LOONESSEY VII: I LOVE A PARADE (1932)

This short eschews plot all together. Does have have a brief cameo by Gandhi, though, which makes it more than worth watching. Found this guy who has dedicated an entire blog to this sort of thing. Kudos to him.

LOONESSEY VI: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOIN'! (1931)

Bootleg liquor figures once more in this Prohibition-era short. But instead of underage piglets, today an adult (if diminutive) member of the porcine species named (you guessed it) Piggy is the offending party -- although technically the intoxication was unintentional (cause = belching dog). Actually this doesn't even happen until about five minutes into the short. Before that, shots of Piggy and his beau Fluffy alternate with cuts to their destination: a theater and the band-concert happening inside. Upon arrival Piggy makes a nuisance of himself and somehow winds up on stage blasting away at a saxophone. This in turn leads to an altercation with a trio of inebriated canines in a sidebox, which, somehow again leads to Piggy getting plastered right at the five minute mark. After that, things get awesome.

A reeling competition to claim a bottle of moonshine heads outside, where Piggy, seeking escape, provides a cutesiely simplistic car with a hefty swig of something stiff. This leads to a long rollicking sequence of prancing automobile, undulating roads, and general mind-warpage in the best tradition of the brilliant Big Lebowski "I saw so much it broke my mind" interlude. 

In a nutshell, this is the most charming and recognizably "Looney Tunes"/"Merrie Melodies"-style cartoon thus far.

The humor almost entirely relies on the actual animation (as opposed to the cheaper visual puns  which the Bosko and Foxy cartoons tend to rely on). This serves the dual-purpose of a). making the characters much more relatable and endearing and b). making the action itself a source of amusement (visual puns can work just as well in a still picture). Plus, Piggy, his beau Fluffy and the hooch-saturated pooch are infinitely more appealing than the frankly creepy "Foxy" &co. How can you not like the last shot:

LOONESSEY V: BOSKO THE DOUGHBOY (1931)

Bosko's back. Probs the funniest (imho) short thus far, although it's also the most disturbing (see Exh. A). It's not Charlie Chaplin's Shoulder Arms, but it does bring out some of the absurdities of the Great War -- not that that's a particularly Herculean task. Also owes something to Bruce Bairnsfather, hands-down the best cartoonist to come out of the trenches (Exh. C). There's a lot of amazing humor that came out of World War I (cartoons galore, Mr. Punch's History of the Great War, etc.)

LOONESSEY IV: ONE MORE TIME (1931)

One more hippo

Today it's One More Time, another cartoon featuring Foxy, Foxy's ladyfriend, and a stretchcar-driving hippo. This time around Foxy has abandoned his role of train-conductor in favor of a beat cop, but unfortunately the change of profession does not diminish the nightmarish quality that was so pronounced in Loonesseey III: Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! -- in fact it's enhanced because this short is not, in fact, a dream. Here we find Foxy prowling through a terrifying city-scape, waving a floppy baton at rushing traffic, while the landscape slips under him in that vertiginous, old-timey cartoon way.

Eventually the "story," such as it is, wanders into more recognizable Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies territory by briefly pitting Foxy against a gang of bestubbled dogs who have abducted Foxy's vulpine flame. This escapade lasts for about 20 seconds, though, before the clip ends with Foxy being shot by a tommygun-toting crow (the criminals are well-armed: at one point they chuck a grenade). Something about cartoon machine guns really lends itself to slapstick. The most charming bit is certainly the appearance of the girlfriend's dog (see picture) who, for some reason Foxy dislikes. But the creepiest sequence also features the same dog, whom Foxy turns into a player piano for an uncomfortably long time. Foxy doesn't come off as a terribly likable character in either this or Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! I think the character-designers hadn't quite hit their stride. He doesn't have the goofy, cocky-unselfaware nature of Daffy, or the coy, cocky-selfaware nature of Bugs. He's just selfish. And rather dull. Bear in mind this is 1931, so it took the better part of a decade to even get the prototypes of genuine characters going. Def a slow process.

