Looney Tunes (Part 7): Too Many Stereotypes!!!

MEESA BACK! And this time, I’m finally starting the decade that probably really should be where you start if you ever try to do this. I can tell you though, this year does not start off pretty, but there’s a very distinct turning point where the quality gets significantly better, and it seems that things are finally on track to being what we all know and enjoy (love is a strong word here) about Looney Tunes.

I will make sure to mark titles that I found of particular interest for GREAT, WORTHWHILE, or TERRIBLE!!! (If it’s outlined in black, I didn’t really feel like the short offered much of anything, and is just harmless filler.) Merrie Melody shorts (which are shorts that don't feature a recurring character) will be denoted by an "MM" after the title. 

Disclaimer: I own none of the videos or images in any of these blogs, are they are mainly being used for review purposes.

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1940

271. Porky’s Last Stand: 

To start the 1940’s we have a cartoon that isn’t completely terrible! It’s just pretty middle of the road. It’s just Porky running a restaurant with Daffy Duck and some antics ensue when Daffy tries to kill a cow for more hamburgers. Just safe and basic. Not much going on here. Can’t expect things to turn around instantaneously! (4/10)

272. The Early Worm Gets the Bird (MM):

 Well, the 2nd short of the 1940’s is absolutely atrocious. This one is filled to the brim with black stereotypes, and relies on it far too much. It’s about a family of (ugh) “Blackbirds” who are told by their “Mammy” about not going after the early worm or else they’ll get eaten by the fox.

What follows is a little journey by one of the children (with an extremely irritating fake accent) going after the bird. The stereotyping and racism fill this one to the brim, and there isn’t anything of value in this one. The jokes are even lazy and stupid. Just a bad short through and through. (3/10)

273. Africa Squeaks:

 #&$#*!!! This is even worse than the last one (if the title didn’t give it away.) More racist jokes, more stupidity, and just all around bullshit. It doesn’t really have a plot except for Porky Pig being in Africa leading some native around. The jokes are extremely lazy...such as the joke literally being that an Ostrich is sleeping with it’s head underground. (I admittedly did chuckle at the baffling nature of the joke, but not the joke itself.) Another joke featured DEER and a Condor. (Again, I felt cheated because of the anarchism.)

Overall, this is one of the worst, most, lazy, and terrible shorts I’ve watched yet. I really hope that the next cartoon, “The Mighty Hunters” doesn’t follow suit with with stereotypes and racist depictions. (1.5/10)

This image pretty much sums up the whole thing quite well.

274. The Mighty Hunters (MM):

 So, yes. This is filled with some stereotyping, as it deals with Native Americans, but I didn’t find this to have outright terrible depictions. The only problem I saw was really at the beginning and end, where a voice over narrator uses words like “Reds” “Savages” and such to describe the Native Americans.

The rest of it is just kinda cute and innocent because it’s really about these little Native American kids who go on a little hunt. They live amongst puppies for some reason, and the only adult you see is an arm. 

The stereotyping really does sour it though. It just sort of made me feel uneasy watching it, because I felt like something really disturbing could happen at any moment. I can’t really recommend this one. (PLEASE DON’T HAPPEN FOR THE NEXT SHORT...) (5.5/10)

275. Busy Bakers (MM):

 Basically, this is “The Elves and The Shoemaker” but, it’s told with bakers instead. Bizarrely, the short can’t seem to decide if it’s going all the way with the retelling by making the bakers tiny, because the sizes of the Bakers range from being smaller than a donut, to being actual human size. It’s also worth nothing that it was clearly that some of the bakers were meant to be caricatures of celebrities. I think I recognized the Marx Brothers, and the 3 Stooges(?). It was interesting to watch, because it was well animated, and overall a fun time. (6.5/10)

276. Ali-Baba Bound:

 Okay, so this definitely has some stereotypes of Arabic people. Yet again, a recurring theme for this year. It’s unfortunate because there were a couple of good gags in here, but the short definitely has some problems. The pacing and animation are pretty off, and not much happens aside from Porky defending a building from Ali-Baba and his “Forty Sleeves” (an example of a gag that made me smile.) 

Unfortunately, the short ends with a particularly eager individual, who really REALLY wants to suicide bomb the building porky is in, and the word “Suicide” is actually used. The guy is eager in the way that Scrappy Doo is eager to get into a fight, if you have recollection of him enough. That alone really destroys this cartoon into the “terrible” category. A few decent gags don’t help it. (4.5/10)

277. Elmer’s Candid Camera (MM): 

Here we go! The cartoon that, before I began this project, was the one I assumed was the very first Looney Tunes cartoon. And, in some ways, it can be considered as such. With a few exceptions, I could have started here and been none the wiser, because this is the big ol’ blueprint for how most of the best known shorts would play out (although, there are some shorts that play out like this that came before, namely “Porky’s Duck/Hare Hunt”, and “Hare-um Scare-um”)

If it wasn’t obvious, this is the first true appearance of Elmer Fudd, voice and all. He looks a little different, and he isn’t a hunter, but he definitely has the same mannerisms, and his personality is pretty much on point already. He’s trying to take pictures of a rabbit, (who isn’t quite Bugs Bunny, but “Happy Rabbit” who looks like Bugs Bunny, and has a personality that is also a little different) but, the rabbit just decides to mess with him to keep him from taking pictures. (A key difference here with the rabbit is that he decides to screw with Elmer for no reason, where as actual Bugs has a reason to screw with people.)

The pacing is still a little slow, but there’s a certain air of confidence to the short, perhaps in the animation, and cinematography, that sort of makes it feel like they realized that this is the winning formula that they’ve been after for such a long time. It’s a great short, and I can recommend it for sure, but bare in mind that it’s still a prototype of what will be the *true* introduction of the formula a little later this year. (8.5/10)

Featuring a character who is very similar but, not entirely the same as Bugs Bunny, and Elmer Fudd.

278. Pilgrim Porky: 

Another one where you can tell there are going to be problems from the get go. Stereotypes, historical anachronisms, and just overall poor quality with this one. Porky comes on the boat to America as a Pilgrim...and that’s basically it. Not much else to it, story wise.

Compared to a similar (in some ways) short “Johnny Smith and Poker Huntas” this one fails because it doesn’t really do much with the nonsense going on. Instead of the gags and anachronisms changing and molding the story to the point of absurdity, this tells the same story with a few silly gags, but it plays it safe and really doesn’t do anything else (a common trend for Porky Pig shorts.) But, yeah. There’s a black stereotype and a Native American stereotype (apparently Sitting Bull met the Pilgrims, who knew?!?) and it just didn’t work for me. (4/10)

279. Cross Country Detours (MM): 

Another “nature documentary” short, this time regarding state parks. At first, it starts out pretty run of the mill, and honestly pretty damn boring. Suddenly, about halfway through, it takes a pretty crazy turn (honestly, its like someone else took over) and there are some insane jokes with a frog shooting himself, and a stripper.

One thing I never really thought worth mentioning about these types of shorts is that there tends to be a recurring character that’s doing something that is repeatedly checked in on throughout the short, in this one it’s a dog that slowly makes his way across the US to get to California. The little bit is pretty boring, and not that interesting, which I find emblematic of the rest of the short. Not that great overall, but some jokes kind of make sort of middle of recommendation. (5.5/10)

It took me way too much effort to get this screenshot. Please appreciate this “croaking” frog. 

280. Confederate Honey (MM):

 Yet another short where you can tell that its headed in a bad direction from the title alone. This time it’s a *looooose* retelling of ‘Gone With the Wind’ (which is, admittedly, impressive in that it got the general idea out in 8 minutes) starring Elmer Fudd as “Ned Cutler.” 

