Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Dance of the Roast Duck

A weird, cross-eyed version of Bimbo takes to the stage along with the roast duck he’s supposed to be delivering to a customer in “Dizzy Dishes” (1930). Note the kitty chorus.



The roast duck takes on a life of its own, as just about everything does in a Fleischer cartoon. It dances.



It lays an egg and gives birth to another roast duck—which dances, too. Inspired stuff.



Eventually, Bimbo and the duck get chased by the customer who ordered the the roast bird, which eventually flies out of the cartoon.

Dave Fleischer is generally given sole credit for gags on the Fleischer cartoons. Grim Natwick and Ted Sears got the animation credits.

Thanks to Devon Baxter for the screen grabs.
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2 comments:

  1. Pokey25 March 2014 at 07:57

    1. This was, as far as I know, at least ONE of Betty Boop's first solo cartoons.

    2.In the 1950s Famous (vis-à-vis HarveytoonS) would use that for one of Little Audrey's surreal nightm,are-episodes set in outer space. That was the "Dizzy Dishes" that I've seen..:)Steve

    Coincidentally both with the same distributor,Paramount Studios.:)

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  2. J Lee25 March 2014 at 12:21

    It's actually interesting to see in this cartoon and some other early Fleischer sound efforts their use of extremely limited animation in certain spots (the best example here is with the audience clapping, where virtually nothing but their hands move). You really wouldn't see anything as similar until the early days of made-for-TV cartoons -- which, unlike "Dishes" have no fully animated segments making up the main body of the cartoon.

    (The musical number with the dancing cats would get full lyrical treatment from Betty two years later, when Mae Questel would co-voice it for the opening titles of "Crazy Town".)

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