Walk This Way

You know the old gag when two people are talking, one says “walk this way,” and the other copies their walk?

How old is it? It goes back to the days of silent comedies. One of them is in the animated film “Down the Mississippi” (1920). The maid character says it to a cat (who is treated like a human). I like the animated lightning bolts that are used as a take.



The cat stomps its foot while it thinks then walk that way.



The cartoon was released as part of the Paramount Magazine by Famous Players-Lasky. It was drawn by Frank Moser, who later went into business with Paul Terry and found himself walking this way to a lawyer’s office and suing when Terry cut him out of the studio in 1936.

Thanks to Devon Baxter for the frames.