porky Pig is in dire need of getting his stuff returned and back into the ship. Porky has already got a fishing hook and he places a worm in the silk where he is trying to fish the fish guard who guards the ship. Porky then drops the hook into the water and he waits where the fish is sitting on the hook. As the fish is still guarding - he then starts to turn his attention on the worm as though it's a treat for him to eat and also a part of the bait. The funny part is that the fish even fails so in which he tries to capture the worm by grabbing out his own fishing rod so the worm would bite to it and the fish has had his feast. At first the fish appears to struggle to eat up the worm which shows some weight in the animation but then eats it. Well that certainly didn't work for Porky's plan since the fish already HAD his own fishing rod but it makes the situation even funnier.

After the sequence with Porky's second known attempt to have failed - we then view back down to the hotel saloon room as we find that there are a couple of fishes in there that are giggling whilst having their drinks. After enjoying some drinks and even getting drunk - the show them starts to begin as the spotlight features at the curtains and the curtains then begin to open.

After the curtains then open; we then spot on what we think appears to be these lovely lady legs that even capture the interest of the legs. It then turns out that the legs where it is coming from is coming from an Octopus dancers which is also a very clever idea for a dance show, too since octopuses have eight legs - (hence the "octo" - Latin for 8). The Octopus animation was reused again a few years later in Porky's Poor Fish. While the octopus is performing a dance - Mae West then arrives at the scene and offers an old fish (but it looks like a walrus) to dance around. During these dance sequences; we then view to the same fish we saw earlier who had swallowed the clock who starts to dance as the legs part where it looks like a pendulum then swings sideways numerously. Meanwhile back at the ship where the fish is on guard -- he then knocks on the door at the back. Whilst guarding there appears to be a whale that then arrives at the scene to try and cause a prank towards Porky.

Porky then starts to answer the knocking as he responds to that, 'Who's there' it turns out that the whale then starts to squirt water out of Porky in which the blowhole squirts Porky in the air. Afterwards Porky then starts to thud to the ground again. The worst then starts to come to Porky since not only is his stuff all the way at the bottom of the sea but it turns out that there is a water spout (like a cyclone but not on land) which is hitting its way to Porky and Porky is now in double trouble as he would very well be shipwrecked.

During Porky's incoming cyclone that is heading its way -- the hotel is still going on quite fine as there is dancing from the fishes going on - just like what you would normally see in hotels or ballrooms. The radio then starts to report the news as some bad news is about to occur: Ladies and gentleman! We interrupt the program momentarily for a important news bulletin. Flash! A giant water spout has been cited in the (whatever island he is naming)...' but it is bad news for the fish since they hear the news since the water spout is on their way. The fishes don't take particular notice as they just carry on dancing anyway but the radio announcer even knows what they are doing (which also makes it even funnier) in which he shouts 'Well come on you guys, scram!' They then start to scram out of the scene making a complete dash knowing their fate and at least knowing it would be serious (but not for them since they're underwater).

 As they are swimming away underwater; the cue song heard in this action sequence is Nagasaki which appears to be quite popular when in action scenes of the 1930s. A clever looking gag then appears where the fish then starts to swim inside these clams but then the clams then start hide in each bigger clam which makes it rather humorous. A fish then pops out the sign that reads 'Do Not Disturb'. The fishes then start to dash into a bucket that is full of sardines as they hide inside it. One of the fishes then starts to step out of the sardines dish and prays for being spared until jumping back in.

The water spout then appears at the spot as Porky's ship then gets caught in the cyclone in which he spins around continuously and also the objects from underwater (where the spout is under there) even start to spin around. For a couple of seconds - the objects that were flying around completely until the water spout completely stops. After it stops; all of Porky's objects then start to fly back into his ship. After his valuables for his five and ten cents store - he sails to the distance. The fish guard then looks back spitting water but Porky's boat returns and Porky squirts him with a water tank as part of his vengeance. This results in the black fish crying like a baby.

