168. Sweet Sioux (1937)

Warner cartoon no. 167.
Release date: July 3, 1937.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Native American Coach / Mohican / Hiccups).
Animation: Bob McKimson and A.C. Gamer.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: Hollywood's take of Native America with Indians attacking an incoming wagon.

I've returned from my hiatus readers. That's me all relaxed with my schoolwork out of the way and I've hoped you've enjoyed a break from this blog, I know that break was really worth it but I'm back with more reviews; and I'm roughly one-sixth of reviewing all of the Warner Bros. cartoons which I feel is quite good so far.

Our cartoon begins with a sunrise shot of what we see is an Indian in silhouette. As the sky starts to rise and get clearer; we see the Indian more closely; but from what we are seeing is of an Indian statue standing on top of a mountain. That is some pretty decent effects with the sunrise and the colors shown here.

We are then set to a different location where the story is set in West America as this is an Indian village; as we PAN through the tepees. We continue to pan until we find a tent that reads Chief "Rain in the Face" in which this is a reference to a warchief named Rain-in-the-Face from the 19th century. We PAN after we see the name on the tent as the gag is that the Indian chief is sitting outside the tent with what appears to be an off-screen shower running on top of the Indian's face which I think is a little bit of a lame gag; and probably dated since the name may not be familiar these days. Another tent by the river is pulled up like an umbrella tent in which a Native Indian sits down by the umbrella tent sitting on a deck chair. More tepee gags pop up such as an Indian's head popping up from the top wearing it as a clothing walking around playing the ukulele.

Meanwhile there is a rooster that is sitting down laying an egg but stands up in which clucking and performing an Indian tribe call which I guess is the gag as it's a chicken performing it and not a Native American. There is a hitchhiking Indian standing by giving the hitchhiking sign for an Indian to pick him up. There is an Indian woman walking past on a Papoose as the Indian jumps past as the Indian woman appears to be used as some type of transport.

Meanwhile there is a brave bout on the mountains looking out for any of their enemies or wagons trying to get past the Native area. The brave is looking all around with his body circulating continuously at 360 degrees. The Indian on a lookout then spots a wagon driving through their valley as you can hear "Oh Susanna" being played in the music. At the back of the wagon is also a caravan attached to the back of the wagon which is meant to be a funny gag considering that this wagon would be rather modernized for Native American history. 

After the brave has spot the wagon - the brave then runs through the top of the mountains to deliver a telegram to warn the other Natives about an incoming wagon. You can hear the 'Sun Dance' being played in the background. Interesting camera and layout angles on the brave running. The brave then enters the tepee to write a telegram to warn the warriors. The Indian delivers it to an Indian postal clerk to delivers the message to all the Natives. I'm not too sure what the 'Eastern Onion' sign is meant to mean but interesting sign reading '90 Words for 90 Wampum' and a wampum is a type of clam that was worn or fashioned by Native Americans.

The telegram is delivered through a hole outside the tepee in which the postal clerk shows the message as the Indian uses a delivery pipe that makes annoying sounds which signals the smoke to the Natives. The brave who is looking out on the mountains then notices the smoke signals the message to the brave. A funny gag is heard as the messenger decides to have fun by signalling Shave and a Haircut before hiccuping performed by Mel Blanc.

The brave on the mountain then decides to signal the village by signalling in a police form, "Calling all braves, calling all braves. Pick up a covered wagon at Cactus Canyon and Red Ghost. Go get 'em boys. That is all".

The entire villagers then start to run out of their tepees charging for the wagon hollering with their tribal sounds to set attack. As the Natives are about to set attack; there is a tribal drum sound being played by an Indian drummer to make the scene dramatic. As the drumming is being performed; there is a Native dancing to the drum rhythm copying every movement that the drum makes. The drumming then starts to get faster as the dancer starts to dance faster in which the movement gets so fast that Friz Freleng gets a chance to experiment with timing in which all you see on the screen for a few seconds is nothing but those speed-lines that make it look as though he's spinning around with such speed. After the dancer has finished dancing and the drumming; the dancing Native then sweats and puff after dancing with a lot of energy. The animation of the Native dancing was solid animation and it's even got good pacing in my opinion - for a 1930's cartoon.

The Native Americans then start to make a tribal dance around a fire with the dancing of the animation done in a cycle. I do like that short scene of the fat Indian woman who is making the drumming sounds by tapping her belly and then slapping her behind for a beat. During the dance scene there is a Indian mother carrying a baby on her back that is attached as she makes an Indian call but then the baby stands on his two feet making the Indian call. Now that is another funny gag with good timing on the body changing to the ground and boy that baby sure must've been strong. The mother then stands back on her two feet.

