Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Eat My Bees

Tom screams in pain when Jerry directs a swarm of bees into the cat’s mouth via a hollow reed in the climax gag of ‘Tee For Two’ (1945). Thought you could escape violence by hiding in a lake, eh, Tom? Not in a Hanna and Barbera cartoon.



This is one of three cycle drawings on ones. Tom’s disclosure is set up really well by Scott Bradley’s tympani roll.

The credited animators are Ray Patterson, Ken Muse, Irv Spence and Pete (né Wilson David) Burness. This was the last time Burness’ name appeared on an MGM cartoon; he moved to the John Sutherland studio. Replacing him from the disbanded George Gordon crew was Ed Barge, giving the unit its best-known configuration.

Anyone have an idea what the theme is over the opening titles? Or who supplied the muted background colours?
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7 comments:

  1. Thad2 November 2011 at 14:45

    This is Ken Muse's best piece of animation – no contest.

    This was Burness’ last cartoon for awhile in the H-B unit
    Nope. It's the last one he's credited on, but he does footage consistently, all the way through to 1947's Part Time Pal, a good indication of the studio's backlog...

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  2. Yowp2 November 2011 at 15:18

    Any reason Burness never got screen credit through all this time? Was it because the shorts were released after he left?

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  3. Thad2 November 2011 at 19:52

    I would hazard a guess at yes. The same went for Ray Patterson, as he went uncredited on _many_ shorts in the '46-'47 releases.

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  4. Anonymous3 November 2011 at 02:43

    Thad, during this time Patterson moved to England, to teach new animators at Dave Hand's studio.

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  5. Steven Hartley4 November 2011 at 10:13

    Irv Spence was at John Sutherland Studios in 1946-1947 - in which there was an absence in Hanna-Barbera's unit through 1946-47.

    Ray and Pete remained uncredited, but Ray probably did animation work via England (who knows??)

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  6. Anonymous10 December 2011 at 11:00

    If you still want to know the theme over the opening tittles - it's "Hoe Down", song from the MGM film "Babes on Broadway"(1941) with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney

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  7. Yowp10 December 2011 at 19:07

    You're right. Thanks, Sanek. I've never watched any of those musicals.

    It's an odd choice by Bradley. It's not like this is a farm cartoon.

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