Overall comments: The parts that interest me about this cartoon and from what Clampett was doing was that he's made Porky play a much minor role in this cartoon. Porky's been a minor character before in some of the cartoons - (particularly in the Beans cartoons where he would make cameo appearances) but later on Bob Clampett would in fact later get bored of making Porky cartoons where sometimes he doesn't appear no longer than 30 seconds in a whole 6 minute cartoon. Porky's role in this cartoon was very minor since it just focused on Porky's objects being stolen by a fish and we see what is going on under there. It may sound very interesting but the gags that have been developed under there have been cleverly thought of and I think Clampett was just experimenting with some ideas of his own (other than a Porky cartoon) but having to add Porky into it since he was only allowed to make those cartoons.

The radio sequence I thought was very well animated and even a well-developed gag that is just great itself. There weren't too much references other than celebrity references but they were huge for its time and everyone knew the stars even though they may be still known today which makes the cartoon entertaining to watch too. When I first watched the cartoon I thought that it was a total bore but with these colorizations but I guess when just watching one cartoon - I really am too relaxed but when I watch them again I get more into detail and I realise that this cartoon even works well itself. What really bugs me and I will still be bugged by it no matter what people say is how did his boat not get sunk when he opens ups the door at the bottom when he could've ben crushed by the sea uncontrollably coming in? Still doesn't make sense and it will continue not to. I feel that the title for the cartoon should've been given a different name since we don't even see him running a five and ten cent store as it mostly relates to him having troubles with fishes and should be called something like 'Porky's Fish Trouble' or something like that.

Caricaturing Ken Harris

We all know about how notorious Ken Harris is as he was Chuck Jones' top animator and is probably one of the greatest animators of all time. He could turn in a huge amount of footage in a week and go off to do his activities and produce very good quality with that amount of footage. It's a very amazing skill for an animator to do that. Not only was he a very keen sportsman, car enthusiast and also a very good animator -- what probably hasn't been discussed too much but has been acknowledged before is that Ken Harris is also the man who has been used a lot for caricatures in the Warner Bros. cartoons.

Yes; as we have seen caricatures of the other staff before in many cartoons like how about the time when we saw Michael Maltese and Ted Pierce who were cartoon characters of their own chasing after Bugs Bunny in Wackiki Wabbit -- or even when we saw Leon Schlesinger and Henry Binder appear briefly -- or most of the Schlesinger staff as Gremlins in Russian Rhapsody. Sometimes even there were caricatures that weren't known about when we know that non-Schlesinger animator Ward Kimball (Disney appeared) appeared to be even famous enough at Warners to be designed as the Indian in Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt. Lastly, even in Yosemite Sam's first appearance in Hare Trigger - the wart on Sam's nose was a much bigger caricature on Friz Freleng as he WAS Yosemite Sam. Although out of these caricatures that we have seen in cartoons where they have appeared a few times - it appears to me as though Ken Harris is the butt of most of these caricatures we see in cartoons as he has been over the years and I'm going to look into it and see why.

One of the earliest use of caricatures of Ken Harris here is seen available in Chuck Jones' classic The Dover Boys. Around that time Chuck Jones was in fact experimenting with the look of the backgrounds and experimenting with animation as it is one of the earliest known cartoons in this era to be stylised or a use of limited animation. The character designs showed little caricature on them even though they may look a little bland but Ken Harris caricatured as Dan Blackside here just the perfect caricature for him there.

Ken Harris is caricatured as the villain as it feels the right touch as it's the only villain or character to probably have caricature - since the other character designs don't have too much characteristic looks. The long pointy nose is obviously a very distinctive look on one of Ken's facial parts as well as his moustache and the swayed black hair. What is rather interesting here in this cartoon is that could there be a reference to Ken Harris' personality with his love for cars as Dan Backslide finds a parked motor car and remarks, 'A runabout. I'll steal it! No-one will ever know!' - although that could be anything but I doubt personally that Ken would really going around stealing cars but I guess it could be a joke since maybe his love for cars is parodied as it's sort of could be a studio joke in this cartoon.