Of course, you can’t have a short set in the Civil War without racist depictions of Black slaves. Some of this imagery is the worst I’ve seen yet, and it’s really getting exhausting. Worse yet, this particular short is *NOT* a censored 11 short (it should be!) and only gets away with what it does is because it’s a “parody.”

It’s not the WORST... But, there are definitely some things that place it among the worst. 1940 is absolutely the worst and most racist year of Looney Tunes I’ve watched, and I can’t really imagine it getting much worse. 6 of 10 so far have some sort of stereotype or racist depiction. Please let this be the end. (I don’t see many titles that seem racist for the rest of the year, so that could be a good sign!) (6/10)

281. Slap Happy Pappy (MM): 

Oh, look. There was a racist depiction of a black man inside of an egg that the Easter bunny had, that didn’t last very long at all! 

Outside of that this short is perhaps one of the most dated shorts yet. It features a rooster named Eddie who’s excited to have a son for the first time, after another failure he proceeds to run into a series of 1940 celebrity caricatures I couldn’t recognize, to help him succeed. Apparently, one of them is supposed to be Bing Crosby helps out, and you actually don’t find out if he has a boy or not. 

I actually hate these shorts with the celebrity cameos, because it dates it far too much. I have similar problems with other shows that do this, and the short was already slow and boring to start with. Not a great one, again, pretty bad. (5/10)

282. The Bear’s Tail (MM): 

A clever little retelling of “Goldilocks and the 3 bears” mashed up with “Little Red Riding Hood.” I found it to be pretty enjoyable, and well paced. I also found the mash-up to feel rather fresh! I’ve seen a bunch of mashups of these types of stories (Hoodwinked being a more modern example) but, this felt like the plot was well organized and planned than simply something that was thrown together. 

I also noticed some Disney influence here and there (it opens with an actual book) and a bit of multi-plane camera work at the start. It felt rather ambitious, but I’m not gonna say its a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. Could definitely recommend, either way. (And, no stereotypes!) (8/10)

283. The Hardship of Miles Standish (MM): 

Myles Standish was a real guy, so I’m not sure how even loosely this adaptation of his story is, but I assume it’s pretty far from the mark. It’s a story of how Miles Standish (a pilgrim) tries to win the love of Pricilla (another Pilgrim) by having Elmer Fudd sing her a Telegram. There were actually a few gags in this that were really funny (including the very first one.) But, there were also some problematic depictions of native Americans. 

Overall, I could compare it to both “Johnny Smith and Poker Huntas” and “Pilgrim Porky” and say that this short falls somewhere in the middle of the two in terms of quality, probably a little bit more towards the quality of the former, because that too had problematic depictions of Native Americans. Good short, worth it for a few gags. (6/10)

284. Porky’s Poor Fish:

A painfully dull and boring short that almost put me to sleep. When a cat get’s into Porky’s pet shop, the fish revolt against the cat. Not much really happens. I will say there was one particularly visual gag that I found to be particularly adorable, and I loved it: Filet of Sole actually being shoes and doing a little tap dance number! Awww! Otherwise, completely forgettable, of course. (4/10)

285. You Ought to Be in Pictures: 

Out of these first 285 shorts, this is only the 3rd that I had seen before I began working on this quest to watch all of the shorts. This is an absolutely fantastic short that clearly had a lot of influence on the industry later on down the line, with things such as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” being clearly inspired by it.

The story is pretty cool, with Porky and Daffy going from being on a sheet of paper, to entering into the real world. (The 3rd time this has been done in a Looney Tune) but, this is absolutely fantastic, because the effect really works. Daffy convinces Porky to quit his job as a cartoon to pursue feature films, and Porky tries to make it big. It’s fun, it’s cool, it’s fast paced, and it’s by and large the one of the most ambitious short in the entire Looney Tunes series (and it succeeds at that ambition to boot!)

This is definitely one of my personal favorite shorts, and I think it’s a bonafide classic already, but I can definitely say this is among the greatest ever made. (10/10)

 

286. Sniffles Takes a Trip (MM): 

Sniffles (you guessed it) takes a trip, into the country side. While this is very, very, light on humor and story, it’s a perfectly innocent little cartoon.

I realize that that might sound like I’m giving this a free pass for no reason, but really, other shorts like this clearly weren’t as set in stone tonally as this one was. It very clearly wasn’t trying to be overly goofy at times. It’s just a quiet nice little short that doesn’t do anything too crazy. It’s perfect harmless and there’s not much in terms of actual issues. 

Of course, if you’re not into “cute and innocent” it wouldn’t be for you, but I think this one is a great example of the producers clearly knowing the tone. This feels like yet another step in the right direction! (8/10)

287. A Gander at Mother Goose (MM): 

I am going to be writing down my thoughts on this in real time, in a bit of change of pace, here we go! 

It starts off off with some good and cute animation, just quick Mother Goose story jokes. The gags seem to be pretty cute and funny at times! Much like the previous short, the tone seems to be pretty on point. The jokes are plentiful and interesting...including one of a recurring gag I’ve noticed where dogs are obsessed with trees, supposedly to pee on? 

I’m not sure how much of these count as “Mother Goose” stories? The 3 Little Pigs, Little Hiawatha, T’was the Night Before Christmas? Well, I-annnnd it’s over. 

Well, it was short and sweet. Kinda cute. Can’t say I enjoyed this format, but I did enjoy this short. I hope things continue this level of quality! (7.5/10)

288. The Chewin’ Bruin: 

One thing that I really hate (with few exceptions) is when the title of something clearly came first, and then the story was built around it. This is not an exception, because it’s about a dog who hunts a bear who really wants his chewing “tobacky.” I refuse to believe the title didn’t come first on this one.

Other than that, it was unremarkable. The animation was a little bit better than usual on a Porky Pig short (Oh, he was in this, but just barely) but, otherwise forgettable nonsense. (6/10)

289. Tom Thumb in Trouble (MM): 

This is a cute and sweet little short about little Tom Thumb, and how a bird saves his life, and how he goes searching for it after his father misunderstands. The short has great animation, and works on multiple other levels. It’s not trying to be funny or absurdist, it’s just trying to tell a story. And, really that’s all I ask for. Fantastic! (8/10)

290. Circus Today (MM): 

I normally love the aesthetic and feel of the circus, but this just didn’t do it for me. It’s just a very thorough series of gags revolving around circus tropes. Not many of the gags landed for me, and a lot of them were gags from previous shorts. In fact, I saw quite a few of the punchlines coming, merely because I had seen the exactly same joke before. Not a big fan of this circus. Stop clowning around! (Come to think of it, I can’t recall seeing any clowns. What an awful sin!) (5/10)

291. Porky’s Baseball Broadcast: 

A painfully average short, that really just consists of Porky being an announcer for a baseball game. Most of the jokes don’t land. Although, the few that did made me laugh out loud. I think a baseball fan would enjoy this a lot more than I did, and I ain’t no baseball fan. Next! (5/10)

292. Little Blabbermouse (MM): 

This one caught me a little off guard. It’s really just another one of those “random objects come to life in a store” shorts that I hate so much, but it’s framed in a rather unique way. Instead of being a disembodied voice that’s explaining everything, it’s an actual character. In this case, a W.C. Fields mouse. I would say that this slight change actually helps with improve the overdone plot quite a bit.

Sadly, there is also retreading to. A lot of songs such as “We’re in the Money” and “Singin’ in the Bathtub” are sung in this, among others, these were already included in full in previous shorts that were like this. It’s a quick medley of songs here, but it still feel awfully familiar, even if it has been 10 years since any of those songs were used.

