Wednesday 20 September 2017

The Not-Quite Ink Spots

The Ink Spots were a tremendously popular singing group in the early ‘50s. So it was they were parodied in that wonderful Tex Avery cartoon Magical Maestro (released 1952).

An opera goer, unhappy with all the magical morphing happening on the stage, sprays Poochini with fountain-pen ink. Suddenly, he turns into Bill Kenny, the lead singer of the Spots, crooning Burton/Adamson’s “Everything I Have Is Yours.”



Next comes an anvil (who doesn’t bring an anvil to an opera and carry it up to a balcony?) which flattens Poochini to sound like the guy who did the talking bass vocal in the Spots. (The real one was lower and wasn’t as froggy sounding as you hear in the cartoon).



The magician’s rabbits jump back into the scene. One sprays off the ink, the other carjacks Poochini up to regular size for the next gag.



Scott Bradley (or his arranger) was really ingenious here. The Ink Spots were known for harmony vocals behind a solo guitar; that’s what you hear in this cartoon. And Avery and writer Rich Hogan were smart enough to know they needed a break from the magician pulling tricks on Poochini, so they introduced the angry patron in mid cartoon.

I couldn’t tell you who is doing the Ink Spot imitations.

2 comments:

  1. The animation in the scene from the first still always reminded me of Ed Love's animation. The patron has small eyes, thick eyebrows, and the teeth are merely represented with lines, rather than actual teeth like Rod Scribner. Mostly though, it's the angular hands and fingers that are used, especially the one in the screencap you have. Ed Love used those all the time. I'm not saying this is Love, as he wasn't in Avery's unit anymore, but it is very similar to his work.

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  2. Cartoon Network did a horrible job of editing this cartoon to remove the blackfaces. I'm so glad they don't air the classics anymore.

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