In the Chuck Jones cartoon Chow Hound -- we see that Ken Harris is also references again but in fact it's only really an in-joke in one of the classified ads. Also referenced in the ads is Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan and Chuck Jones themselves but there is also a bit more there. Ken Harris is portrayed as the old man who is in his pyjamas but he calls his cat Timothy. In the ads where the man who has believed to have lost his cat - 'Timothy' is identified as an in-joke as K. Harris as it's referencing Ken Harris.

The address if in fact his actual address at the time: 587 Dripple Drive which his what Greg Duffell told me about. Lloyd Vaughan who is identified as the man who calls the cat 'Butch' has the address for 12 Termite Terrace - which is another in joke to the back-then studio lot where Avery reined it in the 1930s called "Termite Terrace" but that wasn't Lloyd's real address - really.

Of course - we see him so far being caricatured mostly in the Jones cartoons as he has been a main associate to Chuck Jones in his animation career -- that doesn't stop the other directors to have some fun and use him for caricatures. Director Bob McKimson even used Ken Harris as a caricature in his 1953 cartoon There Auto Be a Law.

Because of Harris' love for cars and according to Greg he used to be a stock car racer -- he said that Ken used to be a stock car racer in the early 30s and was famous, even according to Bob Givens. Here in the McKimson cartoon where it focuses on a lot of spot-gags on stock car racing or automobiles -- it seems reasonable there to feature Ken Harris since he was notorious around the studio for his love for it. Ken actually owned 120 cars in his lifetime which is incredible. The caricature is a very caricatured-looking deign of Ken Harris and I have to say - it probably is the funniest of the ones that I've seen in examples of before. Here Ken Harris is a stock car racer. The gag in that cartoon where it features Harris shows him as one of the stock car drivers driving very fast...and he hears something behind him. You see it's an old Model T, and the driver is whipping it like a horse and beating Ken Harris which would've been a funny reference there.

The last Ken Harris caricature that I am going to speak about in fact is one that was probably well-known at the time but I don't think that very many people actually know about this and probably has been rarely discussed. In fact; Wile E. Coyote is in fact a main caricature of Ken Harris. In the first Wile E. and Road Runner cartoon Fast and Furry-ous.

In that first cartoon; what makes the Coyote look very caricatured to Ken Harris is the small eyes on him, the big furry eyebrows, the thin physique and even the bumps on his nose. This is what Greg told me as he knows Ken Harris very well and would even know about this that not many people actually know. I'd say that Ken Harris' caricature of the Coyote would even go on to be very famous since Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner would be very famous around the world and Harris' caricature would live on and delight the audience; though not many people actually know that - even animation fans and it hasn't really been acknowledged much. I find that the caricature of Wile E. in Fast and Furry-ous to be very fascinating since I love the little bits of detail on him but in the scene (which I provided a screen shot from my Golden Collection set) - the Coyote walking up and down the road pondering on how to catch the Road Runner probably features all the distinctive looks of Harris into the Coyote - while the other model sheets were a bit more on model. I think that the shot I pictured was even Ken Harris' animation but I'm not too sure.

That's all I will post for now but I hope that I have enjoyed what I have posted here and learnt something from these Ken Harris caricatures and the information I have provided as well as theory and analysis. Sorry for no cartoon review to be posted today; I was busy and out all day with a friend and I didn't feel all up for a cartoon review so I decided to post something which I thought was a matter of interest to me.

196. A Star is Hatched (1938)

Title card courtesy of Dave Mackey.

Warner cartoon no. 195.
Release date: April 2, 1938.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Director Yelling 'Cut'), Ted Pierce (W.C. Fields/J. Megga Phone/Movie Guide\Hick) and Berneice Hansell (Baby Chick).
Story: Ted Pierce.
Animation: Bob McKimson.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Emily the rooster aspires to be a Hollywood as she travels all the way to do so.

The last cartoon that Friz Freleng is credited under the name 'Supervision' until he then leaves the Schlesinger studio to go over to MGM for about a year and a half working on mostly Captain and the Kids shorts before he returned to Schlesinger in 1940 and continued his famous career at Warner Bros. there from them on and became the better director he was.

