NOTE: No Thunderbean news this week. Busy with many projects and dubbing of special discs are happening. When there’s more I’ll dutifully report it here!
So, with that, here’s our featured cartoon this week! Jack’s Shack (1935)
I feel like the early sound Terrytoons are like new cartoons sometimes in that, even if I’ve seen a lot of them, I’ve forgotten about them for a while — and sold a lot of my prints of them years back. One I got pretty recently, Jack’s Shack (1934), and, honestly, it’s both charming and really, really strange.
The film is based on the children’s Nursery Rhyme “The House that Jack Built”. This would have been much better known to these older generations than ours, since there’s quite a few golden age cartoons that make reference to it. For clarity (and to see the correlations in this cartoon) here’s the original Nursery Rhyme:
This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cat, That kill’d the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the dog, That worried the cat, That kill’d the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cow with the crumpled horn, That toss’d the dog, That worried the cat, That kill’d the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the maiden all forlorn, That milk’d the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That kill’d the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the man all tatter’d and torn,
That kissed the maiden all forlorn,
That milk’d the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That kill’d the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tatter’d and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That kill’d the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the cock that crow’d in the morn, That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tatter’d and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milk’d the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That kill’d the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the farmer sowing his corn, That kept the cock that crow’d in the morn, That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tatter’d and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milk’d the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built.
So, knowing the basics of this, this little operetta does a real spin on the original. It starts with an unlikely series of rough and tumble farm characters. First, an oversized mouse introduces himself, then an ornery cat who looks like an early version of Sourpuss sings about how he’s rid the house of mice, followed by an ornery dog that sings about how he hates cats, then slaps the cat for no reason, followed by a cow that has a bent horn. When the little maiden shows up it really animates this motley crew into performing with her as she milks the cow. Somehow an unnamed scarecrow comes to life and starts hitting on the dog farm maid. She sort of shuns him, then is smitten with him in the next scene. Farmer Al Falfa, who is somehow this little dog maiden’s father, send he home and boards her into the house. The crows attach a pitch fork to the Scarecrow, who was returned to the field by Farmer Al with that same pitch fork a moment earlier. The scarecrow is dropped by the crow and the pitchfork hits poor Farmer All in the pants, knocking his head clear through the wood door, and he’s licked incessantly by the cow. He proceeds to beat the heck out of the scarecrow while the maiden seems to be cheering her father on. A parson comes along and marries the scarecrow to the maiden, leaving a very angry Farmer Al fuming as the picture ends.
Yes, that’s the plot. While clearly loosely based on the old children’s nursery rhyme, it spins pretty strange in the world of Terrytoons. Even though it will never ben in the top 10 of memorable cartoons, it was just what the doctor ordered for me in a week here of stressful days trying to finish too many projects. Maybe that’s the best thing about these Terrytoons- they’re wonderful escapist entertainment that you haven’t seen too many times, if at all.
I hope you enjoy the cartoon! Have a good week all!
Steve Stanchfield is an animator, educator and film archivist. He runs Thunderbean Animation, an animation studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has compiled over a dozen archival animation DVD collections devoted to such subjects at Private Snafu, The Little King and the infamous Cubby Bear. Steve is also a professor at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.
If Farmer Al Falfa is living with his daughter, the maiden all forlorn, in the house that Jack built, then where exactly is Jack and how does he figure in all of this? Was he just the building contractor?
“Jack’s Shack” is significant in that it was the first cartoon John Foster worked on after he was fired from Van Beuren and went back to working for his old boss Paul Terry. Connoisseurs of Moser-era Terrytoons will notice a perceptible improvement in their quality beginning at precisely this point.
I think the maiden is cheering for the scarecrow, and not for Farmer Al, during the fight scene. In any case, I really like her sultry singing voice. What she lacks in the coloratura virtuosity of Pearl Pureheart, she makes up for in soul.
More Terrytoons, please!
Paul, I agree that the girl is cheering for the Scarecrow, not her dad/Farmer Al Falfa.
When I grew up in the 1960’s in Australia, we were taught “The House That Jack Built” in various grades at school. A number of lending libraries also had copies of the story.
What an awesome operatic soundtrack! Had to watch it twice!
Who’s the composer on this one?
Also, I don’t recall ever seeing a Mickey-Mouse-looking-mouse in a Farmer Al Falfa cartoon before. Surely Disney wrote a letter to Paul Terry to cease and desist?! I wonder why we haven’t heard about this infringement? Is this the only instance where he did this? This is 1935. Is that the same time as the Van Beuren “fake Mickey” cartoons? Perhaps Terry heard about how Disney was threatening to sue them and wisely backed off? (Or how Disney was suing? I can’t keep the details straight.)
Anyway… I’m glad I was born, for my eyes to adorn, this film not too worn, on this sunny morn, the frames that, through a projector did bat, that led me to chat, about the cartoon that Paul Terry built!
The composer was Terry’s longtime music director Philip Scheib, who scored all of the Terrytoons from 1930 until his retirement in the 1960s. I agree that it’s an excellent score. There’s a clever bit when the four animals conclude their opening number with “…and we live down in the alley.” That’s a paraphrase of the 1915 song “She Lives Down in Our Alley”, which sets up, in musical terms, the pretty girl who’s introduced in the very next scene. Scheib’s scores are full of clever little touches like that.
No comment on the mouse’s extreme resemblance to Mickey?
That is usually a legitimate point that should be made! There’s too many in denial about that one.
Ehhh–I like the version in Jack and Old Mac better. Completed in a breezy two minutes, also.
Is it just me, or is it a bit weird that the cow is so decidedly male? I can guess how the milking scene would have played to a 70s college crowd.
Maybe she’s been milking the wrong “cow” all this time.
I’d contend that she chose poorly, but that would be a strawman argument.