1934 was especially good for Columbia pictures, still basking in the success of “It Happened One Night”. In features, Columbia would begin to cement the reputation of the screwball comedy with “If You Could Only Cook”. “One Night Of Love” would prove a success in musicals, starring Grace Moore. The shorts division was beginning to bloom with the entries of Ted Healy’s former trio of partners. And the animation division began to take a route more closely paralleling the efforts of Walt Disney, moving into color production with the two-strip Color Rhapsodies, and also working to embellish the models and smoothness of motion of both Scrappy and Krazy Kat.
We begin with an overlooked title from the preceding season. In Antique Antics (6/14/33), Krazy is working in an antique store, and the merchandise seems like it’s coming alive. No spectacular gags, but genial enough. Song: “Marche Militaire” by Franz Schubert. A piano solo by Mischa Levitzki on Columbia flag label, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted Alfred Hertz on Victor red seal. the Brunswick Salon Orchestra conducted by Mortimer Palitz on Brunswick and reissued on Columbia, Sir Hamilton Harty and the London Philharmonic on British Columbia, the Royal Opera Orchestra of Covent Fardens conducted by Eugene Goossens on HMV, Armand Bernard on the French Pacific label post-war, the Boston Pops on Victor Red Seal.
Scrappy’s Toy Shop (4/15/34) – A collection of the standard midnight in a toy shop gags, with Scrappy and Oopie getting involved in winding up and activating them. Scrappy tries to keep Oopie occupied with a ventriloquist act, but Oopie would rather set off mayhem among the toy soldiers and weaponry. Song: “The Toymaker’s Dream”, a 1929 novelty song which was the template for many midnight in a toy shop cartoons. Victor released a vocal version by Vaughn DeLeath. The Anglo-Persians performed it for Brunswick, Sam Lanin and his famous Players on Okeh, Lou Gold on Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Diva, and another Sam Lanin group on Banner, Regal, et al. B.A. Rolfe on Edison Diamond Disc. And in England by Jack Hylton on HMV, Debroy Somers on Columbia, and Jay Wilbur on Dominion.
Scrappy’s Theme Song (6/15/34) – Scrappy is busy trying to write a theme song. Eventually, he picks up on something when Oopie finishes a line. He writes it down and calls his girlfriend, plays it for her over the phone, and it becomes a “Let’s put on a show” scenario, which would become the basic plot of about six MGM musicals. Oopie is as usual in the way, and responsible for some gags including stage curtain mishaps. But Scrappy and his girl do manage to get the song in, which includes some cat howls in the melody. However, the tune never seems to have become a true theme song for the series, and may never have been heard again. Song: “I Love You and You Love Me”, the song composed by Scrappy in the film, likely an original by De Nat and/or whoever wrote the story. No known recordings.
Katnips of 1940 (10/12/34) – The animation industry was noticing that audiences were going for the feature musical once again, mostly thanks to Busby Berkeley, and eventually animated product would follow suit. In a typical backstage musical setting a la 42nd Street, Krazy Kat takes the role of a Broadway producer, rehearsing a line of dancers (obtaining synchronous high-kicks by roping their ankles like marionettes). Kitty wants to join the chorus, but Krazy is resistant, considering her talents to be dubious. When she starts trying to perform as Shakespeare’s Juliet, Krazy raises her balcony into the rafters, so high she could perform a high dive. Krazy’s chosen leading lady, a fat soprano frog, arrives in a limousine so long it follows the contours of the street. Kitty falls upon her during the rehearsal, giving the frog a complete frog in her throat. With no other to take the lead, Kitty is finally hired, and goes into heavy rehearsal. The show goes on, complete with a Latin number, a fan dance, and a spectacular finale tributing the N.R.A. Amidst the cheers of the crowd and a stage full of flowers, the triumphant duo share an on-stage kiss. Songs: an array of originals, all of which seem to fit the milieu to a “T”, including an opening chorus line number (“We’re the Katnip Follies of 1940″), the Latin number (“The Tap-Tapioca”, a song clearly inspired by “The Carioca” from RKO’s first Astaire-Rogers picture, “Flying Down To Rio”, complete with Krazy and Kitty dancing with foreheads together), a tribute to the Sally Rand fan dance (“The Girl With the Fan”, often trimmed from prints aimed at the kiddies), and the anti-Depression finale (“Oh, Boy, What a New Deal”).
Holiday Land (11/9/34) – At last! Columbia decides to spring for two-strip Technicolor. They couldn’t get the three-strip variety yet, which remained the exclusive of Disney. This is one of the rare color appearances of Scrappy, who insists on remaining in bed despite his mother’s insistence that he get up for school. Scrappy wishes that every day were a holiday, so that he could stay in bed all day long. Suddenly, his wish seems to be granted, as a gust of wind from the window blows pages of a wall calendar down, and the characters associated with the various holidays of the year emerge from the pages, along with a miniature Father Time. Scrappy is taken by them to a land where all the holidays of the year are on display in tableau, as a parade of pageants behind various curtains, including Christmas, New Year’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving. (No Halloween curtain is depicted, although witches and pumpkins appear in the calendar sequence – actually, why are they there anyway, considering that schools don’t get that day off?) Scrappy takes a position as guest of honor at the Thanksgiving banquet table, and Father Time offers a toast to him – but his voice changes to that of Scrappy’s mother, and Scrappy finds himself waking up from what was merely been a dream. He races through his morning routine, readying himself for school, gets only a few steps out the door, then U-turns and leaps right back into bed again for the iris out. Songs: again all originals, including “Sleepy Head” (not to be confused with identical title from the MGM picture, “Operator 13″), “Come, Ye Boys” and a second drinking song, which I’ll just call “Holidayland Drinking Song”, and some custom lyrics to various holiday carols. All likely written by Joe De Nat and unknown lyricist.