During the dance scene where is an Indian singer who is a direct caricature of Martha Raye who was an American comic actress at the time as well as singer; and she would've been very young at the time this cartoon was being made. The Martha Raye Native is singing Goombay Drum. The dance scene is entertaining to watch and even when you watch her comic acting is sort of fun to watch. But I appreciate the animation of it though.

More Indian tribe dancing continues; and the scene of the Indians dancing around the fire is a repeated scene before the Martha Raye sequence. There are two Indians who entertain the audience by instead of performing the usual Indian tribal dance like you'd expect to see in many dances; they dance to the Hopak which I think is funny considering they're performing the Russian dance and the fact they're evidently not Russian so that's fun to watch.

The animation on that part with the Hopak dance is fun to watch I'd say; and I think much of the overall animation on this short is in fact in very good standard; as Friz Freleng had a quality bunch.

After the Hopak dance as well as the Indian tribal dance; and the Indians then start to chase after the wagon that has been spotted by the braves. The Indians are riding on their horses crossing the rivers as they are on the hunt. Indian framed on the left; that isn't supposed to be a caricature of Joe Penner, isn't it? You only see it just ride past the screen and I guess that if it was a caricature of Penner then there would've been a gag added to that. But the scene is obviously a cycle since the exact same Indian (seen on close-up) is seen twice in that scene.

As the Indians are on the attack on the wagon; a pioneer riding the wagon steps out of the wagon to see all the commotion and makes a fright when he spots Indians savaging after him. The man then hides behind the barrel of his wagon as he grabs out his shotgun to try and shoot at the Indians but finds that he is surrounded by the Indians in their horses circulating the area of the wagon. Well, the human could've easily made a target by shooting one of the surrounding natives. I like that circulation animation of the Indians surrounding the wagon.

The human continues to blast with his shotgun at the Indians but finds that he has no luck until he glances at a stool that delights him. The human then sits on the stool, swings at it to make it higher and shoots after the Indians with his shotgun. An Indian riding his horse shoots with his shotgun but spins around the horse numerous times after firing; and that continues on every time he hires as it's a funny gag but also recycled often. Why no sound effect for the spinning effects?

An Indian then charges with his shotgun while riding his horse but as he fires; the force of the shotgun is so intense and forceful that it pushes the Indian and the horse back but in such a swish that it swishes with a type of socket effect. The timing on that is extremely good and even believable. Friz Freleng is starting to get better with his comic timing that even feels suitable when watching a cartoon which I'm glad to see. The Indian then runs forward on his horse to fire with his shotgun but the same effect is repeated towards him again.

The human behind by the wagon is still shooting after Indians even though being in peril. After blasting a couple of times; he then fires at the Indians on a canal rowing. There is a funny gag that pops up with a carnival-eye shot of the Indians on the canal done in a carny style as the human shoots at them as they fall flat in carnival style and that is a good gag.

As the Indians are still surrounding the wagon causing a rampage; the horses that they are riding on then starts to turn into a merry-go-round style as they are moving like merry-go-round horses which plays the theme to The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down which would later (in the year) become the most famous scene to the Looney Tunes series. Now that is a funny original gag which is nice and it even works very well as they're circulating the wagon and turn it into a merry-go-round style which makes the looney sequence funnier. There is an Indian trying to reach for a hoop on a tree in which one Indian on a horse grabs it successfully until making a tribal call. I guess that it means back then in merry-go-rounds you had to reach for a certain hoop. After that funny sequence, the Indians continue to be warriors surrounding the human again.

Meanwhile as the Indians are continuing to circulate; there are even substitute Indians seated on benches with numbers on their back as there is a coach Indian walking up and down rather worried. Another group of Indians are even practicing cheer leading as these Indians are practicing it high school style.

During the battle scene; one Indian is shot in the behind and falls off the horse wounded with a burning behind and lying down unconscious. I like how the battle is being performed in a high school American football style as an Indian referee walks into the scene blowing the whistle because of an injury. After the whistle blows; the surrounding stops as the injured native is taken by the medical team and placed on a stretcher. The Indian Coach (voiced by Mel Blanc) then sends an Indian to fight for the warriors. I'm not sure what the reference is to what the Coach is saying but the Native who replies "Ohhhh yeahhhh" is a catchphrase from the Ken Murray show, said by Tony Labriola's character, Oswald. The substitute native then leaves the scene to call for a replacement. 

