Through the years, a number of cartoon short subjects have provided romantic stories that pair as perfectly with Valentine’s Day as roses and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Previous Valentine’s Day articles have looked back at TV specials in 2023 and 2024 . Here, what follows are just three of many cartoon shorts, from several studios during the Golden Age o Hollywood, that could be essential viewing on February 14th.
Let Me Call You Sweetheart (1932) – The Fleischer Studio
This “Screen Songs” short, directed by Dave Fleischer, featured none other than Ethel Merman, who appears in a live-action opening.
The short then transitions to animation, with Betty Boop (Mae Questel) dressed as a housekeeper, pushing a baby in a stroller. She stops with the carriage to read a book, and Bimbo (Billy Murray), the police officer in the park, is attracted to Betty and comes over to talk with her, but she snubs him. The bench then comes to life and invites Bimbo to sit down next to Betty, but she is still not interested. Bimbo then pulls Betty close and kicks the stroller, with the baby inside of it, away.
The carriage rolls down the hill and into the water, where the baby begins rowing it, while a fish tells the baby to “stroke.” The baby then gets out of the water and begins walking through the park, stealing a hot dog from a vendor and playing with the water out of a fountain. The water winds up spraying the statue of Cupid atop the fountain, and Cupid shoots his arrow back toward Betty and Bimbo, who are now more amorous than they were before. The arrow pierces the two hearts above their head.
In the next scene, it’s night and dark in the park. The baby shines a light on Bimbo and Betty, and as the light goes out, Bimbo says, “Let me call you sweetheart, Betty.”
Ethel Merman then returns in a live-action sequence to sing the title song, inviting the audience to sing along and follow the bouncing ball over the lyrics.
The short then returns to animation for an offbeat sequence where a bird lays three eggs. One of the eggs sprouts arms, cracking the two other eggs open and then cracking itself open. After which, three yolks transform into three chicks.
A cat comes along and begins singing “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” in Ethel Merman’s voice, and then begins chasing the chicks. We return to Ethel Merman singing the last line of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” as the short ends.
This short is filled with Fleischer-style gags throughout (the baby carriage’s wheels turn into feet and begin walking when Betty decides to stop and powder her nose). As always with the studio’s work the animation is all very inventive. “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” makes for less romantic and more surrealistic Valentine’s Day viewing.
The Stupid Cupid (1944) – Warner Bros.
This short opens with Elmer Fudd (voiced by Frank Graham), as Cupid, frolicking and flying through a field. He takes one of his suction-cupped arrows, aims at and hits a bird, who not only flies off and finds his significant other, but also builds a house in a nest within seconds.
Elmer Cupid then does the same for a horse, who soars off in a blur and kisses a female horse, then neighs and flips around in love.
Elmer Cupid even has the power to make peace, as he shoots an arrow at a feuding dog and cat. After being hit, the dog begins talking like Charles Boyer, saying “I love you,” over and over. The cat replies, “Now, I’ve seen everything,” and, shockingly, pulls out a pistol and shoots themselves repeatedly as all of their nine lives disappear.
Elmer Cupid then attempts to shoot and arrow at Daffy Duck (Mel Blanc) as he bathes in a barnyard trough. Daffy rebukes, saying that Cupid hit him last year and shows an album that features a photo of a shotgun wedding and lots of pictures of kids. He tells Elmer Cupid to “take a powder” and fires Cupid off with his own bow and arrow.
The undaunted Elmer Cupid returns with a gigantic bow and arrow and fires it at Daffy, causing the duck to become amorous toward a chicken, chasing her through the barnyard, until her husband, a rooster, confronts him.
Daffy asks for forgiveness and blames “that stupid Cupid.” He is forgiven and begins walking away, until Elmer Cupid hits him again, and Daffy soars back into the barn and begins kissing the chicken again, coming in between her and the rooster, as the short ends.
Directed by Frank Tashlin, who would go on to helm such live-action films as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (1957), and written by Warren Foster, a king of cartoon gags, Stupid Cupid is filled with fast paced humor that whirs by as fast as the characters themselves (Daffy’s photos of his kids include one child with two heads and an egg that hasn’t hatched, yet). It’s also interesting and fun to see Elmer here take a turn as the antagonist. Stupid Cupid is all-out fun, so indicative of this Looney Tunes era that it makes for an outlandish Valentine’s Day alternative.
Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet (1946) – Disney
Originally featured in Make Mine Music (1946) and later released as a short, this is “A Love Story Sung by The Andrews Sisters.”
The two title characters, anthropomorphized hats, meet in the window of a department store. Johnnie “would serenade Alice of a beautiful palace, of a beautiful hatbox for two.”
But Alice is purchased from the window, leaving Johnnie alone and in despair. Johnnie is eventually purchased, and while out atop a man’s head, he searches for Alice, who sees him and calls out one day amidst a crowd.
Johnnie catches the wind and flies after Alice but gets lost in the breeze and is tossed around the city streets. Now, a disheveled hat, he is picked up by a disheveled gentleman, and Johnnie soon finds himself in a bar brawl.
He’s left by the trash and once again blows around the wintry city streets. Still yearning for Alice, he returns to the department store window. From here, he’s about to be washed down a sewer, when an iceman rescues him, cuts holes in his brim and places him atop the horse that pulls the ice truck…and Alice is on the horse right next to him, in the short’s happy ending.
Directed by Jack Kinney, Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet is filled with lovely, full animation, as well as well-crafted backgrounds of a turn-of-the-last-century setting in New York City.