The cartoon begins as we view a sign where the location of the place is called Hickville. Yes, we've seen that town before in some 1936 Friz Freleng cartoons but it's really a parody of the town 'Hicksville' which is in New York. The sign reads: 2000 Miles to HOLLYWOOD - 200Y TO HICKVILLE GAS STATION. After we view the sign we then pan towards a the Hickville Gas Station where it is seen about 200 yards away from the sign as shown.

There is then a sign that is read at the Gas Station which reads the following: Hicksville Gas Station - Police Station - Fire Station - Justice of the Peace - Plumbing Supplies and it lists that there are several parts of what the station provides - I guess. The music here you can hear in the backgrounds is a recognisable tune and also a Stalling cue which is the theme to Arkansas Traveler. We then start to view inside the gas station as we are to discover that somebody also lives in that gas station as well. Why? I guess that somebody who owns the gas station lives upstairs in it. Upstairs in the gas station we find that there is a bedroom which is full of celebrities pictures and posters. A lot of the pictures that is displayed up there are actual photographs of some celebrities here which I believe was shortened to be placed into the backgrounds. Anybody recognise any of the stars in the posters displayed in the bedroom?

After a look through the bedroom where the pictures are covered with celebrities -- it turns out that there is a rooster girl who wears a bluebonnet sitting on her stomach reading a magazine called 'Movie Stars' as she is obsessed with film stars and desires to become one. She then steps out of the bed as she then starts to become an impersonation of Katherine Hepburn, "Rarely I know someday, somehow, I too, shall be a great actress. Oh, I don't know I will. Rarely I do'.

She walks over to the window of her bedroom as she continues, '...And great men will be at my feet  and kiss my hand'. She then starts to perform an impersonation of Juliet from the Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet (and I play that everyone loves but I hate). She starts to quote a line from the balcony scene, 'Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore art thou Romeo?' As she is still acting pretending to be Juliet; her acting and passion for being a film star is interrupted when she hears the sound of knocking coming from her door. The knocking is then played in rhythm to Shave and a Haircut which is probably the most over-used 7-beat rhythm ever used. The rooster girl then walks over to the door to open it in which she then finds that it is a hick who has brought her some flowers. 'Hello Emily, I brought you some posies' he then starts to laugh like Elmer Blurt from the Al Pearce Show. The hick in this cartoon would also be voiced by Ted Pierce. And we also know that the rooster girl is called Emily and that was her name also recycled (as well as design) from the 1936 Friz cartoon Let It Be Me - in fact this whole cartoon is a remake of that short.

After the Hick then starts to laugh like Elmer Burt from the radio show - Emily then starts to impersonate Greta Garbo by rejecting him (which shows she has a real love for movie stars that she pretends to be one). She impersonates him as she puts on the deep Garbo voice and moody look on the face as she replies, 'Please go away - I want to be alone'. The voice actress for that part sounds like some middle-aged woman trying her real best to put on a Garbo voice.

She then starts to hear the sound of a car honking that is parked for more gas at the gas station. It turns out that as she looks out the window - the template reads that it appears to be from Hollywood, California. I don't think the numbers on the template is referencing anything. She then dashes out of the house to meet with the guy who has a car from Hollywood and leaving the hick standing outside her bedroom. She then steps outside the gas station as she meets with what looks like a Hollywood mogul. He then greets her as she steps outside the station, "Good morning, gorgeous" in which she is flattered by his comments. There is a sign that this read in his own car that identifies himself - he's even got money and fame to have his own identity card where his information is revealed: J. Megga Phone - Director - Super Super Colossal Pictures Corp. - Hollywood, Calif. She then reads the information that is seen in the car in which she then looks at him with admiration and recognition. That is Ted Pierce doing this voice as he's impersonating Cary Grant as it appears.

Emily: Are you the great director, Meggaphone?
Meggaphone: Sssh. I'm travelling incognito.
Emily: Oooh, isn't it wonderful? I always wanted to go to Hollywood.