The substitute Indian then  replaces the injured native by jumping onto his horse and resume the surrounding of the wagon. The rampage then continues on wards as we get to see some neat montage shots of the Indians firing and running after the wagon. 

Much of the montage shots is just recycled footage of the Indians chasing after the wagon that appeared earlier on in the cartoon. It's easier to do so and cheaper as the Schlesinger budgets were lower at the time (I believe that they probably averaged less than $10'000 at the time but I wonder if anyone can support me on that).


After the battle and the fighting through the montages shots (which I thought was a neat effect so show the continuous battles). The wagon is seen destroyed and smoke is still fading out as it shows of how much damage and fighting has happened. Two Indians then step out of the damaged wagon as they both look at one another:

Indian #1: Who you?
Indian #2: Me Mahican. Who you?
Indian #1: Me Mahican.

The two Indians then fight each other over being a Mahican was basically a Native American tribe on the Eastern side and it appears in this sequence they fight over being the last one. After the 2nd Indian whacks the other Indian on top of the head; the Indian concludes, "Me Last Mahican".

Overall comments: Now that I've returned to the blog after my roughly 3-week hiatus; it does feel good to return again even though I needed the break. This cartoon I feel was a good one for me to review as it's a cartoon that I've actually particularly enjoyed throughout the cartoon. I like mostly how that it's mainly a lot of gags that pop up with Native Americans but I find that they're good gags in my opinion, as well as silly gags that are charming. The dance sequence of Martha Rays was particularly fun to listen and entertaining to watch - including animation wise. I like the fact about how that it doesn't have to be all tribal dancing; and they'll even perform a Russian dance for us. Even the merry-go-round sequence in my opinion was a highlight of the whole cartoon.

Friz Freleng is definitely showing some improvements with this cartoon; especially with his comic timing as the pacing is starting to become slightly faster and even more interesting to watch. Much of the animation is very good in this cartoon as there is a lot of realistic animation of the Indians in particular as well as dance scenes; which I feel was animated well by Freleng's quality bunch of animators at that time (Bob McKimson, Ken Harris, Cal Dalton, Phil Monroe, etc). I feel that the cartoons even by Friz are starting to get better and even he is showing some humor in the cartoons which is better than say; the cartoons he made from 1934 up to mostly the 1936 cartoons.

Phil Monroe Interview...

I know I'm supposed to be working but briefly; Michael Barrier has posted a wonderful interview of Phil Monroe who was one of Chuck's main animators at Warner Bros. from 1947-1952 starting his career in the 1930s. I've been longing for Mike to post this as I really like his animation for Warners and read for yourself:

http://michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Monroe/Monroe1976.html

Hiatus, Folks...

I'm going to keep this blog quiet for roughly a month. I'm leaving school forever in only a couple of weeks before my long summer begins and I'm at my busiest weeks. I've got exams to work on; and a lot of revision/studying to do. I don't have time for blogging but with all my studying and exams; blogging is very unimportant. After I've got all my exams and tests completed; (around late June) that's me relaxed for a few months with no work and I will return to the blog before you know it. This blog may be updated around June 22th or later; as my final exam is on that date. Enjoy those quiet weeks, while I'll be hard at work...

Enjoy the screengrab from 'Cheese Chasers'; watch some cartoons for me. Before I leave; comment on who the animator of that scene is; I don't know who it is...

167. Streamlined Greta Green (1937)

Warner cartoon no. 166.
Release date: June 19, 1937.
Series: Merrie Melodies.
Supervision: Friz Freleng.
Producer: Leon Schlesinger.
Starring: Mel Blanc (Gasoline Service Man), Berneice Hansell (Junior Car).
Animation: Cal Dalton and Ken Harris.
Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.
Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).
Synopsis: A junior car wishes to be a taxi and ends up on a misadventure in the city.


Of course the cartoon title is from the popular song but "Greta Green" comes from the town called "Gretna Green" which is a town just on the border of Scotland; famous for runaway marriages; and I've been there before. I don't know whether or not the song relates to that town.

Our cartoon begins with a busy street of cars driving by in the road as well as trams. The traffic is busy with all the cars driving by. Two cars then accidentally crash into each other because of all the hassle with the traffic. The traffic light then turns green for "Go" as the two inanimate cars jump up to each other arguing about which way they should've turned before punching each other. The traffic light gags pop up as the red light turns to "Stop" and the two cars stop fighting but once it switches to "Go" - they continue to fight again.