Piano Roll

I was browsing Wikipedia for info on Hugh Harman/Rufolf Ising (they directed the short). Ising apparently did a short  featuring a trio of kittens who sail to the Milky Way in a hot air balloon in search of milk. This I must see. It even won an Oscar. Also, Harman's post-apocalyptic 1939 Peace on Earth'd be interesting for historical reasons.

LOONESSEY III: SMILE, DARNA YA', SMILE! (1931)

This is the stuff of nightmares, zany to a demoniacal degree. -- N.B. I typed those words while still watching the short. As it turned out in the last 10 seconds, the whole thing apparently was a dream. Features this terrifying cartoon creature that remains unidentifiable for the first several minutes (actually, I thought it was Mickey Mouse or a close knock off), before its tail suddenly identifies it as a sort of fox like the Tails of Sonic fame. Animation's not up to par even with the last two shorts.

The Scream. It's everywhere.

LOONESSEY II: THE BOOZE HANGS HIGH (1930)

Bosko stars once more in short #2 (The Booze Hangs High) of our chronological Odyssey through the topsy-turvy ocean of Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoons. This time around underage drinking figures prominently – so hot button issues are still the order of the day. If possible, this short has even less of a plot and is even more absurd than Congo Jazz: there are several indistinguishable dance numbers featuring Bosko plus cow and Bosko plus horse as well as a duck family troup and a father-pig plus piglets trio. The dance numbers of the first act morph into an alcohol-fueled vocal concert in the second/third, featuring a basement-low bass daddypig who belches nonsense words and his duo of xylophone-voiced piglets. Said piglets, really, are more the stars of the show than Bosko himself. They’re also fond of their moonshine. (N.B. this was released in 1930, three years prior to the repeal of Prohibition.) Black and white suits cartoons in a weird sort of way.

Also features a scene in which papapig coughs up a corn-cob, opens a hatch in his stomach, and reinserts it... according to Wikipedia Nickolodeon excised this when they aired it...

LOONESSEY I: CONGO JAZZ (1930)

Inflatable tiger left, Bosko right.

First up in our Looney Tunes feature series: Congo Jazz from Sept. 1930. Surprising the number of interesting things a cartoon could bring up in the space of six minutes and 20 seconds. It features the wincingly-outdated-because-borderline-racist main character Bosko who seems to take his cue from the vaudeville/blackface performers of the earlier twentieth century, not to mention a burlesque palm tree, assorted jungle-creatures-cum-jazz-performers and what appears to be an inflatable tiger.

Gum-strumming. There's a word.

Probs the most interesting thing about the short (besides the insane, absurdist jokes) is how established the animation principles were by that time. Guess the rudiments never change. There's one gag where Bosko's bullet/musketball falls onto the ground, and seems to be an almost textbook demonstration of how to animate a bouncing ball (complete with dashed-line motion trail). Another thing is that Bosko ends the short with "That's all folks!" which phrase I'd always assumed was of a later date.

No comment

Besides that there's the absurdist gags, most of which rely on the basic conceit of jungle animals as jazz musicians and/or instruments. The bit where Bosko and a grumpy gorilla bond over strumming pieces of gum is oddly charming in spite of and/or because of how offthewall it is.

I suspect Bosko may've been an at least subconsciounce influence on Bungalow Bill (rhythm, falsetto voice, etc.). Here's a link to the whole short. Dunno how long it'll stay on YouTube.

N.B. The only rule of the Loonessey is there are no rules. This is the Calvinball of watching-old-cartoons-then-riffing-off them. This one turned out fairly straight-laced. Others may not. I have upwards of 350 to go anyway.

NO NEWS IS GOSPEL

Bugs, the Rabbit of Many Wiles

Considering going through the Looney Tunes Golden Collection chronologically, then writing whatever comes to mind after each short and posting it. Sort of a multi-year freeassociative intellectual Odyssey. Hence:

Coming soon: The Loonessey.