Public Domain Toons on VHS

Hello there; I've decided that to gone up with an idea that instead of JUST having blog posts of me reviewing old cartoons; I've decided to talk about other WB merchandise from the later era and talk about what may be an interest to you - like me scheduling short posts on them during the week.

A while ago I've been thinking a lot about the Warner Bros. cartoons and learning about which Warner cartoons are in the public domain. As I've found the list that informs us which cartoons are available to the public. I then realized that all of the cartoons that I used to have on VHS have fallen into the public domain. I recalled an old Looney Tunes VHS set in which I looked at my old cupboard of old video tapes; and I found the cover. So; I hope this VHS set is rare enough for you and take a look at my copy of the cover. 

 

Yep - this is the first volume of Over One Hour of Cartoons. For those who were old enough to remember that; many people had these tapes back in the 1980s and this tape actually belonged to my Dad who bought this back in Hong Kong when he used to live there for work in the '80s. The copyright year is 1987 which is ironic for me because I know that the year '87 was the year of the Great Storm of 1987 in the South East of England - but THAT'S a different story.

On the cover you'll find Bugs and Daffy there; and you'd probably think "Oh; Bugs and Daffy - I imagine that they've got some 1950s classic cartoons" for us. Well; since the video company could only get access to those in the public domains. The cartoons on the VHS cover are no later than 1943. The most ironic part is that THIS box set is the WRONG one for the VHS tape I used to own. The tape had different WB public domain cartoons from what is mentioned at the back with the episode features. The back lists some classics like Falling Hare, The Wabbit Who Came to Supper, The Wacky Wabbit, etc. as well as one-shot cartoons made in the 1930s. My VHS tape had different cartoons.

Unfortunately I have no idea of the whereabouts of the VHS tape (or I just haven't dug deeper enough), but I do recall the cartoons that were there off by heart as I revisited them years later. The cartoons that I remember on that tape were:

• Fresh Hare
• To Duck or Not to Duck
• Daffy the Commando
• Case of the Missing Hare
• All This and Rabbit Stew (Censored 11)
• Foney Fables
• Bars and Stripes Forever
• Boy Meets Dog! (Lantz)
• Rookie Revue

...and that's about it.  You may be stumped about why there was one Walter Lantz cartoon in there - but this set was called "One Hour of Cartoons" even though it has Looney Tunes all over - it does feature other studios if I recall. Watch the top of the episode features on my VHS back cover; "The Lone Star State" is listed there which is a Screen Songs cartoon made by Famous Studios. All This and Rabbit Stew is of course a Censored 11 - and it was vowed that they wouldn't be shown in public merchandise like DVD, VHS, etc. but here it is shown on my tape.

What I remember the most was that in the cartoons I saw - it didn't have the rings logo for the "Looney Tunes" or "Merrie Melodies" it just went straight on to the title card with the theme music played in the background - as though the title card was just frozen before going on film - it was featured on most cartoons. I recall that when a short finished; the "That's All, Folks" slogan wasn't included - just a blank card with "The End" titles showing. Was this to avoid copyright or something from Warner Bros. or something? I don't quite understand.

Notice the sticker on my back part of the box set that reads in small letters Recorded at Standard Speed - Quality Guaranteed. Well - this was in very low quality as the colors in those cartoons were mostly reddened and completely unrestored which would be disappointing today compared to quality standards these days - but remember this tape is dated back in 1987 where shorts hadn't been restored for DVD sales back then.

I stumbled upon a tape at my boarding school (but I remember this YEARS ago - probably back to late 2005) and there was an old video tape that showed Daffy Duck cartoons.

Courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Here is a British VHS front cover (from the 1980s) that was titled "The Daffy Duck Show" - although the illustrations at the front look terrible - Daffy's beak looks like a Woodpecker. Now; the tape at my school is most likely to be lost now but I do recall watching it when no-one else was around when I was 9 years old. The cartoons showed Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur, Yankee Doodle Daffy, Daffy - the Commando and To Duck...Or Not to Duck - all in the public domain. It was funny since I recalled watching "Commando" and "To Duck..." on my tape and I still wondered why they showed it until I learnt about the public domain system a few years later. The VHS copy isn't mine - I got it off Amazon.