After that bit of entertainment with the inanimate cars coming to life fighting; this is in fact a car's world where cars are citizens on this planet. Mmm; interesting that Pixar would later make a film out of it with a similar concept but I doubt they were influenced over this cartoon. There are a group of taxis entering the "Taxi Dance Hall" with cars coming in and out of the hall. These are of course cartoony cars with faces; as the wheels resemble their legs and arms and the indicators are their eyes; back when this cartoon was made - I'd say the character designs are pretty clever.

A group of cabs are inside the hall dancing to the title song Streamlined Greta Green. They are dancing on wheels that are making the movement of legs and even some of the cars have actual arms that look like humans. Some of the signs then read in the hall Five can dance as Cheap as one.

There is a lady taxi sitting down on a bench rather bashful waiting for a man cab to come and ask to dance. A male cab walks up to the female taxi asking to dance and accepts. The gag is that she parks herself with a meter besides her as the price is 10 cents for she is occupied by dancing. The taxi couples are dancing to the music. The animation of the cabs dancing is rather realistic in my opinion with the movement and all. While the female cab is dancing; her meter then ends up with the price ranking higher until it's busting up. The male cab realizes that he is lucky as he grabs out his hat (jackpot) and coins flow out into his bowler hat. An interesting little gag that shows meters and "parking".

As the city is pretty busy with cars driving by; we PAN over to the countryside outside the city where it is peaceful. There is a little boy truck sitting down by a tree reading a book. While he is reading the book he has his hopes to be a taxi and not in the country side which is why he sighs.

In the PAN scene; the garage door opens with the mother car wheeling out calling for him to enter. I like how that Mother shouts with the sounds of a car honk until shouting out for "Junior". She steps out on the garage standing on wheels walking around trying to find Junior not knowing that he's sitting by a tree. She finds Junior who (as we've seen) is sitting by a tree reading his book. He jumps in a fright once he finds his mother standing right next to him rather annoyed. She snatches the book off the child car as she reads what is being shown here much to her surprise. Junior then confesses that he wants to be a taxi when he is grown up but the mother rejects that dream insists, "A taxi?! Of all things. I want you to grow up to be a nice touring car like your father".

Junior rejects her mother's wishes as he doesn't wish to be a touring car and wanting to be a taxi instead. The mother has had enough of hearing from Junior and grabs him by the "wheel" which is meant to be the ear. She takes him inside the garage as he is still being pulled.

The mother then tells Junior that it is time to get ready for school. Junior then kicks the ground with annoyance about having to go to school which is often what children dread of going to every morning. "Now you wait right here 'til I fix your lunch"; the mother says as she walks into the fridge to prepare his lunch inside a lunchbox.

She fills up Junior's cup with a hosepipe which she pours in gasoline which is a rather clever idea since us humans need water while the cars need propane to recharge their batteries. She has finished making the lunchbox for Junior and places it inside the car of Junior as he needs to drive to school.

As she cares for Junior she asks like what every mother would say, "and remember; stay away from traffic and keep clear from those railroad crossings" as it probably suggests that Junior would drive to the city just to get to school. The facial expressions are rather interesting on Junior's face with a grumpy, disgusted look. As Junior is driving to school on the way; he encounters two signs that we find as there is a sign on the left to head to "Auto-school" which is wear Junior be heading to. Junior hears the bell which means it's time for lessons but Junior is reluctant and instead skives school to drive all the way to the city not giving a "hoot".

Meanwhile in the city the traffic is rather busy with cars just driving and going. Junior is walking on the pavement of the streets standing on wheels. Junior watches the cars go as though he hasn't seen so many cars like this before. The traffic lights change to "Stop" as Junior steps in the road in front the yellow car as he tries to drive off. Once the lights change to "Go" he is being run over by a group of incoming cars just shooting past.  Junior is rather timid of the incoming cars just driving by very fast.

Meanwhile another car is strolling down the street rather lazy to use the wheels thinking he's in the arena ring. Once the traffic light changes with a "ding" sound; the car tries to pick up a fight positioning himself in different poses as Junior is afraid. That's why he needs to be aware of stranger danger as there are odd people (vehicles in this cartoon) out there in the city streets. Junior runs off afraid of the man as he scampers off like a dog.

Junior then tries to find a part to hide and discovers a manhole cover. Too many cars are driving their way through not noticing poor Junior in danger and afraid of being run over. Junior jumps away from the incoming cars driving past him and lands into the "Safety Zone" area rather frightened and exhausted. Inside Junior (as he is puffing) we see a montage part inside his body as the radiator shows his heart pumping repeatedly from the horror he is facing through.