I wanna say this short wasn’t very good, but I think I genuinely enjoyed it. The animation was nice too. If you haven’t seen any of the other shorts like this, this may be a good alternative. Probably the best of this “genre” outside of “Billboard Frolics” from a couple years back. (7/10)

293. The Egg Collector (MM): 

This short is more or less a remake of 1939’s “Little Brother Rat” but, the story is changed in a few major ways, and I think it’s a lot better overall because of it. 

First of all, the original short featured a rather rebellious little Sniffles, but here he is depicted as much more sweet and innocent. In both shorts, he goes after an owl egg for a collection of some sort. The designs of the owl, and the baby owl are both the same, but a bookworm character (from the short “Sniffles and the Bookworm”) joins him. It’s an interesting little story, and it doesn’t have the rather odd ending of the original short either where a cat attacks.

It’s an interesting short just for comparisons sake, but overall well done. Much like “Sniffles Takes a Trip” is innocent and harmless, and it works perfectly well tonally. A couple of jokes got a chuckle out of me too. Overall, pretty good! (8/10)

294. A Wild Hare (MM): 

We’re finally here. Bugs Bunny has officially entered the building! Hooray! As has the hunter version of Elmer Fudd! Huzzah!

Much like the last short, this short has a lot of similarities to a previous short, this time the previous short being “Elmer’s Candid Camera.” A lot of what happens is remarkably similar throughout the entire thing. Now, I could also chalk this up to formulaic storytelling, but I can’t quite tell at this point. It seemed much more like they took another stab at the dynamic between Elmer and a Rabbit, and this time it worked a lot better.

Really, the jokes landed (mostly) and there was just a lot of cool moments that are interesting to look back on. For example, Bugs Bunny’s first line EVER is “What’s Up, Doc?” Which is pretty crazy considering it would be his most well known line ever. Moreover, almost all of the pieces of the puzzle that would later make up these Bugs vs. Elmer shorts are here. This is the true blueprint of what’s to come, and it took a long time to get here.

I think this is a great short, but perhaps there’s a bit too much that relies on the novelty. I can say that I really enjoyed it though, and I can’t wait for the next short of this kind! (9/10)

“Guess who?”

295. Ghost Wanted (MM): 

This reminded me quite a bit of Casper the Friendly ghost shorts (which are NOT Looney Tunes, in case you are wondering) in terms of character design as well as general overall atmosphere. The actual cartoons for Casper didn’t launch until around 1945, but he existed in a comic book or children’s book before then. Regardless, I don’t think it’s a rip-off by any means.

i thought the shorts was kind of boring. The pacing was a a little down compared to other shorts from era, so it didn’t really shine bright in that department. Even the story: A ghost tries to get a job (I guess?) and the interviewer (also a ghost) screws with him. I just thought it was a pretty run of the mill short, with perhaps some good animation. (7/10)

296. Patient Porky: 

Well, uh that certain was, uh “Looney.” Really, this one was a mess, and I really couldn’t follow too much of what was going on. It’s basically a bunch of hospital jokes, and then it follows a seemingly insane cat who tries to perform surgery on Porky. The jokes were weak, and the entire thing just bored and confused me as to what exactly I was supposed to be following. Oh, and there was a black stereotype, again. This time as an elevator Bellhop. Weak. (4/10)

297. Ceiling Hero (MM): 

A comprehensive account of every terrible joke about airplanes you can possibly imagine. (The list of good jokes can be found in the film Airplane!) It just goes on and on and on, with none of the jokes landing. None of them were funny, and this is by far the worst of this type of short so far (where it’s all pun and no story) simply because it doesn’t stray from the subject matter at all, and a lot of the jokes are seen coming from a mile away. Abysmal. (3/10)

Oh, and the fact that THIS monstrosity was in the short doesn’t help either.

298. Malibu Beach Party (MM): 

“Jack Bunny” holds a party for the Hollywood elite of 1940. Not much really happens except for jokes revolving around said celebrities, and if you have no idea who they are supposed to be caricatures of, the entire thing falls apart. I recognized Clark Gable (who has big ears, his only defining characteristic in these shorts) and someone who I think, maybe, was Peter Lorre.

And, I have heard of Jack Benny, and I was fascinated to find out that a very common black stereotype you see in these shorts (a black man who calls everyone “Boss”) is actually supposed to be a reference to Rochester, a character from the Jack Benny Program. Interesting, but also the depiction is still given that “Black man with big pink lips” caricature, that’s pretty terrible looking. 

I would say that with few exceptions, this is one of the most dated shorts. Too much relying on jokes that barely anybody would know today. (3/10)

299. Calling Dr. Porky: 

Uh. Ummm. Okay? This was something. I guess the story is that there’s a drunk who goes to the hospital because he’s hallucinating the fact that 3 ghost elephants keeping harassing him. Porky plays the doctor who’s there to help him. I really don’t understand what exactly they were going for with this one. I was really left scratching my head trying to figure out what exactly was going on the whole time, because I couldn’t discern what it all was supposed to mean. This was entirely incomprehensible, and not funny. (2.5/10)

300. Stage Fright (MM): 

The 300th short! And a disappointing one at that! Another short that’s pretty confusing. (Am I going crazy?) This time its about the two little dogs from some of the previous shorts. In this one instead of a house or a carnival, they are back stage at...some sort of variety show? The spend the entire time trying to get a bone and wind up having to deal with a bird that lives in a magicians hat, and a seal. Not much really happens, it’s really random and not in a good way. I really don’t know what’s up with these. (4/10)

301. Prehistoric Porky:

Okay, this one was a bit more sensical, and at least had a bit of sense in terms of where it was going, and a few good jokes. If the title didn’t make it obvious, Porky is a caveman, and he wants a new suit (a weird direction to go in...) so he goes hunting. It works well enough, but there’s a repetitive running gag where all the dinosaurs that look ferocious are actually just silly weaklings. Most of the jokes are like this, and it’s not really very funny even the first time, but the final bit did add a bizarre twist that made me kinda laugh because it was so weird. Overall, kinda of middle of the road. (6/10)

302. Holiday Highlights (MM):

I was expecting a Christmas special of some sort, but instead I got an interesting retrospective of different Holidays throughout the year. While most of the jokes were just repeats of similar jokes I’ve seen before (such as the ever popular “dogs love trees” joke, which appeared TWICE in this short) there were a couple that threw me for a loop. 

In particular, there was a joke about a successful student getting a degree, leaving university, and then immediately getting in a Bread Line (this did come out during the Great Depression after all) AND THEN, he sees the professor who gave him the degree ALSO ahead of him in line. Probably one of the strongest and most relevant jokes to date, because besides the direct breadline reference, it’s still pretty true in today’s society.

Overall, there were good parts, and a few “eh” parts, so I’d say it’s a little better than middle of the road (and hey, at least it tried!) (6.5/10)

303. Goodnight Elmer (MM): 

I really liked this one! It invokes a lot of silent film humor (the short itself is primarily sound effects and music, with no words spoken at all except for a scream at the end) into this neat little story about Elmer Fudd trying to deal with a candle that’s keeping him from falling asleep. (The story itself reminded me quite a bit of “ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Fantasia.)