I'm not writing this post as though I have a grudge on public domain cartoons (even though they showed great cartoons but in poor quality). I'm writing this which brings back my memories when I first grew up with the Looney Tunes and watching them the first time in this condition. Of course; some might say your first WB cartoon you saw would be on Boomerang, or Cartoon Network watching classics like "Duck Amuck" or "One Froggy Evening", but I just happened to have seen the first of these cartoons before 1943 and in the public domain as I've grown up to like them. This was before I got to watch them on TV and discovered even more characters like Yosemite Sam, Sylvester & Tweety or even Road Runner - since I saw at the start were just Schlesinger cartoons - I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all but I just thought I'd tell you that I didn't grow up with the famous Looney Tunes we ALL know until a little later. I was pleased to see the same cartoons I grew to love in better conditions by the great Warner Bros. restoration team. At the time I didn't know what were the greatest Looney Tunes cartoons and I didn't care much; I watched what I liked and I grew to like them. The spark of watching those cartoons is still there as I still like them - even though some of those cartoons may only have a "few moments".

I could go on so long about this post discussing this - but I might talk a bit more about those cartoons in public domain conditions soon; and compare them to the restored version. Hope you've enjoyed.

127. Page Miss Glory (1936)

Warner cartoon no. 126.
Release date: March 7, 1936.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Tex Avery (uncredited).
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Tommy Bond (Abner), Bernice Hansen (Miss Glory), The Varsity Three (Singers).
Art Direction: Leodora Congdon.
Words and Music: Harry Warren and Al Dubin.
Animators: No animator credit. Avery's team (Clampett, Jones, Sutherland, Ross) would've done animation.
Musical Score: No musical score credit. Probably Norman Spencer
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

This is a pretty important 1936 cartoon in Warner Bros. as it's broken into new techniques. For example; this is probably the first WB cartoon to even use stylized art direction for the dream sequence which was sort of groundbreaking. The first WB cartoon to approach a different style. Those Were Wonderful Days was an attempt to stylized black and white animation but that was a BIG fail.

Leodora Congdon is the only credited member of the "crew" even though she was invited by Leon Schlesinger. Leon used her for this cartoon and gave her credit to help boost her career but unfortunately it failed. According to Tex Avery; Leon Schlesinger apparently dated Leodora Congdon - maybe that's why she got the credit.

This is also the first Merrie Melodies cartoon to be directed by Tex Avery; and the first Merrie Melody to be directed by someone else other than Freleng since 1934.

 Our cartoon begins with a group of volunteers in the town of Hicksville. Everyone is setting up display for the arrival of "Miss Glory" who we don't know yet in this cartoon. As you can see the cartoon starts off like a regular Tex Avery 1936 cartoon with the simplistic character designs, animation and backgrounds. Nothing really special as you can see. The settings appear to be set in mid-19th century America style.

A local hotel manager is standing outside of his hotel as he is holding out some flowers for Miss Glory. We walks inside the hotel in which he places the flowers on his desk. He has a flag by his desk that reads "Welcome Miss Glory". He starts to call for one of his bellboys who works at the hotel, who is an anxious teenage boy named Abner.

 Hotel manager: Hey Abner, get a wiggle on. That Miss Glory girl will be here any minute now. You better get to your practicing.

Mmm; I've never heard of the word "practicing" pronounced that way before. Was that what they used to say back in those days? Abner is freshening up a little to get ready. He is a bellboy as he's trying to use the pose of the bellboy in the poster that reads "Smoke Cigarettes". Of course; cigarettes was a popular use of advertisement back then where EVEN kids were encouraged - it was like as though there was no age limit. Abner; who is a rather unappealing teenager starts to practice by shouting "Call for Miss Glory" as he walks in a pose to show dignity for Miss Glory. I quite like that funny looking walk cycle he does; even though the suit he's wearing makes him look like in terrible shape as he's possible scrawny on the inside. The "Call for Miss Glory" is similar to the advertisement campaign "Call for Philip Morris".