As she has questioned him about him being the great director; basically what he is saying is he's trying to keep himself a low profile so he won't be too recognised - Hence the three different striped glasses he's wearing. She then speaks about the talent that she long desires of being in Hollywood rather living in Hickville. He then starts to take a look at her physique in which he views (in a point of view shot) from the shoes to the top of the head as he really likes the figure he is seeing. That type of shot is of course the same layout and even idea from 'Let it Be Me'. Meggaphone then starts to hand over her a card where it has flashing lights over his name, 'If you ever want to get in pictures. Hook me up'. It's even written down at the back of the card in which he directly quotes what's written (unless that is exactly what he would say to any chick that he fancies). After she then receives the card to go to Hollywood and get his address -- she then rushes back into the station to collect all of her belongings in which the hick is also there still standing carrying the posies still in his hand. She then rushes in as she grabs out two suitcases of her clothes (already placed in a chest of draws) which is a fun idea for a gag to store your suitcases. After the dashing scenes she then exits the house and the poor Hick then finds that his posies die out as he's heartbroken. It feels like as though those quick dash scenes were an influence from Frank Tashlin's timing, but not quite.

In the next sequence we find that there is a lot of montage shots that are being shown here particularly of Emily's legs only seen as she is carrying her suitcase (didn't she not have two?) and she walks along with the theme in the background California, Here I Come.

In these montage shots we find her walking with her suitcase time-to-time but also hitchhiking. The more she then keeps on travelling, and in the next montage shot it turns out she has travelled 400 miles and has 2000 miles left. The montage shots are almost over as she walks and it turns out that she is walking much more slower - and even when the sign reads that she is 800 miles away from being at Hollywood which is more than half way but still a long way to travel. After travelling an awful long way from Hickville; Emily has finally made it over. The words 'Hollywood' come screaming out to the screen and we see a nice view of Hollywood in the distance with beam lights shooting out. Hey, notice that the background shot of the look of Hollywood was used later on as the title card for Tex Avery's cartoon Daffy Duck in Hollywood which was released later on in the year. Then there is a street sign that is being shown in which there is an off-screen band that appears to be singing Hooray for Hollywood. The street sign then points to different directions of the streets as one of them reads Vine Street facing the over way and the other facing to Hollywood Boulevard.

During the Hollywood sequence and the song we find several celebrities walking past that have been caricatured. That includes Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Greta Garbo walking past the streets although they don't interact with one another.

We then find Johnny Barrymore who is walking down the street in which he is known as the 'Great Profile' at the time and that is what it is referenced here. The animation for that is reused animation from The CooCoo Nut Grove. We then find another celebrity that is featured as a paperboy and its none other than British child actor Freddie Bartholomew in which he is trying to get a crowd to read his newspapers in a British accent. Then there is a trolley being ridden in Hollywood and the conductor of it is Clark Gable as he rings the bell. W.C. Fields is standing as a police officer in which we think that we see his usual trademark red nose but it then turns green as he wiggles his finger towards the people crossing the road. That is a very funny as it's referencing the red colour of his nose and it turns green like a traffic light). Of course that is also Ted Pierce who knows how to put on a WC Fields voice quite well.

After we get a view of the celebrities we then start to view the Chinese Theatre which is a very famous theatre in Hollywood. We see that the front part features the main movie that is being shown in the theatres is Prince and His Papa which is a reference to the story The Prince and the Pauper and also it was a film of the same name that came out in 1937 and stared Errol Flynn. Also featured in the cinema is: 15 Features - 15 Shorts - News - ETC. 