Some of the elements seemed a little too silly at times (which is saying a lot) and a joke or two went on a bit longer than it probably should have. But, it still worked really well as a cohesive package. A few jokes actually made me laugh out loud too. It’s interesting to see a short try something different because I can’t recall many other shorts that went for this style of humor. What a great time. (8/10)

304. The Sour Puss: 

This cartoon seems pretty focused, and doesn’t go off the rails too much, which is good. It’s a decent story about Porky and his cat going on a fishing trip, and how the fish screws around with them (a recurring theme in these shorts is animals on hunting trips screwing with the hunter) and it’s done pretty well, with a lot of originality. I can’t say it’s an amazing short, because the humor wasn’t really all that well done (and it repeats the “animal shooting itself in the head” gag) and it felt a little lack luster because of it. Oh, and some racist caricature of a Asian actor appears at the end. (5/10)

Yeah, it happened again...

305. Wacky Wildlife (MM):

Yet another “documentary” short. This time it’s about various animals across the world. And, yet again, we get mostly terrible puns and stupid jokes. I’ll admit that a couple of them were funny, but some of them went on for so long that I was finally able to rationalize the problem with a lot of the pacing:

If you wait too long to get to the punchline, the audience is gonna figure out the joke before it comes.This was largely the case throughout the short, because so many of the jokes had been done before. Case in point: It ends with yet another dog being obsessed with trees for some reason. Overall, this short isn’t very good. (4.5/10)

306. Bedtime for Sniffles (MM): 

Sniffles tries to stay awake in order to see Santa on Christmas Eve, and a bunch of simple jokes take place where he tries to stay awake. I personally felt that this short tried a little too hard to be “cute” and it took a little bit away from it. Especially towards the beginning. But, there is a lot of creative set design inside of Sniffles’ house, and the jokes are really genuine at times. I can’t really rag on it too much, it’s just not the best I’ve seen out of the character. (6/10)

307. Porky’s Hired Hand: 

Porky’s Hens have been being stolen by a fox, so he hires an incompetent fool to watch over them for him, ultimately, the fox winds up tricking the fool and getting himself trapped in an incubator room. I didn’t really think this short was anything special. There weren’t any gags that were particularly funny, and it all just felt sort of dull. I don’t have much to say about it. (4/10)

308. Of Fox and Hounds (MM):

I’ve never really read or am familiar with the plot of “Of Mice and Men” but, I know the slowwitted “George” lines are meant to be a big part of it, which this includes many times, and the title references it as well. I don’t believe however that this is a direct parody of the work, but more of a short that uses a few of the same types of characters (the dullwitted character is a dog here named Willoughby (who will appear in future shorts), and the “George” is a fox.)

It’s also interesting that the short is the 2nd in a row where a slow character is outwitted by a fox. Sadly, much like the previous short, a lot of it doesn’t work, and the slowwittedness just serves to slow the short down. It also doesn’t help that 3 minutes of the short runtime is taken up by the same minute long joke on repeat (it was kinda funny he first two times...admittedly) complete with recycled animation. 

The aforementioned gag really cheapens the short, and it really speaks for the short as a whole. I really don’t think it did all that great of a job, and really just follows the “hunter” short plot I’ve mentioned a bunch already. Not great, but kind of interesting to look at in someways? I guess? (5/10)

309. The Timid Toreador: 

You just know there’s got to be offensive caricatures if it takes place in a country that doesn’t primarily have a white population. This time it takes place in Mexico, and there are stereotypes aplenty, while Porky Pig sells Tamales to the beat of “La Cookaracha.” Oh, and there’s a bull fight going on as well that Porky eventually wanders into...and yeah, this one doesn’t really have much going for it. It’s dull and uneven at many parts. Watchable, but just barely. (5/10)

310. Shop, Look and Listen (MM): 

LAST OF 1940! A sequel sort of short to “Little Blabbermouse” from earlier in the year. Sadly, it’s nowhere near as good as the first short. The short is pretty much exactly the same with the W.C. Fields mouse giving a tour. The problem is that the focus isn’t really on him (which worked well last time), but rather the stuff that he shows off. The imbalance really hurts the short quite a bit, and it feels like a cheap knock off of the original without any of the charm. In a way, it’s TOO familiar. (5/10)

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And, that’s it! Another years worth of shorts later, and I think it’s pretty clear that this year had some really high highs, but also some of the lowest of the low. It did get remarkably better in the 2nd half after “You Oughta Be in Pictures” (which is most definitely the biggest turning point in the series of shorts thus far) but, some of the old problems just keep repeating themselves. It was also nice to see the introduction of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, which is also a HUGE turning point that I never thought that I would have the patience to get to.

But, I must also say that it really saddens me as to how much they used stereotypes and racist comments as “jokes” in these old shorts. It seems to me that the picture has been painted that only 11 of the 1000 shorts were ever deemed to be “problematic” but that is most certainly not the case. Many, many, more were removed from broadcast, and they don’t get talked about because they aren’t part of the 11. I’ve seen many discussions about the Censored 11, but not about any of the other shorts that were often far worse in their depictions of ethnic stereotypes. These discussions also talk about how these shorts should be released for people to see, but they are pretty much universally terrible across the board for reasons other than their stereotyping. THE ONLY reason anyone talks about these shorts is not only because they were censored, but because they are part of a ELITE GROUP of censored shorts that are the only ones deemed worth talking about. Oh, and the shorts are terrible for other reasons as well.

My belief is that everything should be preserved when it comes to art, good or bad. But, I don’t think there should be frustration of too high of a caliber for these shorts to come back. They really don’t deserve to. Scan a transfer put on some disk format with other random shorts, and call it a day. These awful shorts deserve no fan fare or anything else of the type. 

...But, I digress. I’m excited to see what’s coming in the coming years. Just glancing at 1941, I see a few shorts I love, and Big Chungus. Oh, boy! For, now though...

- Alavem (All of Them)

Looney Tunes (Part 6): The Last of the 1930’s

Back again in record time! At long last, I’ve finished the 1930’s! What is hopefully the longest most arduous task (until the 1960’s, which is supposed to SUCK!) Otherwise, I feel like I’ve crossed a major hurdle here, and I’m excited what lies beyond the horizon. For now, here’s the reviews for the rest of the shorts for the 1930’s. (Spoiler Alert: They are mostly mediocre at best.)

I will make sure to mark titles that I found of particular interest for GREAT, WORTHWHILE, or TERRIBLE!!! (If it’s outlined in black, I didn’t really feel like the short offered much of anything, and is just harmless filler.) Merrie Melody shorts (which are shorts that don't feature a recurring character) will be denoted by an "MM" after the title. 

Disclaimer: I own none of the videos or images in any of these blogs, are they are mainly being used for review purposes.

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1938

219. Porky in Egypt:

More like “Porky in Saudi Arabia.” Really, there’s nothing in this cartoon that screams Egypt at all. All of the designs are reminiscent of something you’d see in depictions of Arabia. No pyramids, or anything that really said “Egypt.” (Maybe I’m just ignorant of Egyptian culture?) 

Anyways, not much happens in this one. Porky misses a bus-camel (or does he?) and then has to cross the desert on his came on his own. Then the camel goes crazy and starts hallucinating. I’m sure there were a bunch of references the camel made that I didn’t understand, but I thought that it was pretty funny for the randomness the camel was spouting off. Also, I was VERY surprised that the song or the melody of “The Streets of Cairo” didn’t start playing. Props to that, I guess.

220. You’re an Education (MM): 

You’re a piece of trash. I have come to despise this kind of cartoon: Random objects in a shop of sort come to life at night. And what is it this time? Characters on the covers of travel brochures around the world! UGH! It is absolutely ripe with stereotypes, and repeated and lazy animation. For the first half, all the shots are 5 second long clips or random nations and jokes based off of them. Then, for some reason a man from “Bagdad” steals diamonds from a mine. (He has the key, but apparently its still stealing.) Whatever, I’m thinking way too much about this short that probably had much less thought put into than that. Don’t watch this.