 Abner sits down on a bench waiting patiently for Miss Glory. He runs quickly to the chair he was freshening up and adds some more perfume in order to smell nice. Abner sits down patiently until he thinks that he's hearing the sounds of Miss Glory's car horn arriving but it turns out to be two geese running down the street quacking.

Abner continues to wait patiently until he believes he hears the sounds of engines but instead it's the mooing of cows. Okay; but I do wonder why there are farm animals walking down the street; did the farmer set them free? But this is one of the clever Tex Avery gags that probably has to be animated quite well to make the gags fine; although the animation may not be very realistic. Abner continues to wait until he gets bored of waiting.

Above him is a cuckoo clock in which the cuckoo pops out shouting "Time marches on". One of Avery's use of dialogue in cartoons to tell the story - and I wonder if he used this as though we expected to hear a cuckoo make sounds but then tells us the next part.

Abner is seen sleeping and Miss Glory hasn't even arrived yet. as Abner is sleeping on the bench; The dream sequence fades away from a typical looking Merrie Melody of the 1930s into a very futuristic design by Leadora Congdon where the designs are a huge improvement. It all looks beautiful. There is a great scene that shows the normal hotel the hotel feels slightly different to what we saw earlier; the colours are different). The hotel building gets taller and taller until it is all modernized; with its bright lights and colorful site.

 The hotel has been given a name as it's called Cosmopolitan Hotel as you enter through a revolving door. A long car then parks in which a woman in a red dress steps out to enter the hotel. The long car pulling in would later be used in one of Avery's best efforts for MGM Red Hot Riding Hood.

The hotel manager from the past appears to be a much older hotel manager who is much thinner. Abner is seen in the future still sleeping on the setee (no longer a bench). He certainly looks older. The manager taps the bell and says; "I say, boy. Page Miss Glory" as he gives him the card. A whole crowd of people all crowd towards Abner shouting "Page Miss Glory", "Get her for me", etc.

Abner is walking around carrying the circular box of cigarettes inside shouting "Call for Miss Glory". There is a waiter walking around holding a tray of beer and a glass in which Abner and the waiter walk pass which now shows Abner carrying the bottle and glass. Anoter waiter then repeats the same gag. The small, fat waiter walks past a column with a red nose; but a slow walk - the walk cycle is great. I don't understand the gag that well but the animation surely is beautiful.

 A man with a molecule on his eye then starts to go into songs as more men pop up wearing suits going into song singing the title song Page Miss Glory. As they are still in song; Abner goes into song singing in a very annoying voice "I page Miss Glory".

There is a beautiful layout scene that shows a bartender dropping ice cubes into the drink shots with pretty chime sounds as they drop. Brilliant staging ther and the timing. I really love the backgrounds in there of the green-lined images of drinks. It's a perfect layout scene - in my opinion. Very creative. There are these hands that are shaking with a drink shaker while there in an iris shot of what the people in the cartoon are probably looking at. The person pouring the drink with the shaker then turns into a point of view shot of the human's mouth as he guzzles it down. Wow! That must've been very difficult to animate and I'm not sure where it has been attempted before but I really am impressed with the looks of it. The hiccup gag even adds the finishing touch. Hands are pulling the corks out of the champagne bottles but the last man struggles to open  up the bottle but does so.

 As the men keep on singing; the gag shows that they've had a lot of drinks to continue the song that they already appear to be drunk. The next sequence shows a woman who is in a yellow dress in a sophisticated walk. I can't tell if this is meant to be a man dressed as a drag queen or even an old lady who happens to look like a man.

Abner then starts to walk up to the "lady" and mistakens her/him (?) for Miss Glory. The "lady" then rejects in an attitude as though that's not the person that Abner is looking for. The "lady" in the dress continues to walk but Abner is standing on the dress in which it causes to rip. She gasps; yep - the gasp explains it. I'm going to conclude this to being a woman.