Junior therefore picks himself up as he walks over to the safety zone with him but falls down a manhole cover by accident. Junior peeps out of the manhole cover to check for safety but drives out of the way. Junior is still rather exhausted from the ride in the city as it has proven to be very busy and frightening for him - looks like he won't need to be a taxi driver then, don't he? He drives past a gas station which would be his favourite place to sit by and relax.

I love how the bar is being set out here that the gas station is just like a bar for cars to settle while it's just like what humans would sit down for a drink. The bartender (why not a vehicle bartender?) shown in this cartoon then asks Junior, "What'll you have son?" Junior then looks through the different flavored gasolines to have  in a point of view shot.

Junior then asks for a gas which is strong to drink. The bartender comments; "That's very powerful stuff, son". The bartender then pours the drink adding a straw to it. Junior slurps the drink down enjoying the taste at first. Shortly after finishing the drink Junior then starts to shake and react to the drink he had. The radiator inside Junior almost explodes as he jumps and jerks by force. The good part is that it gives Junior an awful lot of energy added to his boost as he boasts; "Gee, I can go fast now! Watch!" Junior then dashes down the road real fast until he is not seen except smoke which is an improvement with animation timing.


The bartender turns around to find that Junior is behind him with such speed; "That's nothing - watch this!" Junior then starts to dash out of the way again leaving nothing but dust swaying on the roads. Junior is standing by the railroad as he tries to catch the train's attention that is steaming straight ahead. There is a sign that reads "Stop" swinging sideways as the train is steaming past.

After the train has completely gone past Junior; Junior then tries to have a race with the train. Now how will the bartender be able to watch that in such speed? Watching the car speed up doesn't seem to look as fast as it was after drinking the gas. Junior then finds himself overtaking the train easily that shows he can travel faster than a train. After overtaking the train - he now has trouble with a huge truck that is too big to try and overtake.

Junior does his best to try and overtake the car; and the car is called a "Road Hog" which is also a pun itself. I love how the front part of that car has a hog's face oinking to make the fun accepted and received. Junior tries to overtake the car by sides of the road but the "Road Hog" just copies his actions not wanting any other cars to go in front.

To stop Junior from his attempts to overtake the "Road Hog" the wheels then stretch so that Junior will have no successful plans from doing so; and the road hog car has completely controlled the road. Junior tries to go in front but fails but the plan completely works after the Road Hog's car's wheels end up on the beams of a bridge which encourages Junior to go in front by using his sense of wits. Junior then turns to hear the sounds of a steaming locomotive riding it's way as Junior isn't far off from it.

Junior then starts to use his speed limit and energy to beat the train and they end up at the same amount of speed. The railroad traffic is ordering the car to stop but still drives at such speed; and the animation of the locomotive heading to the camera in perspective was animated well.

After seeing the scenes of the steam train and Junior just going at the same speed with no action being performed yet. Junior is forgetting of his fuel tank getting lower and lower which is nearly empty until the arrow goes completely empty. Ace Gamer would've done the effects animation of the locomotive as well as the fuel tank's arrow pointing to empty. Bad luck enters for Junior as he is about to cross the railroad but after using up too much energy; Junior suddenly stops straight in the middle. Now that is just very unfortunate for that to happen and yet anything could happen relating to danger with trains which shows that Junior must be aware of his actions.

Junior is facing death of the incoming train that isn't going to stop and Junior tries to clutch himself hopelessly until he is smashed by the train. After the crash an ambulance then arrives at the scene to pick up Junior after the accident. In the next shot we find that Junior is inside a "Auto Hospital Garage". I would imagine the building next to it would be a real hospital and the garage hospital would be for humans. It appears that in this world there are also humans but cars have their own civilized life - in garages.

There are human surgeons than performing massive surgery on Junior after the incident in order to save his life. There is a great camera effect shot showing two sides of Junior's heart pump and the surgeon passing over the oil can, and other tools to help cure Junior. A very neat camera effect show; and the heart pumping effects animation is pretty solid. This shows that Freleng's cartoons just got better and better by each cartoon.

Meanwhile the mother car is standing outside the hospital garage worrying if Junior will be alright. The sign on the door outside reads "Quiet! Keep Out". The door then opens as Junior steps out of the car covered with plasters and bandages which shows the operations have been proved successful. It must be in this world that surgery has been very well developed and anyone can have their lives saved by trains - at least in cartoon land. Junior and mother then reunite each other with hugs; but the mother then tells off her child for not crossing the railroads not realizing what Junior has been through - and even not knowing how he skived school.