Also, animators, such as Cliff Norberg and John Sibley, were able to craft Johnnie and Alice as full personalities (not easy to do with headwear).
Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet also provides a nice message, as The Andrews Sisters sing at the conclusion:
“You Johnnie Fedoras, you Alice Bluebonnets
Whenever you find yourself blue
You’ll find it’s June in December, if you’ll just remember
That true love will come smiling through.”
And so there is an eclectic trio of classic cartoon shorts to pair with your Valentine’s Day. Of course, there are so many more “love”-ly shorts out there – feel free to mention some of your favorites in the comments.
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
I’ve seen a fair few cartoons about policemen flirting with pram-pushing nannies, for example Van Beuren’s “In the Park” (1933). It must have been one of the few perks to walking a beat.
As for Cupid cartoons, I suppose the best one would certainly have to be the Pastoral Symphony segment from “Fantasia”, as the little winged arrow-slingers help the multicoloured centaurs and centaurettes find love in Arcadia. Falling far short of the Disney standard is the Van Beuren Rainbow Parade cartoon “Cupid Gets His Man” (1936). This one has a whole army of Cupids, all wearing the red jackets and broad-brimmed hats of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — and nothing at all below the waist. Their mission: to spark a romance between feuding neighbours Edna Mae Oliver and W. C. Fields. In the end, old Doc Stork blesses the happy couple with quintuplets, I guess because it’s Canada in the 1930s.
Happy Friday the Thirteenth, all you lovebirds!
One of my all-time favorites is “Puppy Love” from 1933 starring Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the ultimate lovers’ quarrel. Their courtship also undergoes a strain in “Mickey’s Rival” but finds a satisfactory outlet in “The Brave Little Tailor” and also in “The Nifty Nineties.” Donald Duck meets proto-Daisy in “Don Donald,” while the more popular version of Daisy debuts in “Mr. Duck Steps Out.” “Cured Duck” and “Crazy Over Daisy” show other aspects of their relationship. “Donald’s Double Trouble” shows the relationship from Donald’s point of view, while “Donald’s Dilemma” gives Daisy’s perspective. And :Donald’s Diary” gives us a peek at what married life might hold in store for Donald and Daisy. “Pluto’s Quin-Puplets” is another look at the downside of marital bliss and the Goofy cartoon “How to Dance” could be a treatise on preparing for courtship.
As for the features, there are several prime bits. “Two Silhouettes” from “Make Mine Music” as well as “Bongo” from “Fun and Fancy Free.” “So This is Love” from Cinderella and “Bella Notte” from Lady and the Tramp, and of course “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty. Any of these sequences can definitely create the right mood.
Beyond Disney, there’s Betty Boop in “Poor Cinderella,” the bizarre Fleischer short “Dancing on the Moon,” and Fleischer’s “Raggedy Ann and Andy” in which instead of being brother and sister, the dolls become romantic partners. Also for a different twist on romance there is the sequence “Bluebirds in the Moonlight” from the feature “Gulliver’s Travels.” Who can forget King Little of Lilliput dancing with Gulliver’s hand?
From Lantz, there’s Oswald in “Five and Dime” and Andy Panda in “Scrappy Birthday.”
As a Hanna-Barbera fan I have to mention Yogi Bear in “Love Bugged Bear” and “A Wooin’ Bruin” as well as the Venice dream sequence in “Hey There It’s Yogi Bear”. Plus, the Rome sequence from “The Man Called Flintstone.” It takes a real or imagined trip to Italy to heat up these Hanna-Barbera Romeos!
Re “The Stupid Cupid,” is there some reason why Frank Graham, rather than Arthur Q. Bryan, was voicing Elmer? In 1944, he would have been 44, way too old to be drafted.
Also, there’s the 1936 Looney Tunes, Don’t Look Now, directed by Tex Very, where Cupid and the Devil are competing against each other on Valentine’s Day.
That’s obviously supposed to be Tex Avery.
“Don’t Look Now” was shown on MeTv’s “Tune In With Me” this Friday morning.
I enjoy All holiday cartoons as they usually came out at just the right time weaving fantasy into the fabric of my mind❤️🙏
Thanks for this! I realized that it wasn’t Arthur Q. Bryan doing the laugh for Elmer in “The Stupid Cupid.” Thanks for that info.
I would have added “Little ‘Tinker,” Tex Avery’s saga of a lovelorn skunk. I have always thought one of the best gags he ever came up with was having one bunny pick up another bunny and whack a third bunny in the head with her. It beautifully captured the bobby soxers and how they viewed Sinatra.
But … no Pepe Le Pew?
“Little ‘Tinker” is one of those uncommon times where Avery added heart to his humor without sacrificing either; it’s a fun cartoon from start to end, with character designs that are cute but not cloying. It doesn’t rank among my favorite Averys, but it’s in the class just below that.
“But … no Pepe Le Pew?”
Maybe there are no Pepe LePew cartoons that are really appropriate for Valentine’s Day because Pepe’s “romances” were always one-sided. They’re not about love, they’re about— male sexual aggression!
Nowadays, Pepe’s name would be on the “#Me Too” list at least, and maybe also on the Epstein list. There’s even one cartoon in which it’s revealed at the end that the promiscuous Pepe is married with children (“The Odor-Able Kitty,” 1945).
He’s a rare Chuck Jones character that really hasn’t stood the test of time and he clearly belongs to a very different era than our own— despite the fact that there are already plenty of skunks on the Epstein List.
I recommend the 1952 Chip and Dale cartoon “Two Chips and a Miss.” I love this cartoon!