 The woman in the yellow dress then hides behind a plant in which to avoid censorship and public humilation. The next sequence focuses on the old woman again but again she grabs off the giant leafs of the plant to disgusie as a fan dance she's performing.

She spins around as she is doing the dance. As the dance continues; she pops her head from the leaf and laughs like a witch. The fan dance then continues until it's finished. I know that animator ID's are frowned upon but this is sort of guesswork. I do wonder if the fan dance sequence was animated by Virgil Ross. Virgil was the master for dancing scenes in which he was often assigned to; but the timing appears to be slow and delicate like Ross' animation. This is just an estimated guess but I may be wrong.

 Abner applaudes at the fan dance sequence in which there is a rather noisy, fat, rude guest sitting down demanding, "I want service! Service!". Abner asks the waiters for "service" by just saying that one word. The waiters then nod their head for duty. Seconds later a whole group of waiters bring out chunks of food for the guest to have on his table. It sure looks like a real feast. The waiter places a cherry on top of the cake for the final touch until they all rush out of the way.

The fat man then starts to find what he wants to eat until he finds a small olive in which he only chews half of it before leaving the table. I guess the gag was that we expected him to eat so much on that plate but barely even eats an olive. Maybe on a diet or something. The close up of the fat man eating the olive is pretty neat animation.

Abner is walking around in his pose until he hears the announcer from the microphone annoucning; "Attention, everyone. Our celebrated guest, Miss Glory, will appear on the roof garden immediately. Take the elevators to see America's sweetheart Miss Glory". Abner then starts to make a run for the elevator off-screen.

As the announcer mentions the name "Miss Glory" again. A man reading a newspaper sticks his head through it gasping "Miss Glory?!" in excitement. As "Miss Glory" is still announced by the hotel an old crippled man shouts "Miss Glory? Hot diggety dog!". The same reactions come from a couple more people such as a man in a sauna machine, a waiter, and a chef that drops a plate of cake which leaves a hole on the ground but falling down the hole and landing onto the cake. Now that is a funny Avery gag.

The name "Miss Glory" keeps on being used over and over in which a group of men then start to position themselves as though they're in a race line and to run to the elevator. Abner presses a button on the elevator as he tries to step inside but all these group of men block his way as they crowd in. Abner tries to run into the elevator door but crashes as it closes.

Abner tries this in all other different elevators but they all close before he gets there which causes him to be smacked. Every elevator that is shown appears to have a bellboy standing there. Abner then starts to unwind the clock of the elevator until he arrives on the lift in time. The bellboy pulls out a sign reading "Out to Lunch" which is another problem for Abner.

A whole group of men then rush out of the elevator in which they view Miss Glory. They are going into song again as we see a shot of Miss Glory who is very tall, thin and pretty. It is another reprise of the title song.

Meanwhile Abner is still in the lift pressing the buttons to try and get down (although the chime sounds of the buttons go into rhythm). We get a nice shot of the elevator lift going upwards and downwards of a building shot - good timing. The dance scenes of the male singers and Miss Glory is just stunning animation to look at - Leadaro Congdon is a very underrated artist that very few of us have even heard of and it's a real shame her work hasn't been recognized very much; even for her effort in this cartoon.

Abner then makes a stop at a floor on the elevator in which he tries to step out but the doors close too quickly for him to escape. We see more of this appealing animation of the elevator (seen from the building shot as just light on the windows) then shoots out from the sky in which he falls down the very tall building.

It's a very long fall indeed; but somehow he has managed to survive. There is a trolley outside in which there is a trolley driver who is continuously banging the bell for Abner to get out of the way...

...the banging bell sounds turns back into reality of the local hotel manager trying to WAKE up the REAL Abner up. Well; that's the end of the beautiful, inspiring dream sequence. The hotel manager shouts "Wake up Abner, Miss Glory just arrived".

