Farm Frolics
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Farm Frolics is a 1941 Warner Bros. cartoon in the Merrie Melodies series. It was directed by Bob Clampett, animation by Rob Scribner, and musical direction by Carl Stalling.
This is one of the cartoons that Warner would occasionally produce that featured none of its stable of characters, just a series of gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, and topical references, as a narrator (Robert C. Bruce) describes the action. Some excerpts:
- A realistic looking horse is seen, whinnying (courtesy of Mel Blanc), and a comic triple plays out: The narrator asks the horse to do a trot; the horse obliges. The narrator asks for a gallop; the horse again obliges. The narrator then asks the horse to do a "canter". The horse turns from realistic to a cartoon horse, with the bugged eyes of, and singing in the style of, the vaudeville star Eddie Cantor. The narrator admonishes the horse, who grins sheepishly.
- A hen leaves her eggs unguarded, and a mean-looking weasel stealthily creeps into the henhouse while the narrator frets. Just as he is about to grab the eggs, they all hatch at once, and the chicks shout "BOO!" in unison. The frightened weasel evokes a Joe Penner catch-phrase, "Don't ever DOOO that!" and gasps as his heart pounds.
- A recurring gag has 6 young pigs eagerly watching a clock. When it finally hits 6:00 p.m., the pigs yell "Dinnertime!" in unison and dash off to their mother, to the tune of the military "Call to the Mess Hall". She braces for the onslaught as the sucklings pile into her side. Zoom in on the mother pig's face, who speaks to the audience in the manner of ZaSu Pitts: "Oh, dear... every day, it's the same thing!" Iris-out.
[edit] See also
- Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies filmography
- List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
- Looney Tunes Golden Collection