At the bottom of the Chinese Theatre features the names of celebrities handprints and their writing but it mostly just features pointless pun names for them like: Errol Glynn being 'Errol Flynn' and Bette Savis being 'Bette Davis', etc. but once to get to Greta Garbo's own cement she has her foot printed, and she has been caricatured for having enormous feet that it's even bigger than the cement block which would've appealed to an audience back then who would've known about that. After we view the Chinese theatre we then view to a tour guide that is going around the celebrities as there are some tourists who keep on turning around and there are a view of the houses. I like the timing of how they turn their heads around looking at the houses as though awed when seeing celebrity houses. The first house is labelled Home of the Thin Man which is referencing Dick Powell. The Semoan house is referencing to actress Simone Simon who is famous for being an actress and also for having both (forename and surname) that sound and are spelt similar.

We then start to view to a home in which it reads, 'Home of Tarzan' as we pan up to the sky to find that Tarzan and Olympic fame Johnny Weissmuller is sitting on top of a branch on his easy chair reading a newspaper. As we start to view more of the houses; we discover that the houses that they are looking at are made from cardboard as though they're from studio settings which makes it funny since the tour guide would be a crooked scheme to scam people's money. I'm starting to find that the whole point of this sequence to be rather pointless for this cartoon because we have completely gone off the plot in this cartoon. I mean where's Emily? and why aren't we focusing on her in this story as instead we're just looking at the gag side of Hollywood. It might as well be a different production like a travelogue parody on Hollywood (looks like we need Tex to do that) but instead it is crammed into here which is probably why the cartoon lasts 8 minutes and I feel that is slowing the cartoon down.

After the sequence with the random sequences of Hollywood - we finally then focus back onto the plot with Emily as she has arrived at the Colossal studio where she is to meet her new agent to help make her become an actress. As she steps into the studio; there are feathers flying out of the scene in which she is booted outside the studio entrance with no access or admission.

Emily then walks over to the Studio stage in which she finds that there is a door to enter the Studio. There is a door in which it reads; "Do Not Enter when Red Light is on". There is a red light seen but it turns out that "red light" is in fact the nose of W.C. Fields who turns up again (and he appears to be at different settings at different times - at first he was a traffic police). He then opens the door and says a farewell to Charlie Chaplin walking out in his characteristic character walk. He remarks to him, 'Don't let the termites get you'. She realises that she is at the wrong location in which she then finds another building at the studio where she could meet her agent. It turns out that inside the casting office are a group of people in there that are fishing inside which explains the pun in the door that reads "casting office".

After the iris out, we start to pan through a sound stage but then there is a dressing room with a funny shaped door but it turns out that Mae West is in there. She steps out of the dressing room (and is able to fit through that door) in which she steps out. The next individual dressing room that appears is for Charlie Chaplin as he also steps out at the oddly-shaped door so that his clown feet can waddle out.

We then start to notice that inside one of the studio sets is Megga Phone as he is on the set and walks down. There appears to be a type of duck servant that then turns up in which the duck then places the director's chair for him to sit down on. There is then a PAN through the chairs in which we view the 1st assistant director, followed by a 2nd, 3rd....and then up to a 6th assistant director. I guess that this is a joke concerning that some films have too many assistant directors.

He is sitting down watching the film as he is starting to make some changes with how the camera will be shot, "I think I better make this a close-up. Don't you think so, boys?" All of the other assistant directors that are sitting down then nod with agreement to Megga Phone as they respond to that, "Oh yeeeeaah!" There must've been a craze at the studio over the Ken Murray Show which is why it's shown here. The 15th assistant director then starts to hiss disagreeing in which the director then starts to whack him with a mallet. The fact that they have a 15th assistant director is particularly funny. The director then starts to give a shout out for the whole set to be quiet as they are going to recording some footage for their scene. Each assistant director then start to PAN down as one-by-one they start to shout, 'QUIET!' As soon as they keep on shouting quiet, the traffic lights from the traffic then change to 'Quiet' in which the entire traffic then start to become quiet. The director then continues the orders as he responses, 'Turn them over'. The production is called 'Broadway Broadcast' as it stars Dick Fowl as it shows on the film board.

The film then starts rolling as it turns out that Dick Fowl (Dick Powell here) as he is wearing an army's suit in which he is singing the song: All's Fair in Love and War but the director sitting down watching the scene isn't entirely convinced as to what is happening. As he marches like a soldier; he then zips out of the scene as he swaps into sailor uniform as he sings the song Don't Give Up the Ship. After singing his part as a sailor, he's now in navy uniform singing Anchors Aweigh.