Abner then looks outside in which we see a group of people waiting for Miss Glory that are actually caricatures of Avery's staff. From the left to right it is Virgil Ross, Tex Avery, Bobe Cannon, Bob Clampett, Tubby Millar, Sid Sutherland and Chuck Jones. I wonder why Bob Clampett here is annoyed of Bobe Cannon? Cannon was just an assistant animator back then before getting any animator credit in 1937. Miss Glory's actual car then finally arrives in which Abner makes the scene as he runs for it.

Abner then runs on the spot in which he opens the door to greet Miss Glory. He looks inside to find her but turns around as it turns out that Miss Glory is just a child who hasn't even gone through puberty that licks a lollipop. Hah, that's all the excitement then - she must he the beauty queen of Hicksville then.

Abner: Miss Glory?!?
Miss Glory: That's me big boy (laughs).
(Abner then faints of her looks; which is some funny adult humor in there. Some type of innuendo).
Miss Glory cont'd: Boy do I slay them. Play Don.

I'm not too sure what the "play, Don" part is meant to mean. (Thanks Devon and Steve C. for pointing out it was a Jack Benny reference).

Overall comments: The first cartoon in which it *wasn't* directed by Friz Freleng since 1934; as he mostly turned out very tedious and bad cartoons - before he would improve. Watching Avery's take on this Merry Melody cartoon is SO much better than any of the Freleng cartoons. In fact; so far I'd consider this to be Avery's best entry he's made so far. The art direction is the main highlight of this cartoon; it's really beautiful, so unique, and really forgotten - which it shouldn't be. Leadora Congdon deserves that screen credit for that beautiful display here which was very rare for Schlesinger to give credit to an art director before the credits changed again in 1945. I love the stylized animation that appears in this cartoon. The cartoons before that at WB were so terribly bland with character designs and animation that what was special about it.

This cartoon was something special; the animation looked appealing for the dream sequence (although not so much on the Hicksville scenes). The characters are probably unappealing; but the art direction help sums it up into a great cartoon it turned out to be. There weren't too many gags that Avery has thrown into this cartoon but the gags he's included worked; but the beauty of it is what I think Avery was aiming at - with a really unique design. I like that adult-humor gag at the end where Abner faints at Miss Glory since she's a child and that we all thought she was a grown woman all along. This cartoon deserves to be a triumphant and probably the greatest WB cartoon by that point? The cartoons are just getting better; and this short has already topped it. I hoped you enjoy the review; and I hope you also liked Page Miss Glory. The cartoon is sort of a similar take to a Busby Berkeley sequence.

126. Boom Boom (1936)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

125. The Cat Came Back (1936)

Warner cartoon no. 124.
Release date: February 8, 1936.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Bernice Hansen (Kitten).
Musical Score: Norman Spencer.
Animation: Bob McKimson and Ben Clopton.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

Okay - I'm certain that this is the last 2-strip Technicolor cartoon made by WB until Cinecolor returns in the 1940s'.

 The cartoon begins with a basement access door outside in which we view inside the basement with an off-screen chorus of singers singing the title song The Cat Came Back. A group of kittens are under the basement playing and prancing with each other. Aww - look at the kittens - well; I can never imagine kittens like that since they're always awkward when I go near them.

The mother cat is sitting on her easy rocking chair doing some knitting. She is also watching her kittens play sensibly as they are playing along. So it's a pretty easy life for being a cat family - or is it?

 We PAN into a mouse hole in which there is a mouse family with the mother mouse trying to teach her mice about the dangers of cats. "Now listen children", but speaks to the mice about the dangers of cats via lyrics of The Cat Came Back. Sounds like an educated lesson to me.

Meanwhile the mother cat is also teaching her kittens on how to catch a mouse even having to smack her kitten on the head to "pay attention". Okay; the mother cat has a more annoying voice than the mother mouse. She then starts to encourage one of the kittens to run over and try to attack a mouse that looks more like a punching bag. The mother cat then shouts "Next" in which a black cat runs into the punching bag and hits himself on the head feeling rather weary. Looks like the mother feline is teaching her kits an educated lesson on how to catch a mouse. If you compare the lessons between the cat and mouse - it's basically brain vs. brawl.