221. The Night Watchman (MM): 

I don’t talk about the Director’s enough, but this was directed by Chuck Jones, who is probably he most well known of the Looney Tunes directors, by far. This short had a few inklings of what eventually become some of his iconic jokes, with some Tom and Jerry-esque stuff in there as well! 

I wouldn’t say this short is anything groundbreaking, but it was definitely a little different than what I’m used to: A little cat takes on his father’s job as the night watchman of the kitchen and fails...before ultimately redeeming himself. It told a complete story, but there wasn’t much else to it. It felt above average, but I don’t think it’s a classic.

222. The Daffy Doc:

Cast billing is so weird. Porky Pig is stated in the credits as being the “Star” of this short, but only shows up in the last 2 minutes of the 6 minute short. The real start here is Daffy Duck, in his first(?) starring role...where he plays a “Quack” doctor. 

As much as I love the word “Quack” in relation to doctors, I found this cartoon to just be sort of alright. It’s pretty evident that they knew the character had potential, they just didn’t know what to do with him yet, and the Daffy Duck in this short is just a little too wacky for my tastes...

223. Daffy Duck in Hollywood (MM): 

Prior to this, with a single exception early on, Merry Melodies were reserved for random non-recurring characters with a random song thrown in, but apparently its not the absolute case. Here we have a character from the Looney Tunes shorts, and NO SONG! What?!? Sadly, I don’t think this was that good of a short. 

The short features Daffy Duck infiltrating a Hollywood studio, and bizarrely...Daffy Duck is barely in it, and about a 3rd of it is just stock footage they through together for a joke...not very good. 

224. Porky the Gob:

Reusing the title of “Buddy the Gob” from a few years back, and replacing it with Porky, eh? (I’m sure there will be repeat puns all about.) I don’t remember that short at all, because of how dang forgettable Buddy is, but this is probably just a little more than completely forgettable.

It “stars” Porky, as what I can only assume is a Gob. (A navy sailor) But, really features this dog-commander dude for most of it. The dog-commander dude is that special, and its odd that he’s focused on so much.

I don’t know why this guy was winking and saying “And I Dooo Mean ROCKING” at this part. Even in context, I can’t fathom what the hey this could have. 

Also, I do watch the black and white Looney Tunes shorts in black and white. Typically, I will simply go into my device settings and change the color to monotone for these shorts that are only easily found in color. Hey, look! Boomerang! It’s all coming back to me!

225. Count Me Out (MM):

Egghead sees an ad for Boxing equipment, and buys it. There really wasn’t much worth talking about here. It’s a pretty standard boxing story, and it all turned out to be a dream anyways. The only thing that made me smile was a random anecdote that the guy delivering the equipment had about a bridge being out. It made no sense, but it was so random and nonsensical, it gave me a chuckle. Next.

226. The Mice Will Play (MM): 

Last cartoon of 1938! I was really excited about the direction this seemed to be going in, but for the most part it failed to meet those expectations. A bunch of mice break into Dr. I.M Mad’s lab, and...they play with his normal Doctor stuff. Damn. I was hoping they would get into wacky antics with crazy lab equipment. 

The story then deviates into a love story where Susie Mouse is trapped in a cage. Johnny mouse saves her, and rejects her advances. 30 seconds later she tells him she loves him, and next thing you know there’s a vaudeville dance number to the wedding.

The best part is the cat that’s after the mice the whole time. He’s looming throughout the entire cartoon, and doesn’t really do anything. In the end, he overhears Susie talking about how many “Little Fat Mice” her and Johnny are gonna have, and he decides to wait because he wants more mice to eat. Dark. Overall, I think the cartoon was above average output.

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1939

227. The Lone Stranger and Porky: 

I was going to mention this in a previous review, but I suppose it’s more relevant here: There’s been a number of Lone Ranger references throughout the past few shorts. Now, I’ve really never understood the appeal of the character, but I’m sure he was rather daring for the 1930’s. Looney Tunes was really on the up and up on cashing in on his popularity.

Porky Pig doesn’t have a single line in the short, and it’s mostly about The Lone Stranger coming to save Porky. The Lone Stranger is really what the short is about, and sadly it’s not very good at that. So far as I can tell, all the jokes are standard fare, and there’s nothing in particular in there that seems like its a jab at the Lone Ranger in any way. It’s like a parody...but, it’s not because there’s no satire at all. All the jokes have been done before in previous shorts, and now it’s under the guise of a popular pop culture icon of the time. Boo.

228. Dog Gone Modern (MM): 

In this Chuck Jones directed short, two dogs wander into a “Modern Home” and antics ensue with the wacky appliances that they stumble upon. This was pretty standard fare. I usually love dogs, but this just felt tired. I didn’t really see anything new or fresh here. Best thing I can say is that, at times, they nailed dog mannerisms...at times, of course. Boo.

229. It’s an Ill Wind:

 In this short, Porky Pig and his Sailor Outfit wearing duck friend (Not, not Daffy, or Donald...but, “DIZZY DUCK”) wander through an abandoned building by the harbor while a stray dog also...does stuff. Another really boring cartoon, with not much going on in it. The most notable thing is the duck character, I suppose.

230. Hamatuer Night (MM): 

Another short that really doesn’t seem to have anything special in it. There was one joke that made me sort of smirk, but the rest was pretty bad. It was directed by Tex Avery, and you can see a lot of things in this that would eventually become his staples (having almost all the humans be dog...things...for one.) 

The story is just an amateur night at the theater, with Egghead randomly being inserted throughout (kind of a throwback to his early conceptual appearances) but, nothing of note happens until the end, where it’s revealed that the audience is nothing but Eggheads! It doesn’t make any sense, but who cares? It’s a dull short that isn’t worth much.

231. Robin Hood Makes Good (MM):

 A group of squirrels pretend to be Robin Hood and get in trouble with a Fox who wants to eat them. 1939 really is a stinker, isn’t it? Another substandard cartoon with not much worth mentioning in it. I was left wondering why we weren’t focusing on the actual Robin Hood instead of these random squirrels. Chuck Jones, who directed this short, took on Robin Hood years later with Daffy Duck and Porky, but for some reason he took the easy way out with this one...it’s visually bland and boring. Ugh.

232. Porky’s Tire Trouble:

Man, they must really hate Porky. Almost all of his Cartoon’s anymore barely feature him, despite him getting “star” status. This one features his dog “Flat Foot Flookey” following him to work at a rubber factory. There’s very little in terms of tires, and it’s primary gags are based around the dog getting covered in rubber solution and bouncing around a lot. 

If intentionally made to be a bit of a callback to more “rubber hose” type animation from a decade prior, I can see this being pretty good overall, but I doubt it was meant to be anything more than a silly gag. I still enjoyed it, it was simple enough and didn’t bore me to death...which I guess is as much as I can ask for in 1939.

233. Gold Rush Daze (MM): 

The best one in a while! It did a lot of things right, that these shorts normally do wrong. First, it told a pretty basic, yet interesting story about a prospector hound dog who goes searching for gold, where at every step, he doesn’t manage to make a claim. Interestingly, it’s told as a flashback, which is a kind of storytelling these shorts don’t do much either. 

In addition, there’s a song in this Merry Melody, which is something that hasn’t been in them much lately, and something I usually hate. However, it’s done VERY well here, because the song is actually relevant to the situation, and I felt actually helped accentuate the atmosphere of the story. It’s just a little song about Gold Mining. I suppose it helped that the music was actually being played.