Junior then hears an incoming steam train in which it forces himself to try and race it. A rebel he is; he attempts to cross the railroad in safety and manages to do so in the first part. He blows a raspberry at the train standing on another part of the tracks but turns around in time to find another steamtrain is steaming past and is crashed again. Junior is only weary from the crash but it has lead to a lot of damage with the train.

Overall comments: Interesting character designs on the cars I have to say as it was pretty clever for the 1930s while today it wouldn't really seem so special. I find it rather odd that Junior's dreams is of becoming a taxi doesn't even relate at all in this cartoon as it just shows his misadventures in the city and trying to race the incoming locomotive so I don't feel that there has been much focus on this cartoon. The animation of the car movement in my opinion was pretty cleverly animated with the vehicles and all as well as the effects animation. Despite the lack of plot in it; I like the fact about how in this cartoon it focuses on Junior who particularly wants to live in the city - considering he wants to be a taxi discovers that the city is rather busy albeit dangerous. However this cartoon in my opinion didn't really appear to go anywhere with its story and that's why I wasn't keen but I must say that Freleng's cartoons are getting better short after short with timing, gags, and all.

166. Porky's Building (1937)

To let an audience know watching this cartoon with the concept by Tashlin to make sure an audience is aware on how this cartoon is fictional. I like how the writing in italics reads; if you think we're going to sit around for days thinking up new ideas - you're pixilated!

Title card courtesy of Dave Mackey.

Warner cartoon no. 165.

Release date: June 19, 1937.

Series: Looney Tunes.

Supervision: Frank Tashlin.

Producer: Leon Schlesinger.

Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky Pig), Berneice Hansell (Little Rabbit), Ted Pierce (Sandy C. Ment, Construction Worker) and Billy Bletcher (Dirty Digg).

Animation: Volney White and Norm McCabe.

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling.

Sound: Treg Brown (uncredited).

Synopsis: Porky Pig and his rival have a race to see who can finish a building first to win the job.

The cartoon begins with an office door reasing Sandy C. Ment which is a pun referred to "sandy cement". Sandy C. Ment is a city building commissioner. A nice silhouetted technique set up by Frank Tashlin of the commissioner having a meeting with Porky Pig and his rival Dirty Dugg. They are both the "only contractors in the city".

The commissioner assigns both of them to build a city hall and plan it out. Dirty Dugg who is the enemy of Porky then looks at Porky grudgingly. Porky Pig waves back as though he doesn't give a hoot. Nice character animation shown on the hand waving. The commissioner announces that the person planning the building "with the lowest bid will get the job". Porky Pig is needed for the job. The commissioner continues, "These are the plans". He grabs out a poster as he unrolls it with a poster of the future City Hall looking rather splendid in design. The commissioner then asks the contractors to report to their desks to plan out their building with the contractor with the "lowest bid wins". The commissioner then wishes both Porky and Dirty Dugg "the best of luck".

Porky Pig and Dirty Dugg stare at each other eye to eye as they are heading over to their desks. As they are seated on their desks. They are jotting down on their papers the plans. Dirty Dugg even peeps over Porky Pig's shoulder to see what plans that he is coming up with - cheating I'd say. They both turn around to look at each other while finished as they stare face-to-face.

Dirty Dugg and Porky Pig then hand over their plans to Sandy C. Ment. I like the angular shots displayed here of his animated in perspective which is another interesting Tashlin technique. The commissioner discovers that the results are in fact the exact same budget. The results have ended up with $3'000'000.02. The commissioner is unsure on what the next plan would be to take action but then comes up with an idea. The idea now decided by the commissioner, "I have it. You'll both build a building and the one who'll finish it first will win. So"...(and yeah; I wonder how that's going to work since a lot of money will be bought into this competition.

 ...in the next scene the commissioner is starting the race of Porky Pig facing his building site as well as Dirty Dugg facing his building site. They are positioned as though they are in an athletics field beginning a race. The commissioner has a pistol to begin the "race" - "Oh your marks, get set - (blasts) go!"

Porky Pig and Dirty Dugg then dash off very quickly leaving a sway of wind on the crowd watching them build. Dirty Dugg then steps inside a excavator is already clearing the soil inside the dump truck. The excavator then picks up a truck but the backhoe chews the rock picking it up trying to make it softer before dropping it to the ground again. Porky Pig is already beginning work on his building site where his excavator isn't quite so useful as the one as Dirty Dugg has got and neither is it fast as well.