Meanwhile the mother mouse is teaching her mice on how to escape from a cat chasing after a mouse by using a broom to demonstrate the cat's claw. The mouse's aim is to run into the mouse-hole for safety (But aren't they already in the mouse-hole - and how come the mouse-hole looks too small for the mother mouse to EVEN fit in? The mother mouse continues to use more examples and demonstrations on how to avoid the cat's claw - also to return to safety on time.

The next sequence we come back to the mother cat who is teaching her kittens to chase after a mouse with a toy mouse to chase after it. There is a black kitten who is asked to go "get it" in which there is a small chase sequence which is hopeless for the kitten. The kitten finally grabs it but gets attacks by the nuts; tools inside the toy mouse.

Meanwhile the mouse mother is then teaching her children about trying to avoid from mouse traps that are set up by cats. It is a type of mousetrap where they go inside the hole but one mouse then runs through the holes successfully picking up the cheese. It seems that the mice children are the most successful out of the kittens.

As the story finally gets going after these repetitive sequences of education sequences on how to survive or catch. A rather bored mouse then leaves the group to walk past the mouse-hole which would be dangerous. The black and white kitten then does the same thing and exits the mouse-hole which appears to be big enough for a cat to get out easily.

Both the kitten and the mouse walk out of their holes in which they both encounter each other by bumping each other until they run back to their bases. They both step out looking at each other curiously as though that they're not enemies.

They are both looking at each eye to eye as though they're trying to top each other with dirty looks. Hang on a minute; WHY the hell is the mouse almost the exact same height at the kitten. MICE ain't even THAT big. What horrible designs through the character's heights - it looks very unrealistic that way. The mother mouse then looks out of the scene in which she screams of the fact that there is a kitten. The mother then grabs the mouse in which she tells off the kitten in a really fast voice. Even when I notice it now the mother mouse looks MUCH taller to be a basement mouse which stumps me. The mother mouse then continues to tell off the cat in which she takes the little mouse back into the mouse-hole. When the mother walks back into the mouse-hole she appears to be in a small enough size to walk in! My god; how did the size of the characters WORK in this cartoon.

The kitten then looks inside the mouse-hole rather curious at what's inside there. As he's already stepped inside we hear off-screen violence going on as though the mother is trying to beat up the kitten to get out of the way. The kitten then slides out of the scene but ends up running to the mother cat as the kitten was kicked in the booty.

The kitten runs up to a concerned mother. The kitten is also talking in an extremely high-pitch voice in which most of us can understand (unless it was heard in slow motion). But we can make out at least what the child is saying as he mentions "he did nothing" and talks out being assaulted by the mother mouse of being kicked in the rear end. The mother hears about the news from her child in which she plans to march on right up to the mother to give her a "talk" by responding "She did?"

The cat then walks up to the mouse-hole. MY GOD! The CAT IS EVEN SMALLER. Why does is ALL CHANGE SIZE! This is REALLY doing my head in. In fact I don't even want to talk about bloody sizes of the characters or even mouse-holes throughout this review until the "overall comments" section. The mother cat tries to give the mother mouse a telling off for hurting her kitten. The mother mouse's reply is a poke in the mother cat's reply by the mouse's fingers.

The mother cat is extremely shocked that the cat had been interacting with another mouse in which she takes him by the hand away from the mouse-hole and back home for a punishment. The kitten is sitting down on some small piece of cardboard box being put into isolation - rather bored. The mouse then approaches the scene whispering to the cat's ears for attention to "come here". The kitten quietly exits the scene.

The mouse and kitten then both rush out of the scene in which the kitten is obviously in trouble but something to stop him from being bored - I suppose. The mouse then starts to turn on a gramophone in which the record player starts to play music that kitten and the mouse are going to dance to. The kitten and mouse are already friends in which they are doing a special type of dance. What is this - Tom and Jerry the Movie? (even though that came out much, much later on in 1992).

Well the cat and the mouse are dancing - and at least it's not watching the same old dancing routine that we've seen in these cartoons. They both continue to dance to the music until the cat falls down the manhole (don't forget this IS the basement you know). Well that was a rotten trick; the cat falling down the basement even though it was no trick but an accident.