Overall, I wouldn’t say it was fantastic or anything, but I certainly think its a lot better than what I’ve come to expect. I did some things differently, and deserves a little bit of praise for that. The bar is set pretty low though, so if you watch this on it’s own, don’t expect much.

234. Porky’s Movie Mystery:

Sigh. You’d think that something with that title would be great, but you’d be mistaken. In what is apparently a parody of the “Mr. Moto” movie series, Porky plays a stereotype of a Japanese secret agent in search of a mysterious phantom who haunts movie sets at “Warmer Brothers.” (Not to be unexpected, but the actual movies being represented aren’t Warner movies at all, but rather Universal Monsters and Fox.)

The story doesn’t really partake in much in terms of parodying movies, with large chunks being devoted to single gags that don’t amount to much. In the end, the phantom is revealed to be a long forgotten celebrity from the time: Hugh Hubert.

The problem with this one, is that a lot of the gags are severely dated. I really created this to give my opinions on these shorts, and not really go super in depth. In terms of opinion, I tend to stray towards the negative if these shorts rely too heavily on pop culture of the time for it’s gags. Sadly, this one just doesn’t work in that regard.

235. A Day at the Zoo (MM): 

Another one that was pretty decent! It’s really just a nature-documentary-esque short that takes place at a zoom. There’s just joke after joke about animals at the zoo. Most of them were just dumb puns, but I found them to be charming, if a little bit lame. I didn’t get a few of the jokes, but that’s okay. I found this one to be better than average, because it had a lot of focus, and didn’t outstep it’s scope, or try to tell a big story halfway through. 

236. Prest-O Change-O (MM):

The two dogs from “Dog Gone Modern” return! What! And this time they are in a different house. (I guess that’s their schtick...going into houses.) The house is the home of a magician, and they get into all sorts of wacky antics. 

The short also features “Happy Rabbit”, the character that is a prototypical version of Bugs Bunny. Unlike in his first appearance, “Porky’s Hare Hunt, he is taller, and bizarrely enough, ACTS like Bugs Bunny. Of course, there are some weird differences,  but the mannerisms and absurd brand of humor is on point. Huzzah!

It’s nice to be able to watch a short that actually has an inkling of what most people expect when they hear “Looney Tunes.” Now, the rest of the short is kinda “meh” altogether, so me liking it has a lot more to do with the aforementioned rabbit than anything. Really, the short’s problem is that it is soooo slow. It really needs to pick up the pace and not linger on the same gags for most of the time. That’s the real test. Hopefully it picks up soon.

There he is! (I got this from a YouTube page that apparently sees a reason to watermark an public domain short? Yeah, “Kiss Cartoon” this belongs to everyone! This is a review, ya schmucks.)

237. Chicken Jitters: 

Another Porky Pig cartoon. He’s a chicken farmer. Not much really happens, except for a kinda cool fight with a Fox at the end. I really don’t have much to say about this one. I wish I did. It’s a genuinely completely forgettable short otherwise.

238. Bars and Stripes Forever (MM): 

Wow! This actually made me chuckle a few times! It’s really just a short about a prison, and a convict that escapes, but there are some really good jokes in there. (Including a particularly dark one about an electric chair.) The absurdist humor is really on point, and is again, a good sign that things will probably be getting a lot better soon! This is very promising! Probably one of the first shorts of 1939 that I can genuinely recommend! :D

239. Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur (MM): 

Another relatively decent cartoon, that reminiscent of what you expect from a Looney Tunes shorts, with a few stumbles that knock it down quite a bit. It’s essentially an “Elmer Fudd Hunting” short but, with a caveman hunting Daffy Duck. 

The problem lies in the pacing primarily, spending wayyy too much on certain jokes. Towards the end there’s a gag about signs advertising duck as a great me. This gag goes on for at least a minute...and it just keeps going and going. The short is only about 7 minutes long, so that’s particularly worrisome. 

But, the reminiscence is what’s key here. It’s cool to see everything come together with these shorts so quickly. Definitely a lot of fine tuning...but, hey, the animation on the dinosaur that the caveman had was pretty good! 

Very fluid and interesting animation, that isn’t just lazy. There’s definitely more thought put into this bit of animation than most early shorts.

240. Porky and Teabiscuit: 

I enjoyed this one. For once, it actually told a story, and wasn’t overly focused on one thing for too long. It’s just Porky getting scammed into buying an awful race horse, and (SHOCK) the horse winds up winning the race. I don’t have too much to say about it. It wasn’t particularly funny, but it kept my attention enough. I can’t complain about it in any way. Just sort of average, maybe a little above?

241. Thugs With Dirty Mugs (MM): 

Another one that was pretty enjoyable. It’s a little sort of gangster short, with a celebrity impression of that guy that goes “It’s like this, see? Gotta be cool, see?” as the main character. I thought it was fun to watch, and it had pacing that was actually quite good.

Some of the jokes were really good too. I laughed at 2 sequential jokes! What?! That’s unheard of for these shorts so far! And, I thought the gag for how they found who the killer was to be clever as well: An irritated audience member watching the cartoon just tells the cop straight out where the killer is headed. Overall, I think this was pretty good. I’m definitely able to recommend it.

242. Kristopher Kolumbus Jr.: 

Oh, boy. You can probably tell there are problems with this one just by the title. And, there are! This isn’t a “censored 11” cartoon, but it’s still pretty racist towards Native Americans (gasp) and treats them as if Christopher Columbus is a big celebrated hero to them. Poor Porky Pig probably doesn’t even realize that he was playing someone who was guilty of mass genocide.

But, besides all that, the cartoon is slow and boring, with no jokes that garnered even a smirk. This feels like a cartoon from Early Porky days that just got held back for what would be obvious reasons today. Definitely the worst in a while for many reasons.

243. Naughty But Mice (MM):

The first appearance of the character Sniffles the Mouse! Evidentially, his name is based off the fact that he has a cold in this first short, but I’m not sure how much that continues in the future.

Anyways, the short is just kinda slow and weird. The design of Sniffles is definitely a lot better than other designs, so it’s clear that this guy sticks out in the crowd, but yeah...I really think they must have been drunk when they came up with this idea (by they, I mean Chuck Jones) and I mean no disrespect. 

The story is tiny mouse Sniffles walking into a drug store after hours, and drinking some medicine that’s very high alcohol content, and then he proceeds to get drunk with a living electric razor. Is the razor really alive? Probably. But, it gets drunk too, don’t worry. The absurdity of the situation made me chuckle, but other than that, I didn’t really super enjoy this one. 

Yeah...I don’t know what they were thinking when they made this one.

244. Polar Pals:

Porky Pig is living on the North Pole with (sigh) Polar Bears and Penguins. A Poacher comes along, and they stop him. Not much of anything else happens in this not-very-funny short. Didn’t exactly blow me away, at all. 

245. Hobo Gadget Band (MM):

I wound up liking this more as it went along. There isn’t much plot here...just hobos riding the rails, getting kicked off, and then playing a song.

What really stuck out to me, crazy enough, was the song! I usually hate the songs in these, but this one was genuinely pretty okay. I’d say it’s *almost* worth watching the whole thing, but...not quite.

Plus, I’m a bit of a stickler for hobos. I find them quirky and fun to see the antics of. Personally, I like it, but I don’t think many others would.