There then appears to be these soldiers as ladies as they have formed into a very neat shape where they marching to the song. Afterwards he then starts to stretch his entire mouth to the entire audience in which that appears in close-up (the close up of that isn't very appealing I have to say). The director then decides to cut the film as he shouts out that word. I wonder who the singer of Dick Fowl would be but I guess it could be Cliff Narazzo again as it sounds like the singing voice that he has done when impersonating Eddie Cantor before.

After another sequence that was also completely off the story; we then start to discover that Emily has entered the plot again - as I assumed that she gets lost from it quite often. She then opens the door as she has entered the right office for where to find him. She turns around to look but she turns in a shock as we then find out that there are other chicks that he's also hooked up for.

She then looks over to see what they have also got in which it turns out the other chicks have had the exact same card from him as it turns out that she is not the only one that has been asked or seem with that has talent. He then starts to enter the room as he is holding onto a cigar in which all of the other ladies/chicks then start to walk over to him as they are carrying the same letter and he's just walking through them playing it cool. Emily then tries to walk over to the director Megga Phone but he is just ignoring the other chicks that he's been trying to get into which is pictures but in reality doesn't particularly care for their passion or interest. After slamming the door towards Emily she then starts to break down, "Oh dear. This is so embarrassing!" in which she then starts to cover her face sobbing to herself.

After the whole situation and the Hollywood trip is over for Emily she then returns 2000 miles all the way back to Hickville in which she is now through with being a Hollywood actress and fame. She then starts to prefer to live a life with the hick who was there earlier on in the cartoon trying to win her love to him. It turns out that he has managed so in the end as they are now a couple already with baby chicks.

As they already have quite a lot of chicks at home, it turns out that one of their own daughters already aspires of becoming a film access. Emily the mother hears of her dreams and doesn't want her to end up like she did; she then slaps the chick across the face so she learns not to do that. Of course that whole ending is also a rip-off of Let It Be Me.

Overall comments: I find that this cartoon (and even being Friz's last cartoon for WB before going off to MGM) is that this cartoon was basically a rip-off of his own production he made two years earlier - Let It Be Me. It's hard for me to say which cartoon I find better but if I think very deeply I'd have to say I much prefer Let It Be Me. The problem I have with this cartoon is that the story there - even though it's the exact same concept and storyline but so much of it really slows the cartoon down or not even relevant that it doesn't feel as though it belongs in this cartoon - no wonder why the cartoon clocks in at 8 minutes. I guess maybe those sequences were already added in to add more time to the cartoons. Emily is the exact same character from 2 years earlier with the boyfriend as well; so this cartoon is basically a remake. It feels to me that in Friz's last cartoons he made around this time he ended up reusing plot ideas from his older cartoons and remade them as well as gags, too.

Although this may not be a good conclusion, in my opinion, to Friz's brief departure but when you think about it. Friz was a much better cartoon director than he was four years ago when he first started. He started off very poorly much like anyone else and I don't think that Friz started to show a better quality in the cartoons or even make good cartoons until around 1936 when he started to get rid of the idea for these simplistic looking character designs and musical cartoons as he finally started to get more into story. My favourite cartoons that I think he made in this era so far was The CooCoo Nut Grove and Pigs Is Pigs. I feel his strongest year was 1937 where I enjoyed much of his cartoons from that era. His last three or four cartoons deteoriated a bit but I think because maybe they were finished off by someone else when he left for MGM, but when he returns again in 1940 - he is a much better director than he was. Funny how that after Freleng left for MGM and whilst he was gone - the studio appeared to be doing fine without him but by 1939 the outputs for those cartoons were just weak! Frank Tashlin left and Chuck Jones joined the crew (making slow-paced cartoons) and the rest were just making average cartoons and they needed Freleng to return but I think when Friz returned - it made a much better difference.