During that part of Porky with his "excavator"I like how there is a boot to help kick up the spade to dump in a dump truck used for Porky's excavator. Meanwhile while Dirty Dug is still digging to prepare his building site. The backhoe is caught jammed underground as the backhoe appears to have dug so deep underground that in the next shot we find a particular street with lampposts almost being sucked into the ground. The lampposts do do in which they are pulled out of the soil which is a big error that Dirty Dugg has made this time.

This is a good example of Frank Tashlin experimenting with weight in this bit of animation as well as squash and stretch on the backhoe trying to move. Meanwhile there is a digger that is placing some dynamite into a hole whistling as though he's just got a job to perform. The construction worker then walks down to the TNT detonator ready for the explosion.

A crowd of people therefore gather around to watch the explosion being performed with the detonator. The crowd then start to step in closer and closer to watch the construction worker about to press down. The construction worker tries to share the crowd away; "Step back folks, you bother me". The voice of the construction worker I believe was by Ted Pierce. The crowd therefore crowd in again until the construction worker shouts "Step back folks, you bother me".

The construction worker then pops out of the crowd puffing his pipe to find a quite spot. He walks over to the ditch full of dynamite but then the crowd follow his directions again. The small construction man then crawls under the crowd in his usual characteristic walk; puffing his pipe; no expressions on his face whatsoever. The worker then walks over to the detonator as he just implodes the boxes of dynamite (probably blowing off the crowd off-screen) in which the job is done.

A group of beavers start to contribute to the construction part for Porky's building along with a camel and a pelican. I must say but WHERE did these animals come from? Did they escape from the zoo or something? One beaver is seen dipping cement into the bucket with the other beaver dipping sand creating Mortar. The camel has a shaker in which the camel shakes it to mix the compound together. A pelican with it's beak labelled as "WATER" pours water him to form Mortar.

It does sort of create a form of rhythm with the shaking spirit going on by a line of turtles that are lining up in an assembly line. They have wheels on top of their shells and as they open they form a dump truck where Mortar is dumped into their shells to help create Porky's building. Meanwhile there is a dog construction worker that has the cement carried as he walks up the beams of the constructed building with plungers attached to his feet so he doesn't need to fall down very easily.

Meanwhile Dirty Dugg then forms one of his rotten, nasty tricks by picking up one of his bricks in a pile and aiming it at the dog. Look at how the brick is being thrown in perspective and comes out in arcs knocking the dog climbing the beam and hitting the ground. A Frank Tashlin trait. It looks like that Dirty Dugg is going on to the brick points or that Porky's building is catching up with his level of competition.

The gag is that after the dog has fallen off the beam; the plunger is still moving as though it's walking which is rather humorous. The flute sounds of the plungers walking is a very good music cliche chosen by Stalling. Porky Pig then warns his team that his building competition is not going too well and orders the workers on his side to "fight" to compete with Dirty Dugg. Meanwhile there is a little small rabbit that jumps in to show "How 'bout me, Porky?" Porky Pig immediately rejects with a "No!" A pelican then decides to create Mortar by mixing water, sand and cement from a machine.

The pelican then flies up in the sky shaking it's beak to mix the Mortar together to make it solid. The pelican then drops it down a ladder for it to smooth. Another pelican then walks into the scene mixing cement, sand and water from the machine.

Dirty Dugg then comes up with one of his tricks by attaching a balloon onto a body of the fish in which the fish ends up flying in the sky as the pelican ignorantly eats the fish leaving the compound inside his beak to drop out of it. A line of pelicans are still sitting down waiting for Porky's orders but as Porky enters the scene a whole plodge of cement drops on top of him which was done by the pelican as an accident. Porky Pig jumps up shouting, "Get in there and fight!" the same rabbit dashes into the scene shouting "How about me, Porky?" Don't worry folks; that's going to be used all through the picture - if Tex Avery could put it that way. I like the timing of how the rabbit just dashes into the scene.

Dirty Dugg still has his group of construction workers still digging his building site until he walks in with a proposition that he no longer needs his workers. He walks into his own office (shack) as he laughs evilly on what he has invented while his workers working under him were constructing the building.