246. Believe It Or Else (MM): 

Oh, Lordy. This Parody of “Ripley’s Believe it Or Not” is pretty damn awful. I actually didn’t enjoy a single moment of this. None of the jokes landed for me, and I just wanted it to end. It was just “weird thing” after “weird thing” with no plot or substance. Ugh. Also, apparently this was the last appearance of Egghead, all future appearance would be as his fully developed Elmer Fudd persona.

247. Scalp Trouble:

Oh, no. The title really says it all. The stereotypes and treatment of Native Americans is really troublesome here. The plot is really just a war with Native Americans, and that’s it. Many truly awful moments, and at least one particular moment where a solider sings a song while he happily shoots natives. That’s some dark “jokes” that I’ve only seen a few of in my time reviewing these.

Otherwise, it’s notable for being the first time that Daffy is given billing (as in he is listed as a “star”) but, he shares such status with Porky. Otherwise, this is a completely trash short that should probably be left unseen. Unless you are curious. Really, it’s nothing special. Don’t watch.

248. Old Glory (MM):

 For perhaps the first time, one of these shorts is meant to be taken completely seriously. There isn’t a joke to be found in this short, just a nice patriotic short with Porky Pig (bizarrely appearing in a Merry Melodies short) learning about the history of the United States.

Glossing over history aside, I found some of the moments to be truly well-meaning. It’s a great example of something that makes you feel proud to live in the United States, which is particularly difficult in 2020. 

In another odd circumstance, aside from Porky himself (who is very cute and in color for the first time in a while) every other character in the short, primarily comprised of flashback characters, are rotoscoped. It’s well done, and not as particularly jarring as one would expect from Rotoscoping, but the characters do look a little creepy and overly realistic compared to what you’d expect from the cartoons.

Overall, I’d say it’s pretty great. I would imagine that this is up there with a number of classic shorts. I would say there are some things that make it dated, but it’s a great short to help you feel good about the US when nothing else can.

249. Porky’s Picnic: 

Porky and his girlfriend Petunia go on a Picnic...and it just gets weirder from there. A baby (who I guess is Porky’s nephew from a short from awhile back...) named Pinky comes along, and he’s just the most insane character I’ve seen in these shorts so far (it’s a shame he didn’t catch on, although I think he’s a rip-off of Swee’ Pea from Popeye...)

Pinky is really the star of this short. His tomfoolery is insane. He spends a good portion of the short um, trying to cut the head off of a squirrel with Scissors. I was left agape for that entire scene confused out of my mind at this sadistic child. He then decides he wants to hit Porky with a 2x4, and then he wanders into a zoo where he nearly gets eaten by an alligator and a lion. 

Holy crap. That baby was amazing to watch. I feel so disappointed that apparently he never appears again. I suppose the violence was really far ahead of it’s time (and still kinda is with the sadistic nature of the the violence at parts.) I recommend this solely based off of Pinky alone. He’s probably my favorite character that’s only appeared once, or apparently twice...maybe.

250. Dangerous Dan McFoo (MM):

An unremarkable short about a little dog man boy thing...and how he fights in the Yukon (or somewhere north) against another dog man who wants his lady. There was a brief gag at the start that made me smile, but it was otherwise completely forgettable. (OH, and the dog has the same voice as Elmer Fudd, so it would get transposed onto Elmer sometime soon.) ALSO: I’m 25% through these shorts as of this one!!!

251. Snowman’s Land (MM): 

Ah, my least favorite Super Mario 64 level! But, also a pretty awful Merry Melodies cartoon from 1939. This one again features a snowy wilderness, with Mounties in the northwest territory. One rather goofy looking Mounty is charged with looking for a criminal, and “antics” ensue.

Now, when I saw “goofy looking” I mean that he is pretty much Goofy. Complete with laugh, voice, and overall mannerisms. It really harkens back to the old days of these cartoons, where Disney rip-offs were extremely common place, and you couldn’t go a single short without seeing some sort of rip-off design or character.

It’s a shame too. I actually love Canadian Mounties (Dudley Do-Right is amazing.) But, this short really didn’t do the comedic possibilities of Mounties to any sort of interesting extent. I was disappointed all around. Not worth anyone’s time, except mine, because apparently I like pain.

252. Wise Quacks: 

Daffy and his wife(?!?) are expecting and Porky Pig comes to celebrate the birth with them, and one of the newborns is carried off by a Buzzard. Oh, and Daffy gets drunk from not being able to handle being a dad. That’s something that happens. 

It seems to me that there’s a recurring theme around the baby characters being the best lately. The baby duck that’s captured has a lot of the funniest lines in the short (aside from a random line that dog at the start has.) I’m not sure why this is, but maybe one of the writer’s had a baby recently, and they are really have babies on the mind? I’m not sure.

Anyways, I found the short to be very enjoyable overall. The baby made me laugh or smile with literally every line it had, and there were a few other jokes that made me smile. The story was actually present, and they didn’t focus on any gag for too long. It was fast paced, but not quite as fast as you’d expect. A pretty good one.

253. Hare-um Scare-um (MM): 

I have a few things to say about this one. For starters, it’s a pretty standard “Hunting” short that are pretty common, but it also features “Happy Rabbit” yet again, this time looking extraordinarily like Bugs Bunny, but acting a bit out of character, yet. He acts like 1939 Daffy Duck, complete with the same catchphrase. He also have Woody Woodpecker’s laugh (and if you don’t know, Woody is NOT a Looney Tunes character.)

The short itself isn’t too bad, but it feels kinda stale. Pretty much the same sort of gags we see out of these “hunting” shorts from the 30’s. At one point Bugs...I mean, “Happy Rabbit” sings a song, and I actually really liked it, and it made me sort of see why they really pushed the character as their main star later on. Probably the most “magical” moment any of these characters have had (even if it was completely out of character.

One weird thing to note is that apparently there was a “lost ending” that was later found and restored. The difference is the gag goes on for another 20 seconds...and the lost ending is pretty bad. No wonder why the cut it. 

254. Detouring America (MM): 

A short “documentary” type short about the United States. Aside from a few sight gags, the short is pretty unremarkable. In fact, there are several offensive stereotypes of African Americans as well as Native Americans, making this a double decker bologna sandwich...in other words, not very good.

255. Porky’s Hotel: 

Another cartoon with a duck wearing sailor outfit! Not Daffy, or Donald, or Dizzy, but *ANOTHER* duck named “Gabby” who sadly is the focus of this short. You’d think it would be about Porky owning a hotel, but that’s just the setup for this little duck kid chasing around a fly and annoying the hell out of a goat guest at the hotel. And, annoying the hell out of me in the process. There wasn’t anything remarkable about this short, except it was a little annoying to find online. 

256. Little Brother Rat (MM):

Sniffles is back, and he is on a scavenger hunt after tearing a cat’s whisker off to fulfill the latest part of it. Now he needs an owl egg, and his attempts to get it are the focus of the short. Really, not that bad. Except Sniffles is pretty awful in how he treats the other animals for the sake of completing his scavenger hunt. The story went along nicely, and didn’t really hit any bumps, but it lacked any really solid jokes. Overall, I’d say it’s average.

257. Sioux Me (MM): 

Aside from some rather rough stereotyping of native Americans, I found this short to be interesting. Far from the worst short I’ve seen. It’s about a Native American rainmaker trying to get it to rain. Not much in terms of laughs or anything, but it kept my attention, and felt sort of vaguely memorable. Overall, I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. Sue me.

258. Jeepers Creepers: 

I enjoyed some of this short. The story is just Porky Pig entering a haunted house, and a ghost that tries (and succeeds) at haunting him. There’s not much in terms of jokes, again, something that’s been pretty lacking lately in general.

