Saturday, January 18, 2014

The First Looney Tune: Sinkin' in the Bathtub





  
Credits
Looney Tunes: No. 1
Released: April 19, 1930
Directed by: Harman and Ising
Produced by: Hugh Harman, Rudolph Ising, and Leon Schlesinger
Animated by: Isadore "Friz"Freleng
Music Score: Frank Marsales
                                                                                                                       

The cartoon begins with Bosko, whistling to the song "Singing in the Bathtub" He is sure enjoying his time in there, he's plucking the water coming out of the shower like a harp. He also plucks his feet and his nose which is a typical 30s gag.



Then, the most strange thing happens in this cartoon is the bathtub COMES TO LIFE!! It's starts dancing and then it takes a towel and dances with it (notice Felix Mendelsohn's Spring Song is being played in the background)! Then, the bathtub dances to some toilet paper and rips off a piece like there's a wedding going on. Then we here Singing in the Bathtub again in the background and the bathtub smacks his bottom. I think that bathtub animation very creepy and
only 30s cartoons would do that.


 Bosko pulls a string his head and his pants magically pull up by themselves! I wish I could do that! This gag is featured in a lot of Harmen-Ising Looney Tunes.


Then, he actually pulls the water to a 90 degrees angle! I mean that is supposed
to be clever or something? That doesn't even make scientifically sense! Well,
anyway, he jumps onto the water and carries his out the window. The thing
that bothers me is that he just leaves the water running! Is he doing to waste
all that water or something? He'll have a high water bill! Bosko then takes
his huge harmonica and starts playing it. Is it me or did Bosko just have
sleeves on his clothes now?


Bosko now does this cool gag where he whistles and bumps his harmonica
on his bottom again. Boy, they sure do that in this cartoon a lot. We'll see
Honey do it later on the short. Then, a car steps out and he rides it to
Honey's house. The car sure has some character. On the way he plays his
harmonica. He does some pretty annoying sounds with his mouth. The
crank that Bosko cranked up the car with is suddenly gone! WHAT?!
 Bosko then picks some flowers for Honey. Meanwhile, Honey is
taking a bath when she realizes that Bosko is there. She quickly gets dressed.
AGAIN... the crank on Bosko's car comes back again as Bosko arrives.
 Yes! Bosko and Honey finally says something in the short!

Honey: "Hello, Bosko!"

Bosko: (shaking)"Guess what I got for you Honey!"

Behind his back there's a goat who saw Bosko's flowers for Honey
and wants to eat it. I don't understand why Bosko can just go and
give it to her! The goat then eats the flowers. Bosko gets upset
and starts to cry. Then Honey says (in a annoying voice),

Honey: "It's OK, Bosko! I still love you!"

Bosko suddenly gets happy again! He goes to his car and
takes some parts on his car and makes a saxophone out
of it. He starts to play it. He plays A Hot Time In The
Old Town Tonight which was the first theme to Looney
Tunes from 1930 to 1932. Honey takes a tub of bubbles
and pours it in and Bosko starts playing another song
called
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles


Then Honey starts dancing to the music. Now, this
is kind of weird, but Honey rolls down her pants!
I wonder why the censors didn't cut that part out!
We also see Honey naked earlier when she was
taking bath. Then Honey walks on the bubbles
to get down to Bosko. To me, that's very good
timing!

Bosko and Honey get in the car and go for a ride.
They kiss and are having a great time. Then there's
that gag where they can't get passed the cow. They
end up going over the cow. Then the cow gets mad
and stomps away. I've noticed that gag has been in
a lot of Harman-Ising cartoons (like Smile, Darn Ya,
Smile). They go up a hill and then they go down. Of
course, Bosko gets knocked off and Honey needs help.
Bosko is going through rough times as he is being
wacked in the crutch and banging his head in the rocks.

The car goes through the house and the car turns in to
a bathtub. Then there's some ok animation of the bath
tub (on wheels) going down a mountain. Honey falls
into a river and Bosko lands on a branch of a tree.
A creepy looking hand jumps out of the water and grabs
Bosko in the bathtub. Bosko and Honey start to play
Sinkin' in the Bathtub with the lily pads and just like
Bosko said at the end of a Looney Tune--
"So long, Folks!"


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