The cat then starts to fall down the drain and then ends up in the sewer as it's being washed away. In which a drain sequence begins where a character is in trouble. It seems to me that the WB cartoons had to have these routines (Dance - villain - villain chases girlfriend - danger sequence towards the end) it's highly improbable if that was the only choice of routines for the cartoons but it's just a theory.

The mother cat steps out of the mouse hole in which she screams since she was probably looking for her kitten. She looks down the drain in which she almost faints since her child is in danger and is close to being sucked up by the sewage. The mouse then decides to make a jump for it by jumping down the man hole by risking his life to save the kitten's life. The mother mouse then steps out of the scene with the same reactions as the mother cat. The mother mouse grabs out a plunger to try and suck her child out but that obviously fails. They both continue to wonder around still worrying - ahh; typical mothers.

The kitten is trying his best to swim backwards but can't since the sewage water is strong that he's swimming the wrong way that it's impossible to do so. The mouse is still swimming for it trying to catch up with the kitten to try and rescue him on time. The kitten then encounters a cuckoo clock - probably a house owner got pissed off with the cuckoo all the time ;-). The cuckoo then starts to peck the kitten numerous times.

The mouse then starts to climb aboard a guitar for safety in which the mouse won't be able to be in danger. The mouse then starts to grab out a paddle in which he uses it as a rowing boat - well; I don't see how THAT'S going to get him any faster but wants the kitten to climb aboard safely too.

The cat tries to catch up with the mouse but can't swim any further (even having to dodge past broken equipment and even a baby chair). The cat is then about to make an end at the sewage part but then starts to fall in which he is also at the end but starts to whirl around as he is about to be sucked down the drain.

The mouse then continues to try and take his time saving the kitten but does so in which the kitten is holding onto the mouse's tale (as the mouse is about to reach the surface). The kitten then gets caught up in tangles which would've been a funny gag but very slow paced in which you can't see it very well to understand it. The stick that then sends them to the surface forms into a helicopter (via mouse's tail). They both then land onto the ground safely.

The mother cat and mouse continue to wander around the room still worried about the whereabouts of their children making groaning sounds. Hmm, the groans sounds like as though they're crying on the Wailing Wall. Both the mouse and kitten then arrive on the stairs of the basement shouting "Yoo-hoo" - although I don't think the "yoo hoo" sounds are appropriate to use when you've returned from a dangerous adventure.

The mothers then rush into the scene in which they start to barge into each other to hug their children. Instead they find that they've kissed the wrong child by mistake in which the mother mouse has the kitten and vice versa for the mother cat. They then correct the same children before they can kiss them as part of reunion.

The next sequence then shows the cats and mice all dancing around together in a circle in which they are already friends with each other - no longer enemies. The mother cat and mouse are looking at them getting along with one another.

The mother cat and mouse are looking at each other in which they're proud of their children. BUT; the mother cat recalls that earlier on in the sequence when the mother mouse whacked her in the eyes with her fingers. So the mother cat wants retaliation towards the mother in which she has already vowed for revenge. The mother cat does the same action in which the mothers then start to go into a fight. The kittens and mice are obviously influenced by their behaviour in which they start to fight one another.

Overall comments: This cartoon was just rather stupid when I watched it; in terms of its plots and it's errors. The worst part of that cartoon in which (I think) is horrible to look at is the bad sizes of the characters that seem to change throughout the cartoon - since the mother cat appears shorter; but also the mice appear to be REALLY tall (well for the mother). I think that Friz Freleng should have cut that out since it looks awful. The cartoon was just boring and it didn't really seem to excite me at all. The only part which seemed to be funny was the eye thumping of the mother mice to the cat (saved by Treg Brown's funny sounds). I thought the ending was however plain stupid when they all start to fight again; since the mother cat couldn't get over herself; although the kittens being influenced was a little funny. The animation was just plain; conservative animation that was also nothing special to look at. I just hope this happens to be a bad cartoon for Friz (well; he ONLY started to gradually improve).