The real start of the show was indeed, the ghost though. He’s a cool design, and he’s actually pretty adorable. He even gets a neat little song! Aw!

The main thing I didn’t like? The short has a black face joke at the end when Porky gets mud all over the ghost. Oof. It ends on this note, and so does this review. 

259. Land of the Midnight Fun (MM):

Ugh. This one was rough. It lacked any sort of concrete focus, and felt like the mashed two ideas for a short into one. It starts with a boring series jokes about a cruise liner, and then they arrive in Nome, Alaska (solely for the sake of the “There’s no place like Nome” gag that’s been done to death these days, but probably was rather clever in September 1939, a month after the Wizard of Oz came out, if it is even meant to be a reference to that.)

Overall, none of the jokes were funny, and the lack of focus REALLY hurt it. It meandered from place to place with little rhyme or reason. I disliked this one quite a bit.

260. Naughty Neighbors: 

Not much going on in this one! It’s a Hatfield’s vs. McCoy’s parody (done several times in previous years) and there’s not much new substance here. Apparently they stopped fighting because of something Porky did, and 50% of the short focuses on a dumb song about how everybody is friends now. They pretty much immediately start fighting again after the song is over. No funny jokes, not much here worth celebrating. Oh, and apparently there are more of these “Hatfield McCoy” shorts coming...GREAT!

261. The Little Lion Hunter (MM): 

Can’t go too long without a negative stereotype, can ya, Looney Tunes? This time it’s an African Boy (apparently named Inki) who is hunting a little crow, and then tries to escape a lion. Not much else happens. I was really confused by the end of it, because there wasn’t really anything going on pretty much the entire time. I can’t remember much of any “jokes” that happened either.

It must be said though: The animation in this one was top notch. Very impressive. I would argue that aside from some more artistic shorts like “Page Miss Glory” or “Old Glory” (no relation) this is the best in terms of animation thus far.

Apparently this character and bird would go on to be featured in MORE SHORTS later on down the line for some Godforsaken Reason. I can’t really fathom why. Apparently they aren’t banned or anything either (although this one was apparently removed from circulation) so, maybe the depictions got better? We’ll have to wait and see...

262. The Good Egg (MM):

An infertile mother hen decides she rather die than never have chicks, so she decides to go to the river and kill herself...

...And after that dark opening, it turns into a rather bland story about how she finds a turtle egg, hatches it, and it saves some chicks from drowning the joke is that he’s a life guard. HAHAHAHA! Really though, completely forgettable.

263. Fresh Fish (MM): 

AHHHH! The puns! They were so bad! I actually cringed at some of the jokes (something I probably should have been doing for awhile) but, they were just non-stop stupid fish puns in a documentary-style showcase of stupidity at the bottom of the sea. There’s not much else to this one, it’s a show case of stupidity at bottom of the barrel of quality of these shorts.

264. Pied Piper Porky: 

Porky WAS the Pied Piper, but then he fails to catch a mouse/rat (They call it both) who breaks his pipe, and then a cat chases it for the last 4 minutes of the short. Pretty unremarkable. Really, I have very little to say about this one. It was boring and forgettable. Oh, and the mouse/rat is pretty obviously a black stereotype in mouse form. 

265. Fagin’s Freshman (MM): 

A little cat, named Blacky (Oof) is apparently a delinquent because he turned on the radio while his family was singing and then he has a dream (Whoops, spoilers!) where he goes to a school ran by “Fagin” to teach kids to be criminals. It was...interesting! It kept my attention with a rather unique story, which is more credit than I can give most of these shorts. Otherwise mostly forgettable. 

266. Porky the Giant Killer: 

This one put me to sleep. So dreadfully boring. Even watching it again when I woke up, it was still extremely boring. Porky goes to a Giant’s lair...and doesn’t even really get to the point of trying to kill it. Instead, it’s about the Giant’s Baby. And, no...the baby isn’t interesting like other babies in these shorts have been lately, it’s literally just an annoying baby. If you want to fall asleep, this might be useful, but otherwise fugettaboutit!

267. Sniffles and the Bookworm (MM): 

Sniffles is back! I would probably say this is his best short yet, but it’s kinda weak at the start before it really picks up: Sniffles is sleeping by a book when a book worm comes across him, and the worm is scared so he calls upon his friends that live in books...some Peter Pan/Robin Hood/Pied Piper looking dude, and a barbarian to take down this HUGE mouse...but, they realize the truth!

The short then picks up greatly with this little jazz number bizarrely called “It’s Mutiny in the Nursery” and all the characters in the books come to life. It’s definitely the highlight of this short that’s otherwise pretty lackluster. The song is a definitely the product of it’s time, but it has a sort of charm to it that other shorts don’t. It’s sort of whimsical in a way? Not sure what exactly makes it better, but it probably has to do with he fact that the song is, I dunno, actually good? The short is actually good too. 

268. Screwball Football (MM): 

A bizarre little short that’s just a bunch of football related jokes and visual puns. I didn’t really find it to be all that great. A joke or two was particularly dark, such as a referee um, accidentally(?) shooting himself with the starting gun...and another joke that made me smile. I don’t know, it was just sort of standard fare. 

I will mention one other thing: There’s a creepy man who keeps licking an ice cream cone that a baby is holding. It’s just weird and kinda unsettling...why would the man do that?

Thankfully, the baby guns him down in the end.

269. The Film Fan: 

Porky Pig goes into a movie theater and watches...a news reel. That’s reel-y about it. There was a joke about an upcoming film called “Gone With the Breeze” which, as stupid as it sounds, I did laugh at.  Oh, and apparently, (AND THIS IS A VITAL PLOT POINT) he’s a child in this short...no indication whatsoever that he’s supposed to be one, it just sort of something you have to accept while watching it. I didn’t really care for this one.

270. The Curious Puppy (MM): 

At last! The final film of 1939, and subsequently the last of the 1930’s!

This short was the 3rd featuring the dog duo from “Dog Gone Modern” and “Prest-O Change-O” and, it’s probably about as good as the former. That is today, it has some cute dog related moments, but nothing too funny, or overly interesting. I giggled at a few dog related jokes more so because I love dogs, than because they were genuinely clever or funny. I’d say this short is just sort of run of the mill. (No pun intended.)

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

...and with that, I wrap up my exceedingly tedious quest to watch every single Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short for the 1930’s. Too bad I have another 730 cartoons left to go in the main series alone! (Yes, there are more I want to include after the initial 1,000. Mainly a few obscure ones that don’t belong in the main series, and newer shorts after the “golden age.” AND, although it’s a looong way off, I do plan on examine other series as well. I can say with certainty that the next one will be Disney shorts, but again, that’s a ways away for now.)

ANWAYS, what did I think of this batch? Well, the main takeaway I got was that there were some shorts that definitely showed extreme signs of improvement over what I’ve seen before. While some shorts were definitely hitting some major sore points for me, others were innovating in ways I haven’t really thought about before.

The biggest problem is still the pacing. FAR too many shorts are extremely slow paced, and far too many focus on the same slow gags for a stupid amount of time. But, again...there were a few outliers that showed that the creators have a willingness to step up their game. 

Seeing how 1940 (and the 1940’s) introduces many characters that I am readily familiar with, I’m excited to see what direction things will turn in. Looking at shorts for 1940 alone, I see much more in terms of shorts that I know or or have seen before. I am very much looking forward to the future. 

In essence, I am trying to get past the idea that this was clearly a transition year for these shorts. I can’t say too much about them, because they are clearly the beginning of something new and bold that is just waking up, so I can’t be too harsh. Let’s see what the future holds.

Anyways...

- Alavem (All of them.)