Krazy’s Waterloo (11/16/34) – Napoleon (Krazy) is raising up an army for his latest campaign. Though the title refers to Waterloo, the action actually takes place in the height of winter on the Russian front – another of Napoleon’s major defeats. Krazy says goodbye to his paramour Josephine (Kitty) before going off to battle. She seems well prepared for his departure, with about nine other suitors waiting behind the furniture. The battle is full of Bolshevik bombs which do a number on Krazy’s troops, and Krazy himself ends the film in a small boat, sailing for exile to St. Helena. Songs: several originals. A “Hail Napoleon” number, and “Good Bye, Josephine.” No known recordings of either.
Babes At Sea (11/30/34) – A baby is given warning to stay away from a well – which warning he immediately ignored. The water babies appear in the underwater world below, but inform him he must be a good little boy for them to show him around – which he is not. And so, the baby is sent back home – where he revives from a near drowning in the well. A narrative song continues to warn that he must be goof to grow up well. This cartoon emulates the most cloying elements of Disney’s color cartoons, Song: “Water Babies Song”, an original. No known recordings.
The Happy Butterfly (12/20/34) – Scrappy and Oopie are out in the country chasing butterflies. They capture one who trades a magic wishing ring for her freedom. Oopie makes a wish that he was a butterfly.- and shrinks down to size, sprouting wings. But he fails to match the grace of the real species, and is taunted by the local wildlife. A bird eyes him as a tasty morsel, and a chase ensues, including into Scrappy’s wardrobe, causing several holes in Scrappy’s pants. Eventually, Oopie finds the ring again, and wishes himself back into a boy. Scrappy carries the troublesome youth back home in his butterfly net. Songs: “I’m a Happy Carefree Butterfly”, and “You’ve Got Two Wings”, originals not commercially recorded. The latter number gives away the obvious effort to again emulate Disney, sounding very much like a copy of “You’re Nothin; But a Nothin” from Disney’s “The Flying Mouse”.
NEXT TIME: More Mintz – with a splash of color.
James Parten has overcome a congenital visual disability to be acknowledged as an expert on the early history of recorded sound. He has a Broadcasting Certificate (Radio Option) from Los Angeles Valley College, class of 1999. He has also been a fan of animated cartoons since childhood.
It’s true that “Babes at Sea” “emulates the most cloying elements of Disney’s color cartoons,” and it certainly bears many similarities to the Silly Symphony “Water Babies” — which, however, was released six months AFTER “Babes at Sea”, so if there was any emulating going on here, Disney was doing it. The score to “Babes at Sea” includes an extended passage from Schubert’s song “Der Erlkönig”, when the boy is pursued by a fearsome octopus.
Funny that there’s a “Tap Tapioca” song in “Katnips of 1940”, because there’s also one in the Julie Andrews musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie”:
“Tap tap, tap tap, tap tap, tapioca!
Everybody snap snap, snap snap, snap snap, snapioca!
Everybody slap slap, slap slap, slap slap, slapioca!
Everybody –”
Crap crap, crap crap….
I have to say, “Holiday Land” is a nice intro for Screen Gem’s first foray into color. However, unlike the other animation studios, Screen Gems would continue releasing black and white cartoons in addition to color right to up to their closing in the late ’40’s.
Recall all of these except “Babes at Sea” playing on the Captain Satellite show in the very early 60s. Now it’s a bit odd seeing Napoleon versus bolsheviks in WWI trench warfare, and the occasional precode gag like the men’s chorus hiding in Josephine’s parlor. Also the weirdness of the animated Krazy Kat being so distant from the then-current comic strip. Was the name that powerful that they presumably kept paying to use it?
The Krazy Kat comic strip is famously remembered as having been unpopular in its day, as indicated by its being carried by fairly few papers when it ended. But evidence seems to suggest that this is mainly due to the relative disintegration of the strip as Herriman’s condition worsened in the early 1940s.
Earlier on, the strip is constantly referenced in pop culture, with any newspaper search bringing up normies referencing the characters in all sorts of unrelated venues (i.e. comparing their pets to them).
It seems that the strip was as popular in the 1920s as any fairly popular strip, if not *as* popular as the biggest bigwheels. A fairly good cartoon series could obviously piggyback on it, given a strong distributor and a lack of funny animal competition.
Krazy Kat, the comic strip, was indeed popular for a few years, especially the Sunday pages where George Herriman’s writing with its odd mishandling of language really flourished. But the public got tired of what they thought of as repetitious plotting (but all that brick throwing was not really the point if you were paying attention), and the intellectuals, who had noticed something special on the comic pages, moved on to something else.
I personally liked the later years, where the balance often shifted towards the drawing and the more unlikely settings that were always a big attractiion. You could look at a page and be surprised by the layout of the whole thing before diving into the goings-on. If he hadn’t lost his health I think Herriman would have kept it up as long as they let him, and it was always the sort of thing that could never be successfully adapted for the movies, though they tried, or at least kept the brand going if not the spirit.
There’s just one mystery I’d like to know about (if anyone here has some input!)…
“Tom Thumb”, a Krazy not mentioned here, has some opening narration set to music, which wasn’t uncommon for the series. However, this same song is featured in the Van Beuren cartoon “Rough on Rats”, released a few months earlier! This makes me think it’s either some popular song, silent film score, or perhaps based on a nursery rhyme or something. I haven’t found a good answer yet. Any of yous know?