During the pan inside the shack we hear the sounds of Dirty Dugg laughing by Billy Bletcher (in Bletcher style) and at the other end of the shack he is back. Yes; he has a new invention called the "Brick Laying" Machine. Now that is just cheating as it's going to be done backwards and not even fair on poor Porky. Porky Pig is already seen doing rather well with the building site and is already in the lead. He is in peril once he looks down to find Dirty Dugg's new invention. Porky Pig complains to Dirty Dugg; "Say you can't do that". Dirty Dugg replies; "Well, I'm-a doin' it ain't I?"

In the converter he has in his machines - he can alter the speed of the machine in different speeding levels - even going up to "Gosh Darn Speed". Dirty Dugg aims for the machine like a telescope and shoots bricks out like an army tank. The bricks are already pasted once they're shot out and it's all being performed very quickly.

The animation of the bricks being stacked was done by effects animator Ace Gamer and is of course; the studio's only effects animator of that time. I love how that  window is already formed while the brick laying machine already appears to know what to do which would be a success. Porky Pig then looks up from the other building site that the brick laying is being performed much more quicker and would even get finished on time. The scoreboard is already being calculated that the highest Dirty Dugg is scoring is "22 Stories up" while Porky Pig's building only has "2 stories" completed which must be very upsetting for Porky Pig not getting the job and probably has to go through the Great Depression scheme again.

Porky Pig sits down very sad going on about the negative thought; "It's always me". Always me". Just in time the brick-laying rabbit zips into the shot asking:

Rabbit: How about me, Porky?
Porky: Nope.
Rabbit: How about me, Porky?
Porky: Nope.
Rabbit: How about me, Porky?
Porky: No!

Everytime the rabbit dashes in and out - he is wearing a different jumper that reads about how much of a great brick-layer he is as he boasts he's a "Colossal Brick Layer" and then "Super Colossal Brick Layer". The poor rabbit then walks off rather sad about being rejected knowing that he could perform such a capable job as well as winning. Porky Pig finally gives in and stutters, "Alright - go in there and fight". The rabbit then zips past (and I do like the brush effects). The rabbit shows off his chest and is now wearing a "Super Colossal Brick Layer" instead of a plain "Brick layer" shirt.

The rabbit starts to show off his muscles in his arms and the biceps in his ears. The rabbit starts off in a slow pace dumping the bricks with it's ears and sure won't be able to catch up with Dirty Dugg. The pacing of the rabbit stacking the bricks gets quicker and quicker until the scoreboard shows both buildings are in a draw. The rabbit sweats after that hard work.

Dirty Dugg realizes that Porky's building has caught up and speeds up the brick laying paste even faster but the rabbit can still keep up with the fast pace or even faster. Dirty Dugg finds that the belt is caught jammed with the machine and gasps "It's stuck on the belt" or at least that's what he says. I imagine that this is a dated gag or quote reference but I'm not sure where it's from. The machine starts to turn chaotic as it pauses but reverses as the bricks disappear and the floors of Dirty Dugg's building get lower and lower. The machine then starts to get stubbier and stubbier before it bursts.

The sense of timing of the brick laying machine waiting to burst took a bit too long for it to happen as it wasn't too sharp timing. The equipment and materials then fly out into the scene. The inanimate excavator of Porky comes to life digging a type of grave for Dirty Dugg to have a happy landing. Dirty Dugg ends up landing on the ground which was not a safe landing. The boot attached to the excavator then starts to kick Dirty Dugg in the behind inside the grave. The building is completed by Porky Pig as he's now got the job. Porky is standing at the top cheering to the public. The rabbit dashes into the scene asking for praise, "How about me, Porky?" Porky accepts and holds the rabbit for everyone to cheer.

Overall comments: This was a rather interesting cartoon for Frank Tashlin to experiment with his techniques such as the shots of watching the buildings get taller and taller whilst being built. I like how he has shown some good quality in the animation particularly of the bricks being laid out here from the brick laying machine. Porky Pig is still portrayed as a very large character who is meant to be an adult. You'd expect his voice to be voiced by Dougherty but he needs to be cuter to make Blanc's voice suit the character's looks. I awfully don't have a lot to talk about this cartoon at all other than to say that I enjoyed the animation side to it but as for the story wise I found it rather boring to me as it's just watching a race of buildings being built and it didn't particularly surprise me since in just about every cartoon from this era; the climaxes of the cartoons were just the same and before the days of blackout gags. I had no idea on where the animals came from but I don't particularly find Porky Pig being with cute animals his type of characters but the Looney Tunes directors were still trying him out in many other ways so we can't blame Frank for that. The rabbit was rather annoying to me although it was just a character to make him try to appeal to an audience by using one line used over and over again - which was also used in Porky's Moving Day.