{"id":85548,"date":"2024-05-29T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T07:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=85548"},"modified":"2024-05-26T20:46:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T03:46:09","slug":"in-the-center-ring-part-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/in-the-center-ring-part-20\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Center Ring (Part 20)"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

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Hanna-Barbera\u2019s circus parade keeps on marching. This week, we cover two more episodes of Lippy and Hardy<\/em>, a stray episode of Sinbad Jr.<\/em>, and a quartet of longer episodes featuring that \u201cpage right out of history\u201d, The Flintstones. Oddly, however, the H-B image of a stone-age circus never quite reaches the convincing prehistoric levels of Tony Sarg\u2019s Stonehenge Circus in \u201cThe First Circus\u201d (1921), discussed in chapter 1 of this article series some time ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gas Again<\/strong> (1\/7\/63) – What would it really take to make Hardy Har Har into a laughing hyena? Lippy the Lion thinks he\u2019s found the answer, as opportunity presents itself in the form of a want ad for a laughing hyena at the Bungling Brothers\u2019 circus. Remembering something he spotted in a junkyard, Lippy retrieves and returns with an aerosol can of laughing gas. (Despite usual depictions of this stuff in containers the size of an oxygen tank, this brand must be highly concentrated, as the can never seems to run out through the entire picture.) One spritz, and Hardy is in hysterics (although still slipping in \u201cOh, dear\u201ds and \u201cOh, my\u201ds between chortles). Our heroes present themselves at the circus wagon of Mr. Bungling. While Lippy is still in the middle of his sales pitch of Hardy, a circus guard appears at the wagon entrance. Crusho the gorilla has just broken out of his cage. Mr. Bungling excuses himself, stating he will be very busy today, running for his very life. Exit Bungling, enter Crusho. Lippy decides to use his secret weapon, and sprays Crusho with a small dose of the gas. The ape is distracted by an involuntary laughing jag, and our heroes race past him to exit the wagon. But the gas has only temporary effect, and Crusho snaps out of it, reverting to his old savage self. Lippy and Hardy hide inside the mouth of a cannon, but are soon discovered by Crusho. \u201cPeek-a-boo\u201d says Lippy, extending his arm out of the cannon barrel, to give Crusho another spray in the face of the gas. Crusho becomes \u201claughing boy\u201d again, but playfully ambles his way back to the rear of the cannon, pulling the firing pin as his own idea of a childish joke. Our heroes zoom into the air, smashing headfirst into the main tent pole, doubling up Crusho in laughter. <\/p>\n

\"\"Lippy and Hardy climb the pole to a platform, then again find themselves in peril, as the gas once again wears off, and the angry Crusho begins climbing after them. \u201cIf he\u2019s comin\u2019 up, we\u2019re goin\u2019 down\u201d, says Lippy. He and Hardy leap off the platform just as Crusho reaches it. Below waits a trampoline. However, Lippy and Hardy don\u2019t know how to dismount, and keep bouncing straight up to a height parallel with the platform. In defense, Lippy gives Crusho another spray. The ape once again guffaws, but the effects are becoming more and more temporary, so that, each time the boys bounce back up, another spritz is needed to keep Crusho laughing. Lippy decides to administer a super-dose – enough to keep Crusho laughing all year. But when they next arrive at the platform, Crusho is gone. Worse yet, when our boys fall again, the trampoline is gone. In its place, Lippy and Hardy find themselves seated in the palms of the destructive Crusho, who is in his foulest mood. But Lippy is now within range, and sprays, sprays, sprays. Crusho not only lets go, but becomes utterly helpless, rolling on his side and pounding the ground in hysterical laughter. It is an easy matter for Lippy and Hardy to drag the pre-occupied Crusho back to his cage. The peril over, Lippy resumes his sales pitch to Mr. Bungling to get Hardy the laughing hyena job. \u201cAre you kidding?\u201d, says Bungling, who no longer has an opening. \u201cWho needs a laughing hyena, when I\u2019ve got a laughing gorilla?\u201d Crusho continues in his non-stop fit of bellowing laughter, as the boys find themselves down and out, and back on a park bench, with Hardy complaining that once again they\u2019re flat broke. \u201cBut at least we\u2019re happy\u201d, says Lippy, administering a whiff of the gas to both Hardy and himself, so that the cartoon ends with both of them having themselves a grand old time. <\/p>\n